Hotels in NY during fashion week?

[Girl505]

I’m planning to be in NY on September 13th for a one night stay through the 14th. I’m looking for a good hotel in the heart of downtown that’s easy to get to and from places. I have heard hotel prices during this time are ridiculously high. Does anyone have any ideas on where I could book and get a good rate?

 

[Arcadian]

Maybe look at Hotels.com?

 

[MollyMalone]

Hi again Manhattan is different from most cities; here, "downtown" generally refers to the Financial District (Wall Street) & Tribeca areas and is a somewhat "sleepier" part of Manhattan. So I think what you're hoping for is Midtown because that's where the Diamond District is & the Queens-Midtown Tunnel is a good egress for getting out to Long Island and GOG. Although you'd want to pay less, what would be the most you're willing to pay for the night (keeping in mind that sales & hotel taxes add not quite 15% to a room's base rate)? Also, no Manhattan hotel offers free parking; finding-booking a parking garage spot on your own will be cheaper than hotel valet parking.

 

[Girl505]

Hi again Manhattan is different from most cities; here, "downtown" generally refers to the Financial District (Wall Street) & Tribeca areas and is a somewhat "sleepier" part of Manhattan. So I think what you're hoping for is Midtown because that's where the Diamond District is & the Queens-Midtown Tunnel is a good egress for getting out to Long Island and GOG. Although you'd want to pay less, what would be the most you're willing to pay for the night (keeping in mind that sales & hotel taxes add not quite 15% to a room's base rate)? Also, no Manhattan hotel offers free parking; finding-booking a parking garage spot on your own will be cheaper than hotel valet parking.

We won’t have a car. We would likely use Uber and Lyft. And yes, midtown is where I’d want to be. I think max would be around $300 for the night, although I’d like it to be less than this. I say $300 knowing it is fashion week.

 

[MollyMalone]

Thanks for the clarification -- I'll take a look for you shortly!

 

[Austina]

We just stayed at the Hyatt Centric, found it very good and lots of places within walking distance.

 

[MollyMalone]

I know this pushes your wallet & I don't know if you're comfortable with making a pre-paid, nonrefundable reservations, but you could get a king-bedded room at the Cambria Hotel, 30 W. 46th Street for $295 before taxes or $275 before taxes if you're a member of the Choice hotels' Privileges rewards program (or you could join right now):
https://www.cambriatimessquare.com/en-us
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_R...York_Times_Square-New_York_City_New_York.html

This is definitely the nicest hotel -- that's available for under $300 -- in all of Manhattan for that night & it's super convenient to your Diamond District destinations. An easy hop to Penn Station if the prices to Uber or Lyft out to/back from Long Island prove prohibitive.

Next best choice imo, and less expensive : the Ameritania at 230 W. 54th Street. So not as close to the Diamond District, but within easy proximity of, e.g., Central Park.
https://ameritanianyc.com/
This time, the hotel's own website doesn't have the same or cheaper rates. Use the link to either Booking.com or Hotels.com on this TripAdvisor page to make a pre-paid nonrefundable reservation for a Standard queen-bedded room for $239 or a Superior king-bedded room for $245 (both prices before taxes).
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_R...-Ameritania_Hotel-New_York_City_New_York.html

If you're willing to "roll the dice" and make a "blind" (and nonrefundable) reservation through Priceline or Hotwire, I'll look tonight to see what's available & give you my educated guesses as to which hotel(s) you'd end up with.

P.S. Just saw Austina's suggestion of the Hyatt Centric; alas, $461 for a nonrefundable reservation is the least expensive rate for your night.

 

[whitewave]

Did you try Hilton midtown?

 

[MollyMalone]

Did you try Hilton midtown?

I tried more than one approach on Girl505's behalf. (For a number of years, I was one of the "hotel expert" contributors on TripAdvisor's NYC and Washington DC forums & I still pop into Manhattan hotels throughout the year to scope them out for out-of-town friends and family, so sussing out NYC hotel rates is something I'm familiar with ) The cheapest price for the Hilton Midtown is a base rate of $485 ($460 + $25 mandatory "resort"/hotel fee), if you're a Hilton Honors member, on the night she needs -- and that's for a room with 2 double beds.

It's possible that some hotels' rates will drop in the next several weeks, but it would be unusual for rooms priced at $450+ to drop by more than a third.

 

[Girl505]

Thank you for all of your suggestions! I will take a look tonight to see which of these might be best for us. It is great to have the input of others since I am not as familiar with NY and wouldn’t know of centrally located areas to stay.

 

[whitewave]

I tried more than one approach on Girl505's behalf. (For a number of years, I was one of the "hotel expert" contributors on TripAdvisor's NYC and Washington DC forums & I still pop into Manhattan hotels throughout the year to scope them out for out-of-town friends and family, so sussing out NYC hotel rates is something I'm familiar with ) The cheapest price for the Hilton Midtown is a base rate of $485 ($460 + $25 mandatory "resort"/hotel fee), if you're a Hilton Honors member, on the night she needs -- and that's for a room with 2 double beds.

It's possible that some hotels' rates will drop in the next several weeks, but it would be unusual for rooms priced at $450+ to drop by more than a third.

Wow!!!

 

[Austina]

We also stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn - which I do not recommend!

Oh phooey, I didn’t realise the Hyatt would be so expensive

 

[MollyMalone]

Wow!!!

Things are nutso! E.g., a single bunk bed at the Harlem YWCA is $119 prepaid for that night, $140 for a cancelable reservation; the dinkiest room for 2 people at the Pod39 is $289 -- for a 120 sq. ft. room (IIRC that square footage includes the bathroom) with a double/full bed.

 

[whitewave]

Things are nutso! E.g., a single bunk bed at the Harlem YWCA is $119 prepaid for that night, $140 for a cancelable reservation; the dinkiest room for 2 people at the Pod39 is $289 -- for a 120 sq. ft. room (IIRC that square footage includes the bathroom) with a double/full bed.

Crazy

 

[MollyMalone]

Here's a personalized GoogleMap I made, so you could have a better idea of what's where:
https://goo.gl/maps/96zmTyE7gg22

You'll see that I added the Hampton Inn Grand Central. Although it's a "cookie cutter" hotel that could be anywhere, it's reliable & I thought you might appreciate having at least 3 suggestions. The base rate for a prepaid, nonrefundable reservation at that Hampton Inn will be $269 through the hotel's own website (no one else is showing it cheaper); just click on the More Prices to see that lowest rate scroll into view.
https://hamptoninn3.hilton.com/en/h...nn-manhattan-grand-central-NYCUNHX/index.html
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_R...tan_Grand_Central-New_York_City_New_York.html​

The open circle showing up underneath the DBL circle (practically next door to IDJ) is the location of the Cambria Hotel; I have no idea why Google declined to indicate that.