Please help with NY hotel choices
 

My husband and I are taking our 16 year old son to New York for Memorial Day weekend. Out of the following hotels, which would you choose and why? We have found similar prices for all (within $20 of each other).
Le Parker Meridien
The Drake
Excelsior
Crowne Plaza Times Square
We are looking for a good location, nice hotel, preferably with parking available.
I thank you in advance for any advice/help.
Thank you!

Hi,
I took (3) 13 year olds to NYC earlier this month. We stayed at Le Parker Meridien in a Jr. suite.

They liked the roof top enclosed pool.Open to 11 pm most nights, but not Sunday.
It was walking distance to both Centeral Park and to Time Sq.We walked to just about everything.Very well located for our needs.
They thought that the "moving" TV stand was very cool! They rented a movie one night after they were in bed. The parking was convinient, but not inexpensive.($40. per day)
I would go there again
We also checked out the Marriot Marquis while we were there, and that would have been a good choice, too. But much busier!Cool elavators!

cpeicott: We have plans to visit NY in July and the two hotels we are deciding between just happen to be Parker Meridien and Marriott Marquis. If you had it to do all over again, which would you choose, and why? Thanks !

Hi,
Probably the Parker Meridien. The Marriott Marquis seemed much bigger and noisier. The Times Square location was pretty cool, but it was almost sensory over load.
The Meridien was very serene in comparison.Yet still just a few blocks away from Time Square.
I asked the girls at the time if they had wished we had stayed at the Marquis (we went in it to see the revolving rest.) They may have just been trying not to seem ungrateful, but they said that they were happy where we were.

The restaraunts and shops in the Marquis seemed much more affordable than the Meridien, but we were never in our hotel at meal times, so I guess that didn't matter.
The pool at the Meridien was a good way for them to unwind at the end of the day.

I'll talk about the Excelsior but can't personally compare it to the others.

I loved it. I loved the location, opposite a park, the planetarium (so COOL to see at night), and the natural history museum; a half-block to the subway on the line that will take you right downtown in snap; and 1-2 blocks from the cross-town bus that will take you right through Central Park to Fifth Avenue and everything on the east side. It's in a relatively quiet residential area by Central Park but with scads of restaurants and shops on Columbus (just down the block), Amsterdam, and Broadway within a very few minutes' walk. I always make a "pilgrimage" to the Popover cafe on Amsterdam for a hearty, delicious meal at a very reasonable price (and I love popovers).

The breakfast ("entertainment") room is charming -- more like a lovely library -- although breakfast itself, while good, isn't included in the room.

The rooms are very nice and by NY standards a very reasonable size (not huge but just fine for 2 people -- for 3 it might be cramped, but so would other hotel rooms, I'd guess).

From the website http://www.excelsiorhotelny.com/ , however, it doesn't look like they have parking. (I'd be surprised, however, if you could park at any hotel for less than $25/day -- do you really need to take that car into Manhattan?)

Summary: Some people prefer to stay close to Times Sq. It is certainly convenient, but it is also noisy and congested and not all that pretty -- which makes a difference to me but may make none at all to you and your son. Sounds like you'd might well prefer one of the others b/c of parking and centrality, and maybe the charm of the Excelsior would be lost on your son. But if he's a bit sophisticated ;-) or if you'd all prefer a nice place in a nice part of the "real" Manhattan, consider the Excelsior (check out the website for photos).

Just got back from a 3 day weekend in NY and stayed at the Michaelangelo. It is a great location, very service oriented. Parking is inclued in the price. They give upgrades. They have a continental breakfast in the morning. The bathrooms are marble with a TV in the bathroom and large deep soaking tubs. I would recommend it highly and thought it was reasonable.