Budget ($150–250/night)
Small rooms, sometimes shared or compact bathrooms, and a location that may require a longer subway ride. What you're paying for is a bed and a locked door in an expensive city — manage expectations accordingly. Pod-style and hostel-adjacent hotels have improved a lot in the last decade and are a legitimate option even for non-backpackers.
Mid-range ($250–450/night)
This is where most well-reviewed, centrally-located hotels sit. Reasonable room size, a real bathroom, usually a gym and sometimes a rooftop bar. The biggest variable at this tier is neighborhood — the exact same quality of hotel costs noticeably more in Midtown than in, say, the Lower East Side.
Luxury ($450+/night)
Bigger rooms, better views (often the actual selling point — a Central Park or skyline view is a real luxury-tier feature, not marketing fluff), better service ratios, and amenities like spas or notable in-house restaurants. Past a certain point you're paying for brand and views more than a meaningfully better night's sleep.