The Jane Hotel NYC review – sleeping in a cabin room
Last Updated on 24th July 2020
Do you fancy a hotel away from the chaos of Midtown and at a far more reasonable rate? Then one of the Jane Hotel’s cabin rooms could be for you. Ideally suited to explore Greenwich Village and Manhattan’s Lower West side, as well as being conveniently situated on the Hudson River Greenway. Read on for my Jane Hotel NYC review.
Now … when they call it a cabin room it really is a cabin room! Completed in 1908 it was originally built as a hotel for sailors with cabin-like rooms. Since then it’s been lovingly restored to mark its centennial year (2008) and has become my favourite place to stay in NYC. Three times now and counting.
Booking.comSo how small are these cabin rooms?
As you can see it’s quite literally arm-width wide. The full width mirror fooling nobody, but it does do its job by “doubling” the room’s perceived size for any of you claustrophobes out there!
Looking back towards the bed, your head is right up against the door wall with the room controls just above you. There’s a shelf up above for lighter bags/cases plus a space under the bed for a bigger piece of luggage. At the foot of the bed are two shelves, two plugs and a TV higher up bolted onto the wall.
The ‘control centre’ above the headboard adjusts the main light, the reading light above your head and the fan up above your feet. The console’s activated when you insert the rod holding your key into the right-hand hole. All three things are dimmable plus there’s another two power sockets if you like to have your mobile phone closer to you at night; the phone resting on the burgundy headboard.
But don’t they have shared bathrooms?
Some people might recoil at the thought of a shared bathroom but it really isn’t an issue. On each floor there are two bathrooms, containing two showers, two toilets and two basins. If one bathroom’s facilities happen to be full then just use the other bathroom down the hall instead. In the two nights I was there I only encountered two other people in there at the same time and they were both at the basins drying their hair.
A cabin room should be cheap? Yes?
One reason I’ve chosen The Jane Hotel before is so I could be close to the charity I work with out in New York – ‘Every Mother Counts’. This hotel has always been the cheapest one nearby. For the time you’re spending in it do you really need a cavernous king-size bed with all the bells and whistles?
OK – it was just me staying but there are same-sized bunk bed rooms available in the hotel too. I got my recent single cabin for $293 for two nights (late September 2019) on Booking.com which was all fine with me.
The most wonderfully airy breakfast room
The Old Rose breakfast room is downstairs and to the left as you enter the main hotel door. I’d eaten here with a friend before and it has the most delightful feel to it. It pretty much gets the sun all afternoon and is a nice place to recharge before you head out into the city again.
Don’t miss out on the ballroom and rooftop bar!
If you didn’t know about it you wouldn’t know it was there. The Ballroom entrance is opposite reception, but around a corner which you have no real need to head towards. However go for a mini explore one evening and you’ll be greeted by this wonderful sight.
Head to the 6th floor, and “if” it’s open you can walk out onto the rooftop bar. The octagonal building (below) contains the bar itself, with the area to the left of it being the open-air seating space. It offers delightful late afternoon views over the Hudson towards New Jersey. You can even see the Statue of Liberty way off in the distance towards the left … just.
Both the rooftop bar and ballroom can be booked out for private events so don’t expect to visit both of them if you’re only there for a very short stay. There’s only one lift in the building which makes arriving at the rooftop bar even more rewarding if you turn up at a busy time back down in reception.
Hire a bicycle & cycle along the Hudson River Greenway
The icing on the cake are the fleet of single speed bicycles stored neatly outside on the pavement. Hire one for free and then head out onto the adjacent Hudson River Greenway just across the road. From here you can head north up to 59th Street level with Central Park (2.7 miles) or south down to Battery Park (2.4 miles). I went a little further round to the Staten Island Ferry terminal (2.9 miles) and took the Staten Island Ferry over to Staten Island.
The Jane Hotel – some interesting facts
In 1912 some of the survivors of the Titanic actually stayed at the hotel, up until the end of the American Inquiry into the ship’s sinking. There was a memorial service made by the surviving member of the crew just four days after the ship sank.
At the time it was called the Seaman’s Relief Center but in 1944 the YMCA took over the hotel. Fast forward to the ‘80s and ‘90s and the hotel was part of downtown New York’s bohemian culture, hosting many rock-n-roll events.
There is also a great blog post by ‘untapped cities’ highlighting the ‘top 10 secrets of the hotel‘. A lot I hadn’t even noticed in my previous three stays
If I’ve convinced you then you can book a room with Booking.com below 🙂
Booking.comRather be in Midtown instead?
If you fancy something a bit bigger either side of Midtown instead, then see what I thought of the Dream Midtown on 55th just under Central Park or the INNside Hotel on 27th. If you’ve ever wanted to try out a Peloton bicycle class then the Sheraton Times Square has a free studio for its guests!
I hope you’ve liked my Jane Hotel NYC review? If so check out some of my other New York related posts while you’re here 🙂
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