Auss

Another question: the advice on this forum is that you can't lease apartments for short term (eg 1 week) rentals and look out for scams? But, there appears to be plenty of apartments to rent for say 1 week and some from reputable sources? Whats the story? Is every apartment offered a 'con job' waiting to snare an ignorant Ausy? Views gratefully received. Thanks.

nytraveler

That is not advise. In New York State it is illegal to sublet an apartment for less than 30 days. If people in the outer boroughs own a private house they may be able to do so - but such houses are not available in Manhattan, where even a modest townhouse costs several million dollars. Previously some agencies provided this service - when it was quasi legal - and some have not stopped or changed their web site.

The closer you look at the offerings, the more you will see that most are not in Manhattan. If you want to find out if this is legal there are 2 ways to do this.

1) make sure the service has a 24 hour landline - or that you can call the buildings staff - if there is any problem in the apartment (such as a broken pipe). Typically you will be told not to contact building staff - since you aren'lt supposed to be there.

Request that they send you information via snail mail. If they refuse (they likely will) that's because committing fraud through the US mail is a federal offensive - an dthey don;t want any part of this.

City authorities don;t have time to keep track of all these people. But when other residents of the building make complaints - the situation is them investigated - and those caught are out of luck. (A friend of mine is on the board of a nearby coop. It came to their attention that a resident living elsewhere was subletting the apartment short-term illegally. When the resident refused to stop, the board had the locks on the apartment changed and "renters" arriving after that had no access to the apartment.)

sf7307

Re skiing, I'd strongly recommend you head out west where the skiing is decidedly more challenging. That said, early January is not a sure thing everywhere. I wouldn't do California since you can't be certain it will be excellent until around the third week in January. I'd recommend heading to one of the Utah or Colorado resorts. Park City, Utah, is an excellent town (old mining town) with the Park City ski area right at the end of town, plus, it's only 35 minutes drive from Salt Lake City. There are a couple of other ski areas nearby, too (Deer Valley and The Canyons). In Colorado, I'd look at Aspen (bigger town, but still very charming, mostly, but not all, upscale, fabulous restaurants, VERY challenging mountain right in town, with more intermediate skiing within 20 minutes (free shuttle from Aspen) - Snowmass and Buttermilk. Or Vail, which is more of a "manufactured" ski village, but it's big and architecturally interesting (designed like a village), with good restaurants and bars and excellent skiing. Another possibility is Breckenridge -- only a couple of hours from Denver, very good skiing and a town somewhat like Park City (old western feel, with good shops, and okay (not great - nothing like Aspen) restaurants).

Gekko

I also suggest Park City, Utah, as you skiing destination.

You can easily fly into Salt Lake City and take a shuttle to Park City. The logistics are easier than the big Colorado resorts, with less chance of cancellation/delays.

Enjoy!

sf7307

>>

It's true that Park City is so easy to get to, whether by shuttle (you don't really need a car once there -- there's a town shuttle that goes to all the ski areas and around town) or rental car. You can fly into Aspen and Vail, but if you fly to Denver, it's still a longish drive to either one (Aspen is a 4 hour drive from Denver). However, since you're planning on spending 10 days, I don't necessarily think it's too difficult (I wouldn't choose either of those if you were only spending 3 or 4 days).

pdx

Auss - I am planning a trip for 3 or 4 girlfriends to NYC for 4 nights and am also looking for a hotel with a kitchenette. The Eastgate Tower has mixed but mostly good reviews and has one and two bedroom suites with kitchenette for decent prices (under $400). There is another similarly priced hotel with one bedrooms that I will post if I can find it again. I'm sure there are others but we're fairly low budget.

starrs

pdx, look at the Staybridge Suites Times Square. Very nice. bwino includes in on her trip report.

lcuy

>>>>Landlords, and coop/condo broads do NOT like this and do all they can to prevent people from these illegal rentals

volcanogirl

I'll throw in another vote for the Staybridge Suites Times Square. We've stayed there a few times and love it - very new, nice modern feel to it, convenient to Broadway, Times Square, and the subway, free breakfast, free happy hours on certain nights, and if you tilt your head just right, a view of the Empire State Building. Also has a very nice kitchen with full-size frig which is really convenient.

pdx

Will do, thanks starrs and vgirl.

Auss

Thank you all - really helpful - most appreciated

nytraveler

For your dates the rates at the Staybridge suites - 4 people, 2 adults and 2 kids per room range from $7729 to $600 (plus tax) per night. This is because you are 1) in the city at the most expensive time of year and 2) right near Times Square. (FYI a room at the Marriott Marrquis on New Year's Eve is more than $1500 for the night.)

If you look at other parts of town you will find rates that are still high but not so outrageous.

Other posters have been happy with the Eastgate Tower, which is worn but has good sized rooms and much better prices - since it's not IN times Square. Also the other Affinia group hotels as I mentioned above - are moderate and usually get reasonable reviews.

volcanogirl

We always stay on points, but $7,729 per night seems off to me.

Michael

You could try this place:

http://www.carltonarms.com/index.html

nytraveler

Sorry - typo - doing 2 many things at once. the prices range from $729 to about $800 per night plus tax - for that time of year.

waynej

I have stayed at the Millennium hotel near the UN and it was very nice.

pdx

We decided to go with the Eastgate Tower because the price (in February) is something like $250 + tax, and because we'll have a one bedroom with two beds and a sofabed instead of one room for the three of us.

Gekko

A great Murray Hill location! Good choice.

nytraveler

A good deal -- but sice it's February you are more likely to run into winter weather. Be sure to get trip cancellation insurance - since that time of year flight delays are much more likely - esp when you're comng from the west coast and have a whole country of winter storms to get throgh/around.

cathies

we stayed at The Inn on 23rd in Chelsea and loved it. Depending on your budget you could bok two rooms so that your son could be a bit independent. Www.innon23rd.com. While you can't cook mels there is a grocery store across the road that sells ready made curries etc that would be ideal and Eatally is just around the corner. If you are from Sydney then Eatally is not unlike David jones food hall but better! You can read more about it in the trip report that I'm currently posting. Hope u have a great trip!