Better to stay in the heart of NY city or travel in???

2 females in their 20%26#39;s looking to stay in NY early September. Is it better to pay a higher price to stay in the city closer to things or better to stay in NJ or Long Island pay a cheaper price and travel in to the city. First timers to NY and we are on a budget. The cheaper hotels in the city look a little scary, Please help

Cheers :)

Better to stay in the heart of NY city or travel in???

I think you know the answer. It%26#39;s certainly better to stay in Manhattan (doesn%26#39;t have to be ';the center'; but on the island of). The dates of your trip, length of stay and your budget will determine whether you can find something. There are some less expensive places in Manhattan that, while not luxurious, are not scary.

What%26#39;s your budget and how long are you staying?

Better to stay in the heart of NY city or travel in???

We will be staying for approx 5 nights from 31 August. We really don%26#39;t want to spend more than $160 US a night. We just want a cheap safe clean place to stay with a bed and own bathroom

You%26#39;ve picked unfortunate dates imo. All the sales on travelzoo.com end on Sept. 1 and early Sept is not a time I%26#39;d expect to see more sales. You%26#39;re also not staying over a Sat. night. If you haven%26#39;t already bought airfare and can be flexible, I%26#39;d book a week before. If these dates and that budget are engraved in stone, you have a problem. US websites won%26#39;t include tax on hotel prices which is about 15% so your $160 becomes $136/night. That%26#39;s even a stretch for outside Manhattan in a decent place, so I now understand why you think these places look scary.

You could find a decent place in Manhattan with shared bathroom. The Larchmont hotel is quite acceptable and should fit your budget if it%26#39;s available. As it%26#39;s near NYU and early Sept. is the start of the school year, it may already be booked.

The nicest hotels for that price would probably be in the Secaucus/East Rutherford/Meadowlands area of New Jersey where you%26#39;d need to take a bus into Manhattan. This is doable but will make for tiring days where you won%26#39;t be able to change clothes for the evening or drop of shopping or rest etc. unless you make 2 roundtrips/day.

You might be able to win a room in one of the nicer Jersey City hotels near the PATH train (like a subway) by bidding on Priceline, but no guarantee. Priceline could actually yield a decent room in Manhattan too, but in the meantime, you really need to book something cancelable in case that doesn%26#39;t work out.

try the pod hotel, it comes highly recommended and is inexpensive depending on your budget of course

The only room at the Pod that would come close to this budget (and would still be over with tax) on those dates is a SINGLE with shared bathroom.

Thanks for your help!!! We might have to get something with a shared bathroom as we can%26#39;t change our dates. Or hope that we can get something through last minute.

Hi tarzz, you might try St Marks Hotel in the East Village USD160, taxes included. I%26#39;ve had it on my shortlist for a while.

http://www.stmarkshotel.net/1671525.html

Just read reviews here before you book anything. If you don%26#39;t know about bidding on Priceline, you should go to betterbidding.com and read about it. I would not book anything you have to prepay that%26#39;s non cancelable unless it%26#39;s the greatest deal on earth. You could get lucky on Priceline very close to your trip. As long as you have something booked in case, you%26#39;re fine.

You might also consider contacting Leo House, a place run by the church. Do a text search for phone and fax. They don%26#39;t have a website.

Try Hotel 31 and the Herald square hotel, gets good reviews on TA.

160/night with taxes in NYC over Labor Day is really unrealistic. Don%26#39;t go to Jersey, go to Brooklyn or Queens. Also, realize that if you stay in the outter boroughs you will take cabs back late at night a couple of times and if you stay in Manhattan it will be cheaper so you may want to up your budget to 200.