HELP! We are planning our annual trip to New York for the Thanksgiving weekend and are shocked (!) at the price of hotels. We realize that this is a busy time in the city but have never faced such high prices before. Does anyone have any suggestions or leads on how to snatch a reasonable rate (up to 225/night) in the midtown, upper west side, or times square area? We have used Hotwire and Priceline in the past and are open to using them again, but wanted a secure know-what-hotel-you're geting back-up. We've also used Quikbook with mixed results but when I checked with them, their rates were very high also. We love New York and are determined to visit anyway, but would like to have a few dollars left over for restaurants, shopping, theater, etc! Thanks!

I would ignore the three neighborhoods you mentioned and see what you could find. You may be able to locate lower prices in the Financial District, around Union Square or Chelsea.

You can forget about finding anything in the areas you are looking in for that price over Thanksgiving Weekend.

Hotel occupancy is at an all time high in NYC and prices will reflect that.

What is Hotwire asking for that weekend? Also, look at chains like Holiday Inn NOT in Midtown.

Hotwire lists 10 or 11 hotels (anywhere from 2 to 3 1/2 stars) under $225 over Thanksgiving weekend in midtown and/or upper west side, so that may be your best bet.

Good luck!
Karen

On the website lastminutetravel.com (which I've never personally used) someone else has mentioned that they have a few of the all suite Affinia group hotels (affiniahotels.com) at very good prices from $149-189/night. I personally would try to get the same rate directly from Affinia, but you might want to check the details on that site. The hotels I remember seeing listed that are in this group are the Beekman Towers, Plaza Fifty, East Gate, South Gate, Lyden Gardens. The Shelburne Murray Hill is a favored one fo this group but don't think it's on that website (it may be too well known). The Murray Hill Suites (not part of this group) is also well liked and may have decent rates.

The hotels on the upper west side are probably not a good idea since the parade starts up there so it's a prime location for that weekend. Good luck.

The Marriott East Side, a very comfortable, very pleasant hotel, has rooms available for $239 a night. Slightly over your budget but not by too much.