We weren't expecting much, but what we got made our stay miserable. We were charged 80 dollars a night, and so many things were wrong that it's almost funny. The blankets were grimy, and looked and smelled as if they hadn't been washed within any recent history. We could literally see a buildup of dirt. The bed themselves were ancient and incredibly uncomfortable. We could feel the springs in the mattress, and whenever I laid on my stomach the springs would be poking me in the ribs.

The old "air conditioner" shoved into the window was half broken. At it's coldest it would lightly blow mildly warm air. The hallway was actually cooler. At night we couldn't sleep with blankets because it was so hot, and just sitting still was uncomfortable.

The TV was very old and barely worked. We got three channels (the rest we either didn't get or were in Spanish. There were more working Spanish channels than anything else) and the tv wold end up "crashing", so we had to constantly unplug and replug the cable box. When a channel stopped working the TV would say to "adjust the antenna" which of course never worked.

We were given 4 towels for the entire week that we were there. Considering there were two of us, this would have made showering even more awkward than it already was. Luckily I brought my own towels. Some reviews on here say the maid would come occasionally to clean their rooms, but our room wasn't cleaned once the entire week we were there. She always seemed to be cleaning other people's rooms, but never ours.

We initially had problems getting the key to open the door. The lock was half broken, so we'd just keep spinning the key around and around with nothing happening. We called up the front desk to ask them to bring someone up to help us, and they said they would. No one ever came though. Eventually we learned that you had to pull the door towards you just the right way for it to work.

In the bathroom none of the stall doors would shut or lock. Pantless people were also smoking in there, and one day someone hung their dirty underwear from one of the stall doors. I found myself going down to the second floor bathroom a lot, as no one was ever in there and the doors actually locked. The showers also seemed to be a lot better and less likely to "flood". The showers on our floor had no place to put your shampoos and other things, so you had to put them on the floor. There was also no dry place to put your clothes or towel.

When we first got there, after a long and tiring day of traveling, being harassed in the subway by crazies, and dragging our luggage around for hours, of course it was annoying hearing we had to drag our suitcases up to the third floor, as there is no elevator.

Some good things: It's across from a police station, so it feels safe. The neighborhood is pretty nice and there are different places to eat (Some good pizza places). Not too far from Manhattan. Free breakfast at a diner. Unfortunately, the bad outweighs the good.

Now, I see a lot of people excusing the horrible place because it's a hostel, and saying it's the cheapest place to stay. BUT, it is NOT the cheapest place to stay. We stayed here because the cheapest place to stay, which has a private bathroom, working TV, air conditioning, and comfortable beds, was booked up. We had stayed there before and it was sooo nice and only charges 50 dollars a night. Meanwhile, the YMCA is quite dumpy and charged us 80...

So I read all the reviews re: bed bugs. I did. But I also wanted someplace affordable, and in the end, we booked 5 nights @ this Y. I really, really, really wish we'd heeded the reviews. Our first night there, they tried to put us (a couple) in a room with only a bunkbed, even though we had paid for a queen. We went down the 6 flights of stairs to tell the front desk, who insisted it was a queen bed. Afraid our jetlag was to blame, we went back up, thinking maybe it was some weird queen bunkbed. Nope. It was a two twin beds on top of one another - bunk beds. The front desk still disagreed, but finally, after a lot of sighing and rolling of eyes, gave us another room, with a "single" bed. Once we got back up to the 4th floor we saw our new room was a twin. We were exhausted and didn't want to go up and down stairs again, so we slept there. In the middle of the night I woke up to creepy crawly feelings - turned on the light and saw a huge bed bug scurrying over the side of the mattress. We looked under the sheets and along the bottom of the bed and saw tell tale dark spots, as well as another scurrying guy.

The next morning we told them about the bed bugs. They acted like we were talking about finding the Loch Ness Monster in our room and said "no matter, your new room is ready." Our new room was our original room (which they later told us - apparently they weren't sure if the former tenant was there so they didn't let it to us the first night). The new room smelled like someone had emptied 5 gallon jugs of cologne on the rug. I didn't see any bed bugs in this room, but I did not sleep a wink those whole 4 days. I was covered in bites by the second morning, and uncomfortable for the next two weeks. We had to abandon our suitcases and hot hot hot clean and dry everything we had taken on the trip before we could take the items inside our house. Worst of all, every day of the trip we wondered if it was worth losing our deposit and trying to find a new place, or shell out $$$$ for last minute lodgings instead of going back to that room each night. It was a constant source of worry and stress.

the first room we were in had bed bugs, but they changed our room straight away and had all our stuff cleaned, nice staff, cool area.

While we were very concerned about staying in this location, the price for the length of stay could not be beat. Having to go down the hall to use the restroom or to take a shower was also somewhat of a concern, however, it was not an issue. We were alson concerned that we were going to be cold in our room being from Florida.

The room was small, but clean. The bed was comfortable. The bathrooms were clean as well and not an issue to walk down the hall to use the restroom or shower. There were a lot of foreigners staying at the hotel, but that was not a problem for us. The staff at the front desk were great and friendly.

The breakfast voucher that we got in the morning helped us to start our very long days the right way. It was the Three Decker Diner and the breakfast was included in your room rate. Coffee or juice and just a home cooked breakfast. Oatmeal, egg sandwich, eggs, bacon and potatoes or waffles. The service wasn't the friendliest, but it's a Brooklyn diner.

The Y was very convenient to the Subway and it took about 20 minutes to get to the Manhattan stop. Get a weekly subway pass because you'll use it.

My one complaint about the hotel was that there was not an elevator to get to our room and while 3 stories to climb wouldn't normally be an issue, after walking miles and miles and up and down the subway stairs every day, the 3 floor hike was tiring at midnight or 1 in the morning.

There's a laundromat right down the street and several deli/convenience stores in the neighborhood as well as a polish bakery and the most awesome Thai restaurant on the way back from the subway station. Sorry, I cant remember the name.

If you are a tourist visiting NYC, you are not going to be in your room except to sleep anyway and it's well worth the price!