thebarb3

Making a family (4) trip to upstate New York and want quick weekend trip to NYC Aug 14-16. Would appreciate recommendations for 1) good hotel (large room for 2 adults; 2 college-age boys) near Times Square/Theater District for under $300/night and 2) best online hotel booking site for this type of trip. Other tips appreciated. Many thanks!

Rich

We stayed at the DoubleTree, Times Square a couple of years ago when we took our granddaughter to NYC. Decent rooms and in the middle of things. We only used the rooms to sleep, so were not looking for anything fancy

http://doubletree1.hilton.com/en_US/...-York/index.do

ellenem

I just looked at Hotels.com and for your dates.

The Hilton Garden Inn Times Square (well reviewed here) is quoting a Standard Two Queens for $264 non-refundable, $284 refundable. This hotel is quite close to Times Suqare though not right in it—which is nicer to me.

starrs

I love the location of the Hilton Garden Inn and the Hampton Inn and would highly recommend both. You get a free breakfast at the Hampton Inn. They are close to one another.

BUT I really want to stay at the brand new Staybridge Suites Times Square that just opened. It's in the Holiday Inn family of hotels with great family amenities and great reviews. The location is further south.

I book directly with the hotel's website -

Staybridge -
http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/sb/1/en/hotel/nycee

Hampton Inn -
http://hamptoninn.hilton.com/en/hp/h...gory=0&photo=1

Hilton Garden Inn -
http://hiltongardeninn.hilton.com/en...tyhocn=NYCMWGI

abram

We've liked the Doubletree, too.
One option we considered for our last trip to NYC was the Radio City Apartments.

mclaurie

I think it's really a matter of what bed set up you prefer. The Doubletree will give you a 1 bedroom suite with either king bed and queen sofabed in the living room or 2 doubles in the bedroom and a sofabed (if both are available and within budget). It's worth checking Hotwire to see if they have the Doubletree that weekend. You'd know it since it's the only 4* in Times Square area with an S for suite hotel.

While the Staybridge is new, it's much further west and only studios (all one room) no 1 bedrooms.

The Hampton Inn TS North and the Hilton Garden Inn TS both have rooms with 2 queen beds. It looks like Hotels.com has the best price for 2 queens (searching on kayak.com)

There's a special on the Westin on travelzoo.com I think their largest rooms have 2 double beds, the more typical setup for the other chains in TS like Crowne Plaza, Millenium Broadway, Marriott Marquis etc. The Westin also has some corner rooms with sofabeds. There's a new Intercontinental in Times Square and a new hotel called Cassa that's opening Aug. 1.

KTtravel

You could also check the Salisbury. It is closer to Central Park but at a very walkable distance to Times Square.

ita

we stayed at the Hampton Inn Madison Square Gardens. The rooms are miniscule, but clean and modern. The location is great, but the best part was the included buffet breakfast. This was great for kids, they could take as much as they wanted and go back as often as they wanted to. I found that the big breakfast kept them going with just the odd snack till dinner time

thebarb3

Many thanks to all that replied with suggestions!

mlgb

Early this year I called Apple Core and they would not honor the special rates advertised on their website.

travelbuff

Check out the Travel Inn on W 42nd St, it's close to Times Square but out of the noise, and there's a POOL the teens will love in this heat.

MFNYC

It's usually best to book directly on the hotel's website. Check for any applicable discounts (AAA, etc) which aren't listed on sight like Kayak. Also put your dates into Kayak or Bing, to compare the various booking sights.