New York City Hotel with Teenage Kids - Please Help!
 

Hello,

We are a family of 4, two adults and two teenage girls (17, 14) who are visiting New York City for Thanksgiving week. We are going to NYC just to do the usual site seeing, museums, shopping etc.
Can you suggest a hotel that is centrally located that accomodates families? I am finding that many hotels require 2 rooms and I really don't want to do that. I have looked at the Affinia hotels, which look nice and I like the kitchen, but I'm just not sure about location.
I would like to be within walking distance of some restaurants and some of the sights.
Since I see references to "midtown", "downtown". I'm just not sure which is the best location or even what these areas refer to.
I would appreciate any suggestions.
I would like to keep the room rate under $500.00 per night, if possible.

The places we plan to go so far include:
Rockafeller Center
Times Square
Empire State Building
Ellis Island
Shopping Anywhere
Metropolitan Museum
Broadway for Theatre
Any suggestions...

Thanks in advance,
Beth

I believe there is a Residence Inn in the vicinity of Times Square. You may want to go to www.marriott.com and look up this information. Most Residence Inns consist of studio, one bedroom and two bedroom units. Most have sofa sleepers as well, along with a full breakfast.

There are some surprisingly good prices for the larger (1 bedroom) suites at several of the Affinias for that week. People on this forum have highly recommended them, and the reviews on TripAdvisor tend to be very good.

The Residence Inn is really made for 3 guests, not 4. One TripAdvisor poster mentioned it was "tight" for 4.

bethyk,

The Best Western Hospitality House has both one bedroom & two bedroom apartments which might suit you. In addition to the bedroom(s) there is a sofa bed in the living room & they also have a completely separate kitchen - in effect it's like living in an apartment.

If you want to know more here are some links which might help;

Their website;

http://tinyurl.com/27pxcw

Reviews & pictures on TripAdvisor;

http://tinyurl.com/35e49b

My Trip Report

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34778469


Jim

The only suite hotel in Times Square is the Doubletree Guest Suites and prices there are usually very high. I think the Affinia hotels have better service and are generally more sane. The Affinia Manhattan is closest to Times square but not my favorite location. I like the location of the Benjamin, the Affinia 50, the Affinia Gardens and the Affinia Dumont. Shelburne Murray Hill is fine too near Grand Central. The San Carlos and the Kimberly are other suite hotels near the Affinia 50. Some of these have 2 queens in the bedroom and a sofabed. Good luck!

Forgot the Surrey which is another Affinia right near the Met Museum. Very nice but quiet location. The teens will prob. prefer midtown.

If I were with kids that age I would want to stay near union square, total college area and you are a hop skip and a jump from midtown where you will find corporate run broadway and all the prefab stuff people want to see when they come to NYC.

Yeah I just looked up the Affina and I worked in Rockefeller center, kind of yucky that area. Its not unsafe. Just a lot of businesses that shut down at 6pm or are totally marketed, priced for tourists. Is that what you are coming for? Some people are more comfortable with that but it is also usually available at your local mall.

Union Square, upper west side you are in neighborhoods where people from NYC live. I would check out the W on union square. Funky restaurants for your kids will get a kick out of. Yaffa cafe
92nd street St. Marks place is on, Mogador's is another. You could also find real restaurants for people interested in food versus making a quick tourist dollar.

You can see rent over there too if you want to squeeze in a show. Walk with belgian style french fries from pom frit.

That is my 2 cents.

How about the Blakely? http://www.blakelynewyork.com/

We stayed there when it was the Gorham, and really liked it. It's been remodeled, for the better. Great reviews on tripadvisor. We had no problems with noise

I would check on the Benjamin. The suites are large but I don't know the bed availability.

We are staying at the Benjamin in November. Our suite just has 1 King bed, though give them a call for other bed configurations and rates. We are getting a very good rate on a suite in early November.

On the advice of several on this forum we've booked the Buckingham across from Carnegie Hall for a Christmas trip. The location would be good for you, very central.

Do a Tripadvisor search for this hotel and you will see the pros and cons. We need three family rooms for four nights, so the rates for a one-bedroom suite were a godsend, I think they are about $275 for our time period.

In terms of location, it doesn't really matter where you stay as long as it is between 3rd avenue on the east, 8th avenue on the west, 14th street on the south, and 59th street on the north. Book a hotel in that area, and you can walk to many places or will be in easy reach of the subway or bus. All the Affinia hotels are good, and most are very well located for your needs. So pick the hotel that gives you the most room for the price. With your price point, you should be able to find something decent if you book soon.

Thanks to all of you for the great input!
Thank you Doug for giving me specific boundries.
With all of those suggestions, I'll do a little more research tomorrow and check them out. It sounds like the Affinia hotels are a good bet.

This has been helpful. I welcome any other advice.

Thanks again...

The Blakely is very nice but isn't availble over T'giving and for the nights it is available, isn't in budget for a 1 bedroom suite.

Sarah's advice about teens liking the Union Square is true. I was surprised to see a very good rate of ~$410/night plus tax for a double double if you think you can manage with 2 double beds and 1 bathroom.

Are there any other hotels in the Union Square area that I should consider other than the "W"?

Thanks.

There aren't a lot of hotels around Union Square; it's not a big hotel area. There's the Chelsea Inn on 17th between 5th and 6th, which isn't far. There's the Larchmont on 11th between 5th & 6th, which isn't far (but it has shared baths). There are several hotels on Park and Madison avenues in the 20s and 30s, and they're not far either. I'm probably missing something really obvious, but I can't think of any more hotels in the immediate vicinity.

We've had visting families stay at suites in the Avalon hotel which are a decent size and it includes a continental breakfast. We've also had several stay at the Shelburne Murray Hill (an Affinia hotel). Their one bedrooms are very roomy and incude a small kitchen. The hotel is located a few blocks from Grand Central Station, where subways to just about anywhere are accessible. The doubtree times sq may also work, although I'm not a fan of staying in TImes Sq, just too crowded and chaotic.

Keep in mind that the Shelburne Murray Hill is, per TripAdvisor reviews I've read, "tired" and a management response to one of the posts indicates that a renovation of the hotel is planned to start next year.

The last time I've seen a Shelburne room was back in May '04. Several families in town for a family event satyed there and they were all pleased. It may have not been the most up-to-date but it was clean and comfortable.

I have no idea what kind of shape it's in now.

I stayed there as recently as 05 and it was fine. I stay a group of women who can be "persnickety" and they have had no complaints.

There are no other nice hotels in/around Union Square. I suppose the nicest besides the W is the Giraffe to the east, or the Gansevoort to the west in the meatpacking district (very trendy). I don't know if the Gansevoort has rooms that are large enough, but the teens would certainly get a kick out of that.

The Shelburne Murray Hill is under renovation right now I think. If you're going to use an Affinia hotel and are looking for something nice, unless they can guarantee you a renovated room, I wouldn't chose it. I think the rooms/bed configurations are better at the other Affinias.

While you're looking around, I HOPE you've booked one of the Affinia's that's cancelable so you don't lose out on space. ;)

Well, the Gansevoort isn't exactly near Union Square. I wouldn't even consider it close enough to walk easily, and I consider the Meatpacking District to be fairly inconvenient in terms of nearby sights and transportation. I guess you could walk to the Giraffe (it's on about 30th and Park, right?), and it's certainly in a much better location, with a lot of nearby restaurants.

I would definitely check the rates at the Doubletree Suites Times Square. We stayed there with our two teenagers and it worked out beautifully. It is in a great location--right on Times Square and right beside a subway station so that you can get anywhere in the city very easily.

I have stayed in NYC three times and LOVED this hotel http://www.hotelmetronyc.com/index.asp It has been newly updated and has a roof terrace where you can have drinks and see an amazing view of the Empire State Building. Staff were very friendly. Rooms were impeccable.

We stayed at the Marriott Marquis with DD when she was a teen and had a suite which was great and really loved it.

the gramercy hotel is near union square--21st and Lexington, definately walkable, has suites and recemtly renovated to be "hip."
http://www.gramercyparkhotel.com/index.html