West Side YMCA- New York City, USA

Address: 5 West 63rd Street, New York City

Website: http://www.ymcanyc.com/reservations

Fazed by the sky high budget room rates and bad reviews, we went with an established name for the first two nights of our stay in New York City. We arrived late, at around 11pm where we were greeted by three people still working at reception. We booked through their website for a twin bunk bed room with shared bathroom facilities for USD$79- A$85 per night (they must have included the tax in their rates) and took the lift to the fifth floor. The hallways stretched long into the distance, mostly quiet and deserted although they must have had many rooms. Our room did indeed consist of a bunk bed, and not much space between it and a table, chair, built in wardrobe and a small cable tv hanging from the ceiling. The whole building is quite old; it must have had thousands of guests through the years but still in ok condition. The shared bathrooms were quite clean, with the ladies' requiring a pin to enter for security reasons- a good idea as hallway traffic was mostly quite low. Unfortunately, they also smelled strongly of gross raw fish for some reason! The showers were in small, narrow cubicles with only a hook on the wall outside for hanging up clothes and towels etc which was quite cumbersome.

There were several computers near the reception area for internet (I think they required payment though) while wi fi was available in their cafe area. It got busy in the early mornings and looked like a nice place to have breakfast and and eat, judging by the decor and the food that the kids were eating. There were many young people and children around as the YMCA must have various sporting facilities, the gym being one which are open to guests to use (but being in NYC- who'd have the time or motivation?!).

Overall, it was a good place to go after getting off the plane late, with it being quite close to Midtown (near Columbus Circle) and the subway station but definitely not good value at around A$85 per night for rooms needing much renovations!

Rating: 5/10