Hotel Recommendations - NYC

[derek murray]

My wife, two boys (12 & 16) and I are planning a trip to NYC for late August. This will be our first time in New York and was hoping for a few first-hand hotel recommendations. We would like a place in Manhattan and to be reasonably close to the touristy stuff. I've spent hours researching on tripadvisor.com which has left my head is spinning.

[Paul_Heery]

Take a look at ClubQuarters | A Compelling Hotel Concept. The rooms are not large, but they are clean and everything in the rooms is well maintained. They have three hotels in midtown that are convenient to the "touristy"things.

I stay at the Grand Central location on 45th St. about 6 nights every month for business. They are always consistent & relatively inexpensive.

[JJ 911SC]

Originally Posted by derek murray

... I've spent hours researching on tripadvisor.com which has left my head is spinning.

At a $1.28 exchange rate on top of hight rate to start with, it will leave you with an huge headache

[scott540]

Stayed at Hilton midtown couple times with wife and kids. Close to times square, central park, Rockefeller Center and the subway. Great halal food cart across the street at night

[SIR70T]

Beacon on 73rd / Broadway - awesome , reasonable and one stop from Time Sq

[wdfifteen]

When I'm in NYC for business I stay at the Hyatt just south of Central Park. It's WAY spendy ($500+/night). I stayed at the Holiday Inn West Side in Hell's Kitchen last January and it was a decent place not far from Times Square and subway lines, and a couple of blocks from the air museum. About $200/night. We walked almost everywhere we wanted to go.

[Brian 162]

I'm going August the 24th for the week.
We're staying at the Holiday Inn in Chelsea 125 West 25th St. at 6th Ave.
It cost me $1500 CDN. for 5 nights taxes in.
We stayed there last year. It was clean the staff were very helpful.
It's roughly a 15 minute walk to Times Square.
We took the subway to Coney Island (train station was 5-10 minute walk from hotel).
The room was small, king bed took up most of the room.
The exchange hurt, I spent $850 for 4 nights last year.

[rattlsnak]

Best kept secret: Stay in Harmon Meadows, Secaucus, NJ. It is WAY cheaper.. @$ 120 ish a night for Holiday inn or Hyatt Place and is on the bus line to Port Authority. (there is also an Embassy Suites and a Marriott there too and Movie theaters and several great restaurants all within the complex.) From the time you walk outside of the hotel until the time you arrive at the Port Authority is usually less than 12 minutes. And from there you connect on the subway to go anywhere or walk 4 blocks to Times Square.

Harmon Meadow, Secaucus, NJ

[JJ 911SC]

Or Hilton Newark Penn Station, 3 miles from Newark Liberty International Airport, 1000 feet from train station (~20 minutes to Manhattan).

https://www.hotelplanner.com/Hotels/1046-NEAR-Path-Train#dir-bar

[LEAKYSEALS951]

My wife and I stayed at the Affinia (dumont)hotel on 34th street in Murray Hill.
It was nice. Midtown- on the same street as the empire state building, as well as penn station, which is several blocks away-and is connected with all the commuter trains to the airports, amtrack, etc. and fairly convenient to a lot of subways(to get around manhattan once you are there). Basically that means you can get into town easy- and then get around easy- and then get out of town easy.

Wife favorite point: It is also on the same street as Macy's, which my wife loved because we went at christmas.

My favorite point: with a longer walk, I got to go to B&H photo- which if you like electronics/camera/video/telescopes/cool guy things. you should go.

We both liked being able to walk to empire state building after sunset to see the town at night.

With some long walks you could get to times square/ etc...we did.

Murray Hill is a relatively "quiet" neighborhood which was nice, because it wasn't touristy (I'm thinking of a Michael Scott scene from "the office" where he stands in front of a sbarro's and exclaimed how glad he was to get to the heart of manhattan food!), -however you mentioned you wanted touristy. The quietness of Murray Hill made me appreciate how touristy times square was.

For us, it was a good center point to get to central park, the museums, and down to lower manhattan on the subways.

"It was relatively cheap $$$ without being ghetto" my wife is telling me as we speak.

It let us get to wtc site, chinatown, union square..etc....

Don't get me wrong- there was a lot of walking- but I think that goes with the territory in manhattan, and 34th street put it in short cab ride distances to a lot of the places we went- I.e. lincoln center, etc. when your feet get tired.

I liked it.

[LEAKYSEALS951]

ahhhh... here we go!

[Otter74]

This may or may not be your kind of thing, but my favored place to stay used to be the Seafarers' International Union. This is not a hotel, really - it is much more basic. But if basic is good enough, it's a lot cheaper than a hotel. You can get rooms with 2 beds and a private bathroom that were something like 115/night the last time I was there. It is located on Union Square, a great location.

Nowadays I stay with my girlfriend's sister in Park Slope, so hotels are no longer on my radar.

New York is a wonderful city to visit!

[derek murray]

You guys rock... thanks so much

[BlueTone]

I live in NJ, far enough away that sometimes I just don't want the commute home. I can tell you places to not stay (I always stay in the Midtown area). Stay away from the Manhattan Hotel (way overpriced for what it is), Hudson (tiny rooms), and Hampton Times Square North. Places we like to stay include Hotel Elysee, Warrington, Park Plaza, and Tuscany (Murray Hill). I use Hotel Tonight app to find a place the day of, I usually get really great rates. It now allows you to book up to a week in advance, but the rates aren't necessarily as good as if you hit it day of.

[berettafan]

Belvedere on 48th.

Nice, clean and has some character (in a good way).

[onewhippedpuppy]

Earlier this year I stayed in the Double Tree right on Times Square, very nice place for about $320/night. My traveling partner stayed in the Marriott Marquis just across the street that was under $300/night and also nice. Definitely right in the middle of the Times Square experience.

[kanadary]

Was there two tgivings ago and last summer. Stayed at the marriott courtyard across from the public library on 5th and 41st. Easy walk to grand central and time square. Paid about 220 a night. Big enough room for 4. Wife and 2 kids 10 and 14. Clean

[911SauCy]

Stayed at the Yotel for a conference a couple years back and it was the most unique hotel experience I've had in NYC to date. Been to all the big names...meh.

Kids would likely think it's coool and its a couple blocks from Time Square.

Discover our Futuristic New York City Hotel - YOTEL

[imcarthur]

Originally Posted by 911SauCy

Stayed at the Yotel for a conference a couple years back and it was the most unique hotel experience I've had in NYC to date. Been to all the big names...meh.

Kids would likely think it's coool and its a couple blocks from Time Square.

Discover our Futuristic New York City Hotel - YOTEL

This has become my default business hotel in NYC since it is reasonably close to B&H (a big customer). I was there last week for 3 nights. Rooms are tiny with a motorized bed that retracts to give you some room. Almost zero privacy if you are not alone so I don't know if it is suitable for family use. The floor to ceiling window is great - as opposed to dingy holes like the New Yorker. I really like check-in/check-out via the machines in the lobby. Great restaurants within blocks. West Side Steakhouse, Capizzi etc.

Ian

[derek murray]

I just wanted to thank everyone for their recommendations.

We ended up staying at the Refinery Hotel (a re-purposed hat factory) in Mid Manhattan. The hotel and location was perfect. We'll definitely do this again... probably without the kids, though

Here's a picture from our hotel room