The Local Hostel

I stayed in this hostel for the night, and I gotta say, being a first time traveller and first time ever at a hostel, this place exceeded by expectations by far!
Rooms were clean and very well thought out and stocked with the usual amenities. The staff was super friendly and knowledgeable of the local area (which was great because I had never been to NYC in my life), and the bar was a great place to grab a quick drink before setting out for the city and winding down after a long day. Also, fast WiFi; a rarity among lodging!
Best part, even though you’re outside of Manhattan, you’re never more than a few minutes’ walk away from the Subway and rail lines that can take you right to the heart of it all!
Definitely staying again when I find myself up in NYC again!

Nice place, even the shared rooms. Everything is clean and comfortable. The subway is nearby, so it’s easy to go to town. A great option if you can’t afford staying in Manhattan.

Great, clean hostel for great price! Some highlights: large lockers that fit luggage, clean rooms, and a comfortable common space with books and a café. I would recommend the Local to anyone. With a lovely space and generous and kind staff, it’s a haven in the midst of the chaos of New York.

I stayed when visiting NYC for a few days. Rooms are clean (by hostel standards), huge, nicely spaced out lobby with enough room to chill, staff is friendly & approachable, wifi was excellent, and great music is always on.
I gave it an A-​OK rating because:
— the 4-​bed rooms are small (or more specifically, narrow)
— it’s located in an industrial, unattractive area with not much to do or see (Manhattan is about 15 – 20 minutes away by train)
— the bar food could use a bit more variety
This does not affect my rating, but there are no elevators; something you should keep in mind if you have heavy and/​or numerous luggage.

I will never be staying at this hostel again and don’t advise anyone else to especially if this is your first time visiting New York, like mine. They ruined my experience. I only stayed here because my sister convinced me and it was my first time ever staying in a hostel which I didn’t care for after the whole experience. One of the worst parts was I paid with my debit card ¹⁰⁄₁₅ when I checked in, but it wasn’t taken out of my account until three days after I checked out. (I checked out 10/​19, didn’t show until ¹⁰⁄₂₂) I thought that was odd, but I was like okay whatever. Fast forward to ¹⁰⁄₂₉ I check my bank account that morning my account is wiped out and in the NEGATIVE. I’m like what hell because I knew I had plenty of money. I check my activity, Local NYC had charged me AGAIN almost $ 300! NINE days after I checked out and was back in Atlanta where I lived. I was so confused. I immediately called and the man who answered was not helpful at all. All he said was the finance department wouldn’t be in for another 2 and a half hours and they will «keep in touch» Tf? I called around 7:30 am didn’t get a call until after 3 pm from the same guy and he asked could I email them screenshots of my bank account because they didn’t charge me –_​_​– luckily I did screenshot my account for this very purpose, and I informed him they definitely DID charge me I seen it with my own eyes. I quickly sent the email and about an hour later get a call from a woman who is «investigating» and ALSO Asks me to send the screenshots to her email. I informed her I was just asked to send them but I would happily do it again and she told me that’s okay, she will just look at the front desk. A couple hours later I get an email asking me to send them to her email because she couldn’t find it –_​_​_​– so here I am sending yet another email. Like the what the heck, I’m not making this up. The next day, I get an email from her saying they checked their system and it doesn’t show they charged me it may have something to do with my bank authorization and the charges will disappear after a few days and contact my bank if I need the money immediately –_​_​– I responded and said neither I or my bank would ever authorize a double charge 9 days after I checked out and that I have been with this bank for six years and this has never ever happened. Also that my bank disputed the charge and is doing a further investigation on the matter. So, I got my money back which was my main concern, but long story short I will NEVER EVER EVER stay at this hostel again just because of the B.S. Also, my younger sister who stayed with me also had to get a new credit card because The Local NYC tried charging her twice as well, but since she didn’t have enough in her account, they just took all the money she had. And conveniently the people at the NYC also had no record of that either. I don’t know whats going on and I just don’t appreciate the way they handled the situation. You don’t play with people’s money like that. I send you a clear screenshot of the money you wrongfully took, and you don’t take responsibility for it. I’m so done with them. Don’t stay here unless you want something shady to happen to your money once you go back home.

I’ve been here twice: June 2014 and again June 2015. The staff has been friendly and helpful. The wifi is decent. The ground-​floor area is comfortable and includes a sizable bar area, a kitchen I did not use, a computer use/​charging desk zone as well as big projection viewing area.
The rooms were both 4-​person dorms, and they were arranged in that limited space well enough to provide enough room for the 4 not to interfere with one another too much, a door between the dorm’s bathroom/​shower/​sink areas (3 separate rooms within the room’s vestibule). The beds are comfortable enough, the pillows are actually quite good, there are outlets and reading lights at each bed (two 2-​bed bunks)…
The rooftop patio has a good view of Manhattan and tables & chairs.
The location (and hostel world directions to it) was easy to find from the train (one stop out of Manhattan a plus), and the price was totally reasonable.
All in all, a good hostel. I’d return (again).

Amazing! The staff was great and extremely helpful. The location is great and easily accessible from the city and the JFK airport. They have a bar in the lobby which makes it very easy to meet other people traveling. The place was pretty clean and I would definitely stay there again!

The staff is extremely nice and cool and will make you feel right at home! This is definitely a social hostel, they have all sorts of events including «drink and draw» which I regret not trying out. Oh cause of course they have their own bar downstairs. (If you are trying to save money this is not good since you can’t just byob so it can get rather expensive). Stuff seems to always be going down here but in a good way, lol. Only problem is that I wasn’t a fan of the room set up. I don’t feel like it was very clean. I also felt like the area was sketchy and the subway station was kind of far.

My whole wedding party stayed here and loved it. They were organized, clean, affordabe and great!

I have stayed at many hostels around the US and this one is surely at the top! The rooms were very clean and the staff were all very kind and helpful. Great price for being in the city but they could have included a free coffee or something. I will 100% be back to this place.

The rooms are a bit small.
But.
Staff is knowledgeable and open to questions. Good coffee for the price. Beer is reasonably priced. Great community board that points out free and cheap entertainment throughout the city. It’s very clean as far as hostels are concerned. Located in a quiet industrial area with metro access to manhattan nearby. Found some good restaurants and speak easy bars nearby as well. Definitely worth the price.

I don’t know how qualified I am to review this, but here goes: two of my close friends stayed here for a week recently. I was SUPER excited since I had JUST moved a few blocks away, so it was like having amazing neighbors that I love. They loved this place; after I showed them around the neighborhood (since the immediate blocks aren’t too interesting), they were so impressed. Their room was a great deal– and the bathroom was HUGE! (they had a private room/​bath). I didn’t even realize there were no TVs because it’s NYC, but the free WIFI makes up for it. They had wicked high ceilings also. The kitchen and lounge area was cute as well. The bar looked fun. I think I’ll definitely be by here to check out the weeknight events. I am going to recommend this to EVERYONE who comes to visit me in the city!

Awesome place! My friend and I were a bit nervous about staying here with our two moms, but we couldn’t beat the price and local for a 4-​person private room, so we took the chance and went for it. It was EXCELLENT. Both moms, after overcoming their (unnecessary) fears were very happy with the place, which was a big relief to us. It was super clean and the atmosphere was great — even for two 25 year olds with their 50+ year old moms.

This place is amazing, I stayed here for week and extended for another as I just moved to USA from London. The staff were so friendly and nice and made me feel welcome and help find me somewhere amazing to live. I now visit regularly and enjoy it and never had a bad time here. Prices are very reasonable staff are amazing

I stayed there for one night the other week. It was a great clean place! I will def stay again. Much faster to get to downtown and JFK than I had thought with the subway station being so close. Friendly and clean!

Overall this place is nice and clean for a hostel. The location is in the middle of a super industrial area with not much around. Rooms are super super small which makes it even more uncomfortable having strangers in the room. Only giving two stars due to the cleaning crew taking my phone charger, sweatshirt, and water bottle. There was a mix up with the beds in the room and they thought I checked out? I don’t know but my items were never found. Next time I would spend the extra money and stay closer to manhattan in a hotel.

AWESOME, clean and modern hostel. My friends and I wanted a good value place to stay… really just to sleep because there’s so much to do in NYC! This hostel is super close to midtown, a subway stop away. Friendly staff and the place was clean! And the rooftop deck had amazing views of the city! There’s also a bar, café and free wifi. Can’t ask for more really. And did I mention it was CLEAN?!

The rooms and common areas were very clean, everything was new and modern looking which was nice. Some improvements I would like to see would be some more storage area in the bedrooms, maybe a couple of shelves. The place gets pretty noise, especially in the bathroom area for some reason and outside. The location is pretty convenient with just a five minute walk to the subway station.
The highlight for me were the comfortable mattresses. I was expecting something cheap and noisy but was pleasantly surprised. These mattresses were very comfortable.