Riverside Tower Hotel

Let me get to the basics here: this hotel has a few positives and negatives.
First, the positives:
–It’s in a good area on the Upper West Side. There’s a lot in the immediate neighborhood to do and a lot of activity.
–The hotel is quiet. It’s in a side street in a residential neighborhood.
–The hotel is across the street from a park that lines the Hudson River.
–The free wifi in the hotel was good and they signal strong.
–The prices were reasonable by New York standards.
The negatives:
–The hallways and rooms are hideous in appearance. I thought I was in a tenement house.
–The room and bed I stayed in was very small.
–The water pressure in the shower was pathetic.
–There were no coffee makers in the rooms or no coffee or breakfast available in the lobby that I saw, do you must go out looking in he morning.
In summary, if you just want a place to sleep for the night, you’re not too tall to fit in the small bed, and you’re not picky about appearances, this place is OK. It’s about a mile and a half walk to 57^th Street and 7^th avenue, so it’s not too far from the major sites if you don’t mind walking a little bit.

It’s the perfect hotel to be in Manhattan without the major Manhattan price! Modest rooms were perfect for our stay as we spent most of the time in and around NY. A couple blocks from the 1 Subway, and many cafes and eateries just a few blocks away. And most importantly friendly staff. We will definite come back

I would really give this hotel a rating of 2.5 stars, instead of a solid 2. This hotel supplies your basic needs; a bed, a bathroom w/​a shower, mini fridge, a/​c unit and free wifi. The closest subway station is located about a block away from the hotel. The hotel is located at a decent spot where all the touristy attractions aren’t that far away (two stops away from the Lincoln center).
The cons: Building is old, so everything is a bit run down elevator and my room. My room was kept fairly clean, but due to the building being old everything looked like it was going to fall apart. The room was very tiny, in fact there is barely any space to walk around. The bed took up the entire space of the room. The bathroom was extremely small too. When I had to take a number 2 I had to keep the bathroom door open because my knees would be pressed against the door. The shower is extremely tiny probably no bigger than 3 ft around, so taking a shower in such a tiny space wasn’t very pleasant. You have to bring your own hairdryer or you can borrow one at the front desk, but you have to bring it back every time ur done using it. I was told they provided all the necessary toiletries, but they did not provide shampoo, however, I was fortunate to have brought some w/​me.
Price wise I felt it was a bit expensive for what it was. I stayed at hotels that looked crappier then this one, but had better bathrooms.
Overall if you don’t care about the cons that I just listed and just want to place that is in the heart of the city and want to sleep and shower I would say this place fulfills your basic needs. If your looking for a place to shower and do ur other bathroom businesses comfortably, then I would recommend someplace else.

I was recently stranded in NYC for 2 additional days/​nights at this hotel with my daughter (16), my cousin & her daughter (12); due to the «blizzard» of 2015. We had planned a 4 day/​3 night trip & this hotel was great when we went in July 2013, so we opted to stay there again. I’m glad we did! #1. The price was great! $ 120/​night for a 2 room «suite». The rooms are small, but clean; and we had a small microwave & dorm-​sized refrigerator and a flat screen TV in each room (local channels only). #2. The area is awesome. It is a mix of residential & commercial. Nearby: Zabar’s, Starbucks, Chipotle, Marshalls & Victoria’s Secret. #3. The staff. Everyone is super friendly and helpful. This came into play when our trip home was cancelled 2 nights in a row. They gave us a little break on the price (I’d looked online & the price we were given was cheaper); they were understanding that we didn’t budget for this extended stay & gave us a break when they didn’t have to. A special word of thanks to Matthew, who had to deal with my worried mom calling to make sure we would all be ok. He talked to her for about 20 minutes, which if you know my mom… let’s just say he deserves a raise! I would happily stay here again!

I always recommend Riverside Tower Hotel to friends visiting me from out of town, because back when I wasn’t living in the city yet, the hotel was my go-​to.
There’s a lot to like about the place, and very little not to. The price is always accessible, the rooms are kept clean, the building is situated in a quiet – and safe – part of the city, a subway station is only two blocks away, and the staff are awesome.
What’s not to like? Well, it’s a budget hotel. Typical of most properties in NYC, rooms are small. Though seriously, if you hang out at your hotel while you’re at one of the greatest city in the world, something’s wrong with you.

Great location– quiet street upper west side, walk to MOMA, lots of small Brkfst spots — good price

Are you kidding me. This place is a dump. My wife and I were going to sleep in the car if I couldn’t find another hotel. They charged me for one night, even though i cancelled in time. Great location, but needs a total renovation. Shame on Frommers for having this place on their website. Went to the Hotel Belleclaire and they gave us a break on the room because we had to pay one night for the Riverside. Belleclaire staff was very understanding. Stay away from the Riverside.

Very inexpensive rate for New York City. The hotel is «basic» to an extreme but very clean and very safe and is situated in a nice neighborhood. All the people who work there are kind, efficient, and helpful. A very short walk either to Zabar’s or to the subway. Really a tremendous buy, especially if all you need a hotel for is a night’s sleep.

Great little hotel with small rooms but good price and location. What more could you ask for?

If you want a cheap place to SLEEP and SHOWER in an amazing part of NYC, this is the place you need to look in to. Honestly, it can’t get any better than Riverside. My husband and I wanted to take a trip to NYC, and with my husband never having been there, I knew that 90% of our trip would be sightseeing, not sitting/​hanging out in our hotel. I’m so glad that I found this place! It’s tiny, but clean and the staff is extremely friendly and helpful. Honestly, the staff there were probably the friendliest New Yorker’s we met all weekend. It’s right in the heart of Upper West Side and a block from Zabar’s (which apparently is the place to have breakfast/​lunch in NYC)! If you’re someone wanting to visit NYC on a budget, go here!

A few years back I went on a mini east coast tour vacation with my sister. I handled all of the logistics for us. After much research I settled on this hotel for a few reasons. 1) Price — for two college age students, the price could not be beat 2) Location — The hotel is located on the Upper West Side. It’s a little more quiet and slower action-​wise over there, but the closest subway station is only two blocks away 3) Size — We were able to snatch a two bedroom «suite» for less than other hotels were charging for a single room.
This hotel makes no claims of being glamorous, luxurious or swanky. What this place is, is a place to sleep at night. And to be honest, for a pair of kids from California (one from LA, the other from SF), the last thing I want to do is stay inside a hotel room while all of NYC awaits us.
I personally love some of the touches that make a place like this quintessentially New York City. The main elevator was comically small. Take a standard elevator, made for 12 – 15 people and half it in size, then half again. On a good day I think we were able to squeeze 5 people in it. It was a real tight fit though! Another nice touch is the radiator located in both rooms. Very foreign thing to a Californian. I’m glad it worked, because when we arrived in late October, the weather was unseasonably cold.
When I visit NYC again, Riverside Tower will be on my short list of places to stay. Do yourself a favor and look into it.

I stayed at the Riverside Tower Hotel for one night in December. A friend of mine and I came up for a concert and reserved a «suite» with two rooms separated by a bathroom. The hotel is located in a nice area on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and is just a couple of blocks from the 79^th street 1 line station.
Our rooms were small, the first room had a single bed, mini-​fridge, a t.v., and a very small table with two chairs. The other room contained a double bed, a t.v., and a small chest of drawers. Each room also contained a sink and a mirror. The best way to describe the rooms is that they reminded my of my first dorm room in college, only smaller. The rooms were as clean as one can expect for an old hotel in an old city. The beds were reasonably comfortable, although the pillows were old. The best thing about the room was the view of the Hudson River out of the windows.
The shared bathroom was standup shower and a toilet. It too was reasonably clean. It had plenty of hot water and water pressure, which is about as much as you can ask from a hotel bathroom.
There was also a common area on the first floor with free wifi and the clerks were friendly and knowledgeable.
The best thing about the hotel is the location. As already mentioned it is in the Upper West Side, and has plenty of shopping and dining within walking distance. It is also only five or six blocks from Central Park. There are several subway stops for several lines nearby as well, which is nice because you can conveniently get to most of the sites, but are out of the tourist trap that is the Times Square area.
All-​in-​all, I would definitely stay here again, although with the size and the age of the rooms, I’m not sure I’d want to bring young children (but I saw quite a few staying there).

This is a good spot to stay for not a ton of money, compared to most places in NYC.
Yes, it’s old and kind of looks haunted, but the bed was comfortable and the staff was incredible friendly. There’s free parking on the street, and the front desk person even walked down to where we were parked to make sure that we weren’t parked illegally. That’s above and beyond-​type stuff right there.
The room is very small, but had a decent sized closet, a small bar fridge, a desk and a flat-​screen tv mounted on the wall. It’s what I imagine a small dorm room to be like. The bathroom was clean, but the shower had inconsistent water temperature.
The elevator’s slow and tiny, so if you can take the stairs, I’d recommend that you do so, even though it’s kind of creepy in there.
There’s free wifi and a common room with some old couches.
It’s about a 10 minute walk from the nearest subway and across the street from a nice park.

The staff was friendly and helpful, the location CANNOT be beat (2 blocks from Broadway, Zabar’s, the subway etc) and its across the street from a park. The neighborhood is nice and actually pretty quiet for NYC. Rooms are small and old but were clean and I dug the mocrowave and the fridge. I was not in New York to hang in my room and really appreciated the location and the price. The only drawback is clanging radiator pipes all night but thats what you get in an older building in the city. I would def stay here again! We had a «Mini-​Suite» for $ 139 a night. 2 rooms (one queen size and one with a twin & trundle bed) with a bathroom n between.

This place deserves serious credit.
Yes, the rooms are small. But I’ve gotten way smaller rooms in NYC at much higher end hotels. As long as you’re not planning a hotel room dance party or a lets-​stay-​in-​all-​day honeymoon this is the place for you. And the price is amazing.
Clean room, comfortable bed, air conditioning that took care of us in August, a working television and a decent shower. I would totally come back.
Oh right, the location. is. amazing. Very central, and the room we got overlooked the Hudson River. It was also pretty quiet when we stayed there.
The staff was very friendly in my experience.
The biggest drawback to the hotel in my nerdy opinion is that there is no wifi access from the room itself, although they do have it in their lobby.
And yes, the elevator does smell a bit funny.

I love this place! This hotel is so awful it’s hilarious, but I would happily stay there again and again. I do think it is the best deal for the money in NYC. But: be prepared… The halls smell funny, the rooms are BEYOND tiny, and the shower was so small I could barely get into it. The doors usually have over a half-​inch of empty space above them. There’s no place to put your soap in the shower. And if you drop something under your bed, it is lost for the ages since you can’t get under the beds since the room is so small. My roommate woke up to smell her blanket melting because it was up against the heat radiator. That’s the bad side.
The good side is that it was actually reasonably clean, though it is so old and worn out that it doesn’t look clean. And the neighborhood is just terrific. You can catch the bus right by the hotel on Riverside (you must have a Metropass, though, which you buy at a subway station), which will take you right down to midtown, down Fifth Ave. and to Greenwich Village. The subway at 79^th Street also goes to Times Square and Greenwich Village. Zabars is 2 blocks away, which is reason enough to stay here, and the Manhattan Diner on Broadway is a great place to eat, though you won’t get in the door on a Saturday morning. There are also a Duane Reade drugstore and a McDonald’s nearby on Broadway. There are a million sidewalk cafes all along Amsterdam Avenue, a few blocks away.
Hotel staff are great, and the clientele is very nice.
If you don’t mind tiny, bare bones, grungy hotels, this is a good deal. It is a safe area. Just don’t expect to walk around in your room. I saw no bugs there at all.
Addendum: I have now stayed there about 6 times and some rooms are not as tiny as the first room I stayed in, and some hallways don’t smell funny at all. Also some have good doors. But picky people who like perfection in their rooms should look elsewhere, and leave this great place for the rest of us!
In Spring & Fall be sure to ask if they have air-​conditioning at the time of your visit. I was there in May when temperatures were over 80 and they had not yet installed AC window units in their rooms. It was very uncomfortable staying there then, and they do not offer fans to ease the discomfort.

I really, really wish I could give more stars. For one thing, I love a bargain, and $ 119 a night is definitely a bargain. For another thing, the Riverside Tower Hotel is in an adorable neighborhood — very safe, clean, yupscale and VERY «New York.»
Alas, the place wasn’t quite as clean as advertised on the website — with big stains on the carpet in the hallways, grimy-​ish carpet in our room, and a sort of funky smell in the halls. In fact, though we booked for three nights, we ended up only staying one. My husband took one look at the carpet, the tiny rundown elevator, the old TV and the weird A/​C unit in the closet (not to mention the unmatched doors in the hallway) and said, «We’re checking out.»
That being said, the bed (though small) had a decent mattress and was comfy, the linens were clean, as was the bathroom, and the shower was great! Our shower was one of those tiled boxes that you step down into, and for some random reason, we got amazing water pressure, for a nice steamy lavish shower experience. And the woman at the desk gave us an immediate refund for the two nights we didn’t stay, even though we’d booked on line AND we had already paid the entire three nights before we decided to relocate. So that was good, too.
This is the sort of budget/​student traveler hotel that is disappearing rapidly in today’s world of chains and franchises, and for that reason I might recommend it to someone younger and less picky than my husband. (If I were traveling alone, I probably would’ve stayed.)
And of course the problem for a place like the Riverside Tower is that, with sites like Hotwire out there, it truly isn’t all that cheap. Through Hotwire, we found a room at the Barclay (now an Intercontinental Hotel — a chain) on East 48^th between Park and Lex for $ 139.50 a night. It was swank and elegant, in an amazing location, and at only $ 20.50 more per night, it was the kind of deal that (a) we couldn’t pass us and (b) will probably be putting places like the Riverside Tower out of business soon. Which is really sad.

The price is great, rooms are tiny, but clean, and the whole place is rundown and old. It’s a fine place to stay, especially due to the fact that you get a clean room for not a lot of money. Staff is extremely rude, however. I love the neighborhood & it’s really easy to get to midtown/​downtown from the area. While I might not stay here again, there really is not anything wrong with the place.

The Palace Hotel this is not. But for the amount of money you are going to pay and the cozy, safe neighborhood you are in, you can’t beat it. My Mom and I had 2 rooms connected by a bathroom. The rooms are very, very tiny. But hey, you are in NY. You aren’t hanging out in your room. Just up the street is Zabar’s and H&H bagels which is great for your breakfast in the morning. Easy to catch a cab right off of Broadway or walk down one street and you can catch the subway at 79^th St. Also, not a far walk at all to Central Park from the hotel. All and all, I will be staying here again on my next visit to the city!

As far as price vs. location goes, your not going to find a better deal no matter how clever you think you are. Rooms are clean and fine, but really, really small. I believe this building was actually a college dorm for many years, hence the many tiny, teeny rooms. However, when I just want a nice, quiet place to lay my head at night when I visit NYC, and I don’t want to spend $ 200+ a night on a place I’ll really only sleep in, this is really the only option.