Hotel? Apartment? Manhattan? New Jersey? Brooklyn? Test AirBnB for the first time? Several things to consider when choosing accomodation in New York. We chose this:
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Hotel accomodation in New York is expensive, especially for the hotels located at Manhattan. We got an offer for a hotel with swimming pool for about $130 per night, in comparison with other hotels between $200 and $300 per night. For a long time we considered spending up to $300 a night.
Our concept was to spend as little money as possible on flight tickets and accomodation, so the plans was changed a lot of times. The first part of this series was about how to dind the cheap flight tickets.
Planning the accomodation for this trip took some time, and the prices increased too much. After several hotel bookings, we finally chose an AirBnb-leilighet on the New Jersey side of Hudson River. Travelling with kids, aged five and eight, we wanted a swimming pool, more quiet surroundings and a room/apartment not giving us the feeling of claustrophobia in the afternoons and evenings. With the expensive double rooms on Manhattan in mind, we chose living just outside the city.
Living outside Manhattan had some pros, but definetly some cons as well.
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Hotel?
Our first choice was Royalton Park Avenue (Booking.com), a nice hotel at Park Avenue with a "roof top" swimming pool. We booked a big double room with two double beds. We canceled this booking because of the price. Over $300 per night was not included in our budget.
We also considered The Marmara Manhattan (Booking.com) on Upper East Side. A week would cost about $1500 for a 60 square meter suite, but this hotel has no swimming pool. We also waited a bit too long, and the offer was over before we got the chance to book.
The last hotel we considered, and also booked, was Best Western Bowery Hanbee Hotel in Chinatown. The price was just below $200 per night, with a junior suite and a living room. Some guest complained about noise from the streets in the reviews, which led to a cancelled booking for us. Another hotel we got recommended was Hilton Garden Inn Tribeca (Booking.com), a really nice hotel for families.
Room vs apartment
So what do you do? We had never tried Airbnb before and thought it was a bit scary. We weren’t experienced in finding accommodations in New York either. Most importantly: We knew that New York had imposed restrictions on how one can rent out their home via Airbnb. Among other things, the host themselves must live in the unit. Several acquaintances had their bookings cancelled at short notice before departure and had to pay a lot for hotel rooms instead. Therefore, we looked at New Jersey, both on hotels.com and on Airbnb. One apartment complex stood out, and actually appeared on both sites: Monaco Apartments, Jersey City. Through hotels.com, the available apartments there received quite poor reviews, due to “no reception” and worn-out apartments. On Airbnb, this apartment stood out, both in affordable price, appearance, and location. We went for it and do not regret it! (See photo gallery below)
Our thought was that the kids would be tired in the afternoon and evening, and it was nice to retreat to a quieter area. We had no plans to eat at fancy restaurants in Manhattan, and could just as well eat at one of the many restaurants in the neighborhood. We got a pool, gym, billiard room, playroom, and cinema room included. The price was around 2000 Norwegian kroner per night. After hectic days in the city, it was both spacious and nice to come here to relax. It was a five-minute walk to the nearest train and about ten minutes to the nearest boat terminal. Quite central in other words.
At the same time, we must admit that not everything was bliss with transportation, as some days it took a very long time from the apartment until we arrived where we wanted to go. Especially on weekends, it took a long time to get to the area around Central Park, often about one hour each way. The train is not free either, and you need a new ticket in Manhattan. Living within New York is far cheaper for transportation.
New York hotel reccomodations: (sponsored links from Booking.com)
Accomodation on Manhattan, not to expensive and with room for a family of four:
Hilton Garden Inn New York / West 35th St
Cambria Hotel New York - Chelsea
Hampton Inn Manhattan / Times Square
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