BudgetTravel

130 East 57th Street, tel. 212/753-8841, fax 212/829-9605, habitat-ny.com. 235 rooms, of which about 70 percent are with shared bath. Rates: $85-$105 (shared bath)

Once a women's residence, the Habitat became a full-service hotel last year. The lobby's sophisticated green-and-cream color scheme, fresh flowers, concierge desk, and jazz background music seem a cut above budget lodging. And indeed, rooms with private baths miss our cutoff; however, you'll still find bargains on those with shared baths. Doubles have trundle beds, which means they're set up with what looks like a single bed; underneath is another mattress and frame that opens to a reasonable semblance of a double bed. Although it's a tight squeeze when the beds are open, they're new and comfy with plush velour blankets. Rooms and hallways are stylishly decorated in taupes and beiges, most with striped or harlequin-patterned wallpaper and deco-style lamps. Furnishings are neat and tidy, though some look a little worn. Rooms include freestanding closets to hold amenities and hangers, in-room sinks, phones with voice mail, dataports, and TVs. If you've got to share a bath, it might as well be elegant, and these are: small but immaculate, with brand-new marble tile and glass-doored showers. Toilets can be found in separate rooms; no more than four rooms share two stalls and two showers. At press time, the hotel was turning the erstwhile Irish pub next door into an entrance for the new mezzanine-level lobby.

Aladdin Hotel

317 West 45th Street, tel. 212/246-8580, fax 212/246-6036, aladdinhotel.com. 132 rooms, of which all but two are with shared bath and fit our price category. Rates: $65-$85 (shared bath)

The lobby's deep purple walls, red velvet curtains, saggy couches, and bright, multicolored carpet make you feel more like you're stepping into an East Village bar than a hotel-cum-hostel. Don't be fooled: the Aladdin caters heavily to serious students and young international travelers, perhaps because they're most tolerant of the bathroom situation. (Sinks are communal, and the three-stalls/two-showers-per-20-room-floor formula can mean a wait for the facilities.) The lobby, the orange-and-yellow-walled first-floor lounge, and the cheerfully painted pastel halls are the hotel's best features. Rooms are grungy and basic with low, slouchy beds, worn wall-to-wall carpeting, and bright curtains and bedspreads. Pay phones are located in the lobby. For supercheap lodgings, try the dorm-style rooms with multiple bunk beds. At press time the Aladdin was renovating, but chances are it won't shed its student-union feel.

Apple Core Hotels

(all rooms with private bath) Quality Hotel & Suites Midtown 59 West 46th Street, Quality Hotel East Side 161 Lexington, Comfort Inn Midtown 129 West 46th Street, Best Western Manhattan 17 West 32nd Street, Apple Core Hotels tel. 800/567-7720 (central reservations) or 212/790-2700, fax 212/790-2760, applecorehotels.com. Rates: start at $89 weeknights; $99-$109 weekends (private bath), continental breakfast included. Caveat: During holidays and other high seasons, rates can reach $139.

Since 1993, Apple Core has been restoring rundown hotels in Midtown and turning them into some of the best bargains around. Although rates vary and management is cagey when it comes to listing a set price range, you can often find real deals. (If you're quoted a higher rate by phone, inquire about 10 percent AAA and AARP discounts as well as availability of smaller, more affordable rooms, especially at the Quality Hotel East Side.) And if you're bringing the kids, "family suites" sleep up to six for $139-$189, and the Best Western offers Nintendo and on-demand children's movies.

Although Apple Core runs chain hotels, its four Manhattan properties are far from generic. The Quality Midtown and Best Western retain lovely Beaux Arts facades, and the Comfort Inn's restored turn-of-the-century building with its modern lobby is downright elegant. Decor ranges from black, white, and purple art deco in the Best Western's lobby to Colonial American at the Quality Hotel Eastside, with its borders of L.L. Bean-style duck-print wallpaper and bookcase-lined lobby. (The Quality, just off 30th Street in quiet Murray Hill, also boasts large windows and the best views we've seen at a budget property - ask for a room ending in the numerals 10 or 11.) On the downside: Rooms in all four hotels vary from spacious to barely wide enough to squeeze past the bed, and those still awaiting redecoration at the Quality could use better lighting. But with free continental breakfast and luxury amenities like in-room coffeemakers, hair dryers, irons, ironing boards, and 24-hour fitness and business centers, who's complaining?

Editor's Note: Though rates here can sometimes go higher (even much higher) than our limits, the chain is still worth a call and a pointed inquiry about whether rates can be found within our range; they often can be. Also, at press time Apple Core was completing a new Red Roof Inn, set to open this year on West 32nd Street.

Malibu Hotel

2688 Broadway, tel. 212/222-2954 or 800/647-2227, fax 212/678-6842, malibuhotelnyc.com. 140 rooms, of which 80 percent are with private bath and yet priced within our limits. The remainder are with shared bath and even cheaper ($69 to $89 per room). Rates: $89-$129 (private bath), $109-$149/quad (private bath)

Though they won't win any awards for decor, you can't argue with the rates at this Upper West Side standby. A steep, narrow stairway covered in gray carpet that's seen better days leads to an equally drab second-floor lobby. Rooms are small and plain but serviceable, with chunky black iron headboards, a framed poster or two, and often hangers on a rack above the bed. Still, each has a TV and a clean, newly renovated bath (phones are in the lobby). Those facing away from commercial Broadway are likely to be quieter. Skip the heavy suitcases unless you want a workout; there are five flights and no elevators. Free continental breakfast is served in the lobby. The subway is a few steps from the hotel's front door.

The neighborhood around 103rd Street is ethnically mixed but yuppifying fast; nearby are Grant's Tomb, Riverside Park, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and Columbia University.

Washington Jefferson Hotel

318 West 51st Street, tel. 212/246-7550 or fax 212/246-7622. A big 260 rooms in size, of which 85 percent are with shared bath. Rates: $89-$99 (shared bath)

Flaking exterior paint and an Edward Hopper-esque neon "hotel" sign outside belie this hotel's recent transformation. Once a down-at-the-heels single-room-occupancy hotel (SRO in New York lingo), the Wash-Jeff retains its shabby-chic appeal - and some of its original inhabitants - with a dark wood-paneled lobby, frayed red floral carpet, and saggy but comfy rose-colored couches. Halls are lined with black-and-white city photos - the work of a resident artist who fell behind in his rent and came up with an "alternate payment plan." Another interesting touch: GM Bob Lindenbaum offers room #114 for exhibits by local artists; last year one nonconformist covered the room in cheese. (You can see the photos, if you're skeptical.) Guest floors are more New York apartment house than hotel, with eclectic furnishings and years' worth of paint on the door frames. Baths are vintage 1940s but tidy (the staff cleans them hourly). All rooms have sinks, phones with voice mail, and dataports; minifridges are available on request. Eventually, the hotel hopes to install private baths in all rooms - without raising rates, we hope.

Though once seedy, Hell's Kitchen now pulses with chichi coffee houses and trendy bars; you can still find meal deals at nearby diners and falafel stands.

Editor's Note: Unless otherwise indicated, rates are for double rooms and do not include New York's 13.25 percent tax + $2/night occupancy tax. All hotels listed offer rooms starting under $100/night for significant portions of the year; higher rates may apply to holidays and other high-demand periods.