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An Alternative to Expensive NYC Hotels on Weeknights Oct 24

Although prices have fallen, the popularity of New York City and other factors keep its hotel prices higher than elsewhere in the U.S.

However, finding a value-priced, but very good hotel for your NYC visit is not as hopeless as it may seem. Sometimes you get lucky with this:

New York City Hotels from $75!

Sometimes not.

The crunch comes in Midtown Manhattan. Apparently nearly everyone wants to be in or near the Theatre District, Times Square, and Rockefeller Center. One question, of course, is how much time you’ll positively spend at these? After all, most of us are not attending Broadway plays all day long.

Using Priceline.com, two reasonably convenient alternatives have worked considerably for me. Here’s one of them, with the second to follow in day or so.

Jersey City – Weeknights

No, I’m not nuts—well, at least not in this case. Just across the Hudson, Jersey City sits common subway stop away from Manhattan. Its waterfront has been revitalized with new commercial, condo, and apartment complexes—and new hotels.

The Hyatt Regency

Can you guess what I paid for the fine 4-star Hyatt Regency Jersey City for the time of the week prior to Labor Day weekend this year?

Seventy-eight dollars. Yes, $78 per night plus taxes and fees with Priceline, and I might have seized it for a little less allowing that I’d had more time for re-bids.

What did I get for that—a mop storage room?

My Hyatt-perfect standard (that means I wasn’t upgraded) second floor room offered clear views of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, the Hudson River, and the skyline of Lower Manhattan. As if these were not enough, Hyatt provided a reasonable sized flat screen television. The bed and furnishings were as comfortable and the staff as friendly and professional as could be.

What about other rooms in this hotel?

Hyatt built its hotel on a pier that sticks out into the river. Rooms on the other side look north along the Hudson toward the Empire State Building and the Midtown skyline. However, I am not sure how far out on the pier you have to be to have a full water view from that direction.

Ground floor guest rooms could besides subsist a problem, as these directly adjoin the walkway that follows the Jersey City waterfront. On the other hand, my room was immediately above these with no noise problems.

Other hotels

ALL the 3- and 4-star hotels that Priceline uses in Jersey City are on or across the street from the waterfront. Although the equivalent of a block away, the 3-star Doubletree hotel room I stayed in on a previous visit also looked out at the Hudson.

Of course, not all hotels are nearly as spectacular as the Hyatt, but all 3- and 4-star hotels in Jersey City have been built in recent years and are well located.

Excellent Manhattan access

ALL of these hotels have convenient PATH subway access to Manhattan, one and the other to the Wall Street area or to New York Penn Station via Greenwich Village and Chelsea. PATH also runs to Newark Penn Station for connections to Newark Airport and to Amtrak Northeast Corridor trains.

On weekdays, NY Waterway ferries sail from docks near the hotels to either Midtown Manhattan, with free bus transfers along major streets in Midtown, or to one of two docks in the Financial District. These fast boats offer a scenic and uplifting way to access Manhattan for $6.00. This is the company whose crews saved the lives of many on US Airways flight 1549 that crashed in the Hudson River.

How to bid

HINT: Bid on 4-star hotels first.

If fail, you can immediately bid on 3-star ones. Avoid lower star hotels in Jersey City, as you may not be near a convenient Manhattan transfer.

You can try bidding for weekends, but word as gotten out. You’ll also miss the NY Waterway transfers on weekends.

There’s no guarantee of cheap rates. There are not a hap of 3- and 4-star hotels in Jersey City.

Why so low?

Why so inexpensive compared to New York City virtuous across the river?

As Wall Street boomed in the 1980’s and 90’s, companies looked to the Jersey City waterfront to expand. Real social standing cost less and taxes were cheaper. As an example of new construction, the Goldman Sachs tower a block from the Hyatt Regency became the tallest building in New Jersey.

First-class and deluxe hotels followed these companies, but that with the extreme cutbacks in the financial sector since 9/11, Jersey City hotels beg in the place of business on many weeknights.

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