Travel Advice

Without question, New York is the most expensive venue in the United States," said John A. Fox, a senior vice president of PKF Consulting. "In the rest of the country, $225 will get you a very good four- to five-star hotel room. But in New York, for $225, you'll get a small room in a low-quality three-star hotel that was not necessarily recently renovated."

And the view? "You'll get a brick wall."

That's assuming you can get a room. Hotel occupancy rates have risen to 85.4 percent, up from 81.4 last September, according to PKF. "New York is essentially sold-out until the end of the year," Mr. Fox said.

The NYT writer, Denny Lee, seems to forget the basics of travel bargain hunting. Look early and often. After claiming that he couldn't find a room at the Holiday Inn Express for less than $299, I found rates through the Holiday Inn website (www.ichotelsgroup.com) for $159 for the weekend of January 6 through January 8. That's the advance purchase price. Midweek strike your fancy? Try $260 for December 27-29. It really makes me wonder just what and how the author was searching for hotel prices. The $299 price seems to be their rack rate, and with the slightest bit of effort you can get rates far less than that. I just picked a couple of days at random, and even managed to get comparable rates for the July 4th weekend that were pretty good at the UN Crowne Plaza.

The key to getting a good rate on hotels? Looking for deals well in advance and a certain amount of flexibility. I usually plan my trips at least three months out. I lock in good rates, and check to see if I can improve on them as I get closer to the trip dates. Signing up for the various affinity clubs can help secure better rates as well. Looking at places like Orbitz, Hotwire, Travelocity, and Expedia helps - and the rates can and will differ between each other. The direct links to hotel websites may offer the best rates.

But the bottom line is that it seems that Lee's weak initial search served as the basis of an article to find unaffiliated hotels that were priced at under $250 per night. And that's a shame. New York can be an expensive place to visit, but if you do your homework, you can stay for less than you think.

There are quite a few people who don't want to risk staying at a hotel that is unaffiliated with a chain, so staying with a familiar brand name is key.

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