Cheap(er) NYC hotels

Updated: January 26, 2010

Quite frankly, it seems that cheap hotels are a thing of the distant past. While to compile such a list would be a major task, if not impossible, here's an initial list of recommendations from friends through the years. I hope to get more hints as time goes by.

Worth exploring based on location (my research) [I don't know anyone who's stayed there]:

Hotel Wolcott (4 West 31st St.) [I visited the lobby, which is beautiful. Hotel is two blocks South from the Empire State Building]
Clarion Hotel Park Ave. (429 Park Ave. South)
The Hotel Chelsea (222 West 23rd St.) [The famous Chelsea Hotel]
The Inn on 23rd (131 West 23rd St.)
414 Hotel (414 West 46th St.) [Hell's Kitchen]

Opened in 2009
Holiday Inn L.I. City-Manhattan View (39-05 29th Street, Long Island City --- 2 subway stops from Bloomingdale's)
The Jane (113 Jane Street) [West Village]
Desmond Tutu Center (180 Tenth Ave.) [Chelsea, bet. 20th/21st]

Friends have stayed at:
The St. James (109 West 45th St.) [Times Square]
The Gershwin (7 East 27th St.) [5th Ave.]
The Pod Hotel (230 East 51st St.) [Midtown] [formerly the Pickwick Arms Hotel]
Pennsylvania Hotel (401 7th Ave.) [Madison Sq. Garden, Penn Station]
Edison Hotel (228 West 47th St. [Times Square]
The Roosevelt Hotel (Madison at 45th St.)
Hotel 17 (225 East 17th St.) [Gramercy Park]
Leo House (Catholic Guest House) (332 West 23rd St.) [Chelsea]
The New Yorker Hotel (481 Eighth Ave.) [Madison Sq. Garden, Penn Station]
Beacon Hotel (Broadway and West 75th St.) [Upper West Side]
Econo Lodge Times Square (302 West 47th Street) [formerly Sherman Hotel]
Milford Plaza (700 Eighth Ave., nr. 45th Street)