New York City Hotel Tips by Docu2001

I hate the crowded, over-priced, smelly, bad attitude, tip-greedy, herd-mentality places that you find in the central business districts of almost every large city. In Manhattan, I would define that as Midtown. I would avoid it as a traveler unless I was there for a particular business reason – in which case convenience and business-related services would be my foremost considerations and I would probably opt for something like The Intercontinental. If I was in midtown on a budget I would stay at The Wyndham 42 West 58th Street - right in the middle of everything and only $145 a night - cheap for that neighborhood.

If I was in town to really experience it – to feel its unique rhythms and get a sense of the ebb and flow of daily life – well, then I would prefer to stay in a small, out-of-the-way spot that was clean, and nice and indistinguishable from the homes of the folks who live in that city. The Chelsea Lodge Suites is such a place.

Unique Qualities: Last year I had some relatives visiting – I wanted them to feel at home and spent a great deal of time searching around for the ideal spot. They have two small kids and wanted to be able to make some meals at home. They stayed in a small apartment with a garden, a kitchen, and a living room all housed in a charming townhouse on a beautiful tree-lined street in Chelsea. It is close enough to the Village to walk to anything you might want to see – a five minutes by cab or subway to Midtown and the Theatre District.
The restaurants in Chelsea are great and the apartment was set up so that you could really live inexpensively.
There is no room service, no bellmen – so if you want those things you will have to stay in a full-service hotel. The website is listed below and it contains lots more details.

NB: The Chelsea Lodge (right next door) has smaller rooms for under $100 ... also very nice ...)

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Theme: Other
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$120-180  » Currency Converter
Phone: 212-243-4499
Address: 318 West 20th Street
Directions: Chelsea
Website: www.chelsealodgesuites.com/index.htm
Other Contact: chelsealodge@mindspring.com

You might not be able to find it if you don't know just where to look. Only a small brass plate on the side of the building announces this private hotel deep in the West Village.

Each of the rooms is named, most (if not all) have fireplaces, some have kitchens and one has a private garden just big enough for two people to share morning coffee on a round metal cafe table that sits outside your kitchen door. The garden is a sliver of green between the back of the building and the yards and walls of the adjacent brownstones. This is the one of the few neighborhoods on the island of manhattan with yards and trees and vines running everywhere.

Unique Qualities: The rooms are cozy, charming and well decorated. Some are configured like studio apartments and suitable for extended stays.

There is a baby grand piano on the main floor.

Incentra is so ideally located it is scary ...

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Theme: Inn
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$120-180  » Currency Converter
Phone: 212-206-0007
Address: 32 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10014
Directions: West Village

I checked in on a Sunday night ... just after dark had settled. I was doing a project in midtown the next day, a 24 hour job with one break for an hour in the middle of the afternoon, then a big party with an orchestra and dancing. I thought I might sneak a shower and change of clothes in the middle of the day .... and the room might come in handy in the wee wee hours of the morning after all the festivities ...

There was a busy woman in her seventies handling the phones and a somewhat younger fellow who took my credit card and handed me the large plastic room key of the style used in American Motels in the 1960’s …

The room was large and blue and graceful like an older white-haired woman, rail thin but with enough spunk to spend an afternoon shopping at Bergdorf Goodman. Although in the case of this hotel, the shopping might be a bit more modest.

Unique Qualities: There is nothing fancy here, no frills … no remote control, only cashmere bouquet soap in small paper wrapper on the bathroom sink. But the mattresses are firm and the room is clean and warm and the place is just off Fifth Avenue at 58th Street – the center of it all for under $150 a night.

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Theme: Hotel
Comparison: less expensive than average
Prices: US$120-180  » Currency Converter
Phone: 212-753-3500
Address: 42 West 58th Street
Directions: Fifth Avenue - Midtown
Other Contact: 800-257-1111

New York City was crazy alive ... with Saturday Night Live and John Lennon and Martin Scorsese and Woody Allen – it was a remarkable time. The Gramercy Park Hotel played its role by playing host to the British music crowd. The lobby was the scene of skeletal chain smokers with stringy hair and bad teeth carrying guitars and sound equipment.
The second or third time I stayed in the Gramercy Park Hotel I met an old friend from home. We were both in town on business. We drank so much red wine that night talking and catching up and having a grand time, that upon returning to my room, I fell into a sleep so sound (passed out) that the Hotel Manager had to use his pass key to enter my room and rouse me. Apparently I had not been answering the phone for quite some time … It was that kind of place – a flop-house of your very own far from home. Now it is a little better kept and with not quite as many thin English rockers in the lobby.

Unique Qualities: The Bar at the Gramercy was probably its best feature. It was a classic New York Hotel Bar – circa 1962. There was not a waiter in the place taller than five feet. They were all short round men in faded red jackets with slick black hair. The room had the faint smell of mold mingled with aroma of Goldfish crackers from the bar. For as long as I recalled there was always a “Reserved” card on the small booth nearest the bar. Now and then I would see the twin sisters for whom the table was held each afternoon. The last time I saw them they were probably in their late 70’s, rail-thin, silver haired and tastefully dressed in matching two piece light-blue serge suits.
When I moved to NYC the Gramercy Bar became one of my favorite spots to meet people for a quick, or lingering, afternoon drink. Two years ago they renovated the Bar. An outside company was engaged to run the Bar which now has beautiful Asian hostesses in slim fitting red and black outfits. I don’t go there any more. I wonder where the sisters are drinking these days?

2005 Update
I heard that Ian Shraeger bought the Hotel - and has plans for swank new restaurant ... One more great old spot is transformed - into anothoer boring, cloned, hip joint ...

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Theme: Hotel
Comparison: more expensive than average
Prices: US$180 and up  » Currency Converter
Phone: 800-221-4083
Address: 2 Lexington Ave, New York, NY 10010
Directions: Gramercy Park - the only private, gated park in the City. Residents of the buildings surrounding the Park are entitled to a key.
Website: www.gramercyparkhotel.com
Other Contact: Fax: 212-505-0535

On my first trip to Europe an Italian friend cautioned me about buying anything too close to the beach on the Ligurian Coast. The prices would always be higher near the beach.
Central Park South (also know as 59th street) is as close as it gets to the "Beach" in Manhattan. It isn’t near the water but it forms the southern border of Central park on 59th street from Broadway east to Fifth avenue.

Unique Qualities: The most expensive shops in the world surround you, Central Park is probably the view from your hotel room and the theatre, high-end dining and you’re your old Harvard pals on Park Avenue are within walking distance. The Intercontinental, the Essex House and The Plaza are all on Central Park South. The Intercontinental is a great Hotel, the Plaza is dumpy but proud and the others that line the street have their charms, but the Essex House is the white-glove clean leader of the pack. The rooms are spacious and well-appointed, the service is superior and the restaurant one of the most expensive in the area. I would never stay there on my own nickel but for high-end business travelers – it is worth exploring.
A note; I have not been back to the Hotel since Westin purchased it from Nikko - there may have been some slippage although the St. Regis floors are supposed to be quite special.

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Theme: Hotel
Comparison: most expensive
Prices: US$180 and up  » Currency Converter
Phone: 212-247-0300
Address: 160 Central Park S, New York, NY 10019
Directions: Central Park South:southern border of Central Park