The "location, location, location" adage is famous in Real Estate. And accurate. A property's zip code means a lot more than what's resting on any given site! Yesterday I discovered the adage to be true when applied to hotel accommodations. Well, I've certainly known this already, but it became very apparent as I spent inordinate chunks of time searching hotels in Philadelphia and New York City! Booking the East Coast hotels is my assignment for our annual girlfriend escapade (which commences 9/21).
The good news is that our hotel bill gets divided 5 ways which makes even $500 rooms seem affordable @ $100 per person. Although I can't get too enticed by that division of expenses since we try to stay on a self-imposed tight budget! Loosely translated, the more we save on our hotel, the more we can spend shopping!
The other good news is that we are splitting the trip between New York and Pennsylvania and hotels are half the price in Philly! Score!
However, the bad news is also two-fold. First, the 2nd half of our trip is in the Big Apple and hotel prices in NYC have skyrocketed! I can't figure out why, but regardless, they are more pricey than I can ever remember for New York. Bummer!
Second, it's always bad news (or make that very tricky) that our traveling group of 5 prefers to stay together in one room. Not just because we're cheap, but more importantly, if we are in 2 different rooms we can't stay up late talking. Well, we can, but half the group would be missing out on enlightening conversation and none of us want to be amongst that half!
Specifically, the 1 room ideal is bad news/problematic because Hotel Management Personnel has conspired against our plans to squish 5 hotel guests into 1 room. The reservation's agents will no longer allow rollaway beds into most rooms with 2 double beds. At least not in the heart of Manhattan. Fire codes, square footage requirements, whatever. Most hotels now have a maximum 4 person per room rule! Darn, foiled again!
Brent's thinks it's a little crazy that we squeeze 5 adult women into 1 hotel room and it looks like the hotel establishment agrees with his assessment! Between online booking attempts and phone call reservations I'm fighting a losing battle to find a posh swanky hotel room that will accommodate ALL 5 of us (on our terms).
Finally, we happen to prefer safe, upscale, convenient locations with easy access to museums. Which, in New York City, it goes without saying that any hotel near The Metropolitan Museum of Art will be exorbitantly priced - just like the Upper East Side real estate.
So, I guess it's just the price we'll have to pay to be close to Central Park! And, as long as we are going to Manhattan we might as well stay close to Central Park! Right? Location, location, location (happily divided by 5, that is)!
