Riverside Inn, New York City

I can only name things I DISLIKE Reservations are lost, like most people indicated here. Dirty, mice in rooms and kitchens, What most people do no realize when on a short trip, they are BEDBUG infested. The worst thing: You don t see those bloodsucking parasites, they are in the materasses, come out only at night to bite you. You have bites like mosquito bites, but these animals ARE A DANGER TO BRING WITH YOU once you leave the hotel! Impossible to get rid of them, some might have read in the NYT that NY s bedbug problem is increasing. People coming from bad hotels like Riverside Inn bring the bedbugs to their new place. another flat infested. And ask exterminators: At the Riverside Inn they are every second week - these animals would stand a nuclear attack. DO NOT GO THERE!!!!DANGEROUS PLACE.

"You get what you pay for" review very accurately describes our stay at the Riverside. Location was fabulous and we had no problems what so ever with our reservation or anything else for that matter. It is pretty well a dump, a little worse than expected but our room was clean enough and I didn't see any vermin. We were out most of the time, just slept there. There are virtually no services available. The building had a lot of character, reminded me of the old "New York" movies I had seen. We had a great time, took lots of pictures and love telling stories about our stay at the Riverside Inn. Definately not for everyone, but I would go back in a flash.

OK, I feel compelled to write a review, because there is one thing all the other posters have forgotten to talk about: the price I can't believe that people paying 1/3rd of a budget hotel price in NYC did NOT expect to end up in a waaaaay below average hotel. You pay 1/3rd the price of a budget hotel, you get 1/3rd the service of a budget hotel I stayed twice 2 weeks at the Riverside Inn, both times during summer months, and I can relate to everything the other posters mentionned. - Yes it's hot and there's no A/C. - Yes it's a bathroom shared for a whole floor and it can get a bit filthy - No there are no toilet paper or towels or soap in the room. - Yes there are students all over the place, that hang out in the corridors, listen to music, etc... - Yes the surroundings are noisy - Yes there are roaches, although I haven't seen any in my rooms, and nowhere near the infestation that the other posters mentioned. But to stay there for 2 weeks (both times), I paid around $450. That's barely over 30 dollars a NIGHT. I'm talking about New York City, inside Manhattan, 2 blocks away from a major subway station, and 1 block away from the Hudson River. What on earth do you think you are getting for that price??? A four star? Get real. This place is inhabited by poor people. There are tons of student with no money that live here all year. There are people with nowhere else to go. It's barely a hotel. To me, it's more like a short term rental apartment. You make your own bed, you bring your own toilet paper, and you have noisy neighbors. So, if you have an open mind, and don't want to blow 3 times as much to stay in what most people would describe as a budget hotel (like the Malibu Hotel, at the corner of Broadway and 103st), then be prepared. - Go to the Riverside Inn to sleep only. Don't plan on resting there all day. You're in NYC, go out and enjoy. - Get to the nearest RiteAid and buy soap, shampoo, toilet paper when you get there. There's one on Broadway near 96th street - Bring towels with you, and bath sandals. - I haven't seen roaches, but I'm sure there are some, since they're EVERYWHERE in Manhattan. Bring some insect killer stuff, or buy some at RiteAid If you do not have a adventurous student mindset, then this hostel isn't for you. You want comfort and coziness, then stay away from that place (and most budget hotels in the upper west side at least, to be honest) But, if you don't mind "camping" for two weeks, and want to save your money for other stuff like my wife and I did, then the Riverside Inn is the best value you can get. Now that I have a kid, I'm not sure I'll go back to the same place, but when we were single, we didn't regret once that we saved about a thousand buck on each trip by living for 2 weeks in a dirty appartment

Avoid at all times - this is a cockroach paradise! Very depressing setting; made a HUGE mistake paying upfront for my whole stay. Shared a bathroom with all people and cockroaches on the same floor.

I am a student and I lived in this hotel for 6 weeks. I saw mice, and many other digusting animals. After this time I went out with two friens,both were students from europe. If you do not like horrible nigths, do not go in this hotel!!!!

We just came back from New York and loved it very much! We stayed for 5 nights in Riverside inn. It was very bad. The girl at the service desk was eating when we checked in, so her collegue had to help us. That was too much afford. No kind people over there... Every day when we came back to the hostel a very bad smell was hanging there. The bedrooms don't have a toilet or shower as you might have read. In the hallway you can find a toilet and a most often dirty shower with hair in the drain. Sure, NY is a big city with a lot of noise, but most of it came out of this hostel. People were yelling and creaming in the hostel at 2 am....and the noise kept on. Nobody told us how or what time to check out and there are no memo's or what so ever so you don't know. When we checked out, the girl tried to make us pay, because we were too late. Since we don't use a credit card, she could'nt charge us. We could pay from the goodness of our hearts but 'she doubted' that. Thanks very much for you're faith! Next door is also a hostel, so if you're trying to book a hostel nearby the theatre dicrict, you should try mount royal.

My doctor has said to me it can be a good thing for me if I tell anyone of my experience... and so it is: You are never alone in your room: every evening at my return I found a "blatta" on my pillow instead of the ordinary candy (note: "blatta" is the italian name of the insect I refer to, I don't know his english name, but if you are interessed you may perform an image search of the term with google). And I wonder how I can forget the peaceful sound of the plastic which envelops my mattres, and the wormy comfort of the 100 degree with no air conditioning. The restroom is a real insects' zoo and the door is always open (even when you think you have closed it). Obviously there is no towel in the room and please don't make me tell you of the toilet paper. Fortunately there was no TV, so I could listen to the insect which tried to climb on my bed (they come out from the walls! they come out from the walls!). That's it... I think.. oh oh oh Just a moment: Have I told you about the insects? Oh sorry I have to go. In conclusion if you love insects, hight temperatures, insects, dirty restroom, insects and insects and if you hate the TV, the air conditioning and the total absence of insects, then this place is made for you.

when I entered the 'hotel' I couldnt believe it...the reception was at 7 ft. height and you could barely see the guy you were talking to. The reception that I got wasnt very welcome...the guy was kind of intimidating and the other woman there was just disinterested. There was cement and sand all over the 'lobby'. There was more shock in waiting for me when I reached my room. The carpet was wet and the room stinky. When I companined to the guy at the front desk, he pleaded helplessness saying he didnt have another room. Some how I managed to persudae him to give me another room even if it was more expensive and finally he gave me another room which was only marginally better. The shower was broken and curtain barely hanging. This was the worst hotel that I have stayed in and I would not recommend it even to my foes.

Like the other reviewer, we made a reservation for a triple room with the manager. When we arrived, we were told there was no reservation. We were supposed to be staying in a triple room with our own bathroom. We were put in a double room as we did not need the triple until a few days later when my brother was arriving. We still had to pay the full price of the double. We had to share a towel between two people as it was the last one they had. The towel looked like a dirty old rag. No soap, barely enough toilet paper, the room barely fit the bed, the heating is a pipe which runs through the room which you can't turn off. The room still had rubbish from the last person in it. When we finally got the triple room, it was in a smoky hallway where long term people stay. We were told we hada non smoking room, so the smoke just set off my asthma. The guy across from us sat in his room in a hospital gown and the guy next to us had been there for 15 years. The triple room was no better. We got rashes which I think were caused by the unsanitary conditions, the toilet seat was not attached to the toilet, the boiler broke, so we couldn't shower, it was disgusting. We tried to speak with Patrick, the manager several times to complain but never heard back from him. The guy in the room next to us didn't want us to stay next to him so he turned up his radio all night so we couldn't sleep. We politely asked him to turn it down at which point he started to threaten us. We made several complaints to the front desk staff and eventually had to flee our room at 5am when he threatened us with a blade. This was made worse when we found out that this man is a known problem and we were put next to him when they knew that he would react like this. We have stayed in some budget hotel but this is the most repulsive place I have ever layed eyes on. Their website fully misrepresents the hotel and I am urging anyone who reads this to avoid this "hotel" (if you can call it that) at all costs. It really ruined what was supposed to be a great holiday. No one should have to flee a man with a psychiatric condition wielding a blade at 5am, especially when the hotel staff knew full well what he is like and have had problems with him in the past. Don't ruin your holiday by staying at the Riverside Inn.

This place was absolutely brilliant, i stayed here for 2 weeks with a couple of friends, and boy was i not dissapointed. ok, so it smelt a bit of urine, but apart from that, there was a 40 inch tv in the room with all sattelite channels, as well as dedicated and good looking staff. recommend it to anyone.