Which of these 3 budget hotels in NYC?

Hi,

Will be in NYC next month and was looking for a nice budget hotel in
Manhattan (preferably midtown or upper east/west). Have found 3
choices of doubles around 100-130 at the following:

- Grand Union Hotel
- Pickwick Arms Hotel
- Hayden Hall Hotel

They all look okay by their websites. Anyone had any positive/negative
experiences with these? I've ruled out Wolcott Hotel because they
won't take bookings for stays shorter than 3 nights.
Any other ideas (private bathroom is preferable)?

Thanks,
Raf

On 26 Aug 2003 05:54:42 -0700, rkampel@m (Raf) wrote:

>Hi,
>
>Will be in NYC next month and was looking for a nice budget hotel in
>Manhattan (preferably midtown or upper east/west). Have found 3
>choices of doubles around 100-130 at the following:
>
>- Grand Union Hotel
>- Pickwick Arms Hotel
>- Hayden Hall Hotel
>
>They all look okay by their websites. Anyone had any positive/negative
>experiences with these? I've ruled out Wolcott Hotel because they
>won't take bookings for stays shorter than 3 nights.
>Any other ideas (private bathroom is preferable)?
>
I stayed at the Pickwick Arms in 1980 - a long time ago and my
room then cost only about $25 with bath! It is not a luxury hotel
by any means but adequate if what you want is a bed and bath.
It is in an excellent location, IMHO, on the East Side in Midtown,
short walk to subways and to walking around this entire area.
Nice "vest pocket" park across the street, with a waterfall, good
place to eat breakfast and read the paper. Lots of good
restaurants on adjoining avenues. And the whole area less frantic
and more pleasant than Times Square. It has been in business
a long time, and attracts many foreign visitors who like a bargain.
Staying there for a week sold me on NYC, which I don't know would
have been the case had I stayed around Times Square, which I
find unpleasant.

Have not heard of the other hotels.

> Will be in NYC next month and was looking for a nice budget hotel in
> Manhattan (preferably midtown or upper east/west). Have found 3
> choices of doubles around 100-130 at the following:
>
> - Grand Union Hotel
> - Pickwick Arms Hotel
> - Hayden Hall Hotel
>
> They all look okay by their websites. Anyone had any positive/negative
> experiences with these? I've ruled out Wolcott Hotel because they
> won't take bookings for stays shorter than 3 nights.
> Any other ideas (private bathroom is preferable)?

I stayed at the Hayden Hall hotel last April.

The room looked as if it had been recently remodeled with the exception of
the floor covering which was extremely well worn. The furniture included an
old, beatup, chopped-down dresser which functioned mainly as a TV and phone
stand. There were no chairs in the room.

They claimed that they had cable TV, but the picture quality was very poor
and the selection of channels was inferior. Most channels were public access
or home shopping networks. The most interesting channel was the (only) movie
channel that featured movies 2 or 3 years old dubbed in Spanish.

During my stay, the temperature was well below freezing and featured 4
inches of snow. The heater was a steam heater. It spit out steam steadily
from a valve and hissed very loudly. It also liked to make a banging sound
(at random intervals) like tiny elves were inside it with large hammers. The
only way to avoid the noise and get some sleep was to turn it off before
going to bed and huddle under the one, thin blanket. I saw no evidence of
air conditioning and presume the only way to cool the room in the hot summer
months would be to open the window and suffer all the traffic noise.

I never tried the telephone, but when I once passed through the tiny lobby I
heard a lady ask the desk clerk "if the phones were working yet".

The water that was available in the room was only hot on the first and last
days of my stay. Both of those days were a Saturday (bath night?). The rest
of the time, the best you could say for the water temperature was that it
was "not cold".

The elevator is slow, tiny and there only seems to be one in the building.
As the staff need the elevator to perform their duties, it is usually much
quicker to walk up or down the stairs.

The only plus for the hotel is its convenient location in a pleasant area
near Central Park and and good public transport options.

I would not stay there again.