We'll Take Manhattan -- for Less Than $200 a Night

4 DOUBLETREE METROPOLITAN HOTEL NEW YORK

569 Lexington Ave. at East 51st Street

Price we found: $188 (SideStep)

Details: Walk off always-crowded Lexington and you'll be in an orange and gold lobby with electronic check-in kiosks just to your left (you can check in the old-fashioned way, too, but the oh-so-mod mood seems to be what this hotel's aiming for). You pass the futuristic Met Bar, where folks are already lined up with drinks in hand at 6 in the evening. You wind your way around to the back, passing wall-mounted TV screens, a souvenir shop and signs pointing to a hair salon. Then you're up in the elevator and out in the hallway, and until you get to the door, it's a totally different feel, more like being in a suburban hotel in the middle of nowhere than right in midtown. But then you're in the room -- one of 755 on 18 floors -- and suddenly it picks up the mood of the lobby again: It's a world where all chairs are ergonomic, the bath amenities are Neutrogena, the art is blue and abstract, the TVs large and flat-screened. Here the plump pillows say "Sweet dreams."

Info: 800-836-6471, http://www.metropolitanhotelnyc.com .

5 EASTGATE TOWER SUITE HOTEL

222 E. 39th St. between Second and Third avenues

Price we found: $199 (Quikbook)

Details: Housed in an impersonal high-rise in a residential midtown area by the East River, this 25-floor, 187-room hotel caters mostly to a business crowd. What it's lacking in character it more than makes up for with spacious studios, and suites and apartments perfect for families and groups. A two-bedroom suite, for example, comes with a full kitchen (there's a supermarket on Second Avenue at 40th Street, but also room service; you are on vacation, after all). It's an Affinia property, all of which are pet-friendly -- it'll even provide you with baggies for walking your dog, provide a list of dog walkers or take care of your best friend with the Happytails Travel Dog spa amenity (travel-sized pampering products, $15.50). Our favorite personal touch: the pillow menu, which offers buckwheat, hypoallergenic and "Swedish memory."

Info: 212-687-8000, http://www.affinia.com .