Hotel recs in NYC?
 

Hey all - my folks are heading to NYC for dads 60th bday at the end of Oct. They want to stay in Manhattan and will be doing the touristy stuff...Times Square, Staten Island ferry, Jets game at Giants stadium (by bus from the city), World trade center visit, etc. I found a couple of great hotels for inexpensive near central park through this board and the reviews here about 2 months ago and sent them to my mom who can't find the emails. I didn't save the info and am back to square one. Raddison, Best Western type places are fine if they are clean and in a good area. They aren't looking for anything super expensive. Any recommendations?

Thanks!

My family and I stayed at the Midtown Holiday Inn in June. It was close to Central Park and the subway. It was just fine for us. Very comfortable beds, lots of restaurants in the area and relatively inexpensive.

What price range? Late October is high season. The Holiday Inn Midtown, for example, is $365.00 a night (ridiculous, I know - it's a HOLIDAY INN!) but that's what you're faced with.

you should consider bidding on Priceline. If it's only the 2 of them, you can get some nice deals on good hotels. CHeck biddingfortravel.com for more info, and to get an idea of what hotels are usually awarded at what prices.

When I was looking before I was finding $150 or so for small rooms near central park. one of the hotels was right across the street and came highly recommended but i cant remember the name...ugg! I wish my mom was better organized!

Put your dates in Kayak.com (it compares rates at many different hotel sites) and see what it comes up with. I put in the last weekend in October, and narrowed down the results to < $250. Most avilable are 2* places. Keep in mind that on Kayak, YMCA is consider 2*, and some of the other choices are shared bath or in Queens.

Using Priceline you may be able to get a 4* midtown hotel for $200. Call hotels, or go to the hotel websites (no tbooking sites like expedia) and inquire about senior discounts or other discounts like AAA that they may qualifiy for.

If you're willing to take a chance, right now Hotwire has a 4* midtown east hotel for Oct. 26th and 27th for $229.00.

I don't know when you last looked, but prices on NYC hotels have skyrocketed. I doubt you'd find anything <i>remotely</i> acceptable with a regular booking for less than $200 in late Oct. The Salisbury, the Wellington and the Comfort Inn Central Park West are the only places I can think of that would be near the park and possibly affordable. That Comfort Inn has impossibly small rooms although good location. The Best Western President is cheap but not where I'd send someone for a 60th b'day. There's a Best Western Javits Center that's near absolutely nothing of use. I think there are 2 Radissons in NYC and both are awful.

Several people have been looking for late Oct. Remember Halloween (a big deal here with a parade), election day and the NYC Marathon are both the first week in Nov.

Are the dates fixed? I think Priceline is a good idea, but not between Oct 30- Nov 4

Laso keep in mind that priceline and hotwire and most other booking and hotel website prices do not include tax when they give a room rate.

Laso should be Also in my previous post.

Not to be discouraging - but if you saw low rates months ago that doesn;t mean that they're left now. The cheapest rates/rooms usually go first - and the longer you wait the higher prices get.

If you're talking the marathon weekend - it's unlikely there's much left at all.

I would reserve something cancellable now - as in today. And then continue to look for something better.

And I think for those dates you're talking at least $300 per night for anything decent.

I highly recommend The Salisbury too and I'm very disappointed that there were no rooms available at the end of Dec. during my planned visit. The rooms are quite large and it is located right across from Carnegie Hall near two subway stations. It's not the excellent deal that it used to be, but worth a look. Good breakfast offered too, sometimes included in the rate and during peak times available for a reasonable fee.