NY Times post article "7 Manhattan Hotel Rooms for $150, More or Less" (By SETH KUGEL)
Can you get a decent hotel room in Manhattan for under $150 a night?
In most cities, a visitor would have plenty of options. Just pop onto booking.com or hotels.com, and look toward the low end of the results.
Do that same search for New York, and you will find $129-a-night chain hotels near Kennedy and La Guardia airports in Queens and budget motels across the Hudson in New Jersey. In Manhattan, though, such offerings rarely appear. But a precious few do exist, even if they do not surface on all search engines.
I spent seven September nights sleeping my way around Manhattan (hmm, not sure that came out right), and can report that some of these low-cost places are actually clean, decent and occasionally delightful. I did, however, have to make some sacrifices, sometimes by tolerating what the hospitality industry refers to as “European-style” accommodations. That means I had to share a bathroom.
Of the seven places I tried, two were relatively hotel-like; three were inn-like bed-and-breakfasts, or bed-and-coffees; and one was a solo guest room at the good old Y.M.C.A. For the seventh night, I booked a hotel by bidding on Priceline. All cost me under $150, except in one case where taxes pushed the price to $157.
Here is how I rank them, putting the first six in order of preference, and No. 7, the Priceline booking, in a category by itself. All prices include taxes and fees (often not mentioned on Web sites but disclosed at checkout) and are standard rates for the cheapest rooms in the establishments.
1. EAST VILLAGE BED & COFFEE, 110 Avenue C; bedandcoffee.com. Single rooms, from $120; double rooms, from $145. I paid $120.
2. CHELSEA LODGE, 318 West 20th Street; chelsealodge.com. Single rooms, from $157; double rooms, from $169. I paid $157.
3. LARCHMONT HOTEL, 27 West 11th Street; larchmonthotel.com. Single rooms, from $107; doubles, from $140. I paid $129.
4. HARLEM BED & BREAKFAST, 54 West 120th Street;harlembedandbreakfast.com. Single rooms, from $101; double rooms, from $141 if you book from third-party sites like BedandBreakfast.com to avoid a booking fee on Harlem Bed’s Web site. I paid $124.
5. PARK SAVOY HOTEL, 158 West 58th Street; parksavoyhotel.com. Single and double rooms, from $130. I paid $130.
6. WEST SIDE Y.M.C.A., 5 West 63rd Street; ymcanyc.org. Single rooms, from $102; double rooms, from $109. I paid $115.
NO. 7 PRICELINE. Not No. 7 as in last, but No. 7 as in too variable to compare directly to the places already mentioned. Besides Nos. 1 through 6, there are other options for getting lodging for under $150 in Manhattan, including finding hostels and occasional bargain apartment rentals on Airbnb.com.
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