New York Hotels

mrsjaw

Hi everyone, we are visiting New York on a cruise in September. Our son would like to join us and can get a cheap flight (through his work) but we are so shocked at the price of a hotel for a couple of nights. If you want a hotel anywhere near decent and your own loo you need to spend around at least £600 for the two nights!
We have never been before so don't know 'the area' - is it possible to stay somewhere out of town that may be cheaper and get a cab/train/ferry into the city?
Hopefully someone who knows New York may have some ides for us.
Thank you.

oldernonethewiser

He could stay outside of Manhattan (if that is where you were looking) and get public transport in. The further away the cheaper but then longer time spent travelling.

mrsjaw

oldernonethewiser wrote: »

He could stay outside of Manhattan (if that is where you were looking) and get public transport in. The further away the cheaper but then longer time spent travelling.

Thanks for your quick reply - yes we were looking at Manhattan. I suppose it was a bit of insider information we were looking for such as how easy/cheap is it to travel around?

stevenhp1987

When I go New York, I stay on Queens Boulevard / Sunnyside.

Much cheaper and a 10-15 minute subway on the number 7 to Times Square.

I find that it's close enough while saving money for a comparable hotel in Manhattan.

Subways are cheap. $2.75 a ride or $33 for a week unlimited pass!

oldernonethewiser

It is pretty easy to get around.


Your son could study this http://www.mta.info/nyct and that might help him in his decision making


Personally I would be looking to stay as close as possible as I feel it is false economy to stay further out.


Depending on what sort of accommodation he is after there are much cheaper options on Manhattan. Hostels from about £50 a night for example and some hotels under £200 per night.



That is just picking a couple of random dates in Sept.

Duckyduck

Google hotels is really good for finding hotels, they give a bit of blurb about the hotel and an indication of walkability and transport connections. The pricing seems to be off, but it’ll indicate the relative pricing of the different options. Literally just go to google and search “New York hotels” to get started. Long Island city, which is an easy short subway ride from manhattan (about 5 mins from Rockefeller centre, 15 from Times Square). Been a couple of years since I’ve been and loads of hotels were springing up around there, but there might be a new good value location now.

Staying in New Jersey is also an option, but that is a separate transport network to the one to get around Manhattan, so for simplicity for an inexperienced first timer somewhere in NY may be preferable. Pretty sure the subway runs 24hrs a day but NJ Transit doesn’t. The transport is super easy, but there’s no escalators so you’ll need to carry your bags up the stairs.

londoninvestor

Duckyduck wrote: »

Pretty sure the subway runs 24hrs a day but NJ Transit doesn’t. The transport is super easy, but there’s no escalators so you’ll need to carry your bags up the stairs.

For a two-day stay, depending on NJ Transit buses or trains, while not impossible, will be enough of a hassle that it will spoil your holiday.

The PATH train is more integrated with the subway and is a bit better, if you found a good deal in Hoboken - but even so, it finishes about 11pm, which might be a pain.

mrsjaw

Thanks everyone for your replies and advice. We think a hotel fairly close to us (Manhattan Cruise Terminal) would be the best idea so as not to be wasting time travelling to meet each other.

We're just really surprised at the price of hotels - when we find one that that looks a good price it turns out to be a hostel with a shared bathroom - I can't see No1 son going for that!! One of the hotels I looked at even boasted that toilet paper was included - that made me smile.

I think we'll just have to bite the bullet and pay for a half decent hotel - it could be worse we could be there or a week!

maman

My DD visits NYC frequently and is perfectly happy with Pod 51. It's close to the main sites like 5th Avenue and Grand Central. Rooms are small by US standards but have private bathrooms. It's more expensive than a hostel but cheaper than many hotels in the same area of the city.
ETA There is a cheaper option with a shared bathroom but that's not what she has used although they have good reviews.

mrsjaw

maman wrote: »

My DD visits NYC frequently and is perfectly happy with Pod 51. It's close to the main sites like 5th Avenue and Grand Central. Rooms are small by US standards but have private bathrooms. It's more expensive than a hostel but cheaper than many hotels in the same area of the city.
ETA :There is a cheaper option with a shared bathroom but that's not what she has used although they have good reviews.

Thank you maman, Pod51 keeps popping up but I only saw shared bathrooms - I'll go back and look at the price of a private bathroom.