Yahoo News 3 of the best-priced hotels in New York
New York hotels are some of the priciest in the world. Bed down for one night at The Plaza on Fifth Avenue at Central Park or the modern-deco splendour of The Four Seasons in the beating heart of Midtown Manhattan and the top suites will set you back tens of thousands of dollars while even the smallest room at The Mark on the achingly smart Upper East Side tops £700 a night.
So here are three suggestions for an altogether more affordable stay – all under $200 a night – with no compromise on the friendly welcome.
1. Best for Foodies: Park South Hotel
New Yorkers love an acronym. SoHo (south of Houston Street), NoHo (north of Houston Street) and Nolita (north of Little Italy) are prime examples of their favourite Manhattan districts. NoMad – North of Madison Square Park – was first used in 1999 by The New York Times to describe an area from 23rd to 30th Street between 7th Avenue and Lexington. NoMad has become New York’s Tech and IT hub but its history includes several buildings from the Gilded Age at the end of the 19th Century when visitors included Oscar Wilde, Mark Twain and Charles Dickens. Today NoMad is where you will find the freshly reinvigorated – to the tune of $20 million - and hugely likeable Park South Hotel.
Behind a smart, classical façade the eight floor hotel rocks a contemporary style with a colour palette of warm browns and cream. The public rooms on the ground floor are cosy and welcoming with open fires and generous piles of art and travel books. The 131 bedrooms are slick and comfortably furnished with well-thought out storage and compact, modern bathrooms. Look out for the intriguing photographs of New York’s parks that line the corridors.
There is a small gym on the lower ground floor and – in summer – a generously sized roof terrace and bar with great views of the art-deco-beautiful Chrysler Building.
Top billing at Park South Hotel goes to its food options with three restaurant choices open year round under the supervision of award-winning chef Tim Cushman and his wife Nancy. There is all-day dining at Covina, a relaxed and buzzy Mediterranean meets New York diner with clear Italian influences, an informal café popular with locals and next-door O Ya has become one of New York’s most talked about new restaurants featuring a contemporary take on Japanese food.
The location is good, close to the Flatiron Building and Union Square and well placed for the boutiques and restaurants of Greenwich Village and SoHo. A subway station one-minute from the hotel delivers you directly to Central Park and Museum Mile in less than 15 minutes. The immediate Murray Hill area – affectionately known locally as Curry Hill – has some of New York’s best Indian restaurants.
Find it: parksouthhotel.com E 28th Street, New York. Rooms from $168.
2. Best for Added Extras: Hotel Giraffe
Two streets south on the southern edge of NoMad where it runs into Gramercy, Hotel Giraffe (daft name, great hotel) is an efficient and welcoming pad that offers generous extras. Guests all have a continental breakfast thrown in (and an extensive one served by smiley waitresses), wine every evening except Sunday and a wide range of snacks and drinks left out round the clock. There is high-speed Wi-Fi, complimentary newspapers and free passes to the gym at the nearby New York Sports Club.
Hotel Giraffe has had a recent facelift and it shows from the slick new décor to the comfortable beds. Rooms are crisp, fresh and functional – mine had a small balcony looking on to Park Avenue and despite the central location and constant traffic the very efficient glazing silenced the noise.
The hotel has won a Trip Advisor certificate of excellence and is a regular with young professionals and visiting couples and families who appreciate the ideal location between Midtown and Downtown Manhattan.
Top tip: if you are staying walk across two blocks west to Eataly on Fifth Avenue by the Flatiron Building, a fabulous indoor marketplace with delis, bakeries, counters and several informal restaurants for authentic Italian food. eataly.com
Find it: hotelgiraffe.com Park Avenue South at 26th Street. Rooms from $199.
3. Best for Midtown Shopping: Roger Smith Hotel
If you would happily trade space for modern styling then Roger Smith Hotel might be one to try. The location is pitch perfect for Midtown shopping putting you within a bagel-throw of Fifth Avenue boutiques and the Rockefeller Center. Come out of the front door on to Lexington Avenue where you are almost opposite the super-smart Waldorf Hotel and to the left you can see the glorious outline of Grand Central Station and the Chrysler Building while to the right are the towers that skirt Central Park.
Roger Smith Hotel is unashamedly traditional and filled with old-fashioned furniture - but that is part of the charm for its regular clientele. The exceptionally generously sized bedrooms – 133 over 16 floors – include suites with mini kitchens. Everything is immaculately clean, service is friendly and the hotel has a homely feel from the warm welcome at reception to the roof terrace strung with fairy lights.
Guests have complimentary access to a gym on 51st Street and there is a constant supply of yoghurt and granola in the reception. Ask for a room on the highest floors to block out the constant road noise and enjoy being in the heart of prime Manhattan.
rogersmith.com Lexington at 47th Street. Rooms from $150.
Follow Cathy on Twitter: @cathyhawker
