If you're arriving by the PATH, the hotel stands out clearly, looking newly constructed, immediately to the left upon exiting the Newport/Pavonia station. From there it's less than a five minute walk.

I arrived at 3:45 to check in and was reminded how small a world it can be. A guy who is a regular at my gym, whom I see several times a week but had never actually met, was right ahead of me, with a Priceline confirmation sheet in hand no less. He had been trying to check in since noon. Turns out we were both getting the Priceline treatment: I was told my room wasn't ready as well. And in the 30 minutes I had to wait, there were plenty of rooms for the half dozen parties who checked in and went straight up. The polite desk clerk did apologize a couple of times though, explaining that the hotel was sold out and the maids were having a tough time getting to all the rooms in time.

The room, 201, was on what must be the Priceline side of the hotel when it’s heavily booked - the side bordering the tracks to the local tram. During the day, the passing tram would toot its horn half the time. But there was no tooting late at night, and aside from a gentle whooshing sound as it went by, it otherwise made surprisingly little noise.

They’re stretching things a bit on their website about this being an all suites hotel with two room suites; although you do get somewhat more room than a regular hotel, which is nice. There aren't two completely separate rooms with a door to the bedroom as in a true suite. The setup is very similar to AmeriSuites, with a room divider and about 5 feet of open space separating the bedroom and living area. Moreover, there was a couch, but it didn’t pull out (although I’ve read in other reviews that in some rooms it does). As a friend was going to be taking the couch for the night, I caught a maid in the hallway who graciously agreed to retrieve an extra blanket and sheets, bringing them within a few minutes. The couch is just large enough to be able to sleep well once you find a position on it that will work, according to my friend.

The living area had a coffee table and chair in addition to the couch at one end, and a work table and office type chair at the other. There was also a small kitchenette, with a microwave, refrigerator and small sink. Past the room divider was a very comfortable queen sized bed and dresser. The mid range decor was pleasant enough in a basic sort of way. There were a couple of nice photos of the Jersey City of yesteryear on the wall.

The bathroom, a bit on the small side, was very clean and fairly cheerful. The bath towels were surprisingly small though. The toilet was highly pressurized and let out a huge swooshing sound upon flushing. You could hear the neighbors' swooshing toilet as well, but not a big deal.

This part of Jersey City is a collection of high-rise condos and office buildings. There’s a major mall (Newport Centre) right across the street; and, in addition to the shopping, there's a large food court that can come in handy. There are also several decent restaurants and a Starbuck's within easy walking distance. The guy who appeared to be the bellhop was very good with recommendations for good restaurants, and went out of his way to walk outside and point you in the right direction.

Midtown Manhattan (33rd St.) is just a 15 minute or so ride on the PATH, but that doesn't factor in waiting for that train, as well as waiting to transfer to the NYC subway if you have to get to other parts of the City. This can make things a bit inconvenient, particularly late at night and on weekends when service is less frequent.

Overall not a bad place to stay, but clearly not in the same league as the Hyatt. Considering it was New Year's Eve, the hotel was sold out and my bid was accepted for only that one night, I thought it was an excellent deal at $65.

We stayed here 4 nights out of a total 7 night stay in the Jersey City area. We had to split our stay as we were only able to book Sat-Mon and Thu-Sat stays. For $75 a night, this hotel provided great value. As the previous reviewer mentioned, the hotel's location is less than a 5 minute walk from the Newport/Paonia PATH train station. During normal weekday operating hours, it made for an easy ride into Manhattan going up to 33rd Street, but during weekends and after 11 pm, the PATH reconfigures the routes. If you are wanting to go into downtown Manhattan, you have to transfer at the Grove Street station. To get to and from 33rd Street, the PATH will go to the Hoboken station. It adds about 10 minutes to your journey, but after a long day, it can seem forever.

The only minor criticisms I could make of this place was that we were given the Priceline treatment. The two rooms we received were located right next to the elevator banks. The 455 lounge served a buffet bakfast, but we didn't feel we got real value out of it. Don't use the Avis car rental service in the lobby. The prices were out of sight compared to the fact that the Enterprise 18th St location will pick you up and process you 5 minutes away at half the price of Avis and twice the service.

We stayed here for a second time about 15 months after our first trip. Again, we enjoyed staying here, and have a few things to add.

Our 2006 stay had us checked into a queen room. This time around, we stayed in a double/double room, along with a king room. We checked into the hotel for a 5 day stay starting on Tuesday, and were told that we had been assigned a king smoking room. We asked to be switched to a non-smoking room, and while no promises were made, we were assigned our double/double non-smoking room, which worked out with 3 in our party. Due to some circumstances, we needed another room, and got one our last night there. This time, we were stuck with the king smoking room, which was sprayed down, but they couldn't get the all the smoke smell out. Our only criticism this time around was that the sound proofing between rooms on our 3rd floor suite was not that good. We could hear someone using the bathroom next door.

We asked for advice on how to get to LaGuardia Airport, and the first suggestion was to take the PATH back into Manhattan and call a cab. Having four suitcases made this option unrealistic. When we asked how much hiring a car service would be, the desk clerk (who seemed to be a new employee) thought it was $45 plus tolls, and we asked the hotel to book a car for us. When we were in the car, the driver (who happened to be the fiance of a desk clerk at the hotel) thought that was funny, and he said it was going to be $75 plus tolls. While we were unhappy about getting wrong info, the cost savings of the trip by staying in Jersey City instead of Manhattan during the week was significant enough to not complain too much about it.