Travels with Tish Girlfriends’ Getaway Guide

Manhattan hotels that accommodate 4 adults (or even 6) are very hard to find. When gals get together for a getaway, they usually like to room together — more fun, less cost. I’ve done some online research and have come up with a list of hotels that can work out well for a group. (Haven’t stayed at any of these, but they look pretty decent. I’d suggest you check out the Web sites and then visit TripAdvisor.com to see if there are any reviews.)

Upper East/West Side

• 1871 House– a B&B at 62nd & Park Avenue near Central Park
• Buckingham Hotel — 57th St. & 6th Avenue in Arts District
• Affinia Gardens — 64th & 2nd Avenue (up to 6)
• Surrey Hotel — 76th St. between 5th & Madison near Central Park (can take 6)

Midtown — Times Square/Garment District Areas

• Tudor Hotel at the U.N. — 42nd St. & 2nd Avenue
• Courtyard Marriott Midtown East — 3rd Avenue & 53rd St.
• Doubletree Guest Suites NYC — 47th & Broadway near Times Square
• Murray Hill Inn — 30th near Lexington.
• Hilton Times Square — 42nd Street near 7th.
• Hotel Metro — Midtown 35th & Broadway (can take 6)
• Radisson Martinique — 32nd & Broadway
• Belvedere Hotel – 48th Street near Times Square.
• Eastgate Tower Hotel — 32nd St. between 2nd & 3rd (can take 6)
• Shelburne Murray Hill — 37th & Lexington (can take 6)
• Affinia Manhattan — 7th Avenue at 31st.
• Affinia Dumont –34th and Lexington
• Affinia 50 — 50th & 3rd Avenue

Lower Manhattan — Convenient for Chinatown, Canal Street, Little Italy, Ground Zero, SoHo, Greenwich Village, Staten Island Ferry, Battery Park

• Embassy Suites NY — Lower Manhattan near Financial District and Battery Park
• NY Marriott Financial Center — Lower Manhattan on Albany Street near West Side Highway — just south of Ground Zero area.

TIPS:
1) Private Bath or Shared? This is NYC — don’t forget to ask before you book whether or not your room has a private bathroom. All of these hotels I’ve listed do have private baths, but at least one or two offer both options.

2) Choose Your Hotel Location Around Your Plans. If you have a firm agenda, it makes sense to select a hotel nearby the majority of your activities. You can probably walk to more of those places. But if your agenda takes you all over town, location doesn’t matter — the subway can get you around town efficiently. Or cab it at night.

3) Don’t Try to Sneak In an Extra Person. If you book a room that normally accommodates 2 or 4, don’t try to sneak in a 3rd or 5th person. It can backfire. Hotel policies and fire codes may come into play. Some friends planned to put 3 in a room for 2 in midtown last spring. The hotel caught on quickly and requested they upgrade to a suite. You can always ask if a rollaway bed can be added. But because Manhattan hotel rooms are famously tiny, many double rooms just don’t have the floorspace for one.

4) Don’t Overlook Savings with Group Airfares. For New York City, 8 is considered a group on Midwest Airlines. Check out how this works. Going with a small group to NYC can be very fun and give each person more flexibility to see different things with one or two of the other gals. You can also use this deal to spend just one day in NYC if you’d prefer not to stay overnight. (You can get a lot done in NYC in just one day if you plan your itinerary well!)

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