Christmas visit with family....advice needed!!

[Emmetb]

Hi there

We are a family of five ,two adults and three kids... 17 to 12 .
Arriving for a holiday to new York from the 26th of December for five nights through to the 31st.


Gone googly eyed from flipping through site after site of new york hotels showing asronomical prices as we need three rooms.

We would like to stay in a nice safe location in manhattan .Hotel would be preferable but would consider short term good apartments.

Anyone any ideas on possibly good deals to be had on two bed suites in good hotels if one knew where to look .

Many many thanks in advance for any help that might flow.....

Let the karma work!

Regards to all

Emmet

[BrooklynRider]

There are hotels that seem to be coming up as cheaper for that period. Just as an FYI, some are presently undergoing renovation or have plans for renovation. The construction and/or condition of the rooms might be responsible for the lower prices. :(

Milford Plaza
Radisson Lexington
Hotel Pennsylvania

They are all in pretty good locations from a tourist point of view and you'll likely get a lower rate. I think you'll get a better deal renting a two bedroom or three bedroom apartment. In a two bedroom, you can always put someone out on the living room sofa.:)

Check this site out as an example:

www.hotel-alternatives.com (http://www.hotel-alternatives.com)

[Gunslinger]

Have done this several times when visiting NYC

Just google vacation rentals and you'll come up with lots of hits.

Only downside I've discovered is you usually need to leave a sizeable desposit - no problem, just a pain to get out (especially when you're from the UK and dollars isn't your usual currency)

One suggestion I'd make is the Murray Hill East Suites. It's a kind of apartment hotel type thing - not massively luxurious but clean, safe and in a nice area + only 2 blocks from Grand Central. Could be a nice compromise between traditional "hotel" and an apartment
Stayed there in Sept and was excellent. 1 bedroom suite with 2xdouble beds and a double pull-out in living room - kitchen and a dining area.

[MidtownGuy]

Friends have been happy with this route. However, go through a reputable intermediary because I saw a newscast that showed how unsuspecting tourists were showing up at apartments they had already paid for only to find surprised residents who never listed their apartment.

[Gunslinger]

Friends have been happy with this route. However, go through a reputable intermediary because I saw a newscast that showed how unsuspecting tourists were showing up at apartments they had already paid for only to find surprised residents who never listed their apartment.

Too true

Somewhere like Murray Hill Suites certainly takes this risk out of the equation

[Schadenfrau]

Beyond tourists being duped by scammers, renting a "vacation" apartment in the city is just a terrible idea. I'm honestly surprised anyone here would suggest it.

The vast majority of advertised vacation apartments are illegal hotels, something community and tenant activist groups have been fighting for a long time, but especially as of late. These apartments are mostly units designated as rent controlled or stabilized in residential buildings, and shady landlords illegally "rent" them to tourists to put more money in their own pockets as they chase out the long-time tenants.

Totally unacceptable all the way around, and a pox upon anyone who knowingly participates in the scheme to chase out actual New Yorkers in favor of tourists:

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/31/court-blocks-3-illegal-upper-west-side-hotels/

[Schadenfrau]

Also, Murray Hill East Suites is an actual hotel, not a residential building. No one's being harmed by a stay there, but the same can't be said for the places listed on the hotel alternatives site.

I apologize if I sound overly adamant about this, but New York City has already lost enough of its local character to the trappings of a tourist-friendly playground. It doesn't need to lose any more.

And I close with a recent NY Times quote from Tom Wolfe on the 20th anniversary of the publication of The Bonfire of the Vanities:

"One day this is just going to be a Disneyland. This’ll just be a place where people come for entertainment, that’ll be it. There’ll be no industry other than the entertainment of just being here. ..."

[ablarc]

Turisto, go home?

[Schadenfrau]

No, turisto shell out for a damn hotel.