Hotel For Thanksgiving New York needed

kambinky

Please can the experts help me get a decent hotel in New York from 20- 26 November. Luxury not needed but a good position for getting the best out of the celebrations as I am taking my partner for his Birthday surprise. Thanks in advance.

deaks_2

We recently went to NY and stayed at the Waldorf Astoria - have to say it was just fabulous and we booked on what they call Net Direct rates, so you have to pay in full at the time of booking, but got it loads cheaper. It was £200 a night - before you faint, that was a Waldorf Towers room and this includes access to the Waldorf Towers Astoria Lounge, this includes extended buffet breakfast, free tea, coffee, nuts, fruit and non-alcoholic drinks all day and a buffet between 5-7pm all included (we only went out for evening dinner once, cos we didn't need to after eating at the evening buffet and we were so knackered after being out all day, it seemed to make sense, also ate here before doing a couple of shows) - the staff were fab, the experience was wonderful and if you can afford to push the boat out, highly recommended. The original room we were allocated was nice, but I asked about an extractor fan in the bathroom (very nicely) and they then moved us into a suite, which had a kitchen area, huge bedroom, dressing room and marble bathroom. It sounds a lot, but when you include the breakfast and evening buffet and quality of accommodation, was really good value - a real treat.
By the way - if you queue up for tickets at the booth in Times Square you can get shows/plays at half the ticket price, but you need to pay in cash and can only book on the day - but it does save you a lot of dosh.
Have a great trip - I have to say it was a great week - and we got really cheap tickets from Martin recommending Delta's new service, return for £160 ALL in - so what we saved on air fare went on the hotel!

UPDATE - see another post re the Waldorf - we paid in advance then they charged us again - admitted it is their mistake and issuing a refund - but so far this has taken TWO months and is still not back on our account!!!

deaks_2

Should also say we used the hop on hop off tour bus service - booked via the conceirge in the Hotel (but you can buy them in the street from the sellers, red tour buses or yellow - rival companies) - very good value - I think we did the 3 day package, and this included the Empire State Building and Liberty Island - so worked out very reasonable. The only disappointment was that to gain access to the actual Statue of Liberty (rather than just Liberty island) you had to book 2 days in advance and we didn't realise this - security is very tight - might not be the same when you go, but worth bearing in mind.

Also a money saving tip - Macy's give you a card for 11% discount - just show your passport at customer service and they give you the card - took about 1 minute! - you can then use it throughout the store to get the discount on just about anything.

herman2811

I'd recommend doing a search on venere.com - really helpful website with lots of good maps/reviews, and reasonable prices too (which you also don't have to pay in advance)
Plus for 4% off, use code: BK5HX8W

I think it's a good idea to check out this website even if you find hotels cheaper elsewhere, as the descriptions and maps are generally better than other sites in my opinion.

Hope that helps

karena

Have a look at tripadvisor.com and then at the various hotel web sites, travelzoo.com has specials that come up.

martindow

Thanksgiving week is (relatively) cheap in NY as for Americans it is very much a family event - so business travel is quiet.

kambinky

Thanks everyone for help - I have followed up the leads but sloppychops thought I might get a few travel experts to come up with some better deals to book - can anyone do this or move me to the right place to ask? Thanks

chivas

martindow wrote: »

Thanksgiving week is (relatively) cheap in NY as for Americans it is very much a family event - so business travel is quiet.

sorry if this is me being dim - but is thanksgiving week the week before or after thanksgiving day??

(I was planning a trip about that time!!)

poe.tuesday

I stayed in the Westin Times Square, absolutely heavenly, not only the bed, the shower but the view from the 41st floor was amazing

They often do 3 nights for the price of 2 and you will pay about $300 per night

martindow

chivas wrote: »

sorry if this is me being dim - but is thanksgiving week the week before or after thanksgiving day??

(I was planning a trip about that time!!)

Thanksgiving is always a Thursday (the third in November I think) so we're talking about the week around that. On another point, the weather can do anything in November. It could be reasonable but could also be extremely cold.

Frommers is an excellent forum for travel questions and Pauline Frommer herself is a NY expert.
http://www.frommers.com/cgi-bin/WebX?13@177.lEsZaAtIyoo^4@.ee6b36e

chivas

martindow wrote: »

Thanksgiving is always a Thursday (the third in November I think) so we're talking about the week around that. On another point, the weather can do anything in November. It could be reasonable but could also be extremely cold.

Frommers is an excellent forum for travel questions and Pauline Frommer herself is a NY expert.
http://www.frommers.com/cgi-bin/WebX?13@177.lEsZaAtIyoo^4@.ee6b36e

Thanks!

I had just looked it up as your reply came in (I had assumed it would be a Sunday - doh :rolleyes: )

Apparently its the 4th Thursday in November... I'm going to do some price checking now - to make sure the business folk not being there aren't cancelled out by tourists coming to see the parades etc!!