Text Size

Email Post

Print Post

Comments (11)

Save Article

Manhattan, NY - Tourist-hungry hotels are slashing room rates - even the famed Waldorf-Astoria, where anyone with a couple of Ben Franklins can bed down.

The Park Ave. landmark, where the rich and famous pay $5,000 a night for the best suite, is offering $199 rooms for the hoi polloi who book in advance.

The accommodations are on the small side - a cozy 210 square feet - but let's just say it's a big upgrade from the Budget Inn.

Guests enjoy mahogany decor, marble bathroom fixtures, free high-speed Internet, and 250 thread-count sheets. Celebrity sightings don't cost a penny extra.

"Normally, I would not go to a hotel like this - never," said Florian Schubert, 23, a German student splitting a discount room with a friend.

"Because it was so cheap, [I could]," he said. "My dad was excited."

The Waldorf - where a mini-suite costs $319 a night and a one-bedroom suite is $694 - might be the most dramatic example of the cost-cutting, but hotels across the city are lowering prices.

The average price for a hotel room in the city was $203 this April, down 25% from $273 a year ago, Smith Travel Research said in a report.

Hilton, which owns the Waldorf and two other Manhattan hotels, said rates are at a six-year low as part of a "New York on Sale" promotion.

"Both the business and leisure travelers have budgets that are reduced," said chain spokesman Mark Ricci, who added that the rate is aimed at families traveling on weekends and in the summer.

Rooms at several Marriott locations are under $200.

With a 20% discount, a king-sized bed at the Courtyard New York Midtown East goes for $183. The Marriott Marquis in the heart of Times Square was $299.

The Waldorf's sister hotels - the Hilton New York in midtown and the Millenium Hilton in lower Manhattan - have rooms for $169 and $159.

At smaller hotels, the savings are just as big.

The St. Marks Hotel in the East Village is charging $102 for a basic room, down from $140 a year ago.

"Last year, you couldn't find a room here," said front desk clerk Sam Harris, who said the weekday occupancy rate is only 70%.

"We lowered our rates because of the recession to attract more people," he said. "Not as many Americans travel, that's for sure."

Andrea Kisch, visiting from St. Paul, Minn., paid $203 for a room at the Washington Square Hotel - 15% less than it would have cost last year.

"It made it so we were able to afford to stay here. We probably wouldn't have been able to last year," she said.