I stayed at this hotel with my boyfriend for four days in July and absolutely loved it. The room was very clean and the beds very comfy, the decor was outdated but it is costly to keep up with current themes. Staff was very helpful and even had our room ready way before the standard check in time. The one flaw was that we had a handicap washroom and thus the floor were always wet after taking a shower. Not noisey at all despite being abovethe subway. Would recommend anyone to stay here!

We loved this hotel! Yes the room is small but it's NYC and we were hardly ever in it - the bed was the MOST comfortable hotel bed I've ever experienced. The hotel is right on Lafeyette near Canal so close to shopping if you so choose, and the subway line is right there. That being said, it is like a clean, quiet oasis in the middle of all the Chinatown chaos. It has a restaurant and workout room, and the front desk is quite helpful. The building is within easy walking distance of Tribeca, Greenwich Village, NYU, and Little Italy. Great stay.

I stayed at Holiday Inn – Downtown/Soho from 19th May to 21st May 2008. I should mention that I have spent a substantial amount of time staying in hotels, with over 200 hotel nights in some years due to my job. I’ve stayed at everything from 2 star motels to 4 star hotels and everything in between.

Check-in was good at the hotel, and the bellman brought up my luggage very quickly. My room was listed on the Holiday Inn website as an Executive Room, which I thought would provide me with a larger size room and that it would be located on the executive floor. Wrong. It was a fairly small room, and not located on the Club floor as Holiday Inn calls their Executive floor.

There is no in room safe, no mini bar and 2 exceptionally small drawers to store anything. The closet space was laughable, a 3 foot area beside one of the double beds that can only be reached by a narrow space beside the bed - I usually do unpack and hang items in hotels, and for the first time ever, I didn't bother in this hotel due to the lousy access.

The noise from the street was clearly audible, even though I was on the 10th floor (the hotel has 14 floors) and the window was closed (it doesn’t open). So it seems there isn't any soundproofing. I've stayed at many hotels in city centres and never had the massive street noise that I had at this Holiday Inn.

And the constant rumbling from the subway below the building was annoying too – and yes, the floor in my 10th floor room shook each time the subway passed by.

The blackout blinds were too short to cover the window, so the bright sun shone into the room very early each morning.

The bed was ok, though short for a double bed (I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone over 5’10”). There is a small coffee machine which I didn't use (as in the lobby, you can get coffee with unlimited refills which you can bring to your room for US$ 3.79).

The wireless internet connection was terrible - I was able to stay connected for about 5 minutes before it would cut out, and the only thing that seemed to work was rebooting my laptop - so not a great solution. One of the main criteria for me in choosing this hotel was that they had internet access, so this poor service was unacceptable. I spoke with the front desk, and they had one of their engineers restart the router on my floor, and that time, I was able to connect and stay connected for 10 minutes. But afterwards, the same situation happened with very poor connections. I would not recommend anyone travelling for business to stay at this hotel.

I had the breakfast buffet one morning, and it was ok, offering basic items, though as with most hotels, overpriced for what you get – you’re much better off going to a restaurant outside the hotel.

The location is ok if you want to be in Little Italy or Chinatown. But if you’re planning to see a number of Broadway shows, then this location isn’t great as the theatre district and Times Square are several stops away using the subway, and it’s definitely not within walking distance as it’s over 50 street blocks away.

If you are planning to stay for a day or two in New York, and if you feel the need to be near Little Italy and Chinatown, and don’t need internet access, this hotel is ok, but not great. If you want a good hotel with excellent value or if you're coming to New York for a longer stay, I would highly recommend the Hampton Inn - Times Square North instead as it’s cheaper, better located and much higher quality of room and services.

All in all, I won't be returning to this hotel.

Due to a flight problem, I booked one room at Holiday Inn Downtown at past midnight mid June. Indeed, the hotel should rather be named Chinatown. Fairly easy to find, close to Canal St station and to walk from the metro elevator. The desk staff and the security guard were very kind and warm welcoming, even I arrived at 2am.
I was upgraded to an executive room (the #12 ones) on the corner of Hoaward & Lafayette St. But the room (6th floor) was very noisy due to cars, lorryes and vans passing around in Howard, Lafayette and Broadway. Even worse, the air cond. are fairly old (inside engines on 2 windows) and made a very loud noise. Either you stop them and sweat, either you let them run but could not sleep in both cases. Curtains do not close completely so you got light inside early morning.
The buffet breakfast was good but not great for 25$ (tax & service incl.).
The overall price I paid was good (due to my corporate rate) but it was not worth the bargain due to the noise. Maybe executive rooms in the higher floors are better. But, I will never test it again.
ps : I noticed many high standard european hotel chains offer lower quality level in USA (Holiday Inn, Radisson)