Learning How to Share, One Manhattan Bathroom at a Time

-- John Deiner

Continental Hostel

330 W. 95th St. between West End Avenue and Riverside Drive, 212-866-1420.

WHAT WE PAID: Actual answer when we called asking about rates: "I don't know. You have to go to Hotels.com or one of those sites." We paid $72 for a room with two bunk beds and shared bath, which is the normal rate (at least according to Hotels.com). Rooms with double beds go for $103.50.

THE PROPERTY: You can't beat the location. It's just up the street from Riverside Park, a few long blocks from Central Park and a stone's throw from the No. 1, 2 and 3 subway lines (at West 96th Street). It's also smack in the middle of a lively neighborhood boasting restaurants of great variety in price and cuisine. As for the hostel itself -- well, you can't beat the location.

The front desk is a portrait of surly in oils, from the textbook blank stare by the clerk to his ho-hum sifting through a pile of keys on the way to finding ours. Legend has it that people have been known to take the elevator, although we opted for the stairs after 10 long minutes of waiting. There we ran smack into what might be charitably termed local color. To wit: a woman furiously scribbling at a desk that she had apparently dragged from her room into the landing between the second and third floors; a pair of foreign travelers from the dark-socks-and-sandals school carrying mattresses down the hall on the fourth floor, for what purpose we know not; a dim -- no, candlelit-- fifth floor. (Actually, scratch that. Turns out we were blacking out from the climb.)

OUR ROOM: "Room" is a bit charitable. "Warren" captures it better. One of the few upsides of being a solo traveler in an 80-square-foot room with bunk beds is that the decision to take the top or bottom is entirely yours. Other perks included a television (unplugged because it didn't work), an air conditioner (unusable last summer because it blew only hot air) and an exhausted linoleum floor (unwalked upon after we spied a couple of daddy longlegs). Opposite the beds was a wall-length mirror, which did little to diminish the cubbyhole effect but was just perfect for capturing the image of a guest bathed in fluorescence, legs dangling off a top bunk, facial expression a mix of alarm and disillusionment.

THE BATHROOM: The facilities were several doors down and yet we found no need whatsoever for any high-tech system to tip us off to its vacancy. The roaring, tornadic toilet flush was an unfailing signal for the entire corridor. Functional is the word for the lone shower and its Tilex-ready glass door, although a fellow traveler's economy-size bottle of German shampoo lent an exotic touch.

WOULD WE GO BACK? As part of a Scorsese crew filming a "Taxi Driver" sequel? Absolutely. Otherwise: Not no, but hell no.

WOULD WE LET OUR MOTHER STAY HERE? We wouldn't even let our mother know we stayed there.

-- Scott Vogel

Pod Hotel

230 E. 51st St. between Second and Third avenues, 800-742-5945, http://www.thepodhotel.com.

WHAT WE PAID: $162.24, including tax, for a single pod with a shared bath. (Rates can go as low as $89 for the same unit.) A bunk-bed pod with a shared bath starts at $99, and queen pods with a bathroom start at $149.