One Night in Manhattan, Four Days on Craigslist

After four days of e-mailing, calling and being canceled on, we finally found a place with a spare room eight blocks from the Guggenheim Museum on the Upper East Side, for $95 total (cold cereal and tea included), with no deposit required. We couldn't beat the location: The subway was mere feet away, and though we walked down the characterless first-floor hallway of the busy apartment building with trepidation, once the door opened we were comfortable enough to leave our bags and pay in full. Our hosts, an engaging young couple with an extra room, showed us the two bathrooms, spotless kitchen, virtually empty living room and queen-size bunk bed that, for the night at least, would be ours -- towels, linens and blankets included.

Okay, so we had trouble unlocking the apartment door when we returned late that night, but we blame the vino, not our hosts.

CONCLUSION: After the initial annoyances, Craigslist worked out well for us, and we'd use the service -- as well as other lodging sites such as Expedia.com ( http://www.expedia.com/ ) and Orbitz ( http://www.orbitz.com/ ) -- when looking for our next room in Manhattan. But it's not for those who fear the unknown or don't want to be tethered to their e-mail. And if we were traveling for a wedding, conference or some other this-weekend-or-bust event, we'd probably pony up for a hotel unless the Craigslist couple we already rented from had a room available.

Here are some things to keep in mind if you want to book a room via Craigslist:

· Using PayPal (the online service that many listings use to collect deposits and payments) is no guarantee that your deposit will be honored. Although you can lodge a complaint should something go wrong, the service's Buyer Complaint Policy applies only to "payments for tangible, physical goods which can be shipped," which leaves out room rentals.

· Craigslist suggests flagging posts that appear to be scams and asks to be notified (via abuse@craigslist.org ), but according to the Web site, "in most cases, we can't do real investigation, you'll have to rely on the police and/or small claims court for that." As the site warns, this really is a "buyer beware" situation, another vote for the no-deposit room.

· If you know someone who has used Craigslist, get their suggestions -- and contact information -- for specific lodgings.

· Craigslist works best in a city with which you're very familiar (it's easier to spot the lodgings that are a long haul from where you want to be), but knowing a city well doesn't guarantee the service will come in handy. We looked into stays in Philadelphia and Boston via Craigslist, for example, and were turned off by the low volume of options.

· We're pretty gutsy on the road, but we wouldn't book something on Craigslist if traveling alone. If you do, consider taking a plastic doorstop (available at hardware stores) or door lock (such as the Belle Hop Travel Door Alarm, $9.99 at http://www.belle-hop.com/ ).

· Get the phone number, full name and address of your host, then share it with relatives and friends so they know where you are.

-- Anne McDonough