NYC Hotel rates hit the Roof
 

NY daily news article http://www.nydailynews.com/front/sto...p-214650c.html

Frankly: YAWN!! I think the only people who haven't figured out that New York has been a pricey place to stay, hotel-wise, for DECADES, are the ones who never go there.

NYC hotel rates hit the roof some time ago....it's just that the roof keeps getting raised.

Rates are nothing like they were when NYC had an almost 30% room tax. People are so used to paying dirt cheap post September 11th rates, they think rates are now hitting the roof.

To be precise, in my very small survey of one, they have gone up 37%.

I have a board meeting in December every year and my company very kindly buys me a room over the preceding weekend at the Michaelangelo. I like to go a day early on Fri, and last year the cheapest room they could offer me at the M. was $400. This year it is $550. Ouch. I will be going on Saturday after all.

it all depends on how one insists on traveling. I stayed at a lovely little hotel in the east village just a couple of weeks ago for about $150 a night (and I was splitting it with a friend so my share was only $75 a night). Granted it was a bit run down and there wasn't a private bath, but it was immaculately clean and (by new york standards) spacious. Four star it was not, but my experience there was just lovely.

Count me amoungst those who do not wish to ever share a hotel bathroom no matter how cheap or how clean.

"Granted it was a bit run down and there wasn't a private bath, but it was immaculately clean and (by new york standards) spacious."

Then paying $150 is appalling.

mike -- it was right in the heart of the east village, has gotten rave reviews and had an excellent and attentive staff. I was giving a rate aproximation that included room tax and a couple other fees that we accrued in our stay. The base rates were a bit lower.

$150 for a room with a shared bath is indeed appalling, even in NYC. According to biddingfortravel, it was possible to bid on Priceline and win a 4* hotel for $100 - $120 in late October.

well, in my reply I indicated that wasn't the exact rate I paid. In fact, my thursday night rate was 89, my friday night rate was 119 and my sat night rate was 119 if you must know exact prices (before that insane room tax and a few phone calls). I just doing a 'guesstimate' off the top of my head after all was said and done. I'll be more specific next time, as my friend and I certainly did our research before we took off.

Try London for a real shock.
M

Vittrad, these replies aren't directed against you. When you put the price into the big picture, $150 is extremely expensive for a hotel room that doesn't have a bathroom.

I just booked a room at New York Marriott East Side. It's in a great part of Manhattan. The hotel gets very good reviews on Tripadvisor. For the time I need it, the rate was $199 /room, but there are other times it is $169/room. That seems reasonable. Then...Yipes!! Forgot about the tax!! What is the rate now?
Last Christmastime there was a special at the Hotel Roosevelt for $99/room. So I guess it is possible to get a decent room (without shared bath) ?? Having lived in NY for 20 yrs, it's still a surprise to have to pay at all!!

CaliNurse, if you check the Marriott's rates for December, you'll understand what the article was talking about.

I'll be the first to agree that New York hotel prices are appalling, and it has slowed my travels to New York, including not going this upcoming holiday season for that very reason. But I'd be more willing to scrape up the money and pay $500 for a really nice place than to pay $100 for a dump (my definition of a dump is any place that doesn't have a private bath and is even a bit run down). That to me is even more outrageous!

The $100 dump is the only way this pauperish academic sort can travel, and she refuses to stay home.

"The greatest city in the world"? I don't think so. Maybe for the rich and those who serve them. Billionaire Bloomberg is the perfect mayor.

Vittrad, why do you refuse to acknowledge the values available through Priceline? It's this pauper's favorite travel resource!

I got a suite in a quite decent hotel for $190 per night the last couple of trips. I honestly couldn't see paying $150 for a room without ensuite facilities, but that's just my opinion.