I finally bought tickets to NYC on Thursday. We got Portland to Newark on Delta for $293. Our dates are 8/24/12 through 9/2/12. I have reserved a rental car at the airport from Enterprise and a motel in Pine Bush near where our friends are living. So now on to the rest of the week. I need a hotel for the 4 of us for 4 nights, Wed-Sat. We want to do Grand Central, Brooklyn Botanical Garden, the Met Museum, Staten Island ferry, a Broadway musical at night and other general sightseeing. I have never done Priceline but have used Hotels.com and expedia, etc. for booking rooms in the past. I would like to find something under $200 that is not too far out of Manhattan. Is that possible at all? I see on Priceline you cannot ask for a room for 4 people. How do others handle this? We need, clean, safe and decent. Not anything luxury. We will just be sleeping and showering. Near to the subway of course. Would prefer Manhattan but could do Brooklyn as we will be seeing another friend who lives in Brooklyn Heights. I don't really want to be out on the NJ side but we will be going back to EWR to fly out.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

"I see on Priceline you cannot ask for a room for 4 people. How do others handle this?"

You book 2 rooms OR you use Hotwire which lets you request a room for 4 people.

Hotel rooms in NYC tend towards small and it is an exceptionally bad idea to try to get around this. A hotel may not have a room that is suitable and even if they do , they may charge you so much more as a supplement that it would have been cheaper to book 2 rooms to begin with.

Even in August, it's very unlikely you'll be able to find a hotel in Manhattan for under $200 per night. You can try, but I doubt it. There are several hotels in Long Island City, Queens, which is just 1 to 3 subway stops from Midtown for well under $200 per night. Country Inn & Suites and Comfort Inn are two choices that are really close to the subway. That's the most convenient neighborhood to stay in.

Or use Hotwire to book a room with 2 beds. Definitely don't take a chance with Priceline. About half the rooms in NYC don't have 2 beds, so you definitely want that as an option. But that's the only way you'll get a room for $200 per night or less in Manhattan except in January or February.

Checked Hotwire for the Monday through Thursday you will be there - there are four 4-star and better hotels available for 4 people (two adults, two children). Least expensive is a 4* in Chelsea for $234 a night, slightly more if you do Wednesday-Saturday instead. I only looked at 4* -- there's less expensive options if you include 3*.

Hi, oregonmom.
Also, you may want to look at quikbook.com. I've used the site about a dozen times now because I don't like to bid on hotels or prepay. Good luck.

The average modest hotel room in NYC - for 2 people - in mid season is in excess of $250 per night - so $300 with taxes. Getting a double double room (2 dbl beds for 4 people) for $200 is extremely difficult. You can check out the various discount sites - but not Priceline - but make sure you are looking for a room for 4. (Also, do not be fooled by hotels in NJ, many list themselves as only 2 miles from Times Square - but neglect to say the Hudson River is in between.) Meantime you can reserve a place in LI City - but be sure it's close to the subway. The area isn;t that pleasant, but it's safe and not that far from the city.

I assume you are dropping the car in Pine Bush (is that NJ?) since it's worse than useless in the City.

Thanks for the replies. I neglected to say it is we parents, 18 year old and 10 year old daughters so we need one room if possible. Taking car back to Newark area as there is a drop off charge if out of New Jersey. I will spend more time looking at the LI city area and the other websites suggested. I am waiting for some other info before I commit but don't want to wait too long and not be able to get anything. What about Brooklyn?

Is there a reason you will bring the car into NYC? (Or am I misunderstanding your comment about it?) For your time in NYC, it would be generally preferable to return the car in NJ, then use public transit or even a taxi from EWR to the city...

In Brooklyn, since you'd like to visit the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and your friend in Brooklyn Heights, you could look at some of the new, budget-level hotels on the edge of Park Slope such as Holiday Inn Express on Union Street and La Quinta a few blocks farther south. These have the advantage of being very close to the R subway on 4th Avenue, and only a few stops from the Atlantic-Pacific nexus of lines. Park Slope is located between the BBG and Brooklyn Heights.

Another option is the Brooklyn Marriott in downtown Brooklyn. It too is convenient to subway lines, and is walking distance to Brooklyn Heights. The down-side is that it's in a business district, so no neighborhood feel...

Yes, but the LIC hotels are 10 minutes to midtown Manhattan - the Brooklyn places can be further away - and bring you into downtown rather than midtown.

One of the few hotel I know of in Manhattan that has rooms with two double beds (and they are DOUBLE beds, not queens) is the Park South Hotel. For your dates they have an Executive Double Double available for $369 per night ($1476 total), breakfast included. Hotel tax is 15% so add on another $230 in tax. I know this does not meet your budget requirements, but wanted you to see the possibilities in Manhattan.

On Hotels.com, the DoubleTree by Hilton-Chelsea has a Double Double for your dates for $237 per night, nonrefundable rate.

nyt, I was replying to her question What about Brooklyn?.

Of course the subway passes through downtown, but that doesn't preclude getting to midtown without changing trains. I guess you mean as a first stop? FWIW, depending on the train, that would be Financial District, Canal Street, or Chinatown.

we are not driving in the city. Just going from Newark upstate first then taking it back to EWR. We will ride train into city and be on foot for the rest of the week. My main concern is not spending too much time every day getting from hotel to Manhattan and also being safe when we go back at night after a show or something

i'm currently looking at a deal on hotwire for a Midtown Central hotel, $187.00 for a 3 star hotel room for 4. Shows a and 80% approval rating by hotwire customers. Should I bite?

The Hilton Garden Inn Chelsea has two queens and is very convenient (less than a block) to the 1 line subway.

Oregonmom, did you check on BetterBidding.com to see what hotel it likely is? I think that sounds like a pretty reasonable option, so long as you realistically expect that even with a quad room, it probably will not be large.

You can bite if the room will accommodate 4 people. Better Bidding might or might not give you insight into the hotel. It will be a chain hotel, but that's not a problem in itself. Good luck.

Based on the description of the amenities, the hotel on Hotwire is very likely the Holiday Inn Midtown.

There's pix on TripAdvisor -- I think it's a reasonably good choice.

So here's the dilemma. If I went back toward EWR and got a hotel for $100ish how much hassle will it be to get to the city each day? I have looked at a couple of the hotels near the airport like Springhill Suites and Doubletree which have amenities I would like. However, to get to Manhattan, we would need to take the free shuttle to the airport, then take the path train? Or do we go directly to a subway station somehow? I'm trying to keep it straight in my mind. Some of these say they are 3 miles from Newark Penn Station or from the Path train station. I also looked at several things in Brooklyn and they are either full or over the budget, too. Thanks for all your replies. It's been 17 years since I was in NYC.

The hotels in New Jersey near the airport are basically on the highway to the airport. The hotel shuttle will only bring you to the airport. The shuttle is not the same as a city bus, and may not run when you need it. And then you have to get from the airport via NJ Transit into Penn Station NY. The NYC subway does not run to NJ. This is not a good plan for spending time in Manhattan or Brooklyn.
If you stay on Long Island City the subway will take you 10 minutes or less to get into Manhattan. Assuming you want to spend most of the day and evenings in Manhattan or Brooklyn, do not stay at Newark airport.
You should be aware that the summer is prime tourist season and that the US Open attracts many visitors as well at the end of August into the beginning of Sept.