Park 79

I stayed at Park 79 for a night (~$140 in the fall on less busy days). After a long flight from the west coast, braving cold temperatures, and being stuck in awful NYC traffic for an hour and a half after, I arrived at the hotel via Super Shuttle and was immediately welcomed warmly by the front desk. They took my information down, and proceeded to upgrade my room (free of course!) to one with a private bathroom. I was very grateful! I was all ready to share the common bathroom with other residents on the floor, but having a private one just made my night after an exhausting flight.

Like some reviewers have mentioned, the walls are a little thin. I heard my neighbor's TV playing, people chatting while walking to the elevator, and slamming doors. I was fine with this because I was sleepy and tired, but this might not be the best place to stay at for someone who is very sensitive to noise.

The bathroom was very clean, and I loved that there were so many extra towels. The room got a little stuffy and hot, and I didn't know how to lower it. I tried opening the windows too, but had no luck. The heat wasn't bad - I'd rather be super warm than super cold in the winter.

Overall, the staff were nice and helpful. There were extra pillows and towels. I'd say this hotel is a place to stay at for a night or two, but it's definitely not as luxurious as mainstream hotels.

If you want to save money and have time to kill, then take the AirTrain & subway from JFK International Airport to this little hotel on the Upper West Side! It'll cost you $7 and burn two hours of your time. If the hassle isn't worth it, then a cab ($40 flat rate) or airport shuttle (approximately $10 - $15/person, depending on the shuttle) will do.

I opted to go with the first option and it wasn't so bad! I would not recommend taking the subway if you have more than one piece of luggage (like I did), but it CAN be done. ;) Anyways, the subway dumped me right next to the Museum of Natural History. From there, it was roughly a ten minute, BEAUTIFUL walk to the hotel. Seriously, the neighborhood is really nice. There were lots of boutique clothing stores, cafes, and restaurants all within walking distance! Central Park is a thirty minute walk and Midtown West and Hell's Kitchen are also not far.

Park 79 Hotel is located off of 79th & Columbus Ave and sports a blue awning. The entrance is narrow and the lobby is small and unimpressive. The front desk staff are not the friendliest, but hey, it could just be a New York thing? The check-in was easy and my friend and I were given a room on the second floor.

Warning: the elevator is MINISCULE. Easily the smallest elevator I have ever been in. Two little Asian girls, two carry-on suitcases, and a big suitcase barely fit into the ratty old thing. Not to mention it was SUPER slow.

Stepping out into the second floor hallway, I was (once again) unimpressed. The hotel is old and it definitely showed. What stood out to me was the crumbling paint on the molding, ick! Kind of reminded me of an old USC frat house. Wood floors were dirty. When we entered our room, I was slightly shocked to see how small it was. It was long and narrow, the size of a walk-in closet, literally. There was a full-sized bed pushed against the upper right corner, a night stand, and small chest of drawers with an old flat screen TV on top. Opposite the bed was a mirror, a small hand sink with basic toiletries (shampoo, conditioner, bar of body soap, hand soap, shower cap), a rack with hangers, and a pile of clean towels.

My friend and I had decided to give the "semi private" room a try, which means we had a shared bathroom. Overall, it wasn't too bad. The bathroom was just a couple of steps down the hall and I never had to wait to use it, especially after we discovered there was another "public" bathroom across the hall and our room key worked on that one too! The bathroom was (cleverly) made of dark tiles so you probably can't see half the gunk that's caked on the walls, but it felt as clean as a public bathroom will ever be. The toilet didn't flush well and it was clogged at one point, but management fixed it quickly.

Four things I'd recommend a first timer bringing if they were to stay at this hotel:
-Slippers
-Body wash
-Bath robe
-Toiletry caddy

The bed seemed hard at first, but it was actually pretty comfortable. The pillows were sufficient and the comforter was warm. The temperature in the room was just right, the walls were thick enough where I didn't hear my neighbors, and the street noise from the window facing the street was low. One thing that did annoy me, however, was that the free wi-fi didn't work in my room! When I brought it up to the front desk, they said that the wi-fi "didn't work well in the shared rooms." The lobby's signal was also weak: one bar. Ugh.

Overall, Park 79 is the place for you if you're looking for a economical hotel in a great and safe location without any frills. At $164/night for two people, it was the cheapest hotel around town. Highly recommended for low-maintenance travelers who'll be too busy exploring the city to stay in their room.

Stayed here for my week long trip to New York City this time around. Pretty nice hotel although the single bedrooms are a bit less roomy than the double bed rooms. There was a mix-up because we had reservations for one one-bed room and one two-bed room, but that was fixed the next day. The bathroom seemed cramped too, but it wasn't too annoying. No tables or seats in any rooms so you literally just use your bed as a seat and a desk. The staff was friendly and always greeted people coming in and out of the hotel. There was a doorman almost at all times opening the door for you. It's not bad for a hotel located in the upper-Manhattan area and is located near bus stops and a subway station so it's easy to go to spots around New York City from this hotel. You could also flag down a taxi too if you want.

One of the best hotels in Upper West Side.

Park 79 Hotel is a remarkable place to stay in with a family or as a couple.

Convenient! No other words describe that spot, great value for the money.

The staff at the Park 79 is kind and helpful, nice people and service. My room had a Queen sized bed, and quite a large bathroom. Comfortable bed with plenty of pillows.

An instant favorite. I plan on coming back here!

Stayed here for 5 nights. Bottom line is that this hotel is a dump---- in a great location. The room had a enticing aroma redolent of a mixture of urine, perspiration, mildew and chlorine. The towels were clean but reeked of chlorine bleach and had been washed so many times that they were as thin and luxuriant as a piece of 80 grit sandpaper.

The nicest touch was the plastic cover on the mattress. Nothing says classy joint like expecting your guests to leave bodily fluids on the bedding. Yucky.

We got a deluxe king room which did indeed have a king-sized bed. However, the bathroom had a structural column right in the middle. This hindered use of both toilet and shower. You gotta be a circle d'soliel performer to use them. Plus, the pillar in the middle of the bathroom gave the extra bonus of smacking your head into it when using the bathroom in the middle of the night.

If this wasn't Manhattan, this is the kind of room they'd have to pay YOU to stay in. It would be fine for $60 at a Days Inn. But, the great upper west side location cost us $360/ night for the privilege.

I chose this hotel through priceline.com. I chose it based on location and rate. I paid $200 per room per night. Located on the west side of Central park and around the corner from the Museum of natural history.
I was pleased as could be that when I arrived I liked it immediately. The entrance is beautiful and well kept. (I spent several nights on these steps talking with my mom and friends)The doorman, house keepers and the front desk all took a pleasant and efficient manner checking us in. The rooms were sharp, clean and comfortable. It is an older hotel and the only thing I can find fault with is the elevator. It's too slow. Luckily I was on the third floor and I walked. So when checking in see if you can be on the lower floors.
I will gladly stay here again. This hotel and it's staff do take ownership of this operation.

Staying here for 4 nights, tonight is my last night -
Good things:
- even though I'm in a room without a bathroom, there's never been any issues using the shared bathrooms and they seem clean enough.
- my room has good working AC, is very clean, my bed is super comfortable, very pleased to find an iron and a hairdryer in my room
- location is amazing for the price - literally right next to the history museum and Central Park, less than a half hour walk to Times Square too!

Bad things:
- the worst thing about this hotel is the walls are SO THIN. All week I've had issues with this, from being able to hear exactly what people are watching on their TVs, to hearing a baby crying down the hall, to the man in the room next to me right now, who is having a conversation on the phone at a perfectly normal volume but it sounds like he might as well be in the room with me. Luckily there hasn't been a noise problem later than 1am while I've been here and, apart from tomorrow morning, I haven't needed to be awake early for anything.

If one of your top priorities for your hotel in New York is a quiet room, don't even consider booking to stay here. However, if noise doesn't bother you, and if you don't mind the slowest elevator in the world, go ahead! Everything else is fine.

Overall this hotel was pretty good. I went to NYC on a whim and found this hotel for only $69 a night, mid feb.

Staff was nice, room was mediocre. Very small room, shared bathroom. I wasn't so keen on this, however I was really only there to sleep so I didn't mind. Very comfy bed! And to be honest, I never saw another person using the bathroom so it felt like my own.

Room was kind of outdated. But not a big deal.

The one thing I had an issue with, is not having an air conditioner or being able to turn down the heat in the room. Yes it was very cold outside in mid February , but the heat was on full blast, and in that tiny room it got SO hot that I was sweating. I called down to the front desk and they told me there was no way to turn the heat down or off, they told me just to open a window. So that was a little weird to me.

This has been an interesting visit to Park 79 hotel. We stayed for four nights just after Thanksgiving 2015 for $107/night.

Staff:
When we checked in the desk agent stated we wouldn't be able to fit 3 adults in our room and we had incorrectly reserved the room. We used Expedia and have a no refund clause in the contract. He wouldn't upgrade or alter the reservation. The only option would have been to reserve another room.

After sharing a double size bed for one night, I had requested a room with two twins instead from the morning desk agent. The morning desk agent obliged with a smile and didn't charge for the change. Score!

Cleanliness:
This is an aging hotel inside and the cleanliness of the room looked decent from initial appearance, but I found fresh bed bug bites after a night of rest from both rooms.

I noticed on one mattress they put a bug/urine cover on the mattress which sounds like a trash bag crinkling when you change position.

Botched my family's reservation, then tried to charge $20 extra for the wrong room. The desk clerk was sullen and unhelpful.

There are a lot of hotels in New York that understand customer service.

Stay at one.