stayed here lots of times, my first time at the end of the 90's, and again in the noughties. First impression. Who are all these people who are rushing past me. Then got to the desk, very helpful and patient staff. Rooms are small, and basic. Toilets and showers are few but I hardly ever had to wait. Its a huge building round the corner from Grand Central Station and a nice pleasant walk to central park and times square. I found this to be very central and felt safe there, being a lone traveller, very important. If you are not meant to be in there, you won't be. There is a brilliant cafe on site, good value and good food. They also have a good swimming pool and sports facillities, and as much info as you can read. I would recommend this place and will go back.

I stayed here for a week with about 40 other students, the rooms are very small but very clean, at first I thought it was going to be horrible, but after a few days it was fine. Bathrooms and shower are very clean. Give it a chance, you get what you pay for.
The hotel is very close to many places including Starbucks, McDonalds and subway, and times square is in walking distance.
Would consider this hotel again.

First let’s start with the plus points - it’s a great location and the gym is fabulous and if you happen to be an inmate, sorry, guest then you get complimentary access to this very state of the art gym. Here endeth the plus points. Bottom line is, the YMCA is what it is which is to say, it redefines the term ‘basic’. However, on the night I booked in - the 9th December 2011 - I was to find the staff, how can I say, well, ’ambivalent’ about checking in guests. With an attitude that swung between indifferent and plain passive aggressive, both staff members (one was called Alexander and head of his class at charm school no doubt) decided that the best way to deal with my confusion over booking a twin but getting a single (quote of the night: ’In this country, a single IS a twin’…of course it is. Must remember to update my dictionary) was to be resolutely automaton like and smack a big fat full stop in to the dispute by saying ’…and optionally, you don’t have to stay with us’. Of course I don’t but the option of a bench in Central Park or kipping under the Rockerfeller tree, did not fill me with comfort and joy after an 8 hour flight. There is some lip service nonsense on the wall behind the desk which states that conflicts should be resolved with respect and care but I guess that’s just for the attention of us unruly guests rather than the staff. Sad really, because all other staff I spoke with before I fled after 4 nights were otherwise very professional.

But what of the room? Well, my experiencing of it was that it was horrible - a narrow, lino floored experience in grimness, with a TV that never worked, a fridge that had asthma and a set of heating pipes that seemed possessed (regular loud banging gave the impression that a presence resided within knocking out an eerie semaphore). You get one pillow, a single bed and not much else. Shared bathrooms down the hall are fine apart from the one morning I entered to find excrement smeared on the floor and mucas stuck to one of the basins. If this is all meant to be part of the adventure in a backpacking, outward bound kind of way then clearly I need to stick to the Holiday Inn. I have stayed at the Y before on numerous occasions (I would suggest the one on the Westside. Better location if nothing else) and I think they do sterling work but hotel of any description this most certainly is not. I had been offered an upgrade to another room with a double bed and told that this would cost me circa $150 a night (around 95GBP at the time). Fortunately, another website came to my rescue and after four nights (on the fourth of which my bed had not even been made and used towels remained on the floor) I fled to the three star Ameritainia on 54th and Broadway and the lap of luxury for 60 pounds a night and ended my trip with a bang, not this time, courtesy of unruly heating or fridges!

Know what to expect and you'll be fine. Great location (direct bus from JFK to Grand Central, then 10 min walk), small clean noisy rooms, shared clean (very clean) baths. Semi-helpful staff. It's not a real hotel. Affordable and excellent for a few days.