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Reviews of Manhattan Bowery Lodge - Hostel

2 out of 5
Manhattan Bowery Lodge - Hostel
81 Bowery, 2nd Floor, New York, NY

Reviews

6.0
Rating 10 - Excellent. 18 out of 98 reviews" "
Rating 8 - Good. 22 out of 98 reviews" "
Rating 6 - Okay. 18 out of 98 reviews" "
Rating 4 - Poor. 18 out of 98 reviews" "
Rating 2 - Terrible. 22 out of 98 reviews" "

6.2/10

Cleanliness

6.4/10

Staff & service

6.2/10

Amenities

5.4/10

Property conditions & facilities

6.8/10

Eco-friendliness

Reviews

10/10 Excellent

Ben

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Nice people in a great location. Cannot beat the price.
Stayed 4 nights in Mar 2024

8/10 Good

Mattéo

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Cheap, clean enough. Very small but sometimes you just need a bed in a room, and a shared bathroom
Stayed 3 nights in Mar 2024

4/10 Poor

Mehdi yassine

Disliked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2024

8/10 Good

Raul

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
It was good overall!
Stayed 3 nights in Feb 2024

6/10 Okay

David

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Good transport links. Central to where we needed to be
Stayed 4 nights in Dec 2023

6/10 Okay

Bernadette

Liked: Staff & service
It’s close to the wet market so there’s a lot of trash.
Stayed 3 nights in Nov 2023

10/10 Excellent

John

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Lady at the office was very helpful and kind to me throughout my stay!
Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2023

6/10 Okay

DESIRAE

Travelled with group
Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Get what you pay for
Photos are deceiving. Very nice people who work there but extremely out dated and bed was plywood! No cushion at all! Hard! Bathrooms were dirty. Not sure how often they are cleaned since we share it could be other customers but dirty! Hairs and towels left. I wouldn’t stay there again. Good location but not worth the hard bed and dirty restrooms.
Stayed 3 nights in Aug 2023

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Good deal
It wasn't much, but it was what was I expected. Clean bathrooms, room was good, so it was a decent inexpensive place to stay in NYC.
Stayed 2 nights in Jul 2023

10/10 Excellent

Aaron

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
This is hands down the best value to stay in the NYC area. This is less of a traditonal hotel and more of a place to crash in between adventures. The room we stayed in was roughly 8x6 and had a small night stand, bed, light and outlet. The single rooms share one of four shared baths, which were always clean and had no wait to use. The larger bunk bed style rooms have thier own bathrooms. The rooms are close together so you can hear other rooms' at some times but it wasnt disruptive. There is a microwave in the lobby and free coffee and tea avaliable. We had limited interactions with the staff but they were friendly and had a little bit of a language gap. This property is located in Chinatown, just a short walk from markets, a great park amazing food and subway transportation. For less that $100 a night, it would be hard to beat.
Stayed 4 nights in Jun 2023

10/10 Excellent

Teonna

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
The staff was really helpful and nice.
Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2023

2/10 Terrible

Aniket

Travelled with family
Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Terrible! No ventilation. Very small room.
Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2023

8/10 Good

Vira

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
The best was location, Manhattan bridge just around the corner and MTA stop 3 min walk. It's clean and the price is right
Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2023

8/10 Good

Hayden

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities

10/10 Excellent

Mauricio

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Disliked: Room comfort
Estadía en Boward lodge
Muy limpio. Exelente el personal. Baños impecables.
Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2022

2/10 Terrible

Ruubesh

Disliked: Staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 3 nights in Sep 2022

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Very basic room in budget Chinatown.
Room is quite small, double bed & table, but it is NYC and well situated in budget Chinatown. Walls are thin. Grand subway is about 3 blocks away. 4 separate toilet rooms with shower. Very clean. Looked after multiple times per day. Free coffee and tea and use of microwave. Staff very friendly. Sign @ reception. "Cash only." They did take credit card, after adding 3% to bill.
Stayed 3 nights in Aug 2022

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Overall, this is a good place for the money! Location is the best part about it. It’s close to the subway and you can get anywhere in the city very easily. Don’t look for luxury, just a basic room with just enough space for a couple of pieces of luggage and a bed. I would stay here again!
Stayed 5 nights in Jul 2022

4/10 Poor

Amineh

Travelled with family
Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Experience
The hotels once you walk in smells horrible all I could smell was weed and cigarettes and alcohol the stares are really dirty. Once we get to our room it is so tiny rooms the mattress aren’t horrible but at night there was so much noise and load talking voices coming from the other rooms the walls are so thin you can hear anything they talk about. The hotels place is pretty good located in Chinatown and kind of near most stuff.
Stayed 2 nights in Jul 2022

10/10 Excellent

Anupma

Travelled with family
Liked: Staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Cheapest in the whole of NYC. Middle of chinatown. Easy access to subway, food n coffee
Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2022

8/10 Good

elisabeth

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
Chinatown Digs
We had a wonderful trip and this hostel was very well located for what we wanted to do. It could use fresh paint and new furniture for sure but.. it was clean, friendly and safe.
Here is a pic of our room .. no window, bed and night table hooks on back of door shared bathroom. There are four of them. Coffee, microwave and they sell bottles of water and cup o noodles for a buck at the front desk. Good for a night or two.
Stayed 3 nights in Dec 2021

8/10 Good

Kimberly

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
It was exactly like advertised. Small Room with bunk beds. Room was clean, bathrooms were clean and staff was helpful. Will def stay here again. Location great for wanting to be in Chinatown/ Little Italy area
Stayed 2 nights in Dec 2021

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Location
Stayed 2 nights in Aug 2021

2/10 Terrible

No

Business traveller
Disliked: Staff & service, amenities
It was a tiny room no TVs,and they offered towels no rags. Worst ever they have bedbugs!! If it wasn’t freezing I wouldn’t check in. I was disappointed never again!
Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2020

4/10 Poor

Verified traveller

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
I did not expect to much, but at least a window in my room would be nice.Also there is nowhere mentioned, that bathrooms are shared. I would not book this property knowing these two things. And if there are no windows, I would expect air cond to work as advertised. Cannot really imagine sleep in during summer time.
Stayed 5 nights in Dec 2019

2/10 Terrible

Verified traveller

Travelled with family and small children
Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
They canceled my reservation when i went for checking in
Stayed 3 nights in Oct 2019

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Very creaky bed..any movement - creak..room no.209. room square - 4m2. 4 separate restrooms 🚻. Low expectations - the key to happiness.
Stayed 3 nights in Aug 2019

2/10 Terrible

Omolara

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Manhattan Bowery Lodge: A place not to stay
The hotel was a big disappointment. They are dishonest. They removed some amount from my account after promising that payment will be done on site and that the credit card information they collected from me was just for security purposes. There was nothing to suggest during the booking process that any deposit was required. It was after I called to complain that they debited my account of that they said it was deposit for the rooms. Outside was dirty with lots of cigarette stumps and beer corks littering it. There was no elevator and the place reeked of alcohol and tobacco. The environment did not appear safe. There was no hotel staff or valet to welcome guests or help with luggage. I and my friends did not stay for a day. The place didn't feel clean, hospitable or safe enough for us. Manhattan Bowery lodge should not be allowed to advertise on hotels.com again. The hotel is not what they claim to be. I suspect they debited my account because they know we wouldn't want to stay after arriving and seeing how horrible the place and the surrounding is. They are fraudsters.
Stayed 5 nights in Jul 2019

4/10 Poor

Man

Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Glad I was gone
The room is tiny. It has the bare necessities if you just want a place to sleep at night. The beds feel dusty. I got terrible allergy from the air in the room. The walls are thin so we heard people walking in the hallways, toilet flushing in the communal bathrooms at night. Additionally, during check-in the guy told us to pay in cash, which was not conveyed to us before we booked.
Stayed 2 nights in Jun 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 2 nights in Jun 2019

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Travelled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Staff was very friendly. Hotel served its purpose for the low price that was paid. Really would have liked for the rooms to be bigger, literally no turn around space.
Stayed 2 nights in Jun 2019

10/10 Excellent

Nicole

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Best hotel experience in NYC :-)
We really enjoyed our stay at Courtyard. We were granted an early check-in and the front desk was very friendly towards us. The room space was perfect with a street view and the coffee machine in the room was a bonus for me!
Stayed 2 nights in May 2019

2/10 Terrible

Verified traveller

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 2 nights in May 2019

4/10 Poor

Verified traveller

Business traveller
Disliked: Cleanliness
My main complaint is that the room smelled terrible.
Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2019

4/10 Poor

M

Travelled with partner
Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
The good: Very nice staff! Very kind and considerate. Doing their best. Shampoo, body wash and toothpaste in most bathrooms. Enough bathrooms for everyone. The bad: you can hear every person in the lodge shift even a little bit in their bed. Not as in you can hear when there’s tossing and turning, but if they shift they’re weight. Given that there are many rooms and many people it is inevitable that some individuals might risk more intimate affairs,I’m pretty sure you can see where I am going with this. Tl;dr An affordable stay, but bring headphones.
Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2019

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Well placed in Manhattan, although for the low price the room walls had holes in and the walls were incredibly thin. It was stated on hotels.com that there was daily housekeeping, unaware exactly what this would mean we found that we got no housekeeping in our room. Overall for the purpose of our trip we enjoyed our stay and for the price would consider staying here again knowing now what to expect.
Stayed 3 nights in Nov 2018

4/10 Poor

Verified traveller

Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Good location in Chinatown. Low Price. Tiny room. Open ceiling, so you can hear every noise in your room, so don't expect to get much sleep. Good for budget traveler.
Stayed 3 nights in Aug 2018

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Pay for what you get.
We got what was paid for. It was cheap, cheap is what we got. No Air Conditioning, small room, doesn't take much to break noise limits. Unpleasant location. I don't plan on staying there again on my next visit, but it certainly was an experience I do not regret.
Stayed 2 nights in Aug 2018

2/10 Terrible

Rax, Newyork

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Find other hotels..its cheap but not worthful to stay here
Stayed 2 nights in Aug 2018

2/10 Terrible

joan, NY

Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Hotel in Chinatown NY as 1000 hotels in that area
Room super small , just place for bed even no place for the suitcase! ... No window. Bathrooms in corridor, correct and clean.
Stayed 3 nights in Aug 2018

2/10 Terrible

Samuel

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 4 nights in Jul 2018

8/10 Good

Katri

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service
A good place for budget travelers
We stayed for three nights and had a very good experience. The staff members do not speak very much English but they were nice and we were able to communicate without major misunderstandings. Our room was very small but it was okay as we mostly just slept at the hostel. The room we stayed in was clean and air conditioned. The walls are thin and you can hear everything from the rooms next to yours. If you can't handle that you shouldn't stay here. All the guests did their best to be quiet and to not disturb others though. There is not really a kitchen at the hostel but they do have a microwave, a coffee maker, hot water, and tea. They also provide towels upon arrival and there were shampoos and soaps in the bathrooms. The location is good. The hostel is in Chinatown, so it's surrounded by Asian restaurants and grocery stores. The grocery stores closed pretty early though. Maybe at 8 or 9 pm. Getting around was easy. Grand St. subway station is just 5 minutes' walk from the hostel. Overall, we had a nice time at Manhattan Bowery Lodge.
Stayed 3 nights in Aug 2018

2/10 Terrible

Hugo

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Never again
the room was really little and noisy and didnt have any window, the person who was at the reception at night does not speak English, the hotel even was in a good point in general, was so far from the train station, and not close place to eat, what bother us most was the space, very uncomfortable, room, it was tiny and they charge me for the reservation, but I found out until I come back home, to make the claim is hard because they dont answer the phone, in general very bad experience.
Stayed 3 nights in Jun 2018

10/10 Excellent

Mary-Margaret

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
FABULOUS BASICS, 'Twas all I needed
I LOVE THIS PLACE. IT'S CLEAN, SAFE, AND WONDERFULLY CHEAP. They gave me an extra pillow and towels. There was more than one shared shower on the floor, so it was always available whenever I needed.
Stayed 4 nights in Jun 2018

2/10 Terrible

Verified traveller

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
It is too small, which can’t store luggage
The room is too small , there is no space to put the luggage. Only one bed and bedside. Therefore we could not stay. But the staff did not refund the payment.
Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2018

10/10 Excellent

Feliks

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 3 nights in Mar 2018

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Chip but voice can be heard so easily
Stayed 3 nights in Mar 2018

6/10 Okay

Ross, Edinburgh, Scotland

Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
Fantastic value for money for staying in NYC.
This hostel is fantastic value for money considering it’s in Manhattan. This is only a place to rest your head and shower whilst touring NYC. Don’t expect much more. I would stay here again. In-Depth Review: The rating I’ve given is based on what I was actually expecting considering the low cost and the reviews I had read (not normal hotel standards) Room Size: Very Small I was braced for “smaller than expected”, however we were met with what can only be described as a shoe box. This didn’t bother us. It had a bed (which was of reasonable comfort) and that’s all we needed. Cleanliness: Adequate at best It was hard to tell how clean the place was at times. The (shared) toilets certainly got wiped down daily and there was nothing major. The floors were covered with crumbs and hairs which raised concerns and made me feel uncomfortable walking barefoot. The bed sheets were clean, but down the side of the mattress was filled with dust and grime. The Bathroom floor-mat was in constant use, so smelled of damp. Noise: Very thin Walls (didn’t pose many problems). Reviews stressed that the walls here were thin. The reason for this... the building was clearly just one room that has been converted for the purpose of the buisiness. The “walls” are MDF boards. Yes, you can hear everything, but most people were curtious. One night someone played RAP music at 3.30am, and some annoying French girls were singing (it wasn’t late), apart from that, it didn’t stop us sleeping.
Stayed 5 nights in Feb 2018

2/10 Terrible

Verified traveller

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Terrible hotel, careful. Bedbugs. Sanitary inspect
Horrible. I was bitten by bedbugs which at first I thought were allergies. Never again. This hostel/lodge should be r3moved from your list.
Stayed 2 nights in Dec 2017

4/10 Poor

Tina, Ithaca, NY

Disliked: Property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Room is a closet, prepare to pay bill in cash
-Was charged $60 of bill upon booking, arrived to the hostel and asked to pay the rest of the $280 in cash -I swore I read there are "in-room bathrooms" but was mistaken, you share 4 washrooms with ~20 other rooms -Our 2-person room was the size of a closet. There was only a hard bed and a nightstand plus one power outlet -The walls are paper thin, be prepared to hear your neighbors and toilet flushing on the OTHER side of the hall -The building isn't well-secured, the main stairwell leading up to the Bowery Lodge Floor is open 24/7 and the Lodge's door is always ajar. The owner is an older man who "watches" until midnight, then replaced by a younger skinny guy who may/may not be adequate security
Stayed 3 nights in Sep 2017