Hi All

We will be on our Honeymoon in September and will be travelling to the US from Sydney Australia and would love to add New York into our Itinerary. Although after alot of research it seems prices are VERY high and hotels are already starting to be booked. We will be there from the 17th of September for 5 Nights, Is this a peak time in NY? Should we wait and see if any specials come up closer to the date. We are on our Honeymoon but dont want to spend more than 120USD a night. Is this realistic or should I leave NY out as we dont want to ruin the end of our honeymoon in a hotel that has bed bugs.

Thanks in Adavnce for your Help

Rose

If your limit is $120 a night, forget New York in September (or just about any time of the year!).

I'd suggest checking some of the travel booking websites for info and rates like www.hotwire.com and hotels.com. That way you get to see what some of the rates are for the dates you are going to be here.

You might check the www.grandunionhotel.com which is close to everything in midtown and there rates are generally good.

Also you might check www.craigslist.com and www.priceline.com

Hope this helps.

NYC is very expensive now but $120/night was rarely realistic for a decent place in recent memory. (In fact I think you'll find that budget difficult in most major US cities). Mid Sept. is popular as the weather is so good, summer over etc. There is about 15% hotel tax too, so prices you might see on a US website will be w/o tax. So what you're asking for is a room for ~ $105. The only places that might come close to that price are a few places with shared bathrooms (some not bad)l, hostels (some have private rooms with shared baths) or perhaps a hotel outside Manhattan.

Leo House is a place run by the Catholic diocese that's affordable and has some rooms with private bath. Info here
http://www.retreatfinder.com/Index.asp

Your only other option is to try bidding on Priceline. It's fairly common to "win" a 4* hotel for $110-140/night plus tax. Look on biddingfortravel.com or betterbidding.com if you don't know about Priceline. You could also bid for a 3* hotel in Jersey City, NJ (on the NYC area airport hotel list) and get either the Doubletree Club or the Hyatt Regency, both of which are near a PATH train (like a subway) into Manhattan. Those can sometimes go for as little as $60-80/night. Both of the websites I mention have areas where people post their wins so you can get an idea of prices.

September is the start of high season in NYC - and in any case $120 per night is VERY low for NYC at any time of year. In Jan or Feb you can probably get something on Priceline for that.

I would reco Priceline - but for Sept doubt if they will have anything decent for that rate (and since you're bidding blind it is possible to get a real dog of a hotel).

And yes - a lot of people have booked for Sept already.

One thing you might try is the Hotel Newton - on the upper west side. Very basic but clean - and they do have some rooms with shared baths that are usually very resonable. They're showing some availability for $160 per night - which with taxes is about $190.

For NYC at that time of year - I can;t imagine you'll do any better. (The average - not luxury - hotel room in NYC is about $300 per night.)

The only suggestion that I can come up with is to check with your travel agent about purchasing a group tour or package with a travel company like AAA or Globus or any of the myriad companies out there. Working with a large retailer may get you a better hotel deal.

Since you have 5 nights, I would look into renting a flat through vrbo.com. I have used them with great success in Europe and Canada for ski houses, and I see some on the site in mid-town and Greenwich Village in the US$120-200 range. (Most do not have any tax, but some do, but even at a higher price, with no tax or service charges, some of these will work out the same as a hotel at $120 with no tax). For a long stay, a flat is great because you can cook in breakfast or other meals, and have a bigger place, and they seem to be quite nice. Take a look at vrbo.com in general, the ones I found are below:

http://www.vrbo.com/118651 (they have another in the Flatiron area)
http://www.vrbo.com/114408
http://www.vrbo.com/104092
http://www.vrbo.com/36711
http://www.vrbo.com/117050
http://www.vrbo.com/61305

There is a hotel listed at hotel http://www.vrbo.com/109676 that looks charming at $250 in high season.

I agree on trying to use Price line, there are websites you can go to that will give lots of info on how to best to bid and figure out what hotels you are most likely bidding on. You can get some very good deals this way. Hotwire.com is another good site. Downsides are you might end up with a hotel that is not your first choice in a non-prime location, and you can’t get a refund.

I agree that vrbo -- or some other site for short-term rentals -- is your best bet. I'd venture to say that you would have a hard time finding a decent hotel for $120 anywhere between Washington and Boston, and least of all NY.

I have been told that Sept. starts the convention season in NY, so it stays busy through the 1st of the year.

I would cut your number of nights back to three and up your budget to $200 per night.

If you can skip the weekends, you'll have even better luck.

Did you try a Sunday through Thursday pattern?

I am not at all versed in this, but I know many who have posted her are - but would she possibly find something closer to her price in New Jersey and could take some boat or public transport to the city and still be able to see NYC while in the States, even if it is not staying actually in the city and means for a bit of commute or does the cost of the commute negate any lodging savings? maybe someone can answer this for you, or maybeyou can plug into the search this forum bar info about new jersey lodging or something like that.

congrats and enjoy your honeymoon ! I don't blame you for wanting to see NYC it's a fabulous city -
I have been lucky enough to visit your Sydney and absolutely loved it -

if you can't make NYC in this trip to the states, where are you going to be? there are other great cities and spots also that people might suggest where lodging could be less, although most major cities you will have similar problem - but some smaller cities ahve more B & B's and Innes than NYC

just as an example, here is a link to a thread on here about staying in NJ -
there are some good suggestions in this thread, it might mean a commute into the city by bus/train/etc adn it might take an hour, but you might decide that is worth it and could break it up, one day dong a long day in the city, say from 9-6 or 7, another starting your day at noon but staying in the city until 10 at night, etc.....

it would have been nice if I rememberd to attached the link

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...1&tid=35002702

If you haven't booked yet and still want to see New York use priceline.com or cheap hotels.com. If there are cancelations you might get a great last minute deal by bidding on a room. Also, we don't worry about bed bugs because we carry disposable travel bed sheets. Thet are great and economical. No chance of brining home bed bugs. We get them at www.buysleepsafe.com
Best honeymoon wihes and safe travels!

Check craigslist. You can find somthing temporary or even do a nice for very cheap If your willing to commute to manhattan, say in Astoria, Queens. They even have house-swaps.

There are some B&Bs that may fit the bill. One is the Stay the Night B&B, another is the Chelsea Lodge. Both are in Manhatten and either would be more convenient than NJ.