Bwino

Looking for suggestions for a studio or 1 bedroom Apartment, self catering for 2 to 3 week holiday. Budget is $1000 per week or less. Is this doable in a central area?

nytraveler

If you search below you will find several long threads about the issues of short-term rentals in Manhattan (most are illegal and some are scams). Do not even consider using Craig's list or similar. There are some more upscale condos that turn a bline eye to this - but I think the cost would be higher.

Part of the answer depends on when you are coming - Jan/Feb - possibly - other times of the year, not likely. $142 a night is very low for NYC most of the year. If you truly intend to do suvstantial cooking most of the apartment hotels won't work - even if you could get one at that rate.

Can you tell us:

When you will be here
How many o fyou will there be
Do you intend to do substantial cooking - or just want a fridge for snacks and breakfast

Bwino

Thanks nytraveler, we have not set dates yet as we are very flexible on when we travel. There will be two of us my hubby and I. We don't need fancy just clean and reasonable. For kitchen we may want to do a little cooking but nothing fancy. I have looked on staysmartnyc.com and there seem to be some options but I am looking for others. Jan /Feb may be ok for us.

nytraveler

Sorry - I know nothing about this agency. But would never rent from someone without a 24/7 landline contact - in case of problems iwth plumbing or similar. Since some are in the same building they may be long-term rentals that won;t ernt for some reason. Or, the landlord is trying to circumvent city laws by renting short-term for more money (the apartments may have been rehabbed under 421-A which limits the rent lanlords can charge in return for redued property taxes. Some are notorious for taking the tax reduction and then illegally increasing rents to tenants - but in a bad market may do this illegal short-term rental instead)

The risks are:

1) it's a scam and the places doens;t exist (happened to a poster here earlier this year
2) it's ilegal and you're caught in a city crackdown on lack of COOs/proper fire safety arrangements (dozens of tourists were thrown out of an illegal "hostel" in the middle of the night about a month ago)

If at all possible it's much safer to rent from a legitimate hotel. Radio City Apartments is basic but has a great location and bargain prices - might be worth looking into.

travelbuff

There are options like Radio City Apartments that is a hotel, with kitchenettes and that would probably work in your budget.

There are others also that might work like Affinia hotels some have kitchens and I think I heard The Beacon also has some rooms with kitchens.

Pick dates of travel and let us know and we can do a bit of snooping for you.

Bwino

Thanks nytraveler and travelbuff, if you have time please take a look at www.staysmartnyc.com it looks legitimate but maybe I am naive about what happens in NYC, would be interested in your opinion. Something like Radio City looks fine, I will try and find out their rates.

We are looking at either December / January or April 2011.

Bwino

Radio city is obviously very popular, I tried putting dates in to check avaialability and rates and every date I put in is not available. I may try calling them to check.

Bwino

Affinia and The Beacon both look great, availability is an issue though, we may have to plan our NYC holiday much further in advance.

djkbooks

We really enjoyed our stay at the Beekman. Full kitchen, awesome terrace with views of Midtown and the 59th Street Bridge, meticulous housekeeping. Plenty of nearby restaurants, terrific takeaway food, shops for supplies (food, liquor, etc.). Highly recommend.

Depending on time of year, $1000 or less is a very restrictive budget if you really need a kitchen. You might want to consider hotels with rooms with a refrigerator and microwave...

Margo_Chester

Check out The Envoy Club, www.envoyclub.com I can't make a personal recommendation as I have not stayed there, but I came across it while looking for a suite hotel. I would compare prices and reviews before booking so you can make your own choice.

yk

I can't imagine all these places are fully booked already for Jan or April 2011. Probably either the availability calendar hasn't been updated yet. I suggest you call or email the individual places; the fact that you're staying for that long you may be able to negotiate a discount.

Having said that, you'll have a much better luck with a lower rate for Jan or April, than December. December is high season for NYC with lots of tourists visiting there for the X'mas season. Jan/Feb are usually the lowest season.

mclaurie

$1000/week will be difficult unless you're coming in the dead of winter. Wherever you decide, you should phone and see if you can negotiate a better rate for a 3 week stay.

Radiocityapartments.com often appears booked on it's own website. Quikbook.com may have availability. It may be that 3 weeks at a time will be difficult for availability or you're looking too far in advance. If I were staying for 3 weeks, Radio City is not where I'd choose to be. It's a very commercial area.

Milburnhotel.com is near the Beacon, but as up to date but usually cheaper. There are also quite a few places that bill themselves as b & b's that rent the equivalent of an apt. like www.wymanhouse.com, west-eleventh.com, jacksbandb.com, 1871house.com

Bwino

Thanks everyone for your advice, it is appreciated. We may have to increase our budget and reduce our length of stay.

Has anyone used www.staysmartnyc.com?

Bwino

Just had a chance to look at all the suggested accommodations, all look great and some only slightly more than $1,000 a week. Thanks for the links.

We really are in the early planning stages and not sure what we will do as yet so the budget can change. Currently thinking of around the world ticket and on the USA leg, arriving in San Francisco and taking a train journey (with stops)across to New York. So maybe only a week in NYC.

I have never been to the USA so having fun thinking about what to do.

nytraveler

December is the most expensive time of year and anything decent under $300 per night wold be a miracle. Jan/Feb should be cheap (yes $140 should be doable) while April will be more midseason prices - $140 very difficult but possible if you can find a deal in travelzoo or similar.

Can't comment on staysmartny - have never heard of it - and you can;t tell from their listings exactly which apartments they are. It looks legitimate - so may not be a scam, but that's MAY. And I wold bet anything that the apartments are being sublet illegally (that is don;t meet fire laws and are not certified for hotel-type use versus long-term apartment rental). The problems with the latter is that the landlord may not know (and you would be subject to eviction) or the condo or co-op board may not know (and similar). You might have to pretend to be relatives of the legitimate tenant.

I would ask several questions of the company:

What type of building is it: rental, condo or co-op
Does the landlord or board know i t is being used for short-term rentals
Does the apartment have a certificate of occupancy for short -term rental
Ask who you would contact and how if there is a plumbing problem at 11 pm

Ask the questions and get the answers in writing. This will give you an idea of what you are dealing with.

Next, ask for the exact address of the apartment (not cross-sts but address) and you can look at it on google maps and see what the building looks like (and confirm it is apartments and not something else)

cw

Bwino,

Look at this thread on TA about staysmart: http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic..._New_York.html

Bwino

Thanks again. Very interesting cw, looks like a good one to stay clear of, at least just to be sure.

kawh

there are several affinia hotels in nyc. we love their group. the kitchens are really basic... very very simple cooking. still-- the prices are good for a pretty big room (for nyc) and a kitchen-- and if you check their web site, they have some great specials from time to time.
kawh

doug_stallings

Bwino, it's actually very likely that these apartments exist, and it's more likely that "City Lights Real Estate" is run from a dingy, small apartment in the shadow of the Queensboro Bridge, where someone rents out (quite illegally) apartments all over Manhattan. Lots of rent-stablized tenants don't really live in their apartments, so they rent them out to unsuspecting tourists like yourself. As many people have pointed out, it's illegal to rent most apartments in Manhattan for less than 30 days, but even still there are many such apartments rented every day. As long as it's not an outright scam, then things can go ok as long as nothing goes wrong (the building superintendent asks you who you are, something breaks, you lock yourself out, etc.). Then you might get kicked out mid-stay with absolutely no recourse but to find an expensive hotel room at the last minute.

If you want to visit NYC on a small budget, the best time to come is January or February, when you can almost always find decent accommodation for less than $200 per night. But by April, prices start going up, hitting a high point from mid-November through Christmas, when a small room that might ordinarily rent for $200 per night is suddenly $350 to $450.

The best way to visit NYC on a budget is to plan ahead, stay in a mid-priced chain hotel in Queens, or stay in a legitimate apartment-style hotel, of which there are many in NYC.

But red lights went off for me when I saw Staysmartnyc.com listed on a French-language web site along with the Hotel Marrakech, a notorious illegal hotel on the Upper West Side that has been operating for years.

mclaurie

Oh boy. Train travel in the US is nothing like other countries. IMO it's a really really bad idea and a bad use of time to consider cross country train. You may want to use it for part of the trip, but not for the whole thing. I think you should start a new thread asking for help on an itinerary posting total time and which places you'd like to visit. Where are you from?