We stayed here for a wedding in March. We had a fabulous group rate, which colors this review - if we had paid retail prices, I would likely have been less impressed. The room was small, which we were warned about, but it was plenty big enough for me, my husband and our baby. However, we were only there two nights and would've been extremely crowded if we'd been there any longer. The staff seemed to be well-meaning but not particularly well-organized or efficient. The location was great for our purposes, as all the wedding-related events were on the Lower East Side, but if we had been up on a more general visit, the LES is not particularly accessible to the rest of the city.

The bathrooms were nice, and I didn't have a problem with the glass shower. Walls are thin - I felt bad for our neighbors when the baby woke up at 5 in the morning - and windows are not sound-proofed, which has the potential to be an issue since the hotel is directly on Houston.

Hotel not too easy to find, cab driver had no idea and eventually dropped us off on the wrong side of road. Have you ever tried to negotiate 6 lanes in rush hour!! Anyway got there.

Check-in was friendly and quick although the receptionist initially could not tell that we had prepaid for our room. Porterage was available if required, thank god for for cases with wheels!

The twin room we booked was small, very small. barely enough room for 2 adults let alone our cases. But the room was clean and modern and we were not going to spend a huge amount of time there anyway so it was adequate.

Breakfast in the basement is simple coffee/tea, juice, ceral and pastries. All very nice and self service, there is also internet access however the speed is painfully slow!

The roof terrace was brilliant really good views over the city including Empire State. You must see at at night excellent!!

Definatley recommend this place as a base to see New York (underground just around the corner), if however you want to spend longer in your room i'm afraid you may need to look further.

The size of the rooms are expected to be small. The problems and how they are addressed become a bigger issue.

To get it out of the way, the number one complaint my wife has was the translucent wall between the bedroom and the bathroom, with the toilet next to the this. The image of whomever is on the throne shows through to the bedroom.

The room we were initally give was appointed well enough to suit our needs, and fulfilled my request to be away from the noise of Houston St. Unfortunately the thermostat was broken. We initially compained about the blowing heat at 2pm, but returned at 7pm to find it still a problem, and the room at about 85 degrees F.

Since we had dinner reservations, we made a mad scramble to move to the room that they now furnished us with, now that they conceeded that the thermostat couldn't be addressed. Unfortunately, this new room was smaller, faced Houston St. and had the stairwell outside the door, which conveyed all the hallway's noise easily into the room.

They did adjust our rate to reflect the small room size, but I think if they had tried to make a change 5 hours before, perhaps we could have been better accommodated.

The final issue was on our day of departure. We checked our bags with the desk, so we could spend the afternoon in the area before leaving for the airport. We returned 15 minutes before our car was due to arrive, but the hotel could not locate our luggage. 30 minutes later, after phone calls to the staff that was on duty but no longer there, and extensive searches, which included both rooms, various closets, and their storage areas, they found our bags, and we escaped.

This hotel is a nice discount over the area's other boutique hotels, but if you want to stay in that area for those rates, I would go with the Hojo on the next block first. Otherwise, pay the premium for the quality.

When I booked my stay I was told I would be in one of the nicest rooms on the 6th floor. I don't doubt that I did get that room but c'mon. I will not waste time on the room size since we all know that we will be getting a queen bed, two nightstands, and a desk into a 11x13 room, along with your luggage with no problem. The problems I had were with the 'newness' of this place. First, the A/C would randomly belch out a roaring noise that would rattle the windows surrounding the bathroom. And not for just a second, this would go on for minutes, shaking the walls of the bathroom until I shut it off. Next, you can tell they opened on a tight schedule. In my room alone the thermostat did not even cover the wall outlet it was installed over and there were random swipes around the room where someone touched up the flat paint with gloss instead.
Lastly, I was willing to put up will all of the rest until I stepped in only to be accosted by a so-called security guard that may have not been intoxicated, but sure sounded like it. Apparently, Guys with winter caps and back packs are a real problem on the Lower East Side. The problem is when you jump on them on their way to pay $1k for a bed that sits 12 inches off the floor they tend to get ill. If this happens to you , don't bother leaving a note or one of those 'rate us' cards from the room because they don't answer those either.