Pod 51 — Hotel in New York

My girlfriend and I stayed here on vacation in a queen-bed room (which means we had a private bathroom). The hotel is situated in a very safe area with lots of foot traffic, and we felt perfectly safe even walking around past midnight. The wifi is slow but it is free (and the password uses the address of the hotel, so I would bet good money that it never changes).

The rooms are small, but it's par for the course in this price range. The cleaning staff were great and a pleasure to interact with. The front desk staff are also nice (they let me use one of their newspapers as a fly swatter), though the line can get long since they're understaffed.

The lamps in our hotel room need some TLC from the maintenance crew; the lamps just pointed downwards, the mount was too worn down to maintain holding it at any position besides straight down (see pictures).

The private bathroom in our room had a bit of an odd layout (see pictures). You can see that the sliding door does not close entirely because of some barrier they put in place to prevent people from slamming it against the wooden backboard. And while the door uses frosted glass for privacy, there's a window right next to the sink that isn't frosted - the privacy only applies if the person outside the bathroom is looking at the door! If they look at the window right next to the door, they have a perfect view of you on the toilet! Who thought this was a good idea??? The position of the toilet in the bathroom is also less than ideal, as it makes it difficult to get through to the shower. Not that they have a ton of room to work with, but I feel like they could have used the space a bit more efficiently by adjusting the angle of the toilet. The shower was larger than you might expect, given the dimensions of the rest of the bathroom (it's actually larger than the showers in the dorms I lived in during undergrad) - two people can shower together without too much compromise. And it comes with pump bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash - not those awful mini-bottles you get at other places where you have to squeeze them for a solid minute to get anything out.

The AC does a very good job at keeping the room cool, and I would absolutely stay here again, despite my complaints. I highly recommend this place. If you go any cheaper than this hotel's price range, you start getting into hotels that have poor reputations, safety concerns, are far away from transit (or are outside Manhattan), etc. This hotel is THE hotel for anyone who isn't rich, in my opinion - it's got a great location, great staff, and great rooms at a reasonable price. What more can you ask for?

Also, they have an amusing sign on the bedroom doors (see pictures)....

I have stayed at pod 51 for 19 days.. The staff-sweet and helpful depending on who is there if that’s in the lobby, the cafe or at the front desk. The lobby- cute and open. I loved that there was a long table to study and work at with a charger in the middle down the whole table. The lobby is spacious with a coffee bar that is open till 1pm. They also have a garden with a patio. Hotel room-very small but that’s okay I understand it’s New York. They only give you 2 sheets for your bed. I didn’t have a blanket that’s any thicker. I didn’t love that. If the ac is not on then it’s 75 in the room. So you’re hot or freezing- no In between. I was very frustrated that there are 2 bathrooms for the entire floor. They provide shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. There are no towels to dry your hands in the bathroom.(so just remember to bring your towel-just annoying) I didn’t love that I had to share the bathroom with the whole floor bc everyone would leave the bathroom like it’s there own(leaving towels, not flushing, making a mess in the shower) it’s not the staffs fault bc they can only go in there so many times to clean it. Hotel WiFi works great just remember the password bc your laptop will keep asking for it. Hotel room card-I had to come down and have them reset it 10 times. The first couple times I thought it was bc I held it with my phone in my hand But after making conscious effort to not have it touch my phone I knew it wasn’t me. That really annoyed me and the staff didn’t know why it was doing that either. Blamed me multiple times which I did not appreciate. The cleaning staff do not take in consideration that some people want to sleep in banging the vacuum on the door drove me crazy. I came in at 6 pm for the day after leaving at 7:30 am and whoever was cleaning was in there. I waited in the lobby for half an hour before going up again to discover she was still on there. So I think she just started when I went up the first time. This hotel is very very noisy even at 2 or 3 in the morning with people coming home, shouting and slamming doors. The elevator takes a year and a half to arrive so plan at least 5 min to stand waiting for the elevator if you’re an on time person😅 The location is perfect. It is next to a train station. The rooftop deck is absolutely stunning view!

All in all, if you don’t plan on spending much time in your hotel. This hotel will work. I wouldn’t suggest staying here as...

Interesting place.

Let's see...

When choosing a hotel, do you need:

Luxury furnishing Doorman Laundry Service Room Service Housekeeping Bar and onsite restaurant Stocked Minibar Luxurious bathroom Comfortable beds Fine flooring and or carpeting in your room Valet Parking Turndown service Current and modern design in rooms and common spaces First rate gyms/locker rooms/spa services 24 hour bellman Great views Modern and unique building High staff to guest ratio

If so, then this IS NOT your place.

The pod is a unique idea. You have probably heard people say things like "I don't need a fancy (expense) hotel, I just need a place to sleep." Well for those people, be careful what you ask for, because you might end up here. It is cheap, I will give you that!

See, this is one common mistake that A LOT of tourists make. Most tourists don't understand how tired they will be at the end of the day, and how much they will appreciate a place to rest and relax. A good hotel room (suite) will do that. Those types of rooms have comfortable sofas, chairs and public spaces where you can relax and kick back after a full day of tourist stuff.

Not the Pod...

The "PODS" they refer to are literally , Pods. I mean rooms that are roughly 7' x 12' in size. For that you get a single bed, a sink, cheap desk and even cheaper chair. There are 4 bathrooms on each floor for you to use.

Imagine, waking up in the middle of the night to go use the restroom and remembering that you now have to get dressed and walk down the hall to use a bathroom. Oh yea,,,, and don't forget your key at 3 AM...

Seriously though, I have stayed here plenty of times and didn't have a problem with it. I'm not sure why I stayed here other than the novelty of it for some reason. The rooms are clean enough and the bathrooms are fine and adequate. Believe me on this... I'm only staying here if I'm traveling solo. This is not a place conducive to romantic lodging if you catch my drift.

Some rooms have bunks and if you want to spring for it, some rooms have queen beds and .... get this... your own bathroom.

So you have been warned... This place seems to cater to millionaires who like to save money and poor travelers that HAVE to save money.

So no matter what you are, if this sounds like a place that you can handle then give it a shot.

At the very least, the next time you stay at the Four Seasons you will REALLY...