New York hotel recommendations (on a budget!)

[KillashandraRee]

I have just booked flights to take DH on a surprise trip to New York in October. Flights have cost me a bomb so I need to find a good hotel, centrally located but as cheap as possible (and for it to feel like a treat for him!) I'm looking for the impossible aren't I?

Anyone able to help with recommendations?

Also any ideas of what to do/ where to eat greatly appreciated. TIA

Have a look at Pod 39 and Pod 51 hotels. I am only planning my trip so haven't booked or stayed in them yet but reviews are good.

We went last month and stayed at a Hilton Garden Hotel, ours was on 33rd, a couple of blocks from the Empire State and Macy’s. Was about £500 for a double for 3 nights.

We stayed at Citizen M Times Square and it was great, funky little hotel with a rooftop bar, really central but surprisingly quiet considering proximity to Times Square. It wasn't cheap but certainly wasn't expensive either.

Room Mate Grace usually has good rates. Or try the Ameritania on 53rd (or maybe 55th) Street I’ve had good deals there before. Also the various Affinia Suites can have good prices.
Jetsetter.com has sales and special deals so worth a look on there to see if there is anything for your dates.

Have at look at staying in long island city. We stayed here at christmas/ New year a couple of years ago and it was significantly cheaper than staying in Manhattan, but no real difference in terms of travel distances to places, as it was really close to the tube station so getting to 9/11 museum, statue of liberty etc. Was basically the same. We stayed at the wyndham and the hotel was lovely.

If you don't mind having a small room have a look at the Jane. Cheap as chips and nice Greenwich Village location. Not all the rooms are ensuite so check before booking.

Which airport are you flying into?

Have you thought about Airbnb???
We did this last year and stayed in Brooklyn for 4 nights.

You can do Airbnb in nyc as long as you're not renting an entire apartment

Ooh, would look at heatherblue ’s suggestion, Greenwich Village is so chilled (Monica’s apartment is there too!)

Were there no hotel deals with the flight? I’ve always found this cheaper. Great reductions so you get a better hotel. What is your budget? October and the fall season isn’t cheap in NY so I’m not sure you will get a bargain.

For a special treat I would try and stay in Manhattan, especially if you are first timers.

Thanks everyone for the replies. We're flying into JFK.

I didn't book with the airline as I hadn't the money to do both in one go .

Are there any areas to avoid? I really don't want to save a few pounds and then regret it as we don't feel safe.

I wouldn't want to stay anywhere near Times Square but I know a lot of people consider it the epicentre of everything. It's just so noisy and you get a lot of hassle from trying to sell you things / scam you. Upper West Side, Greenwich Village, Soho, Chelsea are all lovely areas, the Lower East Side is grittier but fine and safe as anywhere else in Manhattan. There's no one place that's close to everything because the attractions are so spread out. October is a beautiful month in NYC, wish I was going!

We stayed at the Holiday Inn on W 57th. Walkable to Times Sq, subway on the corner, right by Central Park. Cost about £700 for 4 nts.

I have stayed at the Pod Times Square and would recommend it. It's 5 minutes walk from the subway. It's actually far enough from Times Square not to be noisy. I paid less than £100 a night. Clean, comfortable and modern. No frills but everything you need.

We stayed in Brooklyn this year. We were next to a subway and a fantastic food market that we ate at every day to save money.
We stayed at the Sheraton. It has a roof bar that was fun.
We needed 2 rooms so decided Brooklyn was better value.
We could walk to the Brooklyn bridge so the location was ideal for us.

Have a look at Seton Hotel in Murray Hill. It is lovely and quirky, small rooms but do the job, you only sleep and shower in them anyway, so luxury is not necessary in NY!

But if you like the look of it, make sure it is not a SHARED bathroom situation. There are en suite rooms too.

Lovely location within walking distance of everything and a neighbourhood with great delis and breakfasts etc. I liked it anyway, but I am sure some will find other great deals for you. Best of luck and hope you enjoy your trip.

Can you go back into your flight booking and add on a hotel? You can normally do that. I would look at the prices they are offering and see if booking direct is saving anything. It may not but it might give you a bigger choice.

All areas are safe but the subway is fairly yuk in comparison to London and not as easy to navigate as stations don’t all have live info boards. So, you are better off looking at what you really want to see and staying fairly close to those attractions. It’s unlikely that the Brooklyn Bridge and Ground Zero will fill your days in lower Manhattan and most first time visitors want to see things in different areas. Plan it all on a map and remember it’s bigger than you think!

I think the High Line is great so Chelsea is good for that. It’s not so good for Central Park or the Metropolitan Museum. Buy a guide such as Lonely Planet and decide what matters to you. There are wonderful things to see in NY but some are overhyped such as Macy’s! Their hotel/restaurant suggestions are quite good too. Booking.com allows you to filter for value for money and best reviews at the same time. This might also point you to some properties which are suitable for you.

NY is hard work and it’s a long way from Ellis Island to Central Park so consider how much travelling you want to do to get back to the hotel on top of waking around. Breakfasts in hotels are very expensive so being close to a cafe or diner helps the budget.

Zone what you want to see each day and allow enough time for getting the most out of your visit. Everyone has different ideas on what’s best but only you know your taste and interests. The theatre is very expensive and you must budget for tax to be added onto every transaction, even in shops. Tipping is obligatory and Americans double the tax to arrive at the amount for the tip. The price you see on a menu isn’t close to what you pay. Add around 25% minimum.

It’s a fantastic place to visit and with planning it will be a wonderful surprise.

Thanks Bubbles I've looked T hotels via the flight operator and they seem to be the same price as those on deal from kayak or bookings.com.

It's so hard as I was hoping to leave planning the trip to when DH and I could do it together, I had thought to give him a lonely planet at the airport and spend the ten hours deciding what we wanted to do (maybe with a restaurant or two booked for the evenings as I've read it's hard to get into the good ones unless you book a month in advance) but now I wonder if I need to plan the whole four days?

Watching this thread with interest as we are also going to New York in Oct . . for my 60th birthday treat. I have knackered knees so will need to be near a subway station to reduce the amount of walking I will need to do. We were thinking of doing Airbnb in Brooklyn so it was good to see that suggested as an option.

Re AirBnb in New York - if you want to LEGALLY rent a whole apartment for yourselves for fewer than 30 days (rather than just a room in someone's house whilst they are there), there must be no more than two 'dwellings' in the whole building (which is v unusual in NYC).

Check out Trip Advisor for their experts, who will tell you not go within a million miles of 95% of the so-called 'legal' AirBnB options in NYC. The city is cracking down on illegal short-term lets, so you'd be running a (small) chance of being turfed out onto the street with no option then but to find a (probably v expensive) hotel.

I was planning to go down the AirBnb route myself, but after Trip Advisor we've ended up in a hotel in the Financial District on Manhattan itself, which will save us some subway fares and wasn't that much more expensive, particularly for the peace of mind it brings.

I can highly recommend TA for queries on all subjects for NYC (locations, itineraries, restaurants etc); there are some very knowledgable people on there who donate a huge amount of their time to helping random strangers!

Thanks Chester will have a look on TA. I also have been warned off Airbnb.

I've booked a room at The Lexington in Manhattan. It came in quite reasonable, good reviews and I think for our first trip should be a good bet. So hotel and flights booked now to plan the trip and keep it a secret for 3 months! 😱

All ideas on what 'must sees' welcome. X

The must sees depend on what you like to do. I would say you must see the Metropolitan Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Rubin Museum, the Guggenheim, the Whitney Museum, the Brooklyn Museum - can you see a pattern emerging? You have to go up a tall building, we chose the Rockefeller Centre which has advantages over the Empire State because you get a view of the Empire State from it. Try and have a day out of the city if time allows, we caught a train from Grand Central up the Hudson Valley to Cold Spring which was lovely. And you need to get hot dogs from Grays Papaya.

Just be aware that a lot of NYC hotels now include a city tax that has to be paid in resort. My daughter has just booked and it's $125 for 5 nights in the hotel she is staying in, over and above the room rate.

Went to New York last month. Make sure you get the New York Pass for your planned excursions. We got the 5 day one (approx £185) and it saved us loads in money and the hassle of queuing for tickets.

It's an AMAZING place. I'm so jealous!!