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Pod Hotel's $199 Townhouse Suites Are Decidedly Un-Podlike

Where: 230 E 51st St. [map], New York, NY, United States, 10022

When we went inside NYC's Pod Hotel, we opened the door to our bunk room and were shocked at its miniscule size. Even for $169 a night in a prime Big Apple location, we were a bit let down — and the bed was, as we said, "quite frankly, hideous. Thin, hard and narrow -- that's what we'd like to sculpt ourselves into if we had the dedication to go to a gym. That's not what we like in a bed." Still, we'd be up for a lil' Podding if we were traveling by ourselves and were down for spending zero time in our room and were willing to deal with the bunk bed.

But! Now the Pod Hotel has introduced a cheap, large-ish and appealing option for families (or groups of 3-4) with the completion of their new Townhouse Suites.

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Tags: The Pod Hotel / HotelChatter Reviews / New York Hotels / Manhattan Hotels / → All Tags

HotelChatter Goes Inside The Pod Hotel

Where: 230 E 51st St. [map], New York, NY, United States, 10022

We had to find reasonably-priced digs in New York City this past week. Not much chance of that happening. But we did find cheap (by NYC standards) rooms at the hip-sounding Pod Hotel. Not as cheap as we'd hoped - the $149 room we learned about the first time we called had jumped to $169 a couple weeks later when we called to book. "Demand," they said by way of explanation.

So with visions of dorm-style grungy showers and that dingy youth hostel in London a few years back, we checked in last Wednesday. The bright, clean mod lobby promised a fun stay.

Opening the door to our bunk room was fun indeed. How can a room be so little? Though we'd just initialed our life away promising not to smoke in the room, a recent inhabitant had clearly smoked, and quite a lot.

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Tags: The Pod Hotel / Hotel Hype / New York Hotels / Hotel Parties / Rooftop Bars / Hotel Bars / → All Tags

The Pod Hotel's Grand Opening Party

Where: 230 E 51st St. [map], New York, ny, United States, 10022

We've been posting plenty about The Pod Hotel recently, caught between feelings of benevolence for its stellar (for Manhattan) rates and feelings distrust about its open-or-not-open garden and rooftop bars. Last night we figured it all out during the "Grand Opening" party, which we didn't really understand, since the hotel's already open. Grand opening or not, free open bar, right?

Read on for our party report and photos

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Tags: The Pod Hotel / New York Hotel Reviews / Hotel Bars / Rooftop Bars / Hotel Hype / → All Tags

What's the Story with The Pod Hotel's Rooftop Bar?

Where: 230 E 51st St. [map], New York, ny, United States, 10022

That's the question HotelChatter guru markj asked after we posted our Hotel Video Tour recently. After a little back and forth with some PR types, we thought we had it sorted out: roof deck at the Pod Hotel not open for business, but garden courtyard ready to party. Here's what we hear about the garden:

The space is simple but still manages to create a warm ambiance complimented by lush greeneries. The ground is covered with beach stone amber pebbles... Floating in the beach pebbles are wood deck POD tables which create the seating and dining area...The tables have a small round leather finish with a black granite top. Scattered around on the tables and along the deck are 1930's stainless steel French bistro chairs.

End of story, right? Not quite: we poked through some TripAdvisor reviews, and either the roof is open or there's some shills about:

The hidden gem, during our stay and in the hot weather, was the roof terrace with the skyscraper view. It was a little resting place between an afternoon of shopping and a night on the town.

At least you can get a good view from somewhere!

[Photo: JB2007]

Related Stories:
· Room with an Anti-View :: The Pod Hotel [HotelChatter]