Anything & Everything New York (PART 2) - [please search thread before posting]

This bit used to be my signature, but I'll paste it here for easy reference.

I've travelled to NYC, 11 times already, and my 12th is coming up, since 2001, prices have dropped, gone up, and dropped again, and gone up again.. it is always a moving market, however, this is my opinion only on what kind of price people should be paying for a DIRECT flight from either Manchester, or the London airports.


Direct Flight

£000 - £300 = 5*
£300 - £350 = 4
£350 - £400 = 3*
£400 - £450 = 2*
£450 - £500 = 1*
Over £500 = 0*

Over £500 for a return flight isn't money saving.

Ideally, i'd love to say, if you see a flight UNDER £250, to book it straight away. There are some bargains to be had.

When it comes to flights that invlove one change, knock £50 off each of the price bandings, and then again you have a good price

However, when posting this, I feel that the days of sub £200 flights are now gone!

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Time for some hints and tips.

1 - The centre of New York is Manhattan, in a tourist sense.
2 - You can't have a hotel close to everything, as Manhattan is 2.5 miles wide and 13.5 miles long. If you're near Central Park, you're not near the Staten Island Ferry
3 - New York is safe. it isn't like the movies or CSI:NY. It is the safest big city in the USA, and i think the 3rd Safest in cities over 100,000 people.
4 - The Subway is easy to use and safe, and runs 24 hours a day.
5 - the cheapest way to get from the airport is to walk, However, it is miles away, so public transport is the second cheapest..
6 - Times Square is a tourist attraction, not the place to be!

7 - Apartment Rentals are illegal in New York City for stays under 30 days...

Here is some more information on the rather delicate subject of point 7 - Apartment Rentals

There is a lot of information over on TripAdvisor, much more than I can be bothered going through tonight, so I'd suggest people take a look over there if you don't believe what I say. However, I will go through this, logically.

99% of apartments are not "Transient" accommodation in NYC, and therefore illegal. There have been recent events that illegal hostels and hotels have been closed down, and hundreds of tourists, who just book wherever is cheap, end up on the street.

Seriously, If it ain't a scam, it'll be illegal. There are very few legal apartment rentals for under 30 days in New York City.

Feel free to search the address on http://www.nyc.gov/html/dob/html/bis/bis.shtml

if it doesn't come up as a

Department of Finance Building Classification: H9-HOTELS

on the first page, then it isn't the right classification for a transient hotel. That is one quick check, the next one is to check the certificate of occupancy, Click on View Certificates of Occupancy, and then choose one from the list. I pick a known legal hotel, and it comes up as a J-1 Transient Hotel. Now, I've picked a known illegal apartment rental, and the certificate of occupancy states, 2 Family Dwelling and Accessory Office.

So, if you are a not living there permanently, within a unit that is designed for a family, (and obviously that is not the case, because it has been illegally converted to 3 (three) apartments), then it is illegal, but the many websites don't give a crap what they have on their site, because they are getting their commission. There is no point asking them, they don't vet, or are required to vet what goes on the site.

If you decide to use one then you are really depriving someone living in NYC in an affordable room, just because you don't want to stay in a hotel, which is what they are designed for. Hotels, transients, apartments, residents.

If you want the apartment style, so you can cook a meal, have a living area etc etc, then choose a suitehotel, which there are a number of, Eastgate Tower in Midtown Manhattan is reasonable, and you can get a 1 bed studio, 1 bed suite, or a 2 bed suite etc etc. This is the closest you'll get to staying at an apartment in NYC legally.

people start thinking about going to NYC for christmas anytime from october onwards.

From this point on, the airfares suprisingly are higher, right from the beginning of november, until the 1st week of jan

personally, i know i love the 3 month rule, (flying march 5th, booked hotel Jan 1st, Booked Flight Fri 9th Jan), it occasionally doesn't apply

becky.. if we were ever in NYC at the same time, we'd never bump into each other..

LES FTW!