Washington Square Hotel Rating: 3.0 Pearls

West Village, Manhattan, New York City

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Entrance at Washington Square Hotel

Built in 1902, the Washington Square Hotel has a storied past. In its previous incarnation it was Hotel Earle, a rundown resident hotel offering cheap shelter for famous writers and musicians during their struggling-artist years. Dylan Thomas was a frequent guest, and former occupant Bo Diddley even returned to play at the opening of the new lobby. Bob Dylan lived in Room 305, back when bohemian Greenwich Village was home to beatnik coffeehouses, not today's luxury residences.

The Paul family purchased the hotel in 1973 and changed the name in the '80s. Over the past 20-plus years, the family has updated and beautified the 150-room hotel with a series of timely renovations. The Art Deco-inspired lobby was redone four years ago and remains the hotel’s showpiece. A striking white and green marble floor and a mural of actors from the golden age of cinema greets guests as they walk up to the polished-wood front desk. Beyond that, a reproduction of a famous John Singer Sargent painting sits between two couches upholstered in a rich green leather. Hand-painted murals and tile paintings throughout the hotel add a funky, homespun charm. They’re all the work of owner Judy Paul’s artist mother, Rita.

Since Greenwich Village turned from budget bohemian to one of NYC’s most upscale neighborhoods, the artists of the past have been replaced by parents of students and tourists who want to be away from Midtown chaos.

Now the hotel is one of NYCs most sought-after values. It overlooks Washington Square Park and has a free continental breakfast. The lack of room service at Washington Square encourages guests to mingle with a glass of wine at the lobby’s Deco Bar, a spot I’d revisit even if I wasn’t a guest at the hotel. The bar’s mosaic tile floor and Parisian wrought-iron gate plays on the romance of a bygone era.

Washington Square Hotel is akin to an intimate, family-run bed and breakfast. There’s no room service, no valet parking, no laundry service, and a single elevator for both guests and staff. However, the hotel offers several niceties not available at pricier establishments. Wi-Fi is free in the lobby and there’s high-speed Internet in all the rooms. The free continental breakfast moves well beyond the perfunctory offerings of boxed cereal and plastic-wrapped Danishes. There are bowls of fresh melon, freshly squeezed orange juice, and croissants and bagels.

The Front Desk

Speedy and friendly, this affable staff loves to recommend the best things to do in the Village. While there is not a full-time concierge, the doorman is quick to offer tips and the in-room guest-service directory comes with an extensive list of bars, clubs, and shops to visit nearby, carefully subdivided into sections (gay bars, music clubs, gourmet food stores, four-star restaurants, seafood, etc.)

View on a Larger Map

The hotel is one block west of the West 4th Street subway stop (Waverly Place and Sixth Avenue). The West 4th Street subway stop is one of the larger hubs, with both express lines (A, B, D) and local lines (C, E, F) that stretch from the Bronx well into Brooklyn. It’s easy to access both the west side of Manhattan and the Lower East Side from here, where New York’s best nightlife can be found. Even within a four block radius of the hotel is the world-famous Blue Note jazz club.

The hotel is on the northwest corner of a small park mostly populated by college students. It sits on a particularly charming block, lined with a cluster of gaily painted brownstone houses. One of the city’s finest Italian restaurants (with one of the hardest reservations to get) is across the street from the hotel: celebrity chef Mario Batali’s Babbo.

This is a quieter block. Most of the NYU and tourist traffic is situated around Bleecker Street, five blocks away. It’s a fairly safe area: There’s constant foot traffic at the end of the block, where the West 4th Street subway stop is. Washington Square Park is well-lit at night and well-patrolled, and there’s even an on-site police outpost. This is a very tourist- and student-heavy area with plenty of people coming and going at all hours. It’s actually pretty difficult to be all alone in Greenwich Village.

The Standard Queen Room

Washington Square Hotel has 150 guest rooms divided into superiors, deluxes, and executive kings. Superiors and deluxes come in all bed varieties (twin, queen, quad, double, single). The main difference between the two is that deluxe rooms have a full view of the park or the city, while the cheaper superior rooms have partial or interior views, meaning they’re a bit dark. My Superior room just looked at the butt of my window air-conditioning unit and the dreary wall of the building next door. Needless to say, it felt like 5 p.m. all day. Higher-floor room with windows facing the street let in more light -- i.e., a Deluxe -- but also street noise.

Most rooms are small -- a Superior is only 143 square feet. The closets are also on the narrow side. The one mirrored door opens with space for little more than one coat, considering the two bath robes and umbrella already crammed inside. The other side of the closet is taken up by shelves. This is not the dream hotel of the extended-stay traveler. (There is, however, ample drawer and shelf space for folded garments.)

• The bed in a base-level room is just a double-size mattress (not a queen or king, as in most hotels) and the sheets are pretty run-of-the mill, but the thick pillow-top mattress makes a huge difference. *Above the night tables are switches to control the fan and AC so you wouldn’t have to get out of bed.
• The bathroom is pretty no-frills, however, and could have used a more attentive cleaning.
• Small flat-screen (around 27 inches) suspended from the far corner of the wall; it can be a strain to watch it from across the room. There are no pay-per-view movies here, but there is cable with Showtime.

Small but sufficient gym

• Small, one-room gym on the lobby floor, crammed with two treadmills, one stationary bicycle, and Nautilus weight equipment; The equipment is not state-of-the-art but is perfectly functional. The gym is open from 6 a.m. to midnight. Personal-training sessions are available by appointment.
• Spa services are courtesy of skin-care specialist and licensed aesthetician Jennifer Ford. She works in a private room on the first floor and performs facials ($100 to $175), sun-free tanning ($50), waxing ($8 to $65) and massages ($45 for 30 minutes to $110 for 75 minutes). Services are by appointment only.
• Two bar/lounges and one restaurant: afternoon tea and cocktails in the lobby’s Deco Bar from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. (Monday through Saturday); North Square restaurant serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner seven days a week (roughly open 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. every day); the adjoining North Square Lounge (5 p.m. to midnight) serves the North Square dinner menu plus bar snacks.
• Free Wi-Fi is available in the lobby and the Deco Bar. High-speed Internet is available in all the rooms via an Ethernet jack above the vanity table. Each room comes with an Ethernet cord.

Families benefit by the hotel’s proximity to Washington Square Park and the Village’s many kid-friendly restaurants. But smaller closet space does mean that a family will have to get creative about storage, and the hotel doesn’t offer rollaways because there’s no space for them in the rooms. Families should consider booking the deluxe quad, which comes with two double beds.

My bedroom was well-dusted and vacuumed, but there were a few oversights in the bathroom. I found an errant hair lying next to the tub’s faucet. The sink countertop had an orange rust stain from a glass.

The room carpet was vacuumed well; all the counters were dusted. The sheets were clean and soft.

North Square Restaurant

• The free continental breakfast is great -- no sad, plastic-wrapped Danishes or Frosted Flake buffets here. Waiters pour fresh-squeezed orange juice and coffee, and deliver yogurt, cereal, and a basket of pastries to each guest’s table.
• The hotel restaurant, North Square, is an American bistro serving simple but elegant dishes influenced by the chef’s classical French training. It serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner seven days a week (roughly open 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. every day).
• The adjoining North Square Lounge (5 p.m. to midnight) serves the North Square restaurant dinner’s menu plus bar snacks and an extensive cocktail and spirits menu.
• The Deco Bar is open Monday to Saturday from 3 p.m to 8 p.m. It serves an afternoon tea from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and an abbreviated version of the North Square menu until close.

New York City has three nearby airports: JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark (in New Jersey). Flying into JFK or LaGuardia is typically easiest and the least time-consuming. From JFK, it's a one-hour, $45 flat-rate taxi ride to anywhere in Manhattan. From LaGuardia, it's about a 30-minute, $40 metered cab ride. Rides from Newark cost at least $40 (plus tolls), and can take more than 90 minutes. Guests should tip their drivers 15 percent to 25 percent.

To save some cash, tourists can try the group shuttles that are available at all three airports for about $14 per person. For more information on the shuttles, go to New York Airport Service. People can also opt for public transit from any of the airports 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 stairs. For mass-transit directions right to the hotel, check out HopStop.com.