Austin

Really try to stay in NYC and not NJ. Will be SOOO much easier and worth it. Agree about not sharing baths.


Tell us the name of the B&B. Many here are very familiar with NYC and might give input.

5alive

New York: The B&B is Stay the Night, it is on East 103rd St. It has some great write-ups. The location looked to be near some of the museums which would be nice. But it was a queen bed, then a pullout couch and a rollaway bed.

The only hotel to meet our needs and budget is the Affinia Eastgate. They have two double beds, and then a pull-out couch, which seemed a little better. A heads-up: The phone operator quoted me a price $150 higher than what I found on the company's own website.

Both of my New York finalists have kitchens and we have definitely used the kitchens in the past and would again.

I looked at several properties in New Jersey. Holiday Inn Express was a nicer looking one with a pool, full kitchen etc, but it was in North Berggen. What was really awful was hotels.com claimed it had a free shuttle. As I always do, I called the hotel itself and they said no, they absolutely don't have a shuttle; they have a city bus and it's very near their door. A friend who used to live in New Jersey told me that the city bus would be going through the Port Authority and she didn't advise it if we planned to come home late in the evening.

I am leaning toward the Affinia. I would probably pay the slightly higher price so I have the flexibility to change my dates or cancel. Any thoughts appreciated.

nyer

Do you mean "Stay the Night" at 93rd street (not 103rd st)?

It's a townhouse and note that some of the rooms are on the 4th floor (walk up only)

It's a nice expensive residential block,which makes it surprising if it has the right certificate of occupancy for short term rentals. According to the official nyc.gov website, it seems to have the correct class B multiple dwelling certificate . (There are however several outstanding violations relating to boilers, not illegal use of building or other issues)

North Bergen NJ is really not a nice area to stay in. When Hotels dot com mentioned a shuttle, they probably meant to get to the bus stop nearby NOT to get into NYC, No hotel in NJ does that!

Port Authority is not the problem . It's not pretty, but busy all the time so not really unsafe. The problem is the time, inconvenience and money to get 5 people back and forth to NYC.

5alive

Oh, sorry, I did mean 93rd Street.

I also looked up the whole certificate of compliance. The city employee was not too friendly about explaining what would be in compliance. I also discovered a group that wanted me to sign a petition about problems with the law for B&Bs. She was pretty cool though and also said that yes, Stay the Night was legit.

I don't think I'd do North Berggen...so I will likely choose between these two.

Stay the Night is a walk-up and it's a real house in a real neighborhood. We did an apartment when we took the kids to Rome several years ago and so that is kind of the basis of the appeal to me. But the bedding situation sounded better at the Affinia property. Tell me, is one better than the other in terms of location?

nyer

As you note, the B&B is in a "real" neighborhood and is in a great location for museum going. It is a bit of a walk to the nearest subway station 96th and lexington avenue, so that might be a little inconvenient sometimes. Buses (convenient but slower) will supplement your transportation . It would be tough to always find a taxi that fits 5 people so that isn't an option to rely on. You should have good weather and plenty of daylight when you're traveling, so the issue isn't as bad as it might be in winter.
Affinia Eastgate is in Midtown, but a mixed commercial residential area. Some people prefer being closer to that area, but it's not as if that location is right near anything you'd want to see anyway.

Toss up , depending on your personal preference and the type of rooms you find

nytraveler

EAstgate has much better access to much of the city - and beleive me you don;t want a 4th floor walk up in Manhattan. These are town houses from 1880 to 1910 and the "floors" are very high. Goint from one floor to another is typically thwo fairly lenthy flights of stairs - since the ceilings are often 12' high - versus the 8' you get in modern construction. So a 4th floor apartment is often actually up 6 flights of stairs.

5alive

Thanks, to you both. I think the Eastgate gets the nod. In the end proximity to more sites will probably be worth it. And no, I didn't think that through about the stairs, but it makes sense....

Hope to nail down dates this weekend and make a reservation. I won't do the non-refundable though.

SandyBrit

5alive:

You won't go wrong with the Eastgate hotel. We have stayed there several times. Decor is a bit dated but lots of room, helpful staff, kitchen etc. Good location.

Report back how it worked out.

Sandy

5alive

Sandy,

I ended up going with the Affinia Dumont and never updated this strand. The price ended up not being a lot more. I will definitely report back, however.