Re:tickets to SNL. I believe the show is on hiatus for the summer.
Tickets are difficult to obtain as they use a lottery system.

We were in NY end of July a few summers ago, and my kids got up bright and early to try to get tickets for SNL -- yup, on hiatus!

Ink48 is now. A bit far west but near a lot of dining on 9th & 10th ave. (Hell's Kitchen) and not far from theaters.
http://www.travel-ticker.com/details...t3vkl6ueibaxeo

The Distrikt is another new hotel in that area that's well priced. Look on their own site and on quikbook.com

The Iroquois is a very nice hotel (older but updated) in a great location in midtown near Bryant Park. Special here. I'd go for a deluxe room (ie not the cheapest) http://www.travel-ticker.com/details...wy9v491y145xhx

Cassa is a brand new hotel which sounds great (http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/20...51/164/hotels/) Here's a promo for $219/night plus tax including breakfast.
http://www.travelzoo.com/hotels/new-york/852098/

Fashion 26 is another new hotel that's had good pricing.

Ink48 is n<red>E</red>w.

Have you booked a room yet? If not, check out the Hotel Amsterdam's official site. It's in the Upper West Side. They have a special right now and I just saw rooms with double beds and private bath for an average of $118/night. My trip is in Oct. and I got a queen bed, private bath for $159/night.

Prices are even less if you're willing to share a bath. I'm sure the hotel isn't fancy, but all I want is a clean place in a NYC neighborhood. We stayed in Times Square area only once--not what we like at all. We like to wander the neighborhoods and pretend we actually live there.

If you haven't booked yet, you may want to try

www.Wotif.com

there you can book a month or so in advance and search by neighborhood, borough and maximum amount. The prices are slashed and I think you'll find it usefuly. My wife and I always use it when we travel abroad and finally it's made some in-roads here in the States. Only catch is that it's non-refundable.

anniegaff I think it's pretty poor form to be touting a place that you've yet to stay at. The photos on tripadvisor don't impress me much. This poster is going in August when there are loads of sales. It's plain bad advice and frankly if I were you, I wouldn't stay there either. http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationP..._New_York.html
There are lots of DECENT, clean, fresh options that are better than this. The Belleclaire on the UWS with shared bath is fine. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev..._New_York.html

My experience with having people come to visit has been consistently that hotels in Manhattan are not cheap any time of year and that you get what you pay for. You may be able to get a nice room at the Sheraton in Flushing or in NJ cheaper, but as other posters have said Manhattan is the best place to be--whether up, down or in the middle.

Wotif.com has some at less than $200, but not by much. Availability depends on how far in advance you book though.

Park Savoy. Very cheap. Very basic. No services. Great location. Great price. Walk one block to 7th and the La Parisienne Cafe and get breakfast for less than $10. Unless thing have changed in one year, this is the place. We were there over Thanksgiving and in May.

My sincere apologies are now being offered--I made a major typo in my original post. The hotel I'm booked at is Hotel Alexander, not Amsterdam. I had a whole list written down of hotels I was checking and looked at the wrong one when I sent my previous post.

I don't feel like I was "touting" the hotel, mclaurie; I made it perfectly clear that I hadn't been there yet. I thought I was being helpful by suggesting rma look at the hotel's actual site. I guess rma can be the judge of whether I was helpful or not.

As for the Belleclaire, I have stayed there in the past and was very pleased with it--although I did not share a bath. For my upcoming visit, rooms there are more than $100 more/night, so I opted for the Alexander.