One Night in Manhattan, Four Days on Craigslist

(Photo Illustration By The Washington Post)

RESEARCH QUESTION: Craigslist ( http://www.craigslist.com/ and http://www.craigslist.org/ ), the free online community bulletin board that lists job openings and items for barter and sale in cities worldwide, also allows postings from those looking to pick up extra cash by renting out a room or apartment for the night.

We wondered: Is Craigslist -- an unvetted list of available beds created by anonymous posters -- a viable option for those looking for affordable accommodations in another city?

METHODOLOGY: We needed a room in Manhattan two weeks from the day of our first search, on either a Friday or Saturday night. We aimed at spending less than $100, figuring that for more than that, we'd just go with a known quantity and book a hotel. When it comes to staying with an unknown host in the Big Apple, even born-and-bred New Yorkers want a buddy sometimes, so we brought along our friend, a 6-foot-5 gym rat.

But is it legal to rent out a room in your home? According to the Web site of the New York City Department of Finance, "The rental of only one room in your home to guests is not considered the operation of a hotel," and no hotel room occupancy tax would apply. But when it comes to the issue of landlords who rent out entire apartments to tourists, New York City Councilwoman Gale A. Brewer told us, "We don't want any illegal tourism," and she and other city and state officials have formed the Illegal Hotels Task Force to address the issue.

To conduct our search, we used Craigslist's New York City site ( http://newyork.craigslist.org/ ), clicked on Vacation Rentals (one of nine options under the Housing umbrella on the site) and looked for listings that fit our criteria. We contacted each listing that matched our price range, provided it had been posted within the previous two weeks.

RESULTS: Trolling Craigslist for accommodations is an exercise in detective work. Though the occasional budget hotel will post on the Vacation Rentals page, most listings (which appear as a header hyperlinked to the actual posting) we saw seemed to be private homes. There is little to no organization; the New York site, for example, had 100 listings per page (and many pages), but included were places in Vermont, Paris and Mexico.

The information provided by the posters varies considerably, and as with all listings on the site, you reply to an e-mail address randomly assigned to the poster. It's the poster's prerogative to list a phone number (most don't) and to get back to you (some won't).

Other than warnings that "stating a discriminatory preference in a housing post is illegal," anything goes, with minimum stays, smoking rules and location being just a few of the variables. Many listings mention one location in the heading, then another in the actual posting.

It can be downright confounding.

Scrolling for places under $100 cut down our options considerably; following up with the people behind the listings reduced them even more. The "five minutes from midtown" apartment we found, at $75 per night double with a two-night minimum, turned out to be in Queens, another borough altogether and about 20 minutes away. We bailed after e-mailing back and forth with the poster, who also sent us a contract under the previous guest's name.

We spoke with one person whose offer seemed promising ($100 for a room in a Tompkins Square Park four-bedroom), followed up with an e-mail and then lost contact. When we called again two days later, we were told, "Sorry, but all of the rooms are filled."

A call to another place ($95 for two in the Village) went to a number where an electronic voice told us, "Sorry, but your party is not available." Another Lower East Side apartment ($95 for two) fell through after a few hours of e-mailing.