Please help me plan a surprise trip to NYC

[SomeTameGazelle]

DH turns 50 next year and DD graduates from university. I want to buy plane tickets to New York and book a hotel for them as a gift.

I have never been to the States and am a bit overwhelmed as to where to start looking for flights and hotels so any help would be appreciated!

They'd probably go for 3 nights mid Sept-October.

How much do you want to spend? A nice central Manhattan hotel would possibly work, then it’s easy to pop out and about either up or down.

Highly recommend the BA package including Hotel Kixby. We have stayed there countless times. Very central, completely refitted a few years ago, clean modern rooms.

Thanks.

Budget is flexible as in I want somewhere nice but not 5 star!

And I'm not sure where to start looking for flights.

It is significantly cheaper to do a package. We live near Heathrow so always use BA packages.

If i could stay anywhere and budget no issue, I'd love to stay in Hotel Gaansevorte in Chelsea. It's opposite Soho House, the one where the SATC girls met geri haliwell at the swimming pool in the summer heat.

I had cocktails in their rooftop bar overlooking the rooftop pool in 2006 and it's been an aspiration ever since!

Also a fab part of town. But not near theatres etc, you'd need to use the subway.

Remember that you will need to get each of them an ESTA on their passport. This will require an e-mail address. You may or may not arouse suspicion if you use the same e-mail address for all three applications, so you might want to create a couple of Gmail accounts for this purpose ("[email protected]" etc).

Applying for an ESTA will soon involve having to hand over all of your social media account usernames. At that point everything that anyone has ever written on Facebook, Twitter, etc will be scanned by "AI", and if it decides that anything is hostile to the Yoonited States (or, more importantly, the orange bloke), you won't be travelling.

So get the ESTAs first, because (a) at the moment the requirement to hand over the social media IDs is not yet 100% in place (although there is space to do so "voluntarily" on the form, and if you don't, they can still insist on a "manual review" of your application, and (b) if at some point your DH or DD have written "Trump is an idiot", even if it was in reference to Judd Trump the snooker player, then you will have saved yourself the price of the non-refundable air tickets.

I agree with @NewYearNewMee . We stayed just near Times Square / Rockefeller Centre which was ideal for getting everywhere really. Times Square itself was a bit... meh. But location wise it was fab!

The hotel we stayed in was The Iroquois and it was gorgeous 😍Very old school American with a lovely cocktail bar 🍸

https://www.iroquoisny.com/

@SomeTameGazelle

If you book a package and want a “safe” hotel choice (e.g clean, nothing too bougie etc) then I would go with Virgin - the Virgin hotel has some empire state view rooms which are really lovely - it’s close to some tube stops and a good bagel place (ESSA!) and also has some nice restaurants close by, you can be in flatiron in like a 10m walk. We normally stay close to this area and find it really useful and central!

I haven’t seen anything about ESTAs enforcing social media soon, I have for VISAs though.

Look on BA. I booked in their January sale in 2023 for November 2023 and got 4 nights/5 days at the Hilton Times Square West with flights and luggage included for £750pp. I had also stayed at that hotel previously so can attest to it being decent on separate occasions, it’s in a great location.

Thank you so much for your replies!

Been on the BA website - some fab hotels. Is 3 nights enough, do you think?

What is your budget? You could do 4 nights at the Hyatt grand central for under £700 pp.

I'm pleasantly surprised that I can get flights and decent hotels for under a grand each!

I would do minimum 4 as you might be a bit jet lagged on the first day.

Agree BA has great packages for NY in particular and Manhattan, Times Square being the place to be.

I don’t think 3 nights is enough though. By the time you arrive, make it through immigration and get to your hotel, it’s dinner and bed. Then you get 2 full days and you’ll be needing to head to the airport at lunch time on the third day. It’s a long way to go for only 2 full days. also it’s a huge place and travelling around takes time so you can’t fit loads of stuff into a single day. Plus just wandering around and exploring in NY is fun. Also the jetlag will leave you absolutely scrambled for such a short trip.

I would definitely go for 4 preferably 5 nights!

You say “they”: are they going to share a room or do you need two rooms? That might impact the package price.

Bear in mind that hotel taxes and service charges aren’t usually included in a package and can be £££. It’s years since I went to NY now but if I remember correctly it added about $150 a night, maybe more.

I wouldn’t stay at Times Square - very noisy and busy. We stayed at Executive Le Soleil in midtown on a quiet side street near Macy’s and Empire state in Miditown and the location was perfect. 5-10 min walk to Times Square. I’d say 5 nights would be better and no less than 4.

You absolutely won’t cause suspicion using the same email address; you’re simply creating a group application for your family. Our last trip to the US, I applied for the Estas for our family in one go. One group application number is much easier to manage and track.

3 nights isn't enough. I'd suggest 4 minimum. Maybe even 5 if you want a slow pace.

Flight wise I prefer BA. They have some good flight and hotel packages on their website. Personally prefer a day time flight back.

Theres some good nyc facebook travel planning groups you can browse. I'd also suggest going into a travel agent and chatting with them. Helps you plan and they'll have experience of areas etc. Their prices are usually pretty competitive.

Also flights for next year as in 2027 won't be released yet.

We got a bargain in the Hyatt Herald Square. It was just 10/15 mins walk to Times Square. Also near a major train station to get to and from airport, madison square gardens and the Empire State Building. Was a lovely hotel too!

The Long Island Railroad (LIRR) is an easy way to get to/from JFK, so around Penn Station or Grand Central are both good.

Get an early flight and you will be able to fit in something on your first evening, maybe up one of the tall buildings to see the city spread out below.
Although the redeye is horrible it gets you half a day extra in the city.

Plan your sightseeing around a neighbourhood each day so you don’t waste time trailing up/down/across town. Actually up/down is easy by subway, crosstown is mostly easier to walk.