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Recommend me a cheap NY hotel

Swiss Apple

Swiss Apple

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 25, 2009
74
0
Switzerland
Hey all,
I am visitng the Big :apple: on the 8 - 11th October (stop-over en route to a meeting in California). Having checked out the prices of hotels in Manhattan, I'm reconsidering whether I can actually afford it (buying a house this year so money is tight :().

I've used most of the checking sites, and there doesn't seem to be anything decent available for less than $150 a night. Not to sound snobbish, but I don't want to stay in a hostel or share a bathroom. Are there any hidden jems around Manhattan, and if not should should I throw the net a little further and consider Queens, Brooklyn, Long Island etc..
Cheers
 
r.j.s said:
Have you tried sites like priceline or hotwire?
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Priceline yes, hotwire not yet. The regular prices on Priceline are nothing special, and the propose your best price leaves me feeling a little uneasy since you have to accept whatever they find you :eek:

If I can get three nights for less than 250-300 large, I'll be a happy swissie camper :D
 
The only problem I have with those types of sites is that they will not tell you what hotel it is until after you pay. I'm too picky for that.
 
Motel 6, they'll leave the light on ... just not a black light because that will show how dirty their rooms are. :eek:
 
My one and only time in New York, we stayed in the Gershwin Hotel. Rates start at $45 per night, but that's a bunk bed in a shared room. Private rooms are from $109.

Edit: Should have added - it's a nice place. Pretty basic, but the location is fantastic (27th Street between 5th and 6th Avenue). Tripadvisor had a few bad reviews for cleanliness, but I found it to be spotless.
 
Swiss Apple said:
Priceline yes, hotwire not yet. The regular prices on Priceline are nothing special, and the propose your best price leaves me feeling a little uneasy since you have to accept whatever they find you :eek:

If I can get three nights for less than 250-300 large, I'll be a happy swissie camper :D
Click to expand...

I think you're dreaming if you think you can get 3 nights in a decent nyc hotel for under $100 a night, especially when you also have to add hotel taxes which are around 15%.
 
Swiss Apple said:
Priceline yes, hotwire not yet. The regular prices on Priceline are nothing special, and the propose your best price leaves me feeling a little uneasy since you have to accept whatever they find you :eek:

If I can get three nights for less than 250-300 large, I'll be a happy swissie camper :D
Click to expand...

I do IT for several resorts and hotels. Speaking for myself, I will never use and of the extranet providers (Hotwire, Priceline, Capt. Kirk, the Roaming Gnome, etc). Far too many times I have seen what guests pay, and what they could have booked by calling the property directly. Every time, you can get a better deal by calling direct. Especially these days.

And once you book with an extranet, you are committed. When you get to the hotel and realize you could have saved 25% or more, there is no cancellation (it is extremely difficult, and takes far too much time while standing at the front desk).
 
Ten years or so ago I was working in the Financial District and saved my company some money by staying at the Quality Inn next to the tolls entering the Holland Tunnel on the New Jersey side, near the Pavonia PATH subway station and the Newport Center Mall... I don't recommend reliving my experience. Especially when I found out another one of the consultants from my office was staying at the Millennium!
 
When I used to live in NY, I used to recommend my visiting friends the Belvedere Hotel.

Nothing too fancy but it is in a great location, central and affordable. I will say to stay away from the Ameritania as I had family stay there and they said the rooms were like a box and had the charm of one also.
 
gilkisson said:
I do IT for several resorts and hotels. Speaking for myself, I will never use and of the extranet providers (Hotwire, Priceline, Capt. Kirk, the Roaming Gnome, etc). Far too many times I have seen what guests pay, and what they could have booked by calling the property directly. Every time, you can get a better deal by calling direct. Especially these days.

And once you book with an extranet, you are committed. When you get to the hotel and realize you could have saved 25% or more, there is no cancellation (it is extremely difficult, and takes far too much time while standing at the front desk).
Click to expand...
Exactly right. I use the internet sites to find out what is available and then call the hotel directly (or go to their website). Hotels usually don't change a cancellation fee, and usually allow cancellations up until the afternoon of the first day, while Expedia and the others charge a cancellation fee and usually require cancellation 2 days in advance.

I have never been to NYC but intend to go sometime. It always amazes me though that when the internet sited advertise low hotel rates Austin (where I live) has the highest rates listed; I would expect NYC, but apparently not.
 
Thanks for all the replies guys, how about some of the other areas e.g. Queens, Brooklyn and Long Island? There are nice looking 3-4 star hotels for less than a 100 bucks in those areas.

I will also try ringing up a few places, and asking for reservations (seems very low tech though :))
 
Well I called up several hotels directly to see if I could do better than the online sites and the overwhelming response has been "No". In many cases they were just reading off standard rack rates which were far higher (in one case double that of Expedia).

So I've decided to avoid NYC completely and stay arcross the water in Long Island. The only question I have is whether I will have a problem with cabs getting me to the hotel at night, can they refuse to leave the City??
 
Swiss Apple said:
Well I called up several hotels directly to see if I could do better than the online sites and the overwhelming response has been "No". In many cases they were just reading off standard rack rates which were far higher (in one case double that of Expedia).

So I've decided to avoid NYC completely and stay arcross the water in Long Island. The only question I have is whether I will have a problem with cabs getting me to the hotel at night, can they refuse to leave the City??
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Cabs cannot refuse any fare if it's withing the bounds of the city limits. You said you chose Long Island… that would mean you need to be in either Queens or Brooklyn (Queens County and Kings County, respectively). If you choose hotel in Nassau or Suffolk county, the cabs can refuse.

BTW public transportation in NYC runs 24/7, so in most times you can use that if you want.
 
What hotels did you see in Queens?

I stayed at the Clarion, basically a block away from the Jamaica/Van Wyck Subway station. Taking the subway from there was a bit long, so I'd recommend taking it to Sutphin and then using the LIRR straight to Penn Station, which took 20 minutes or so.

It only cost me about £36 per night when I stayed there, so for the price alone, I'd recommend it.

I never took a cab out there, the public transportation is awesome there.
 
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