I would say that price is more important. While my preference is in MTW or UM-CPS, I would staying in almost any zone (even Times Square), if the hotel is listed as 4*. My issue has been that I have stayed at some of the listed 3* hotels in the past and have found them to be very hit of miss. For example, I have stayed at one of the listed 3* in UM-CPS and found it to be much nicer than a 3* in MTW.