Stylish hostels are making New York affordable again. I tried three out

New York is the city that never sleeps. Given the state of Manhattan’s hotel prices, tourists may be best advised to follow that advice. Last year, the cost of a nightly rate in New York’s busiest borough crossed the $US400 ($A603) mark for the first time, continuing a depressing pattern of price inflation that has raged since the pandemic.

According to one recent study, the city is now the second most expensive in the world when it comes to hotel prices (first place went to Boston, just in case you were wondering). Five-star hotels in the fashionable parts of Manhattan now frequently command five-figure sums per night, meaning that a stay could leave a hefty dent in your bank balance.

As prices have rocketed, the race has been on to provide cheaper alternatives. Across New York, there has been a rise in micro-hotels, as well as shared sleeping spaces, that are meant to provide a cheaper alternative to the usual offering – provided you’re willing to sacrifice some comforts.

Hang on a minute, you might ask – isn’t a shared room just a hostel, something that most discerning travellers would run a mile from? Well, not according to the marketing brochures.

“For solo travellers seeking a deeper connection to the world around them,” is how one property (a “transformative” hotel called Now Now) describes itself. “A global rest network for those on the move,” reads another – sounding more like a Silicon Valley start-up than the YHA.

Just how good are these hotel alternatives – and how much money could they save you? On a recent trip to the Big Apple, I had a chance to test three of them for myself.

Now Now

‘You’re technically sleeping in the same room as 30 other people’
Where Lower Manhattan
The rate $US125 ($189) per night

Of all the ideas for cheaper hotels I researched, Now Now was the most intriguing, not least as it only opened this year. While the property describes itself as a hotel, it is careful not to use the word “rooms”. Instead, guests are allocated what it calls “sleeper cabins”.

What exactly is a sleeper cabin when it’s at home? In truth, it’s not a million miles away from a private room. There’s a lockable door and two walls separating you from your neighbours. But there isn’t actually a roof on each of the compartments, meaning that you’re sharing the same air as everyone else (a bit like when you sleep on a business-class flight).

Fear not: the space above isn’t totally open. Instead, each of the beds looks up at some wooden privacy slats – the sort of thing you might find on the base of a cheap and easy bed – which are meant to serve as a sort of ersatz ceiling. Why not just a proper roof on the sleeper cabins? Well, the small size of them would mean that ventilation would become an issue.

Of course, the obvious downside is that you’re technically sleeping in the same room as 30 other people. Though the clever designers behind Now Now have put in place a few features intended to minimise the disturbances and make it feel less like a hostel dormitory.

For a start, there are signs telling people to move quietly around the shared space. More inventively, though, they also use the ventilation system to circulate lightly perfumed air around the room, giving the whole place a pleasant whiff of lavender. Male and female guests also sleep on different floors.

The cabins themselves have a calming ambience, with very low lighting and the sort of posh linens you might expect to find in a health spa. Each guest is provided with a tiny little white-noise machine, which is supposed to make it easier to drift off. The idea behind that is that the calming, rain-like patter should drown out any snoring from the other cabins.

Despite some apprehension, I managed to sleep pretty well, though it may have helped that I’d been out for a lively dinner beforehand. When I woke briefly at around 5am, I could hear some light nasal whistling from one of the nearby cabins – but it wasn’t loud enough to stop me falling straight back to sleep.

When the morning came, I was able to use one of the showers without any fuss or waiting. The entire bathroom area was clean and spacious, though the air had that unmistakable humid feel you get from showers that are in near-constant use.

Once I was freshly dressed, there wasn’t much point staying in the cabin. The desk space was just about big enough to set up a mini office with my laptop, but the surreal feeling of being in a room where most other people were sleeping made it hard to concentrate. In the end, I decided to head out and track down a decent breakfast.

The Pod Hotels

‘Significantly more spacious than some London hotel rooms’
Where Various locations
The rate From $US110 ($166)

Pod hotels tend to run on a common-sense formula: less space means lower costs. But just how small can you go? There’s a big difference between a tiny “capsule hotel” (like Zedwell by Leicester Square) and the stylish compact rooms that have become an art form in Tokyo.

When it comes to the New York brand of pod hotels, the price depends on how much space you’re willing to sacrifice. Some of the cheaper rooms have hostel-style bunk beds, but – unlike the YHA – have to be booked as an entire room. Useful if you’re travelling with a friend with whom you don’t mind sharing.

I had one of the Queen Suites at Pod 39. And to be perfectly honest, I’m not really sure why it was even called a pod hotel in the first place, given that it was significantly more spacious than some of the actual hotels I’ve used in London in the past. Maybe the Americans just have bigger expectations when it comes to size?

While the room was pretty basic, it was clear the designers had at least put some thought into it. There was ample storage space under the desk, and it was easy to get around the room without having to clamber over the bed. The bathroom was probably on par with a Premier Inn and was separated from the sleeping space with a sliding door. The coat hooks could fold away when you weren’t using them.

The room was comfortable enough. Though if I’m being picky, it wasn’t brilliantly soundproofed. Working from my desk in the morning, I could hear the clatter of other guests opening and closing their doors, as well as the cleaners chatting away in the corridor. Of course, being British, I chose to tut quietly rather than do anything about it.

I got the chance to look at some of the smaller rooms, including the ones with bunk beds. Again, I didn’t think they were particularly titchy, given that you’d likely be out exploring New York most of the time anyway.

Nap York

‘There’s mild anxiety knowing other people might enter the room’
Where Various locations, including Times Square
The rate Four-hour bookings from $US51 ($77); overnight bookings from $US85 ($128)

I’ve used nap pods in airports before, but only ever in airports – and everyone knows that airports run on different rules (hence it being acceptable to drink beer at 9.30am). Nap York is very much a similar concept to the sort of things you might have seen at Amsterdam Schiphol or Abu Dhabi; it just happens to be in the middle of the city.

I visited the Nap York premises at Times Square, where I was given a tour. The entrance was quite pokey, sandwiched between a McDonald’s and a Wendy’s, with the various “sleeping stations” positioned on the upper floors of the building.

In line with the whole start-up theme, there was an AI-powered concierge: a Darth Vader-esque mannequin using voice-prompted software to give you information about New York City. There was a virtual front desk, which allowed you to video conference with a staff member. When I pressed the button, the call was answered by a tech bro in Lisbon, ready to assist with any queries – provided they could be answered remotely.

By contrast, the pods themselves aren’t exactly cutting-edge technology. They’re essentially large human-sized crates containing simple beds. Once you’re in, you can pull back the curtain to plunge the whole thing into darkness. It might not be the height of luxury, but you can see why it works.

The basic pods are slightly wider than a single bed, though they’re only tall enough to lie down or sit up – if you want to stand, you’ll need to climb back out of the pod. They’re also arranged so that one pod sits on top of another one. The premium options are much more spacious, with the “business class” option feeling a bit like a four-poster bed with wooden walls.

Exactly how much privacy you get will depend on how much you pay. The more expensive pods are two to a room – meaning no strangers if you’re travelling with a companion – while the cheaper ones can have up to six people in the same room.

I found the pods I tried comfortable enough, though I imagine it would be hard to shake off the mild anxiety that would come with knowing other people might enter the room. Centuries of human evolution have taught us to be cautious about these things, though Nap York has at least put some steps in place to help you relax.

For a start, you need to have a valid keycard to get into the sleep rooms, which will only work for the room that you’ve actually booked. That massively reduces the chances of someone accidentally wandering into the wrong room and yanking back your curtain while you sleep. There are also staff on site 24 hours a day to clamp down on any unruly behaviour.

Once you’ve finished with your nap, there are some lounge-style facilities to freshen up. As with Now Now, there are communal showers (albeit with private cubicles). There was also desk space and a small kitchen on each floor. The overall vibe was a bit like a WeWork, just with sleeping pods attached.

The verdict

When basic hotel rooms are so expensive, I can understand the need to consider alternatives. But would I really consider staying at these alternatives again?

As for the Pod Hotel, I can give a solid thumbs up. Despite the name, the experience was much closer to a bog-standard corporate hotel than a dingy hostel. Given that the prices vary with demand, I think your level of satisfaction would depend on how much you had to pay.

The hotel told me that rates start at $110 (which would be an absolute bargain). But looking on Booking.com, I could see that some nights were going for three times that, which seems a bit steep. Then again, it may still prove cheaper than the other options.

I was impressed with Now Now, but I’d struggle to recommend it for a longer stay. If you lived within commuting distance of New York and needed a bed for the night, it would be perfect. It might even work for a weekend stay – though you’d need to make sure you had a busy itinerary, as there’s not much space in the cabins to do anything other than sleep. Any more than two nights, though, and I think you’d start to feel a bit claustrophobic.

Nap York was a slightly different prospect, given that it isn’t necessarily intended for longer stays (though it is possible to book the pods overnight), but I could see it being useful if you needed a refresher nap ahead of a long flight. They even have one of their properties just five minutes from JFK, which could be very useful if you have a long layover or very early start.

The Telegraph, London