Review of the Broadway Hotel and Hostel in NYC

Broadway Hotel & Hostel in NYC.

After our pleasant stay at 40 Berkeley hostel in Boston, my daughter and I were hopeful at the prospect of our second U.S. hostel experience at the Broadway Hotel and Hostel in New York City.  My teenager wasn't too concerned about the condition of the Broadway, however, because after only one night there she was off to the fancy-shmancy Hilton Midtown to spend the rest of the week with her high school chamber orchestra group.  I, on the other hand, was a little bit nervous about my husband's reaction to a potentially less than high-quality experience, even though he was completely on-board with the $137/night price for lodging in Manhattan!

My husband and 14 year old son had only just joined us on our East Coast trip, and didn't have the same positive pioneering spirit my daughter and I had gained the previous four days battling the cold, braving a shared bathroom, and searching wantonly for the best cannoli.

But it was my 14 year old son who surprised me at the Broadway Hotel as we exited the rickety old elevator and approached our double room down a very narrow, run-down hallway.  He proclaimed the place "a dump."  (Had we spoiled him last summer by staying at the Grand Hyatt in NYC?  I think a mother-son trip is in order, where I teach him the finer art of traveling frugally.)

We were all relieved, however, when I unlocked the door to room 436 and it had been recently renovated.  Fresh paint, clean crisp beds, a brand new flat screen TV, new window blinds, and a virtually unused porcelain pedestal sink in the corner.  Our private bathroom was not attached to our room but rather was directly across the hall and accessed with a key - it was spotlessly brand new.  New shower, sink, toilet, tiling, and fixtures.  Imagine that.  And housekeeping cleaned the bathroom and exchanged our towels every day.  At a hostel!  Throughout our stay I peeked into other guest rooms and they were either already renovated or being renovated and refurnished.  I saw several new beds installed that week.

Okay, there was one oddity about our room, but it's easily remedied.  It had no closet.  Not only that, but not even a single hook on the door or wall - not even a nail - on which to hang anything.  Nowhere to hang our wet coats or our hand towels.  And only one small nightstand on which to place anything.  I like to think the room was so new that they hadn't finished it yet.  I imagine that's so, because I heard another guest in the lobby complain that she had no mirror in her room, for which the receptionist apologized that some mirrors had just arrived that day and they would hang one immediately.

So what were we doing in New York City?  We toured Columbia University, of course, since this was a college scouting trip:

At Columbia University.

But if you would allow me to brag a moment, the ultimate purpose of our trip back East was to watch my daughter and her high school chamber orchestra perform at Carnegie Hall.  It was a memory of a lifetime for everyone.