Hampton Inn Manhattan-SoHo Rating: 3.0 Pearls

SoHo, Manhattan, New York City

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Located on Watts Street, which feeds directly into the Holland Tunnel, the Hampton Inn is situated in an industrial, yet highly trafficked area of SoHo. For the more fashionable cafes, lounges, and boutiques that SoHo is best known for, you'll have to walk about five to 10 minutes north or east.

Once industrial and warehousing districts, then gritty, underutilized areas where starving artists flocked to set up cheap loft and studio spaces, SoHo and Tribeca have since been transformed into two of New York's premier neighborhoods -- characterized as much by destination shopping (SoHo), luxury loft apartments (TriBeCa), and fine dining (both) as by the well-preserved cast-iron architecture and cobblestoned streets that evoke their industrial past. Though these abutting neighborhoods have lost much of their edge since the days when only the artists appreciated their gritty beauty, both still draw the young, hip, beautiful, and moneyed in droves -- and together they embody New York's haute bohemian downtown shopping and nightlife scene.

• Two blocks from the C, E and 1 subway lines; six blocks from the A line -- easy access to Manhattan's westside but no express trains nearby and at least 9 blocks to access subways to the eastside
• 30-minute subway ride to Central Park
• 20-minute subway ride to Times Square
• 15-minute subway ride to the Empire State Building and Rockefeller Center
• 15-minute walk to the ferry terminal to visit the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island
• 25-minute subway ride to the American Museum of Natural History
• 35-minute subway ride to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the "Met") and a 25-minute subway ride to the Museum of Modern Art (the "MoMA")

The Standard King room

• Standard rooms start at 225 square feet -- about average for a hotel room in New York.
• Three Penthouse Suites, each 450 square feet (tiny by "penthouse" standards), offer the same basic amenities but contain large living spaces.
• 32-inch flat-screen TV
• Free Wi-Fi

Free continental breakfast at the Hampton Inn Manhattan-Soho

The hotel doesn't offer room service, but a complimentary continental breakfast is available every morning. Artifakt Bar, the hotel's sports bar and lounge, opens at 5 p.m. daily and serves drinks and small plates; it closes at midnight.

New York has three nearby airports: JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark (in New Jersey). Getting to town from JFK or LaGuardia is usually more convenient than getting there from Newark, but travel times are heavily dependent on the time of day and traffic conditions. From JFK, a taxi to anywhere in Manhattan costs a flat rate of $45 and takes around an hour in average conditions. From LaGuardia, a metered cab ride to midtown Manhattan costs about $40 and can take 30 minutes if traffic is light, three times that if it's bad. Rides from Newark cost at least $40 (plus tolls) and can take more than 90 minutes. It's customary to tip your driver 15 to 25 percent.

Those looking to save some cash can use the privately run shuttle buses that are available at all three airports for about $14 per person. For more information on the shuttles, go to Super Shuttle or New York Airport Service. Public transit is also available for as little as $7 per person, but travel can take up to two hours and involve a lot of lugging bags up and down stairways.

For mass-transit directions right to the hotel, check out HopStop.com.