Tony

I'm interested to hear impressions,experiences of this hotel from anybody who has stayed there.

jt

OK in a pinch, but I didn't like it.

I'm perfectly fine with shared bathrooms in general, and have stayed in many worse dumps in NYC. But unless they have improved recently Habitat's not up to the fashionable buzz (or price) it gets.

The competition gives better value, although is hard to track down. Human factors of the bathrooms / showerrooms / elevator congestion / stuffy air was needlessly bad at my Habitat stay. Location is on the boring side, too.

Duane

Tony, it is a budget hotel, but it's not THAT bad! Yes, the rooms are very small, but you're spending the night - you're not moving in. Also, some rooms do have a private baths. The location is not dull, it's very nice and it's safe. Check quickbook.com and The Davinci hotel to compare rates, and of course there is always Price Line.

Frank

I can't vouch for the hotel, although if it's under $100 the lobby and exterior look fine. A trendy restaurant, Opia, recently opened on the first and second floor. The entire hotel was gut renovated about 2 years ago.

The location is top notch. 1 block off Park Avenue, 2 blocks from Bloomingdales and The Four Seasons Hotel, 3 Blocks from Tiffany's and 5th Avenue. That's not "boring".

Shamrock

...but if you are staying at the Habitat then you are most likely NOT shopping at Tiffany's or on Fifth. If you are looking for a nice cheap place to stay, try the mid/upper 40s and 8th...Comfort Inn, BW Preseident, HoJo Plaza.

FourLeafClover

Shamrock: You don't have to "shop" at Tiffany's to enjoy the whole Fifth Avenue experience. Believe me, most of the people walking through Tiffany's aren't "buying", and that's true for Saks, Trump Tower and many other expensive shops. It's just a great area to stay in while visiting NYC.

Katherine

Hi Tony I hope you read this. I stay at the Habitat everytime I am in New York. It is a Eurostyle Hotel. You can have a bathroom ensuite and you will pay roughly $40 more for the priviledge. I like to save money and choose a room without a bath. The room is small like that of a college dorm room. They have a single bed, sink, table and chair. They have some sort of storage unit that has hanging space as well as drawers. I found that the bathrooms were well kept up. I just take shower thongs with me. I pay roughly $85.00 before taxes.
Some people do not like this sort of hotel I like it because I like the location because it is in a very nice area. I like to shop and I stay here so all my $$ does not go to the Hotel.
So Madison Avenue and Fifth are easily accessible. The Habitat is between Park and Lexington. If you have anymore questions feel free to email me.

Uri

We stayed at the Habitat in April of 2001. The first room they showed us was like something out of a junkie movie, broken window, tattered curtains, tiny, ugly, and very depressing. I went to the front desk and simply told them, nicely, that it would do for the night but that they would have to do much better by us in the morning or we were gone. Next morning the manager took us to a pair of rooms entered by a single door. It was clean, recently painted, quite nice, actually, two rooms, two beds, two dressers, TVs, etc. for the same price. Which was $120 (for two, $60 each) as I recall. The nice, double room was #705/706. The nightmare room was located on the 6th floor, and at the time the whole floor looked like hell. The restaurant wasn’t open then, but all in all it wasn’t a bad place. There was a nice restaurant next door, then a Blimpie’s, a Smilers right across the way. I thought the location was swell, but then I’m no big fan of NYC in the first place.

Toby

Why would anyone stay at a budget hotel like the Habitat, using a bathroom down the hall, when you can get a 4 star hotel on Priceline for the same price?