Sunday, May 7, 2006
Hotel prices are by their very nature mercurial -- and nowhere more so than Manhattan. In mid-March, we conducted an online search of three hotel booking sites (Expedia.com, Quikbook.com and Hotels.com) and SideStep.com (an aggregator site that looks for the best rates among a number of other sites), pricing double rooms for next weekend, May 12-14. Our budget: $200 or less per night, before taxes. We came up with 40-plus possibilities.
Our next step, and it was a daunting one: to separate the deals from the dross. After a flurry of overnight stays and property tours, we came up with 15 hotels we can wholeheartedly recommend. Since rates fluctuate depending on occupancy levels and season, we can't guarantee that rooms at these hotels will consistently be available for under $200 -- but by searching several months in advance, we know that they will generally cost less than comparable properties during the busier times of the year.
Here are our finds, in alphabetical order. Rates do not include taxes.
-- Anne McDonough
1 BEDFORD HOTEL
118 E. 40th St. between Park and Lexington avenues
Price we found: $190 (Quikbook)
Details: The 17-floor Bedford, two blocks from Grand Central Terminal, feels like a European hideaway, with a sunken lobby, small check-in area and a sitting room to the right as you enter. Some of the 136 rooms (which include studios and suites) are charmingly outmoded-- if only we could jettison those floral bedspreads and spice up the artwork! Most have a fridge, microwave and coffee maker, while the roomy suites have separate kitchenettes. We overheard one guest chatting with the familiarity of a regular, arranging for a return visit for himself and his extended family; it's that kind of homey place. On our way out we passed what seems like a memento of a bygone time: a directory of houses of worship and their services.
Info: 800-221-6881, http://www.bedfordhotel.com .
2 BEST WESTERN SEAPORT INN DOWNTOWN
33 Peck Slip at Front Street
Price we found: $195 (Quikbook)
Details: An unobtrusive Best Western shingle hanging above the doorway is the only indication that this 72-room, seven-floor property is part of a limited-service chain. The rooms are quite large, the atmosphere quiet and reserved; chocolate chip cookies and breakfast are complimentary. Paintings showing Old New York hang on textured wallpaper, and the lobby sports a decommissioned old-fashioned telephone switchboard. It's in South Street Seaport, a 12-square-block historic district in Lower Manhattan with shops, cobblestone streets and a TKTS ticket booth (just as at Times Square, you can purchase discount theater and performance tickets). Ship buffs should head to the South Street Seaport Museum (purportedly home to the nation's largest fleet of privately maintained historic vessels) and board the four-masted barque Peking or the Ambrose lightship. At night, the area is quiet (the desk can help with taxis; the closest subway is a good eight to 10-minute walk away), though there is a restaurant on the same block.
Info: 212-766-6600, http://www.seaportinn.com .
3 CROWNE PLAZA AT THE UNITED NATIONS
304 E. 42nd St. at Second Avenue
Price we found: $194 (SideStep)
Details: This 20-floor hotel offers beautiful white linens, tasteful window treatments (some framing sliver views of the East River, two blocks away), generous bathrooms, the occasional framed poster featuring cancan girls and a trouser press. The lobby is filled with folks in suits looking awfully intent (earpieces seem a popular accessory, perhaps security for those here on U.N. business), though we saw not one but two men with lip piercings and dreads check in, and two other travelers who made themselves quite at home in one of the lounges, with luggage but sans shoes. There are 300 rooms and suites, a bar, bistro and lounge on-site, and the fitness center has free weights, machines and saunas. Across the street is the peaceful indoor garden at the Ford Foundation; it's also near Tudor City, an exclusive, elevated residential enclave that boasts some marvelous architecture, a few small parks and a pleasant descent to the U.N. complex.
Info: 877-227-6963, http://www.unitednationsarea.crowneplaza.com .
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 .
6 GERSHWIN HOTEL
7 E. 27th St. between Madison and Fifth avenues
Price we found: From $172 (Expedia, Hotels.com) to $179 (Quikbook)
Details: The 13-floor Gershwin offers true New York personality: Its immediate neighbor is the Museum of Sex. Luminescent, 3-D sculptures hang like teardrops on the dark red exterior, silent films are shown on diamond-shaped screens in the lobby, and supposedly models on their way up use this midtown hotel as home base. It's easy to get lost in the labyrinthine, wood-floored hallways; luckily there are pop art and vintage music posters to entertain (and sometimes shock) you. The 140 rooms run from the Auberge (think bunk beds) to Le Standard (a double bed, bathroom, wireless access, sometimes a window seat and not much else) to suites, each with a fridge and a unique decor. The hotel has an artist-in-residence program, so you just may meet the Andy Warhol of 2025 while checking in.
Info: 212-545-8000, http://www.gershwinhotel.com .
7 HOLIDAY INN MANHATTAN DOWNTOWN SOHO
138 Lafayette St. at Howard Street
Price we found: $197 (SideStep)
Details: The 227-room Holiday Inn is a lesson in multiculturalism: The 14-floor property shares an address with a tiny Chinese tea shop (the hotel is on the corner of Lafayette, a few doors down from the tea store at No. 138); its Sanremo Ristorante whips up Italian specialties like pesce del giorno (that's fish of the day); and some guests were recently downing Coronas in the lobby lounge. The rooms, however, are undeniably New York -- visitors must walk shoulder-to-shoulder to pass between the beds and the TV console. But the cruise-cabin-size space is cozy, with satin-striped coverlets on the beds, black-and-white photographs on the walls and a bathroom sink large enough to fit two sets of hands. Irons and coffeemakers round out the amenities, and fridges can be rented for $10 a day. With so much temptation outside your door -- fresh mozzarella from Little Italy, steamed dumplings from Chinatown, mini meatloaves from SoHo -- you'll want to spring for the fridge to hold your global leftovers.
Info: 212-966-8898, http://www.hidowntown-nyc.com.
8 HOTEL NEWTON
2528 Broadway between 94th and 95th streets
Price we found: From $163 (SideStep) to $174 (Hotels.com, Expedia)
Details: A comfortable home base for those more interested in staying in the heart of a real neighborhood than being right next to tourist attractions, the nine-floor, 105-room Hotel Newton attracts Columbia University parents, visitors with family on the Upper West Side and lots of repeats. "That one? I know her kids, I've met her grandkids, they've done bat mitzvahs here," said the manager about a guest waiting in the lobby. There's nothing fancy going on -- the bedspreads and wall decorations have that generic floral motif so popular with hotels the world over -- but the staff is friendly, many of the rooms have microwaves and fridges, the bathrooms have recently been redone, and the 1, 2 and 3 subways, just a block away, can whisk you downtown in minutes.
Info: 800-643-5553, http://www.thehotelnewton.com .
9 HOTEL ROGER WILLIAMS
131 Madison Ave. at East 31st Street
Price we found: $199 (SideStep, Hotels.com, Expedia)
Details: Doormen in hip coats lead the way into an atrium-style lobby; from the minute you walk into this Murray Hill hotel, everything here feels fun and crisp and very boutique. The 192 rooms on 16 floors trade in bold colors, featuring white quilts with blocks of red, yellow and pink, and lamps atop tall blue geometric bases. The padded bench that doubles as a luggage rack might be apple red; the chairs might be orange or lime green. Flat-screen wall-mounted TV screens and wireless Internet will keep you connected. The amenities are playful, with jelly beans, Cheez-Its, gummy bears and pretzels rounding out the minibar, and thoughtful, too (a deck of cards and a full-size corkscrew are standard, and the in-house stationery is pretty enough to want to hold on to). No sad complimentary continental breakfast here: It'll cost you $12.95 per person, but fresh fruit, H&H bagels and croissants from Balthazar are among the staples served in the Breakfast Pantry overlooking the lobby. (You can work it all off at the on-site fitness center.)
Info: 888-448-7788, http://www.hotelrogerwilliams.com .
10 LA QUINTA MANHATTAN MIDTOWN
17 W. 32nd St. between Broadway and Fifth Avenue
Price we found: $190 (SideStep)
Details: The 182-room, 14-floor La Quinta is the most boutiquelike of the Apple Core Hotels, a group of five properties that took mixed-use buildings in midtown Manhattan and turned them into franchises of limited-service hotels. Start your stay at this Beaux-Arts building with complimentary breakfast and free Wi-Fi; end your evening with a trip to the glass-enclosed, greenhouse-like rooftop bar, where a look overhead is rewarded with a stunning view of the Empire State Building. The rooms are tasteful but rather snug, as is the fitness center; in terms of noise, you might want to try for a room that doesn't face 32nd Street. Just blocks from Penn Station, La Quinta is in the heart of Manhattan's busy Korean enclave.
Info: 800-551-2303, http://www.applecorehotels.com .
11 MILLENNIUM UN PLAZA HOTEL
One United Nations Plaza, 44th Street between First and Second avenues
Price we found: $199 (Quikbook, Hotels.com, Expedia)
Details: A room here practically comes with a guaranteed spotting of a foreign head of state. This upscale hotel, with its shiny black-and-white lobby decor and magnificent fresh floral displays, is within spitting distance of the United Nations. You're also in for amazing views, with 427 guest rooms between the 28th and 40th floors. Once you've seen your room's vantage point, slip into your swimsuit and head to the 27th floor, then walk down the vertigo-inducing, glass-walled hallway to the lap pool for an incredible up-against-the-glass look at the United Nations, Roosevelt Island and the East River. Bring your racquet, too: The Millennium is the only hotel in town with its own indoor tennis court. New this year, Sunday brunch at the on-site Ambassador Grill features bottomless champagne and an international menu ($54 for adults, $19 for children).
Info: 866-866-8086, http://www.millenniumhotels.com .
12 PARK CENTRAL NEW YORK
870 Seventh Ave. at West 56th Street
Price we found: $199 (Quikbook, Hotels.com, Expedia).
Details: One of the best things about the 25-floor Park Central is its midtown location, across the street from Carnegie Hall and near the Museum of Modern Art, Rockefeller Center, Fifth Avenue shopping and (duh) Central Park. True, with 934 guest rooms, quaint it ain't. But it's clean, safe, spacious and amenity-packed, with a lobby lounge, business center and on-site bistro-style restaurant, the Cafe New York. In short, at this price, a find. Guest rooms are larger than usual for New York and feature high-speed Internet access ($11.87 per day), dual-line speakerphones, flat-screen cable TVs with on-demand movies and Nintendo, irons and ironing boards, hair dryers and coffee set-ups. And there's none of that tacky hotel-room art -- our room had a snazzy art print of Times Square. The fitness center was being refurbished when we visited, but it's back in action now with treadmills, bikes, free weights and weight machines.
Info: 800-346-1359, http://www.parkcentralny.com .
13 PARK SOUTH HOTEL
122 E. 28th St. between Park and Lexington avenues
Price we found: $199 (Quikbook)
Details: Housed in a building that dates to 1906, this eight-floor hotel has 143 rooms (no suites), a complimentary DVD and book library for guests, and a snug but serviceable fitness room and business center. Free newspaper and Internet access are offered, and breakfast (included in the rate) is served in the Black Duck, through a curtain off the lobby in an adjacent 18th-century brownstone. Crisp white linens, blue accents, comfortable armchairs and black-and-white prints of New York scenes are hallmarks of this Murray Hill hotel, where about 90 percent of the clientele are business travelers.
Info: 800-315-4642, http://www.parksouthhotel.com .
14 RAMADA PLAZA NEW YORKER
481 Eighth Avenue at West 34th Street
Price we found: $169 (SideStep, Hotels.com, Expedia)
Details: When the New Yorker was built in 1929, it was the city's largest hotel. It closed in 1972, reopened in 1994 and became a Ramada property in 2000, now with 845 rooms. True, the 40-floor art deco hotel has a somewhat dingy exterior (well-known to anyone who has taken the $20 buses from D.C. to New York), but the location (near Madison Square Garden, Penn Station and Macy's) and the views (maximized by having guest rooms from the 19th floor up) belie the first impression. The massive lobby is set for renovation. The rooms come in 28 configurations and are offered as standard doubles, plaza suites (with fridge) and tower suites (fridge, wet bar and a phone in the bathroom). If you get nibbly on your way in for the night, the Tick Tock Diner on the first floor never closes.
Info: 800-764-4680, http://www.newyorkerhotel.com .
15 WALL STREET INN
9 S. William St.
Price we found: $159 (Hotels.com, Expedia)
Details: See story, Page P10.
Info: 877-747-1500, http://www.thewallstreetinn.com .
Washington Post staff writers Andrea Sachs and K.C. Summers contributed to this story. For an interactive hotel map, go to www.washingtonpost.com/travel. Got a hotel find of your own? E-mail travel@washpost.com.
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