sixsisters

Any suggestions for an inexpensive hotel near Madison Square Garden for several college-age students? Any information would be much appreciated. Thanks

nytraveler

First, this is not the greatest area for hotels. Unless there is some reason you MUST stay there you will find better, less expensive choices elsewhere.

Second, how many of you are there and what do you mean by inexpensive?

Third - are you over 21? (Many hotels in NYC - esp less expensive ones - will not take guests under 21 - esp a group - unless accompanied by an adult. Or - they will put a large "hold" - perhaps up to a couple of thousand dollars - on your credit card in case of possible damages.

If you give us more info , people could provide specific suggestions.

sixsisters

Thanks, nytraveler. Four 18 and 19 years old young men going to a concert at Madison Square Garden this summer. I am not familiar with NYC at all and they think they are going drive right into the city stay at a hotel closeby at a reason price with parking. They are from Cape Cod if that helps. Thanks for any help you can provide.

nytraveler

There is only one hotel in NYC with free parking - the Travel Inn on west 42 st - not so far from the Garden. Other parking is about $35 per night (iconparking.com is interactive and lists a bunch of places and their rates).

Many hotels will not let you reserve rooms at all at your ages -so you're going to have to do a search for optios and then contact them to see what their policy is


Also - you can;t bid Priceline since they allow only 2 people to a room - and I think won't take bids if you're under 21..

Some places to start:

applecore group of budget hotels

Dowwntown - neighborhoods with much more to do than near the Garden (which is in a business district)

Cosmopolitan

Larchmont

Chelsea Lodge

At these places you should be able to find a room for under $200 including tax.

sixsisters

Thank you again, nytraveler, for all the good advice. I will look into these hotels. Can you please tell me how far the Port Authority is from the business district? I am looking into bus service for the boys as well.

mclaurie

Port Authority at 42 st & 8th ave. is part of midtown. (There really is no such thing as a business district here. All Manhattan is a business district). The Travel Inn hotel which has free parking is not far from Port Authority but I don't know that they accept under 21's. The Big Apple Hostel gets pretty good reviews on hostelz.com and tripadvisor.com and is in the Times Square area. I think they accept under 21's. The Best Western President is often affordable and I believe they also accept under 21's.

Do you know about mapquest.com? It will give you maps and driving directions. Hopstop.com is a great website that shows how to get from place to place in NYC.

nytraveler

Well- there are areas of NYC that are not business districts - the upper east and west sides are residential (they have shops - but not massive office buildings) as is most of upper Manhattan.

But Port Authority (40/42 st) is very close to Penn Sta (33 to 31 st) - both on the west side.

As for business districts there are several:

midtown 59th down to 23rd

chelsea, soho etc - down to the Village (4th st and below)

Downtown - the financial district and government center (from the village down to south ferry)