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Old 03-18-2006, 04:55 PM   #1
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OK, here' goes,

Me and my buds have decided to go into new york next weekend. and are trying to find a cheap place to crash. I suggested we just crash at a hostel, it aught to be cheap and we might meet some cool folks to have some fun with. I started looking through the hostel search thing and noticed all hostels in new york are requiring a valid passport to stay there. Even for U.S. citizens. This led me to my questions.

Huh??? what for?

I'm pretty sure at least one of my buddies doesn't have a passport. Call me crazy but are there really that many foreigners dropping fake accents and pretending to be citizens that they've got to make such a crazy rule? Or do you thinks it's to stop bums and vagrants from staying at these places?

So.....does anyone know of a cheap place to stay fairly near some stuff to do in a safe area? I saw some budget hotels in the hostel search, but they all seemed to be in harlem. I'd like to stay somewhere that'd be cool walking back to, drunk as hell , at 2 in the morning. I'd rather stay in a hostel because it seems like it'd be more sociable. A super nice TPunker's floor would also be much appreciated. I know it's a lot to ask from a newbie, but me and my 2 buds are super respectful of other peoples space/belongings.

Thanks again TPunk,
Will C.
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Old 03-18-2006, 07:18 PM   #2
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Hmmm.. I tried doing some research and can't seem to find a reason why. But, I can see that it seems that all of them are enforcing (supposedly) this policy. Depending on how many of you there are, it may still be cheaper to get one hotel room and just split it.
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Old 03-18-2006, 07:58 PM   #3
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Perhaps we should ask a hostel one day why they need our passports...
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Old 03-18-2006, 08:40 PM   #4
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I would email the place you would like to stay at and see if they would accept your drivers licence (or other ID) instead.

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Old 03-19-2006, 06:21 AM   #5
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I was looking into hostels in New York, and if I remember correctly, you could stay in a YMCA without a passport or anything. The rooms look pretty decent, and I think there are 3 in different areas of New York, so you could decide which location is best suited to your needs.
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Old 03-19-2006, 09:23 AM   #6
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Just taking a stab here, but it may be a homeland security thing - they want passport numbers to know who's where.

Before you completely freak, it's pretty standard policy in Europe for hotels and hostels to record the passport numbers of people staying there, which they then provide to Interpol should they be doing a criminal investigation...so it's not just a paranoid American thing...it is perhaps a paranoid everywhere thing.

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Old 03-19-2006, 02:22 PM   #7
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Quote:
Or do you thinks it's to stop bums and vagrants from staying at these places?
I know a few blokes that have done a bit of backpacking through the US and they said A LOT of the people staying in hostels are locals that just want a cheap place to live. So, maybe it is an attempt stop people living in hostels, but i don't see how it would achieve this, anyone can get a passport. I think some hostels in the US don't let you stay unless you have a non-american passport.

However, most hostels ask for a passport number when you check in, it's just standard procedure so they have a record of who is staying there.
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Old 03-25-2006, 12:18 AM   #8
 
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I do have to say that yes, hostels in the US really don't want vagrants staying in them. I've worked at a YMCA that was old enough to still have a hotel attached, and most of the people staying there were down and out. more than one told me that hostels in chicago and other places wouldn't accept them. So if you want, stay at a YMCA, there should be no problems with passports. but more and more of them are getting rid of their hotels, mine just recently kicked everyone out so they can reconstruct a new one without the hotel. its really unfortunate, because a lot of these people don't have other places to go. So basically, just make sure that if you are looking at a YMCA it still has a running hotel.
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