The most unbelievably jaded, unhelpful, unfriendly reception staff ("We're not paid enough to be friendly" one of them said to me; they seem to have the worst exploitative manager, 'Nick', in the universe, very sad.)
Rooms are sad and the whole place is run down. Bathrooms were clean though, at least, so thanks to the certainly underpaid cleaning staff.

I was eaten up badly by bedbugs in the first couple of nights and was given another room (which cost me half-a-day as I had to hang around until 2pm and move my stuff, not that they would have offered). No apology, no friendly word, no advice on how to treat my clothes and luggage, let alone a refund or laundry voucher or indeed anything helpful (various extremely friendly pharmacists, laundry workers and hardware store salespeople explained what to do to the ignorant European, lost another half day on laundering and spraying my stuff.)

Don't go near the place, however tempting their prices may be. Depressing all round.

Yes, the cost is very cheap for a New York hotel in such a great location. Sadly, however, that is about all this place has going for it. I stayed at the West Side Inn for two weeks, checking out over the weekend to go and stay with friends up north. Over the first week, I had very few problems. The room I was given was clean, although a little smelly, had a private toilet and sink so I only had to use the shared bathroom to shower in, and even had an air conditioner.

However, on my return after the weekend, I was greeted by rude staff at the front desk, a broken elevator which meant I had to carry my suitcase up four flights of stairs to a room which was directly above the one I had been in the previous week. Considering I had paid exactly the same for the accommodation for the second week, it seemed sensible of me to assume I would get the same quality of room. Disappointingly, this was not so. The room, as mentioned, was a further flight of stairs up. It had an even greater stench than the one downstairs. The room had no air conditioner, let alone a fan during the hot New York summer.

Other elements of this hotel that should be known by those planning to visit are that it advertises televisions in its rooms, but they do not work. You have to pay to use the internet on the computers provided by the hotel, but surrounding ones have free wifi that you can link into if you have a laptop with you. There are very few power outlets in the rooms to charge cameras, etc (I had to unplug the tv to do so in my second room).

The thing that I disliked the most about this hotel was their check-in policy, which requires you to provide proof of transportation into the city. If, like me, you plan to leave and then return to the hotel, make sure you use public transport that provides you with a printout. Unfortunately, if you have amazing friends like me that want to pick you up and collect you from outside of the city, therefore not using public transport, you are pretty much screwed! From what I hear, there are much better hotels in New York for the same price, so give this one a miss.

We stayed here as there was parking offered - this is actually on the street and nothing to do with the hostel so should not be used as a facility on their details. The hotel is grimy, the kitchens are horrendous, and the girl on the desk is really rude. The bathroom window on our floor was jammed open so people in other rooms can see you in the shower - nice! Luggage storage costs $5 per bag per day. I also am not sure that they charge right on taxes or if we were ripped off. It's a really nasty hostel - I'd never stay here again ever and if you do you're crazy - you'd be better off sleeping in the park. If you want somewhere for hardly anymore money you can stay at the Americana Inn, it's at about 38th street, is clean, better location and nice staff. Have fun in NY - it's fab!

I stayed here ten years ago as an impoverished student and just found it again on trip advisor. To my horror and amusement it still exists and looks exactly as I remember it.
Not much to say for the place itself - its a total complete and utter dump. Of the highest calibre imaginable. Stay here only if you can't get into the 416 other hotels in New York listed on this site.