Priceline Hotel: Safe hotel near Penn Station mom & 2 kids

[ilmgirl]

Hi,

I am planning on traveling to NYC in August with my 10 year old daughter and her friend. Our dates are wide open at this stage, anywhere from July 30 thru to August 19. We will be arriving via Amtrak around 9pm or so, and am looking for a hotel not too far from the station. I am not sure we want to be traveling alone at night in NYC. Is Penn Station in a safe area?

Where should I be looking for a hotel, what star rating and how much should I expect to pay? We plan on staying 3-4 nights, if the budget allows. I would like to pay around $100 a night. Is this at all possible? We are arriving by train as I don't want to pay the daily parking fees associated with staying in NYC or Jersey City.

I am not really a city girl :) but the 2 children want to visit NYC desperately!

Any help please?

Thanks,

Angie

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Some of the questions above can only be answered by you...

what star rating...?

What type of hotels are you used to staying in other times that you've traveled?

Under $100/nite in NYC is not usually seen if you're looking at 3* hotels and above. However, another issue that you'll need to do deal with is that Priceline only guarantees double occupancy, and you'll be triple. Some NYC hotel rooms only have one bed and don't have space for a rollaway. Some people take this risk and deal with however it goes, otherwise your option is to go with HOTWIRE which allows you to search for up to triple occupancy (but is usually a little more expensive than priceline).

Let us know your thoughts/answers to the above and we'll take it from there.

[ilmgirl]

Last year I used Priceline for a trip to Canada. When using priceline I only bid on 3 * or 4* hotels in big cities. In other areas I usually book a 2* or 2.5* chain hotel direct , as it's nice to have breakfast included. I research the hotels first on tripadvisor.

We could make do with one bed as one of the children wouldn't be adverse to sleeping on the floor. In fact, they would probably take turns.

Is a mid-week trip cheaper than weekend?

I would not be adverse to using Hotwire.

[vayla]

My husband and I visited New York in May 2005 and again last month and we felt completely safe everywhere we walked in Manhattan. We were downtown, mid-town, East side, West side, Times Square, meat-packing district, Greenwich Village, Soho, East Village, and even further afield. I feel that anywhere a tourist would go in Manhattan, day or night is safe (using your good judgment, of course). Certainly the areas with the major hotels are fine. Having lived in New York before, I do not feel this was always the case. Two years ago we stayed at the Murray Hill East Suites in "midtown south" and it was great. It was huge and the sofa probably had a pull-out bed. Also kitchen facilities which can be great for breakfasts and left-overs. The location is good with lots of restaurants, but not much touristy stuff. You will wind up having to spend some time "commuting" to everywhere else. Depends on what you want to do and see there. The Penn Station area is good for shopping at Macys and getting to Times Square and Broadway if that is what you want to do. But it is not as charming as other areas.

Hope this helps!

[WillTravel]

You might be willing to accept only one bed, but it would typically violate the fire codes if this was a double-occupancy room only, so the hotel would not allow you to do it if they caught wind of your scheme.