We listed Brooklyn's Nu Hotel as one of the top five hotels in Brooklyn and ever since it opened, we have felt like it could be a place we wouldn't mind stashing our visiting parents, whether we lived in Manhattan or right around the corner.
Since our parents (or friends) haven't had a chance to check it out for themselves -- hammocks in the rooms and all -- we dropped into TripAdvisor to see what reviewers had to say.
Feedback was mostly positive -- a couple "teething problems," but nothing out of the ordinary for any recently-opened hotel. But what really jumped out to us were the number of reviewers who commented on the differences between Manhattan hotels and the Nu: Nu's rooms are apparently bigger, brighter and cheaper than their counterparts over the bridge.
Consider this: Your nice, Midwestern parents are coming to New York City for the weekend, and because you live in the proverbial shoebox, they can't stay with you. And with Manhattan hotel prices as sky high as the Empire State Building, asking your nice, Midwestern parents to shell out $400-plus for the pleasure of being in your company for three nights seems like, well--a lot to ask. So what do you do? Book them in an outer-borough hotel, specifically, in the industrial section of Long Island City, Queens.
For four days only (through 5:00 pm on October 3rd), Quikbook is offering rooms at a group of hotels in Miami, Orlando, Chicago and NYC at killer prices.
Here were our faves:
· Score a room at the Hudson in NYC for $246.
· If you're headed to Disney World, a room at the Gaylord Palms can get down to $166.
· In the mood for Chi-town? Try The Belden Stratford at Lincoln Park for only $144.
· And if Miami strikes your fancy as the weather gets colder wherever you are now, you can snag a room at Gansevoort South (if you dare) for $236.
For the complete list of hotels, more info about the sale and reservations, go here.
Have a hotel deal you think we should consider? Or have a destination and date where you want us to check for hotel rooms and rates for you? No guarantees on either, but you can try your luck by hitting us here: tips@hotelchatter.com. Please include "For Reader Deals" in the subject heading.
You may not know it, but part of HotelChatter HQ happens to be located in Brooklyn, NY. And if you were, say, heading to NYC for a big-city visit, we'd be quick to recommend our 'hood instead of that busier, slightly more stressful borough over the bridge (don't be scared! Brooklyn kicks ass!) But hey, we'll be the first to break the news to you: hotels are pretty hard to come by 'round these parts.
But we're here for you. You're gonna be tired when you get here (you know, cause "no sleep 'til Brooklyn" and all) so we'll get right to it: after the jump, our five fave Brooklyn hotels.
NYC's RoomMate Grace Hotel (formerly the Hotel QT) had her dorm-sized rooms going for $349 a night on Quikbook last time we checked. Pass.
Luckily, for those of us who happen to be down with the dorm-style hotel thing, we've got another NYC option in that lovely alterna-trendy Williamsburg/Bushwick area of Brooklyn.
And it's $29.99 a night. How do you like that, RoomMate Grace?
Take the L train (natch) down to the New York Loft Hostel on Varet St. where you can live like the kids these days and stake out a bunk bed in a big, shiny room full of cheap hip young things.
RoomMate Hipster (ha! We're so funny) offers three choices: a 14-bed female room, a 20-bed male room, or a 22-bed mixed room. And even though this is technically a hostel, the beds and floors are all as shiny and new as your fellow guests' 3G iPhones. For now.
We are suckers for a room with a killer view. We find that we are even more likely to forgive some minor hotel inconveniences if we can stare out the window at something pretty--yeah we are that shallow. Let's help out our fellow hotel mavens by uploading rooms with killer views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. We will feature our favorites in this space from time to time. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number of the hot view.
You've gotta feel pretty much on top of the world if you can get a view like this over the skyscrapers of New York City, and the green of Central Park too ... and it's a view you can get by checking in to the Mandarin Oriental on Columbus Circle--specifically, in Room # 4708.
We're already daydreaming about sitting comfortably at this window with a good book and gazing out over the city (if the book got boring, of course). You can still book in for the Sex and the City package, starting from $2000 a night with a river view, and just $100 more to get this view over Central Park. Without a package deal, the cheapest rate for this kind of view is $1,275 a night. Not exactly cheap, but a view that's worth paying for.
[Ed. Note: Welcome to our Good Rate/Bad Rate feature where we look at hotel prices in the same region and decide which one most deserves your hard-earned benjamins. Rates quoted here were captured on March 4, 2008 and are subject to change. Enjoy.]
A survey from the American Society of Travel Agents found that New York City will be a less popular destination for Americans this year, with the city dropping from number three to number seven on the list of desirable places to go. If the comments on the Budget Travel blog story linked above are any indication, it's the sky-high hotel prices that are turning people off.
As one person noted, "We are all savvy NYC hotel searchers. No one could come up with a room for less than $300. Even my favorite, cheap-o hotel Hotel 17, was $275."
[Ed. Note: Welcome to our Good Rate/Bad Rate feature where we look at hotel prices in the same region and decide which one most deserves your hard-earned benjamins. Rates quoted here were captured on March 4, 2008 and are subject to change. Enjoy.]
The odd headline above is to highlight the fact that we've got a high season week to beat all high season weeks this year, with St. Patrick's Day, Spring Break (for many public schools and colleges), Easter, and the Latino "Santa Semana" week before Easter all hitting within one 7-day period. Good luck finding a deal anywhere warm.
How bad will it hurt in New York City, where you can catch the St. Paddy's Day Parade, hit some Santa Semana festivities, and go to mass in a big cathedral?
You're going to pay a bundle then no matter what, but some bad deals are worse than others. Take the Hotel Pennsylvania, for instance, one of those decrepit and sad places milking the high city occupancy rate for all it's worth.
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by Jenna
