Profile

Styled after luxury hotels of the '30s and '40s, Hotel 17 exudes old-world charm while still offering enough of the modern amenities savvy budget travelers require. Behind its ornate marble façade and colonnaded entryway, the hotel has a softly lit lobby with antique furniture, brass light fixtures and richly stained wooden wall moldings–accents that hint at the building’s century-old history. Renovated in late 2003, the hotel’s 120 guest rooms share the same classical décor. The rooms themselves are cozy, if somewhat boxy, and offer the basic essentials, including an air conditioner, a telephone with data port and a pedestal sink. What they noticeably lack, however, are bathrooms. For that, guests must use one of the four shared facilities on each floor, a none-too-welcoming prospect, considering there are 20 rooms per floor. All in all, it may be worth the bathroom wait in exchange for clean, convenient and reasonably-priced lodgings. — Andrew Wang

More personality than a Best Western and a central jumping-off point.

Cons
Have we mentioned the bathrooms?

Claim to Fame
Appeared in the 1993 Woody Allen film Manhattan Murder Mystery; was the site for photo shoots in Madonna's Sex book; and has been the setting for fashion shoots appearing in Elle, Vogue, and GQ.