Thank you. Booked by Quikbook.

Have you heard of this agency?
http://www.manhattangetaways.com/
What is the problem of these kind of vacation rentals?

Sad... Short-term apartment rentals are, for the most part, illegal in Manhattan. Don't do it.

Not only are they illegal, many don;t exist at all. Or are not as described.

And many people who aren't used to life in a large city with older buidlings are surprised by 5 floor walk-ups, noisy through the wall air conditioners and windows that look out on an alley. (Of course you can find apartments much nicer than that - but they'll cost a fortune.)

Thank you for your responses. We are literally shock that these vacation rentals in NYC are illegal. Can you please refer to any online references about legality? We are very surprise even Tripadvisor does not talk about this legality concerns. Since we use Tripadvisor reviews religiously.
Yes, we got these reply mostly from Gregslist. And we are truly concerned that these rentals do not really exit and are scams.
Thank you for your postings.

MGC, when you have a moment, you might want to start by Google-ing "short-term rentals" (or "short-term apartment rentals") and Manhattan and illegal (or "not legal"). I think you'll source quite a bit of info.

Yes, actually we read this USA Today articles in 2008
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/hotel...-rentals_N.htm
This does not say short term apartment vacation rentals are illegal in NYC. Just said there are scams and problem with some co-op.
Other blog is about SRO (single room occupancy)
http://blog.ratestogo.com/nyc-hotels-to-avoid/
that is not what we are seeking, compare to studio?

In August 2009, we booked a room at this hotel by Quikbook for Oct 2009 arrival for 5 nights for $159 per night. We sent emails to this hotel web site contact address. Because of late international flight arrival to JFK, we requested this hotel to confirm our pre-paid advance reservation and late check in. We requested this hotel to make sure to reserved one non-smoking quiet room in the upper level for us. We will arrive late, but already have paid the hotel room in advance.

Well, we never received any responses from this hotel by our emails. We have no choice but canceled our reservation and ate the penalty.

I do not understand the management of this hotel. May be you can ask (of absence) of hotel manager.

First of all, a hotel can't guarantee a specific room (all rooms in NYC are supposed to be non-smoking, but one on an upper floor can't be guaranteed, and I don't know any mid- or large-sized hotel that does this unless you are a top VIP).

But I don't know why on earth you would pay a penalty on a pre-paid reservation and not simply call the hotel. Even if you live overseas, there would be someone at the front desk 24 hours a day, and you could easily confirm your reservation in 2 minutes.

You had many choices, and you chose to spend your money unwisely.

I am surprise with Doug Stallings post. Do you tell me when this hotel did not response to my emails to make sure I will have a room which I paid in advance, when my plane will arrive late after midnight at JFK, I need to make international telephone calls to this hotel. In fact, I did, and was put on hold for over 10 minutes. So I hang up.

I'm sorry but back in August the rates for that hotel did not require prepayment so I'm confused WHY you would prepay and have to pay cancelation fees. I'm also confused why you would book with quikbook and at the same time ask about an apartment rental website. If you had a confirmation print out from quikbook and couldn't get satisfaction from the hotel, WHY wouldn't you contact QUIKBOOK and let them help you???