Writer-people! Is there any way to stay in New York on the cheap?

There are some hotels with reasonable rates, but I guess it depends where you want to be and the degree of crappiness you're willing to put up with... If you're feeling really adventurous, you could try couchsurfing... There's also the option of doing a hostel search, rather than a hotel search (try hostelworld.com, maybe). Again, all this depends on a probably significant compromise of things like location, amenities, possibly privacy...but. Yanno.

Have you tried looking on hotels.com? I've used the site several times to find cheap, but nice places to stay.

Now I've never been to New York, but I checked the site and I found a place for $229 a night. (I checked for hotels in the New York city area.)

I hope this helps, and good luck.

I'd look at Brooklyn hotels, like the Sleep Inn and Comfort Inn, and then taking the subway in to town.

it's still c. 130.00 a night.

TNK said:

Have you tried looking on hotels.com? I've used the site several times to find cheap, but nice places to stay.

Now I've never been to New York, but I checked the site and I found a place for $229 a night. (I checked for hotels in the New York city area.)

I hope this helps, and good luck.

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There are places cheaper than that on the same site--if you use the little 'price limit' bar on the left sidebar, it will show you only hotels under x amount of dollars. The ones I saw seemed to be in, say, New Jersey, or around JFK...

Perks said:

I've only ever been to NYC twice - for one day each. Once was a funeral, the other a zip in and out business meeting. I know nuthin' from nuthin' about New York. I do cities just fine. I grew up in DC, so I can usually find my way around a subway. Thanks for this!

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If I can find my way around, and get help from kind and knowledgeable people in NYC, anyone can.

Plus, the subway is color coded. How cool is that!

Perks said:

There is a Howard Johnson's out on Long Island that doesn't look too bad. I think. I dunno.

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I've stayed in Newark, and taken the train in and out to Grand Central. It's a couple hours I think, and there are automated ticket machines that take cash or credit cards. Some take debit cards, but not all debit cards work.

Mostly I was careful to leave early, and not travel at night.

Try a youth hostel.

buzhidao said:

There are places cheaper than that on the same site--if you use the little 'price limit' bar on the left sidebar, it will show you only hotels under x amount of dollars. The ones I saw seemed to be in, say, New Jersey, or around JFK...

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I know. I found one for under $100 in the Bronx.

Perks said:

Great. Yikes.

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Keep in mind I can't see well, so it's an issue for me that it might not be for you.

I stayed at Hotel 31 in March for 4 nights. Great location. I paid about $120/night. Shared bathroom - showers weren't the greatest, but they worked. It looks like the rates vary a lot depending on the time of year (and I expect that is true of other hotels as well). September is expensive but January is only $79.

Hostels aren't just for young people. They're geared towards students and backpackers, but they don't have an age limit. When I was in college I spent seven days in NYC with a bunch of international students in a mid-Manhattan hostel and it cost twenty-something dollars a night (8-bed mixed-gender dorm). If that's too rustic, they usually have private rooms, too, for less than $100.

I second the hostel suggestion.

http://www.whitehousehotelofny.com/

I usually stay there when I visit NYC solo. There is no cutoff age. It's dirt cheap (around $30-40, I think, depending on the season) and it's pretty clean. IT IS NOT THE RITZ. The rooms are literally the size of a closet. Literally. They aren't even really rooms... they're more like cubicles. The bathrooms are dorm-style--private showers and stall-type toilets like in public restrooms. Plenty of accurate pics on the website. There are always a lot of foreign twenty- and thirty-somethings running around. A few older folks, too. It's always an odd mix. But everybody is nice and respectful and pretty much keep to themselves. And it's right in the middle of the city.

I've stayed there sooo many times and have never had problems... but hostels aren't for everybody, and it can be a bit shocking if you're used to staying in fluffier rooms. Still, under 40 bucks a night in Manhattan. I think you can find even cheaper dorm-style bunkbed hostels, but I like the private room.

You might try Craigslist under New York/ Manhattan /vacation rentals.

Even if you're only staying a few days you might be able to find something, and definitely cheaper than hotels.

Perks said:

I was kidding. I know what a hostel is.

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Ah, sorry. I've met people who didn't know that.

Just make sure you read the reviews. I have a friend with a great (terrible) story about going to a super cheap hotel in New York that turned out to be a haven for drug dealers and tended to rent rooms by the hour. Granted, he had a great story to tell afterwards.