Where to stay in LA, LV, SF and NY

[Glider_]

Also worth noting is that if you're an RAC member (RAC, NRMA etc), they have an affiliation with the American AAA motoring club, and most hotels offer a discounted AAA rate. The AAA offices will also happily provide you with copious free driving maps and tourist guides. We used that extensively last year on our US driving trip. Your RAC membership card should have the AAA symbol on the back, but no hotels ever asked to see it, only the AAA office when we picked up the maps.

I found USA accommodation to be FAR more expensive than I had expected and generally poor value. The only exception was Vegas, where we stayed at the Aria hotel (in the new Jason Bourne movie!), where it happened to be near my birthday and I was pleasant to the receptionist and we were upgraded to a $1000p/n suite. THAT WAS AWESOME!

 

[mew]

Just recently returned from 6 week USA trip.

Vegas- Stayed at "Hilton Grand Vacations at the Flamingo" Good location on the strip just behind the Flamingo resort. Is also a time share hotel. Large room/lounge/kitchen, cheaper than most of the surrounding hotels.
Does not have gambling/restaurants/bars etc, but all close by. We paid US$190 /night. Not to be confused with "Hilton grand vacations on the LV strip"!!

San Fran- Used AirBnB, stayed in the Marina District, much better value than hotels. I can recommend the Marina and the North Beach area, walking distance to many sights, lots of eating options and public transport.

LA- Stayed in Santa Monica at the Georgian Hotel. Good, safe location. Plenty eating/drinking options. There are tour buses that leave from across the road. Hotel was fine, not that cheap. US$290/night

New York. Expensive. Stayed in Manhattan at The London hotel. Excellent hotel with enormous rooms/suites for New York. Great base for walking around, also plenty of subway options. You pay for it: US$500/night. They do have some advance specials, might be worth checking.

Washington-- Booked apartment on HomeAway. Eastern Market Area. Superb location, 15min walk to Capitol, Convenient Subway and bus routes. Safe area, noted food area on 8th street with great restaurants. I highly recommended the area.

 

[Boca68]

With Las Vegas, plenty of good properties and if no major convention in town, the prices can terrific. But, the flipside is if there is a big convention in town. I'd do some searching now and place some price alerts on favoured places. MGM is good, Bellagio is wonderful. Aria and Wynn are good too. All upper end price wise. Mid-range, there is a Hilton Grand Suites just off the South boulevard which is fine. (I like it as its a non-casino property) I think MGM has one also close by.

New York, Manhattan is expensive. Get to Brooklyn. I'd have a look at Air BnB here. Some super places. But get in early. San Francisco, I've stayed at an awesome backpackers...(20 years ago) and The Argonaut, close to Fisherman's Wharf. Brilliant, but not cheap. (think $500+)

L.A. hmmm, mostly dreadful every place I've stayed....but sure others have super recommendations. Maybe try Air BnB again.

Good Luck

 

[mew]

With Las Vegas, plenty of good properties and if no major convention in town, the prices can terrific. But, the flipside is if there is a big convention in town. I'd do some searching now and place some price alerts on favoured places. MGM is good, Bellagio is wonderful. Aria and Wynn are good too. All upper end price wise. Mid-range, there is a Hilton Grand Suites just off the South boulevard which is fine. (I like it as its a non-casino property) I think MGM has one also close by.

New York, Manhattan is expensive. Get to Brooklyn. I'd have a look at Air BnB here. Some super places. But get in early. San Francisco, I've stayed at an awesome backpackers...(20 years ago) and The Argonaut, close to Fisherman's Wharf. Brilliant, but not cheap. (think $500+)

L.A. hmmm, mostly dreadful every place I've stayed....but sure others have super recommendations. Maybe try Air BnB again.

Good Luck

Unfortunately short lets are illegal in New York. They only allow rentals for more than 30 days. I think Washington is legal at the moment, but there are some changes proposed. San Fran allows landlords to rent out up 90 days/year as short lets.
Los Angeles allows short lets for 120 days/year, may soon go to 180.

 

[Boca68]

Unfortunately short lets are illegal in New York. They only allow rentals for more than 30 days. I think Washington is legal at the moment, but there are some changes proposed. San Fran allows landlords to rent out up 90 days/year as short lets.
Los Angeles allows short lets for 120 days/year, may soon go to 180.

I stayed at an Air BnB apartment in New York last year for 3 nights.

A quick search will show you 1000's of available properties for minimum 2 or 3 nights. Think you are confusing 'short lets' with something else.

 

[mew]

I stayed at an Air BnB apartment in New York last year for 3 nights.

A quick search will show you 1000's of available properties for minimum 2 or 3 nights. Think you are confusing 'short lets' with something else.

I agree there are many listed, but they are illegal. see this article: Is Airbnb Legal in New York? - Lawmakers Rule on Short Term Rentals
I use both AirBnB and Homeaway to book apartments, but I am wary if a city makes them illegal.

 

[Boca68]

I agree there are many listed, but they are illegal. see this article: Is Airbnb Legal in New York? - Lawmakers Rule on Short Term Rentals
I use both AirBnB and Homeaway to book apartments, but I am wary if a city makes them illegal.

Yes, I've seen that as well. Mostly, its easy to circumvent those rules (read Uber in Victoria) . I have experienced at times when I could not book Air BnB (Cuba is one) because of website location blocking, but not with American cities.

And the onus is on the owner. Not the client.

 

[Renato1]

And if anyone has any tips on Washington as well it would be greatly appreciated as we will probably add it to our journey.

Wsahington was where our travel agent got us a very good deal compared to Booking.com at The Hamilton/ Crowne Plaza.
Just three blocks walk to The White House. And around the corner we found Stan's Restaurant - where for three night's straight I couldn't stop myself from ordering Stan's Famous Hamburger (though my wife managed to tear herself away from it on our last night there).
Regards,
Renato

 

[sausagefingers]

Thank you for all the great tips Anyone have some other places in the area to recommend I am more then happy to look into it. Would you stay in SF or would Portland be a better option and then travel across to SF?

And if anyone has any tips on Washington as well it would be greatly appreciated as we will probably add it to our journey.

Do you mean Oakland?
In which case NO, I am all about location when I holiday and Oakland isn't that nice from the little time I've spent there.

Washington DC? or Washington State? Assuming DC, I've stayed at the beacon Hotel which is walking distance to Whitehouse and all the memorials/museums and smack bang next to the Au embassy lol.

 

[AnnaB]

Do you mean Oakland?
In which case NO, I am all about location when I holiday and Oakland isn't that nice from the little time I've spent there.

Washington DC? or Washington State? Assuming DC, I've stayed at the beacon Hotel which is walking distance to Whitehouse and all the memorials/museums and smack bang next to the Au embassy lol.

Yes, Oakland Still a bit jet-lagged and planning my next trip is not a good combo And yes, Washington DC, I should have been clearer. Thank you for the tips.

I am a bit weary of using AirBNB at the moment as there might be some crack downs on them before we get there. I would love to utilise them, but as it is illegal, I am staying away from booking through them until I know what is happening.

I still have plenty of time, I just like to know my options before I start locking anything in.

 

[BriarFlyer]

Thanks for this thread, RoseAnna and contributors. I'm also looking at accommodation options in several US cities for 2017. Blown away by the prices (in USD, without the exchange rate!) and so I appreciate the tips on more budget-friendly options.

 

[BAM1748]

Thanks for this thread, RoseAnna and contributors. I'm also looking at accommodation options in several US cities for 2017. Blown away by the prices (in USD, without the exchange rate!) and so I appreciate the tips on more budget-friendly options.

An don't forget the price you see isn't the price you pay, always add tax!

 

[funnymummy]

Hi just returned from USA and in NY I stayed at Washington Jefferson on 51st which was great - you can always sign up for hotwire and wotif secret hotels too which give great deals

 

[AnnaB]

An don't forget the price you see isn't the price you pay, always add tax!

And tips!

If you book through say Booking.com.au, wont taxed be included or will they still add more?

 

[AnnaB]

Thanks for this thread, RoseAnna and contributors. I'm also looking at accommodation options in several US cities for 2017. Blown away by the prices (in USD, without the exchange rate!) and so I appreciate the tips on more budget-friendly options.

Me too, I was quite surprised with the cost of hotels and accommodation as everyone I have spoken to said it was cheap as... I am already redoing the travel budget Will be a bit more then I expected, but we have time to look through things thankfully. Also blown away with the assistance and help from the members here, it is priceless when looking around.

 

[yld200]

I did all of those locations last year in October.

In LA i stayed at Magic Castle Hotel which was around $320 AUD /night. The hotel was pretty good and the staff are amazing, you get free snacks, they do your laundry and a basic breakfast is included. It's right behind the walk of fame and Chinese theater. If you're interested you can get an invite to the special magic club next door which is meant to be pretty good. Only downside is that a lot of families stay here so you get kids running around the pool, but rooms toward the back are pretty quiet and comfortable. We also stayed at Elan hotel ($250 AUD / night) which was ok, again breakfast included with snacks served in the afternoon. We had a room right at the front which sucked cos it was noisy with all the rd traffic.

In Vegas we stayed at Aria $350 AUD /night- Great hotel, very nice and clean, not as smokey as some of the others. Basic room was very spacious and comfortable and would recommend this hotel. It's a bit of a walk to the strip which is a downside but you can catch the free monorail to the Bellagio from the shops at Crystal. I've stayed at the Bellagio in the past and thought it was fantastic.

In New York, I really struggled to find a place that was within our budget and was in a good location. Being in NY for the first time I wanted to stay central and ended up booking Hotel Yotel - $340 AUD /night. Was pretty affordable and decent location, not too noisy and a 10 minute walk to the nearest metro station. It's a decent cheap option for some.

In San Fran we stayed at Petite Auberge ($340 AUD /night) between Union Square, Chinatown and Nob Hill. This is a cute little french themed place which is walking distance to Union square and many little restaurants and places nearby.

 

[Nug300]

+1 for the Holiday Inn Express at Fishermans Wharf SF.

In fact during our 8 week trip we stayed in a few HI and HIE and was never disappointing, in fact probably some of the most comfortable beds/pillows ive slept on (maybe be personal preference however). Certainly value for money and would happily stay again.

Did stay at the Intercon in San Fran too, very nice but $$$$.

Stayed at the Crowne Plaza Beverly Hills, was ok without being great, but close to the shopping of Rodeo Dr. Agree with needing a car in LA however to see most of the sights so doesnt really matter where you stay.

Only stayed at the Times Square Intercontinental and that was very nice, but the location came with the price tag, that was a treat to my wife.

 

[DontGetMeStarted]

I have stayed at the Elan in LA a few times snd again just a few months ago great location for shopping, safe, free evening drinks and breakfast but you do have to ask for a room away from the front of the hotel - I think I got it for $199 US on a prepaid booking
For Las Vegas we have stayed at Treasure Island - prices can vary especially with weekend stays but again I like the position
NYC, we have stayed at Hilton Times Square North, large rooms, free breakfast, over the road from a supermarket and wine shop..within walking distance to major sites and close to the subway
Have not been to SF for many years but I am sure we stayed at the Holiday Inn near the Wharf

 

[sausagefingers]

+1 for the Holiday Inn Express at Fishermans Wharf SF.

In fact during our 8 week trip we stayed in a few HI and HIE and was never disappointing, in fact probably some of the most comfortable beds/pillows ive slept on (maybe be personal preference however). Certainly value for money and would happily stay again.

Did stay at the Intercon in San Fran too, very nice but $$$$.

Stayed at the Crowne Plaza Beverly Hills, was ok without being great, but close to the shopping of Rodeo Dr. Agree with needing a car in LA however to see most of the sights so doesnt really matter where you stay.

Only stayed at the Times Square Intercontinental and that was very nice, but the location came with the price tag, that was a treat to my wife.

Agreed, when you're traveling with kids on a budget its hard to go past Holiday Inn for value, free breakfast, staff are always nice and comfy beds.

 

[cove]

We have really liked Loews in Santa Monica,Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Fairmont in San Francisco and Marriott Marquis in New York. In each case we had to negotiate the price and ended up with fair value.