Hotels near NYU

April 2, 2010 8:01 PM

Where should a prospective NYU student and her family stay when they visit the campus?

My niece was accepted to NYU (yay!) and she's coming to visit the campus with her family (four people all together). They're having a hard time figuring out what hotels are conveniently located and relatively reasonably priced. Apparently the NYU people weren't very helpful at all.

It sounds like they want a suite, but I'll take any ideas you all have.

Do you have any suggestions? Let me hear them!

posted by hapticactionnetwork to travel & transportation around New York, NY (9 answers total)

First question first; what is your budget? New York hotels are somewhat astronomically priced.

However, there is a Howard Johnson's on 2nd Avenue and Houston, which is within a slightly-ambitious-walking distance from the campus proper (I'd say about 15-20 minutes and you would be smack bang in the center of campus; it's very do-able, though). If you'd rather cab it from there, it'd be a fairly easy cab ride, and wouldn't be expensive (about $10 at the absolute most).

When I was a student, for the first couple years my parents would stay at a place called the Washington Square Hotel when they visited; this is less than a block from Washington Square Park, which IS effectively the campus center. They may be somewhat pricey, though (check the rates on the linked web site).
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:09 PM on April 2, 2010

My sister often used Craigslist to find short term apartment rentals, when visiting her daughter at NYU. The fact that her daughter was in town and could check out the places in advance made for some pretty good deals. Especially when you factor in money saved on food by using the kitchen.
posted by StickyCarpet at 8:19 PM on April 2, 2010

I don't think price is really that much of an issue. Convenience and comfort are more important, within reason. I don't know what their budget is exactly, but they seem comfortable spending what they have to to get a nice-ish room/suite.
posted by hapticactionnetwork at 8:35 PM on April 2, 2010

Empress: that Howard Johnson's isn't there anymore. It's now called the Gem Hotel, and it's quite a bit more expensive.
posted by saladin at 8:36 PM on April 2, 2010

embrace the city's lore. pony up and stay at the chelsea hotel.
posted by nathancaswell at 9:12 PM on April 2, 2010 [1 favorite]

In view of StickyCarpet's suggestion, you can check out something like "Hotel" Toshi. The name is misleading - it's a short-term apartment rental company. My wife used them for a friend recently for a place on the Upper East Side and had good results. It looks like they have places in the NYU area as well.
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 9:28 PM on April 2, 2010

The places my sister got on Craigslist were often a nice apartment were someone is currently living, and they stay at their boyfriends or their country house just for the rental periods that come along. Several times she's hosted Thanksgiving dinners in theses places.
posted by StickyCarpet at 9:57 PM on April 2, 2010

If you're not too price-sensitive, I just came from a party at the Thompson Hotel, on Allen St., and although I mostly saw the lounge it seemed like a very nice hotel, and it's just 10 blocks from NYU. On the other hand, the swanky new Cooper Square Hotel would be the most central to NYU.
posted by nicwolff at 2:20 AM on April 3, 2010

If price isn't much of an issue, there's a W at Union Square. If I recall correctly, it's at the bottom of Park on the North side, so about 7 blocks north of NYU. 10 minute walk.
posted by Diablevert at 5:03 AM on April 3, 2010