Everything & Anything New York City

lizzielie

joe_canada wrote: »

4th Jan / 4 Nights / £325 (inc tax)


No particular budget, just fancied the uniqueness.

We stayed there last year for 4 nights. It is certainly a super unique hotel, and the deco made me smile. If you want to be close to Times Sq, but not right in the thick of it, it is perfect. This is my hubby's review from last year on TA:

We arrived mid afternoon on Sunday 20th November2011 and were given a friendly welcome and were also given a briefing of what to do and how the system works.Although it is self check in there are people down in the main area 24 hours a day and all very approachable and friendly. We stayed on the 12th floor.The lifts initially go up to the 4th floor where you enter the main hub of the hotel..There are toilets, dining facilities and a bar serving a good selection of cocktails, wines and beers.
You can go no further than floor 4 in the first lift as you go around the corner to another set of lifts where you scan your card in the lift and press your floor number for the lift to move. This is so that people cannot wander up to the other floors without staying at the hotel.

The food is very sub standard consisting of coffee/tea and a muffin or two.We didnt really hang around to look any further, but it was all complimentary and designed for you to eat and drink on the move. The rooms were very small, but cosy and did the job.The room had a fantastic view of the city and we loved it.The only gripe we had was there was no power on the shower and you had to be a scholar of sciences to work out the temperature of the shower itself which this time of year can take a few minutes to heat up!

The hotel is within 10 minutes of Times square and all the major attractions. It is also close to all the big shopping names like Macys, Bloomingdales and Barneys dept.stores although i think you would need to get a cab or the subway for these stores.The subway itself is another challenge of complication.Enjoy the challenge! We are still trying to work it out at home here!

All in all a very enjoyable stay in a fantastic new concept in hotel in a major city. We totally recommend this hotel to anyone staying in NYC and we will be booking again next thanksgiving .

susanb84

Hi,

I was wondering if any of you would be kind enough to give me a bit of guidance about hotels in New York as I've never been before. I'm going to New York for 4 nights next May, then going on to Boston for a week then a few days elsewhere (possibly Provincetown). Think I got a pretty good deal on flights from Heathrow to JFK and back from Boston Logan to Heathrow for £450, and my partner's parents have already booked the accommodation in Boston. So the next big thing to sort out is accommodation in New York.

I had been looking at sticking to a budget of around $150/night for a double room, but could probably stretch up to $200/night. It doesn't have to be right next to Times Square, or other major tourist sites like that, but I would like to be in a neighbourhood where it's nice to have a stroll around (especially with nice cafes, bars, restaurants or parks nearby) and with decent transport links if it's a bit off the beaten track. I'd really prefer a room with a private bathroom, but could put up with a shared bathroom if the hotel is exceptionally good otherwise and is in a really nice/handy area. Is it possible to find anywhere that ticks all these boxes, or am I being a bit unrealistic?

The majority hotels I've found that are around $150/night seem to be in Long Island City. What's Long Island City like? From what I've found online it doesn't seem to be all that great for being able to nip out from the hotel and find nice cafes or bars easily, but it might be worth staying there if it is significantly cheaper than elsewhere. Has anyone stayed in the Verve Hotel, on 29th Street? It seems to get consistently good reviews on Tripadvisor and I can find it for $642.50 for the 4 nights.

My other question was: is it too early to be looking for a hotel so far in advance? I thought I would be able to leave it until the new year but from having a look on trivago and travelsupermarket it appears that quite a few hotels have already sold out. It is the memorial day weekend so could that have an impact on hotel demand/prices?

Thanks in advance

joe_canada

greenface wrote: »

Good price and i know what our saying about its uniqueness although alot of hotels will be going this way soon for sure. Soon you will be saying "i wish there was someone on the front desk" go for it and let us all know how you get on. your our new MSE guniea pig ,,, I can expect it to be like a technos dorm ,

I have gone for it, so guinea pig I shall be , and will certainly report back!

grubsup

Hi im going to new york in december this will be my 7th visit and i have always stayed at the wellington hotel its 0n 55th street 7th avenue, its very clean and friendly and good value for your money its near central park and about a 10 minuite walk to times square, i would highly recomend it .

greenface

The welly is always priced good but 6 times in the same hotel . wow the love you ..

hab92

Cocorico123 wrote: »

We stayed in the Pod 39 hotel recently in a bunk room for $179 a night. Great location in mid-town, rooms compact and bijou but fine considering rooms in NY are generally on the small side. Great bar on the 17th floor too....

Did you get double-bunks or single-bunks? How big were the rooms?

Also, can anyone give me a list of which airlines fly to New York? Thanks. After my earlier post, I think we may be planning to go on the last weekend of March, leaving on 29th/30th, and coming back on 4th/5th.

M4RKM

susanb84 wrote: »

Hi,

... I'm going to New York for 4 nights next May, ... So the next big thing to sort out is accommodation in New York.

I had been looking at sticking to a budget of around $150/night for a double room, but could probably stretch up to $200/night. ...I would like to be in a neighbourhood where it's nice to have a stroll around (especially with nice cafes, bars, restaurants or parks nearby) and with decent transport links if it's a bit off the beaten track. ...am I being a bit unrealistic?

... What's Long Island City like? ...

My other question was: is it too early to be looking for a hotel so far in advance? ... It is the memorial day weekend so could that have an impact on hotel demand/prices?

Thanks in advance

1 - Yes it is too early to book for May. Hotels probably have not sold out at all, but never actually released their inventory, so they'll show as unavailable. When it hits 6 months away, then you'll probably start seeing more availability.
2 - $200 is the bear minimum for Manhattan, May is when the prices start creeping up, as the weather is getting nicer, so $200 buys you in February, you'll need $300 in May. Memorial Day also adds on extra costs, as it's a holiday weekend!
3 - Long Island City is OK for a hotel base, but don't expect restaurants / bars / cafe's outside, as it is an industrial area that is being redeveloped.
4 - $150 is unrealistic for Manhattan, $200 may be pushing it too.

I'm speculating. I can't do any searches of my preferred sites or hotels, because you've not given exact dates. Hotels can change daily, depending on demand.

M

M4RKM

hab92 wrote: »

Did you get double-bunks or single-bunks? How big were the rooms?

Also, can anyone give me a list of which airlines fly to New York? Thanks. After my earlier post, I think we may be planning to go on the last weekend of March, leaving on 29th/30th, and coming back on 4th/5th.

I'm sure I could give you a list of airlines that fly TO New York, but there would be so many airlines that don't fly FROM the airport you're flying from. Why would you need to know that JetBlue fly to NYC, when they're only internal flights?

Yes, I'm being pedantic, It's what I do on a Saturday Morning!

Seriously though, the main airlines that fly to NYC are as follows

BA
Virgin
Delta
KLM (Via AMS)
United
American Airlines

Any other ones are code shares, and probably you're flying on one of the above anyway. You could add US Airways into the list, but they fly to PHL and then you change there, so that's not entirely convenient, and they are no longer cheap either.

M

Churchmouse

We fly to New York next week, and have collected our dollars. We've been given a load of $100 bills, with $500 in $50s $20s and $10s. While surfing the net planning on things we want to do my husband came across articles saying it's really hard to get places to take the $100 notes. Does anyone know if this is true, and if so, can we go into a bank and ask them to change them down for us. Sorry to sound stupid, only ever done California before where they don't seem to have a problem.

Thanks .

greenface

Churchmouse wrote: »

Sorry to sound stupid,

Thanks .

Edited it for you.......... enjoy NYC . Banks in NYC may have change of a few $100 bills .