I love New York!

I have been 12 times there and I never get tired of going there. If you don't have the luck of having friends or family live there, that means you have to book a hotel room. Hotel rooms are often the more expensive element in your budget and in a city like NY, you love having spare money to go shopping.

1)Where to stay in New York?

If you have kids, you can stay in Times square because there are lots of things to do around there with kids. However, if you are a couple or a solo traveler it can be an area to avoid. It is very touristy and you don't have the best restaurants in that area. If you go to the theater often, you can stay everywhere else (except Soho and financial district) because you can walk back to your hotel afterward..weather permitting of course. The distances are not that great in NY. You can walk almost everywhere.

If you go back often, it is fun to change areas. I tried the financial district (Millenium Hilton) this year and found the view (33rd floor) to be really nice. I have stayed often in the Murray Hill area and this one is nice because it is less touristy, that means less noisy.

Since you can walk almost anywhere, you should book your hotel room according to the bargains you are getting. If you save over 100$ per room/per day that means you can splurge on a cab.

2)How to save money on hotel rooms?

The best website is travelzoo.com. You book directly through the hotel and get big specials from them. You always have specials for under 200$. Some people find that really expensive but NY is really expensive. If you go on the hotel websites, even the 2 and 3 star hotels charge as much as 250/300$ in the peak times of the year.

If you are patient, you try your luck at Priceline. You can't be more than 2 in a room to go with Priceline. You get hotel rooms for over half the price.

Call the hotels who are not part of a chain directly and talk with someone. If they have rooms left, you have a chance that they will give you a discount if you stay for many nights.

You have to spend time on the Internet and see if a hotel is more frequented on the weekends or weekdays. Hotel chains like Clarion and Comfort inns are more family oriented so they are more expensive on weekends and you get huge specials if you book at the beginning of the week. I once booked the Clarion for 80$ a night, breakfast included! You wait around 5 days before leaving for booking and you get discounts. You have the reverse thing where business hotels have discounts on weekends because they cater to business people who are only there during the weekdays. You can stay in 4 star hotels for much less on weekends, Thursdays to Mondays.

Go to NY...it is one of the best cities in the world:)

Learn more about this author, Cristy Hebert.
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