you are absolutely right. they are all gone!

my friend suggests me to check airbnb. Some seem quite good and the price is also ok, even though many have also been booked out.

>>my friend suggests me to check airbnb. Some seem quite good and the price is also ok, even though many have also been booked out.<<

No - almost ALL vacation rentals are illegal in NYC.

Do not book airbnb or vrbo . . . Book the Country Inn & Suites nytraveler suggested and do it ASAP.

No - almost ALL vacation rentals are illegal in NYC.
???
why? i was told same thing about rentals in Paris.

Why are the vacation rentals illegal? many of them have good reviews on airbnb. When we were on holiday in Hawaii, we also had mix of hotels/resorts and those vacation rentals.

i will check out country inn and stuites, but not sure if i can find any :(

Paris is an entirely different situation -- there is is a registration/tax/housing supply issue that is relatively recent.

In NY airbnb can't negotiate to have the tax paid like they are trying to do in Paris. Just believe us -- rental in NYC are illegal.

They are (mostly) legal in Hawaii - not relevant.

>>but not sure if i can find any<<

Not sure I understand what you mean. Here: http://hotels.countryinns.com/ny/lon..._nynyquee.html

We stayed at Country Inn & Suites in Long Island City. It is very close to a subway station, is only one stop to Times Square. The hotel has free breakfast and wi-fi. It was also a very reasonable price.

NYC has a real shortage of affordable housing and very strict rental control laws. In all of NY state it is illegal to rent out your apartment for less than 30 days. It is legal only if the legal tenant is living in the apt and they rent you just one room. However, that may still be against the tenant's lease with the landlord and you may find other people in the building not happy you are there. (They don't want a parade of strangers given keys to their building - and who knows who they are or where the keys end up - significantly compromising the safety of residents.

Also in NYC many buildings are either co-ops or condos and none of the former and very few of the latter allow short-term sublets. Again for reasons of safety, security and maintaining property values.

If you choose to do this you can take the risk if you like but many ads are scams and for others the apt may not be available if other tenants find out about the sublet. (The renter can be evicted.)

What is legal is for someone to rent a room in their privately owned house but these are quite rare in Manhattan - which is mostly apartments and the few private houses are owned by very wealthy owners not interested in sharing.

You can check out B&Bs but there are very few in Manhattan and many of those are illegal. If the owner is not charging city tax you will know it is illegal.

A couple of years age we had a couple of young women from Italy who had been "rented" an apartment in our co-op for 2 weeks and paid a lot in advance. When they got here and found out there was no such apt they ended up having to pay again for a hotel with the help of Traveller's Aid.

Sorry - if you do decide to check out B&Bs versus Country Inns/Suites (which I would reserve ASAP as a back up) come here and ask about the address.

Some are in parts of the city you probably don;t want to stay in - either for convenience or pleasantness of area. I won;t say safety - although a few are in unsafe places, but others can be in places that are gentrifying/mixed/still somewhat gritty. Not bad for a local but not what a tourist would expect.

Niagara Falls is terrific, and the drive there (if through Finger Lakes wine country) is beautiful. NYS thruway not so much, but that's the way most tours probably go.