My boyfriend and I ( both 30 years old) are planning a trip to NYC April 25th. This will eb my first time to the City. We are thinking about staying at the W Times Square, The Paramount, The Hudson or going to Soho and staying at the Soho Grand Hotel. We want a fun, hip upbeat hotel but we don't want to sleep in a sardine can. One of us is claustrophobic.

Thanks!

Imem, if one of you is claustrophobic, avoid the Hudson. Their rooms make a normal NYC hotel room look huge. Very tiny.

Cross the Paramount off your list. It's a funky hotel and quite nice but the standard rooms are small.

Unless you request a special large room, generally speaking, "hip and upbeat" hotel means tiny rooms. Apparently sardines are very hip these days!
There was a post or two that said the W Times Square was very nice, but then several others mentioned how tiny the rooms were, so I'm not sure that it's going to be any better than the other choices. We stayed at the rather "hip" Muse on 46th. We had a tiny standard room, but they do have much nicer larger "deluxe" rooms.

Hey, Patrick--How was the Muse overall? It seems to have a lot of great reviews in the "Rants and Raves." The only problem mentioned a lot seems to be the small rooms. What did you think of it other than room size?

I've been in the lobbies of the Soho Grand and W Times Sq. I don't know what the rooms are like in either. I didn't like the W Times Sq at all. It's loud and dark. The lobby is actual a few flights up from street level. The Soho Grand was much nicer. I suppose both hotels could be considered hip. The Union Sq W is nicer than the Times Sq W. I've seen a room there and it was a good size for a NYC hotel.

You can spend a LOT of money on a hotel room in NYC and odds favor you will still end up in a sardine can!

hi. try edison. i have stayed there 5 times, great location, about 30 sec walkinig to time square. hotel are a bit run down, but the rooms have an ok size, not a football field, but not a sardine can..price about 100 us, and the people who work there are nice, and the rooms are clean..

Regarding the question about The Muse -- I liked the hotel itself and the very friendly but hip staff. But the room in addition to being small was just plain stupid in design. One chair, but you couldn't see the TV from it. Bed against the wall so the second person couldn't get into it from that side. Tiny pedestal sink with nowhere to put anything out. A tiny closet that already had an iron and ironing board filling it up so I couldn't even hang my folding carryon.
Roman shades that when you dropped them, covered up the heat or air which was behind them. And my favorite -- the one big collage piece of artwork, permanently mounted to the wall -- upside down!!!

Patrick's description of his room at the Muse is exactly how I would describe my room at the W near the Waldorf. I'm not cool enough to stay in a W again.

Thanks for all your responses. We opted for 60 Thompson. We booked on quikbook for $199 a night.

I Stayed at the Hilton Time Sqaure and the hotel had a hip feel to it. I thought it was one of the nicest hotels I've stayed at. Also, I thought the rooms were a great size, much larger than the rooms I have stayed in NYC before. Get the best deals on hilton.com, we paid $160 a night last May.