New York Spirit Retreats — Hotel in New York

overall: nice place, nice people, not ideal for me for several reasons but they're very upfront and honest about those things and willing to work it out. they do care.

staff are quite friendly to people, and became friendly to service dogs once informed of the fees for not doing that. the space isnt falsely advertised but i would say the tight squeeze that is the bathrooms and the bed"rooms" could be specifically warned against. atmosphere was overall pretty calm and quiet, but lots of religious stuff all over the place (which is sort of to be expected but it is there). breakfast was fully featured. some rules are a bit odd or unenforceable to me, like the vegetarian stuff and the no snoring allowed stuff, but they try to be reasonable about them (i was allowed to bring meat products inside in a sealed container that stayed in my room and given nose strips and a sound dampening blanket for possible snoring). quiet time rules are also quite reasonable, i was able to walk in and out at any time and even talk to myself a bit with no bother. the bathrooms are. massively cramped. i could barely cross my arms in the shower and my service dog nearly just didn't fit in the toilet stall. the room was similarly small, though the area under the bed worked perfectly for the dog and thus it wasn't an issue. overall, you should know what you're getting into. and i did. and i had no other option so it worked fine. it was located blocks from the bus stations i used to get to and leave nyc so it was perfectly placed i should specify on the friendliness the staff had towards the dog actually. it wasn't forced or anything out of fear of a fine, they genuinely seemed completely comfortable around the dog and even gave him treats, they just didn't know what the language about service dogs actually meant. if you have a service dog im willing to bet you can describe them as "an ada service animal" and they will get it.

they told me to put the word SUNNY in this review apparently it helps homeless...

They put the hostile in hostel. I’ve never in my life second guessed myself for what I would allegedly do while I was fast asleep. This place claims to be a peaceful retreat but will not only abruptly wake up for snoring but will wake others up for snoring which wakes you up as well. The ceiling in your cell is open. Gee I wonder what would the noise situation would be if the rooms walls were thicker or the ceiling was closed to each room or maybe had a snoring floor where people snore freely and not be shamed or to feel guilty for the things they did while asleep. This place should factor in that maybe snoring is a possibility and this place from its communal atmosphere, late night check in, and loud walk ways, emergency vehicle sirens that can be heard from indoors, that maybe snoring is the least of their worries. They will pound on your door which wakes everyone up to tell you to apply nasal strip to prevent snoring rather than emphasize with guests that when they check in that this is common sleeping area and you may hear and sound throughout the night which you definitely will but snoring should be the least their worries. You can get away with snoring in prison but not at this place. It’s vegetarian so please don’t bring meat in the facility which is fine but I never thought I’d have to apologize for the things I did when I was sleeping. Signs signs signs be on the lookout for hundreds of signs everywhere for everything besides proper expectations setting. It’s not welcoming the staff isn’t welcoming and have fun of the staff making you feel shame for seemingly snoring on purpose. Affordable and somewhat clean. You can live with being gaslit and accused of being a bad guy for the crimes you committed while asleep this place is for you. If you’re going to police snoring what will you police next? You should reward people for actually being able to sleep here not shaming...

Due to a last minute change in my plans, I needed to find a place to sleep the same night. since I was near Penn station, this hostel was very convenient. I was aware of all the quirks about staying here, such as tiny tiny rooms, shared baths, etc., which made me hesitant, but I decided to book anyway, on Airbnb, since truly I only needed a place to sleep.

Four reasons I decided to go with it anyway: I had never stayed in a hostel before, so there was a bit of curiosity here. The price was pretty good: $89 total including all fees for one night. Great location: only 3 blocks away from Penn station. According to their website, staying here helps them run their kitchen for unhoused individuals in NYC, which is great.

Initially it was a little warm -- this was a mid-June evening -- and without a fan, I thought it was going to be uncomfortable. Thankfully, it got cooler later into the evening and it was fine.

The bed was fairly comfortable -- no complaints there.

The main complaint and main reason I give this stay a 3 ⭐ instead of a 4 ⭐ is the noise.

Quiet hours were 9pm - 8am, and guests were good at respecting the policy. There was one person who was snoring loudly -- this was in fact against policy -- and there was loud knocking on some doors, presumably his/her, because it was in fact within their policy that is you snore loudly they will come into your room to wake you 😄

Anyway I don't know what happened but eventually after maybe half an hour, the loud snoring stopped.

However, starting probably around 6:00am or maybe 6:30am, there were frequent loud noises from doors closing, things dropping. These woke me up, and once I was up, I could hear water dripping into buckets, bedsheets pulled and changed, etc. I am quite certain all this was the staff starting to clean / mop rooms as guests left.

Basically they were violating their own policy of quiet...