The Penny Hotel Williamsburg has quietly become one of New York City’s most practical stays for visitors who want space and value without retreating to a cramped Midtown tower. Queen rooms start at around $230 per night, a rate that, by Manhattan standards, would barely secure a shoebox, yet here it buys a kitchenette, a full-sized bathroom and enough floor space to actually spread out.
What the Penny Hotel Williamsburg Offers
The property runs to 117 rooms, a detail confirmed by CN Traveller, with the room categories spanning Queen, Queen Sleeper and Supreme Queen configurations before you reach the top of the range. That top tier is the Your Majesty suite, which CN Traveller reports runs to 700 square feet and comes with a private terrace, a genuinely rare proposition for a Brooklyn hotel at this price point.
Every Queen room includes a kitchenette fitted with a microwave, a mini fridge and a pour-over coffee setup using a Fellow kettle. A yoga mat and foam roller are also provided in-room. The common areas, including a ground-floor patio and the building’s rooftop, are decorated with work from LAND Gallery, a local nonprofit that features art created by New Yorkers with developmental disabilities. The pieces run throughout the rooms and shared spaces, giving the property a coherence that most hotels at this price do not attempt.
On the top floor sits elNico, a rooftop bar and restaurant serving Mexican fare with panoramic views across Brooklyn and Manhattan. One thing worth factoring into plans: according to the Michelin Guide, elNico is closed on Mondays, so visitors intending to eat or drink there should plan accordingly. On any other day, the rooftop is a workable spot for an afternoon with a laptop, and the views across the two boroughs make it easy to linger.
Location and the Case for Staying in Brooklyn
The Penny Hotel Williamsburg sits two blocks from the L train, which runs directly into lower Manhattan. The journey to the centre of the city takes roughly 15 minutes, which compares favourably with the time spent navigating Midtown’s crowded pavements and overpriced hotel lobbies once you are actually there. A ferry connection to Manhattan is also available for those who prefer the water route.
Williamsburg itself remains worth the trip. The neighbourhood still carries the restaurant density and bar culture that made it a draw a decade ago, and the pace is perceptibly slower than Manhattan proper. Lilia, frequently cited among the best restaurants in the city, is close by. For visitors whose meetings and events are in Manhattan, the commute from here adds very little friction while the accommodation gains considerably in space and atmosphere.
One practical point: the hotel managed early check-in for a guest who arrived at 6am after a red-eye, several hours before the standard check-in window. That kind of flexibility is not guaranteed, but it reflects the front-of-house approach that runs through the property. Staff are present without being intrusive, and the building carries a quiet that most urban hotels cannot sustain.
Prices vary with demand, so the $230 starting rate for a Queen room is a floor rather than a fixed figure. Even at higher demand pricing, the room-to-rate ratio holds up against comparable Manhattan hotels, where equivalent square footage and equivalent amenities cost considerably more. The kitchenette alone changes the economics of a longer stay: cooking breakfast rather than buying it daily adds up across a week.
For travellers making repeat visits to New York, the Penny Hotel Williamsburg is the kind of property that starts to feel habitual. The combination of space, a functional kitchen, quality in-room kit and a rooftop restaurant puts it well clear of what that price range usually delivers in this city. The Your Majesty suite, with its 700-square-foot footprint and private terrace, is available for those who want to step it up further, but even the standard Queen configuration delivers more than the nightly rate implies.