Riu Hotel New York: Is It Actually Worth It for Budget Travelers?
Riu Hotel New York: Is It Actually Worth It for Budget Travelers?
Riu Hotel New York — I’ll be real with you, Times Square hotels and I have a complicated relationship. Every time I plan a New York City trip, I tell myself I’m going to stay somewhere “practical” — a hostel in Brooklyn, a budget guesthouse in Queens, maybe a no-frills Airbnb somewhere with decent subway access. And then I find a deal on a Times Square hotel and suddenly all my budgeting principles go right out the window.
That’s pretty much how I ended up at the Riu Plaza New York, and honestly? I don’t regret it one bit.
New York City is one of those destinations where accommodation can absolutely make or break your trip, especially if you’re visiting for the first time. You want to be close enough to things that you’re not spending half your day on the subway, but you also don’t want to pay $400 a night for the privilege of hearing taxi horns at 3am. It’s a balancing act, and the Riu Hotel New York sits right in the middle of that tension in an interesting way. Let me tell you what I actually found.
What the Riu Hotel New York Actually Is (No Marketing Fluff)
The Riu Plaza New York is part of the Spanish RIU Hotels & Resorts chain, which a lot of people know from all-inclusive beach resorts in the Caribbean and Mexico. When they opened this property in Midtown Manhattan, it was kind of a departure from their usual vibe — no swim-up bar, obviously, but they brought that same polished, reliably comfortable energy to the middle of one of the most chaotic places on earth.
The hotel sits right in Times Square, which means you’re a few blocks from pretty much everything in Midtown. Penn Station, the Theater District, Central Park, Rockefeller Center — all walkable or a very short subway ride. For a first-time NYC visitor, this location is genuinely hard to beat. For a seasoned traveler like me who usually gravitates toward neighborhoods with more local flavor, it was a bit of a touristy bubble, but I understood the appeal completely.
The building itself is a proper skyscraper, and the rooms are modern, clean, and functional. Nothing that’s going to blow your mind design-wise, but everything works, the beds are comfortable, and the air conditioning actually does its job (a surprisingly important detail in a New York summer, trust me).
The Price Reality — and How to Actually Get a Decent Rate
Okay, here’s where we need to talk honestly, because the Riu Hotel New York is not cheap. On a standard booking through their website or most OTAs, you’re looking at anywhere from $250 to $450+ per night depending on the season. That’s not budget travel. That’s solidly mid-range for NYC, which — let me put this in perspective — is kind of like calling $15 tacos “affordable” in Austin. It depends entirely on your baseline.
When I stayed, I managed to lock in a rate around $189 per night by booking about six weeks out during a shoulder-season weekday stretch in late September. That’s the sweet spot for New York pricing — late September through early November misses the peak summer surge and the holiday madness. I also ran the rate through a couple of comparison sites (Kayak and Google Hotels specifically) before booking directly, just to make sure I wasn’t leaving money on the table.
One thing I’ve learned about Midtown Manhattan hotels: Tuesday and Wednesday nights are almost always cheaper than weekends by a pretty significant margin, sometimes 30-40% less. If your trip has any schedule flexibility at all, shift your arrival to a Tuesday. You’ll thank yourself later.
The Rooftop Situation (This Part Is Actually Great)
Here’s what genuinely surprised me about the Riu Hotel New York: the rooftop bar. I’d read about it before arriving but was skeptical, because rooftop bars in tourist-heavy hotels tend to be overpriced and underwhelming. This one, though — it delivered.
The views over Times Square and Midtown are legitimately spectacular, especially at dusk when the city lights are coming on and the whole skyline goes this warm golden-orange before flipping to neon. I spent about two hours up there my first evening, nursing one cocktail longer than was probably socially acceptable, just watching the city do its thing below me.
The drinks aren’t cheap — we’re talking $18-22 for a cocktail — but this is New York. I’ve paid $16 for a beer in SoHo without a view of anything except a brick wall. As someone who usually prioritizes experiences over things, I put the rooftop in the “worth it” column. The rooftop alone honestly justifies booking this hotel over a cheaper property without one, because you’re essentially getting one of the best views in Midtown included in your room rate.
Location: The Good, The Loud, and The Genuinely Useful
Times Square is a lot. I know that. You probably know that. The noise, the crowds, the people in Elmo costumes asking for tips — it’s sensory overload even for someone who’s been to 47 countries and thought they were unshockable. My first morning, I woke up at 6am to the sound of what I can only describe as organized chaos six floors below my window.
But here’s the thing: if you’re doing a short New York trip and you want to see the “classic” NYC stuff — Broadway shows, the High Line, Chelsea Market, Fifth Avenue, the Met, Central Park — the Riu Hotel New York’s location is genuinely unbeatable. I walked to five different major attractions in one day without touching the subway once. For a city where a single subway ride costs $2.90, that adds up surprisingly fast when you’re doing multiple trips daily.
The hotel is also a two-minute walk from the Times Square-42nd Street subway station, which gives you access to something like nine different train lines. You can get basically anywhere in Manhattan within 20-30 minutes from that hub. For someone who’s usually paranoid about transportation logistics (ask me about my Romanian bus situation sometime), having that kind of connectivity was genuinely relaxing.
What I’d Tell a First-Time NYC Visitor
If you’re visiting New York for the first time and you want a comfortable, well-located base without having to think too hard about logistics, the Riu Plaza New York is a solid choice. Book during the shoulder season, be flexible with your check-in day, and compare rates across at least three platforms before committing. You can realistically find rates in the $180-230 range if you plan ahead and aren’t locked into peak weekend dates.
The rooms are not huge — this is New York, nothing is huge — but they’re efficiently designed and the bed quality is noticeably better than what you’d get at a similar price point from some of the older Midtown properties I’ve stayed in. The staff was helpful and not in that weird, overly formal way that sometimes happens at bigger hotel chains. When I asked the front desk person for a good nearby spot for a cheap breakfast that wasn’t a tourist trap, she pointed me to a deli around the corner without any hesitation. That kind of practical local knowledge is worth more than any concierge recommendation from a binder.
A Few Things That Could Be Better
I want to be fair here, because not everything was perfect. The elevators during peak checkout time in the morning were… a situation. If you’re in a hurry to catch an early flight or train, build in extra time. I stood waiting for about eight minutes once, which sounds minor but felt eternal when I had a 9am Amtrak to catch.
The in-room wifi was also a bit inconsistent — fine for browsing and email, but if you’re a remote worker planning to do video calls from your room, you might want to have a backup plan. I ended up working from a nearby coffee shop one afternoon, which honestly wasn’t the worst outcome, but worth knowing in advance.
And breakfast at the hotel itself is overpriced, as hotel breakfasts in New York tend to be. Skip it. Walk two blocks in any direction and you’ll find a bodega or diner doing eggs and coffee for a fraction of the price.
So, Is the Riu Hotel New York Worth It?
For a first-time visitor who wants a reliable, central, comfortable place to land in one of the world’s most overwhelming cities — yes, absolutely. For a seasoned budget traveler who prioritizes neighborhood character and local experience over convenience — maybe look at options in the East Village or Brooklyn, depending on what you’re after.
But if you find a rate under $200 during shoulder season? Book it. The rooftop alone is worth a night at those prices, and you’ll spend less time stressing about getting around and more time actually doing New York. Which is, ultimately, the whole point.
New York rewards visitors who just dive in, and having a solid base at the Riu Hotel New York makes it a lot easier to do exactly that. Start there, wander aggressively, eat the bodega coffee, and figure out the rest as you go.
