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Hunting for an inexpensive hotel in New York is an eye-opening experience. It's not that there's a shortage of them any more. With the arrival in the past few years of outposts of low-cost chain hotels there are now some very good deals around - spotless rooms with good amenities in central locations for just over pounds 90 a night. The recent conversion of a number of big old SROs - "single- resident occupancy" blocks - into budget "boutique" hotels (smart lobby, good sheets and towels, hutch-like room) has also added to the stock of decent affordable rooms. Nevertheless, you won't believe just how many ghastly places there are until you start looking.
A hotel might look OK in the brochures and sound OK in the guides - but reality can come as a shock. The Westpark, on Columbus Circle at 59th Street, for instance, for years one of the best inexpensive places to stay, is having its view of Central Park obliterated and its peace ruined as the giant One Columbus Circle is constructed across the street.
A few blocks north, Riverside Towers, recommended by several guides as "one of the only hotels on the Hudson River", and on a peaceful, tree-lined street, is that - but the walls of its shabby little rooms seem to seep such defeat that even a single night here could sap your will to live.
So - where to stay? The surprise is that the chains often offer a markedly better deal than the independent or small-group hotels, but then most of their properties are in busy areas. The lesson is not to be taken in by a chic lobby: it can lead to a micro-room. Midtown has most of the best bargain hotels, well placed for big department stores such as Macy's, the Empire State Building, Radio City and the shops of Fifth Avenue, but the streets are crowded and noisy. Downtown is often quieter, but feels soulless in some areas, and has few hotels, inexpensive or otherwise.
In between Central Park and Riverside Park, the Upper West Side is probably the best area to stay. Lively, clean and safe, it is home to excellent shops, plenty of diners, cafes and restaurants, the great Zabar's deli,...