I know we talked about this in another thread not too long ago, but hewing to the rule about not bouncing such a thread (and also, because I can’t find it), I’m opening this thread to ask another question on the subject.
Does anyone know a decent downtown hotel? I had my eyes on the Washington Square Hotel located at, predictably, Washington Square, but since then I’ve read some bad reviews of it. The reviews cited cockroaches in the room and half-eaten food products under the bed. This is not appealing. Am I being a wuss? Are insect fellow residents and half-eaten muffins given out free part and parcel of a three-star hotel experience in the Big Apple?
As for why I want to be downtown, well, it seems to me that’s where the history is. It seems that the Village or TriBeCa would provide more interesting places to walk around; and there are some specific things I want to see in that area. Not that I’d mind staying in midtown either. There seem to be quite a few more options up there.
Oh, we’re not going until next May, but we expect to book and pay for the trip in February; so this is all just by way of preliminary research. As to how much I’m willing to spend, that’s hard to say because we’ll probably purchase through one of the online agents. We’re looking at flight/hotel packages that run about 2K for two people; since the airfare part seems to be about $500, I guess that means roughly $1500 to $1600 for a six-night stay, based on package discounts. So this means about a three star hotel stay at $266/night. Obviously, as tourists, we’re not going to be spending a whole lot of time in the hotel, so considerations like room size are inconsequential, though we’d like there to be a restaurant on site or at least next door, and freedom from vermin would be nice. We’re willing to spend more than 2K for the trip, too, but I just need to get a better overall picture of what’s available.
Thanks, mack. The first two look like pretty good options. They probably do come up in the Orbitz searches, but they tend to list so many hotels it’s a lot easier to have some specific names to look for.
As for the third, I actually wouldn’t necessarily mind it being across from the WTC site; and it’d be fun to see the area where my ancestors lived before 1700. But, I’ve noticed in other cities that financial districts tend to really shut down after working hours.
But maybe that doesn’t apply to New York. You can probably tell I’ve never been there.
Well, the packages will limit you to what hotels they offer.
I strongly advise against purchasing online, unless you can get an iron-clad guarantee that if plans change you will get a refund.
If you want a “package” just shop around for an interesting hotel, and buy your airfare from a discount travel agancy. Buy your tour from the Greyline kiosks throughout the city.
I reccomend a nice, cheap hotel like President Hotel , it’s in Times Square which is fun and central.
I’ve stayed at both and I can vouch for the quality. They are not 4 star, the rooms are small. But they are cheap (by NYC standards) and a quick cab/subway ride from most attractions.
I am not familiar with the village hotels. But if roaches bother you, I’d plan on spending around $300/night.
As a sidenote (hijack) that doesn’t deserve its own thread, did anyone catch last week’s New 20-story Sheradon SoHo story with one NIMBY’er asking, ‘What’s next, a Motel 6?’ and ‘It shouldn’t be too much longer until SoHo gets a mall’
My email’s down, but I’ll send you something later this week. The great thing about Manhattan is that you can stay anywhere on the island, or even in parts of Queens and Brooklyn, and be wherever you want to go in half an hour, so you don’t really need to stay in Tribeca to see Tribeca.
No, having a guided tour isn’t that important to me; we have some specific things we want to do and see, and prefer to let the rest happen by chance. By “package” I merely meant buying the hotel and flight together because I assumed that would be the best deal.
I checked out that second link and it looked pretty good indeed, even though it’s not downtown. It does seem to be the case that you can do better by buying from the hotel directly.
I’ve been happy with the Herald Square hotel. Kind of around the corner from the Empire State building.
The rooms are NOT posh. In fact it’s kind of like roomng in a bunker – you feel like you’re in a wall safe. But it’s right downtown, I found it very reasonably in May, more expensive in June. It was clean and felt very, very safe (maybe it was the whole “I’m sleeping in a bank vault!” feel). I also found it quiet. Some of the rooms have no worthwhile view (it used to ba an office building).
They have an intenet terminal in a space just off the lobby, so you won’t have to miss the Dope.
It depends on what you need in a hotel. If for you the quality of your hotel room is part of your “experience” when you travel, then you may feel too much that this space is like a bunker. If you just want a clean safe place to use as a home base, it’s decent. They have some itty bitty rooms too if you’re travelling alone and just need a place to crash.
Oh, and each room has it’s own solid, little safe. You set the combination yourself. Handy against theft (have friends who lost stuff to hotel staff in the past.)
You didn’t mention budget, so I’ll recommend a couple mid-priced ones: Roosevelt Hotel - Not downtown. Madison & 45th, right near Grand Central. Very classy, newly renovated (+/- 3 years ago) and competitively priced
The Maritime - Chelsea. Stayed there last summer w/friend from LA. It was recently converted into a Hotel (even though it looks like a saltine cracker),
Midrange is good. Ideally, it’d be good enough to have a decent restaurant onsite, or at least adjacent to it, and room service in case we should want that. Of all the links I’ve seen here, the Grammercy Park seems to be the best one; they’ve got some really good rates if you book with them directly.
Better counsels may prevail between now and the time of our trip, but the rate here was just too good to pass up. It’s less than $200 per night; can’t beat it.
