Please Help Me Choose NYC Hotel
 

Hi, I'm coming into the City on Feb 11th and leaving on the 13th. I'm flying into LaGuardia and have an event on Wed night in Brooklyn and an event on Thursday night in Midtown (west).

Can you recommend a hotel in a fun safe area of the city? I love art galleries, shopping, and interesting places within walking distance.

May go to the Guggenheim. Any ideas? I won't be at the hotel much. Hoping for something $100ish if possible. Is that possible?

Looking for a good experience.

Thank you so much. You've never steered me wrong before. :)

MC

Hotel prices are at their very lowest this time of year. I always check www.quikbook.com to compare prices and availability on a wide range of hotels.

If you can help me pick an AREA of town, even THAT would be great. Then at least I can hone in it from that angle.

So let's ask it this way, what is a desirable area of town with fun restaurants, galleries, and places to shop nearby?

Thanks
MC

Where in Brooklyn?

Brooklyn is close to downtown Manhattan but for touring NYC it is best to stay Midtown.I would stay Midtown east but more toward Madison Ave or fifth avenus as it is fairly close to the west side but less congested and a better location if traveling to Brooklyn from NYC.

If you are going to Brooklyn, it doesn't really matter where you stay in Midtown. Subway lines on both the east and west sides converge there at Atlantic/Pacific Avenue. There are more galleries and interesting shops downtown in SoHo (and that's closer to Brooklyn), but the number of hotel choices is limited there.

If your budget is really $100-ish, then you really have little choice. You'll probably need to use Priceline or Hotwire, but also check Expedia and Hotels.com. There are some good deals out there right now. You need to find a hotel that you can afford first and worry about location later. As long as you stay in a hotel below 59th Street you'll be within each reach of both your meetings. Also check rates at the Marriott in Brooklyn, but I'm virtually certain you will not find a $100-ish rate there.

As far as museums go, skip the Guggenheim, easily the lamest of NYC's major art museums, followed (for me at least) by the Whitney. If modern art is your thing, then go to MOMA or even the Met, but realize that both are very very busy (if you can go during the day it will be marginally quieter). The best small art museum in NYC is the Frick. There are also some specialty museums if you like a particular kind of art.

Do you realize Brooklyn is HUGE, bigger than Manhattan? Where in Brooklyn may make a difference. Here's a subway map http://www.mta.info/nyct/maps/submap.htm

If you've got the address of the event, you can use hopstop.com to figure out how to get from any hotel you chose to it. Just remember to change the borough from Manhattan to Brooklyn when necessary.

Agree with Doug on all points, although there are some surprisingly good deals out there for ~ $100 without Priceline or Hotwire if they make you nervous.

>There's a hotel called NU in Brooklyn that's on travelzoo.com for $99/night.

>the Holiday Inn Midtown on west 57th (midtown west) has a rate of $80/night plus tax if you prepay or $90/night w/o prepaying on their own website. You're near Central Park, all the midtown shopping, not far from MOMA.

>The Eastgate Tower in midtown east (nearish Grand Central terminal and not far from MOMA) has a rate of $102/night on quikbook.com (hotel tax in NYC adds ~ 15%) You'd be in walking distance of Lord & Taylor and other Fifth ave. shops.

If you stay downtown in the financial district, you may be able to get a 4* hotel like the Millenium Hilton on Priceline with your budget and Century 21 (discount shopping) is there.

PS hotel tax adds about 15% to these prices.

Walked past the NU hotel that mclaurie posted the other day; I think $99 is a deal for that place. It's in a neat part of Brooklyn (lots of shops, restaurants) and it's close to two subway stations.

Here's the street view on Google--you can move this image around. The construction on the left is the hotel (obviously from several months ago):
http://tinyurl.com/dc984m

I agree with others above--it would help to know what part of Brooklyn your event is in.

The Nu hotel is reviewed in tomorrow's NY Times. http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/02/01...tml?ref=travel