My husband and I stayed here (the week before Hurricane Sandy) for 3 nights. The stay was what we expected from a New York hotel. The check in process wasn't very friendly but every staff we encountered after that was incredibly helpful and pleasant. Our room was big and clean with an "amazing" dress mirror but the room was very dark! Our windows were blocked out and our bathroom didn't have a fan. After two days our bathroom started smelling like urine. It was the oddest thing and we had to shut the bathroom door to prevent the smell from penetrating into our sleeping and clothes area. No maid came in to clean it up. We're assuming the smell may have been coming from the shower curtains. The hallways were filled with garbage bags when we checked in too but we soon realized that it was NYC's trash day and every one left their garbage on the sidewalk so they must have been moving it downstairs. The bartender and the bar on the 2nd floor is super quaint and cozy. Drinks were priced very affordable. During our stay the elevator broke once which meant we had to climb the 7 floors to our room. That wasn't problematic for us but we felt sorry for the older guests. There were a lot of them. The coffee machine also broke once but all the broken stuff were fixed immediately. Overall - the staff really knew their guests and after our first night there they all knew who we were and always greeted us. The location of the hotel is terrific!!!! If you're looking to save $$$ you'll get what you paid for here. Wasn't a 5 star hotel but its what we expected.