PRICE:
Frommer's Very Highly Recommended

Owned by Andre Balazs, of The Mercer, Hotel QT offers much of The Mercer's style without the hefty rates. From its enviable Midtown location, to many extras like a swimming pool in the lobby, steam room and sauna, free high-speed Internet, complimentary continental breakfast, and good-size rooms including a number with bunk beds, Hotel QT, which opened in 2005, is now one of the best moderate options in the Times Square area. Upon entering, you check in at a kiosk/front desk where you pick up periodicals or essentials to stock your minibar. Making your way to the elevators, you might see guests swimming in the lobby pool or having a drink at the pool's swim-up bar, an unusual site in the Big Apple. The rooms are sparse in tone, but the queen- and king-size platform beds are plush and dressed with Egyptian cotton sheets. The biggest drawback is the bathrooms: There are no doors on the bathrooms -- sliding doors conceal the shower (none of the rooms have tubs) and the toilet. But for prices this low along with the extras offered, who are we to quibble?

In rooms:A/C, TV, minifridge, hair dryer, iron/ironing board, safe, CD player, DVD player, free high-speed and wireless Internet, free local calls, 2-line speakerphones.

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's New York City 2008, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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