Tag: Manhattan

The Perfect Hotel To Warm Up In After Freezing While Seeing The Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade

I have hotels in Manhattan I like to stay in when we’re going to see shows. A different hotel might be better when I’m going to see the premiere of MST3K at a movie theater near Lincoln Center. There’s even a great hotel when we’re in New York to sing at Carnegie Hall. This trip called for something different and totally foreign to me; I needed a hotel that would be good for seeing the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.

Fortunately, we planned this trip way in advance. I was able to do my research and found the best hotel for our needs and our price range. I would have loved if I could afford to stay at one of the hotels where you can see the parade from your room but I wasn’t willing to pay several thousand dollars for a package (as the places with the good locations know they’re desirable and charge accordingly). The hotel I picked was available to book with points so it was really the perfect place to stay.

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All About Broadway’s Rewards Program

Did you know there’s a rewards program for Broadway? One of Sharon and my favorite trips is going to New York to see Broadway shows. We have our favorites, like Hamilton, The Book of Mormon and Avenue Q, but we also try to see some new shows as much as possible. While we love seeing any productions, I also make sure we earn points every time we go to the theater.

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Audience Rewards is a loyalty program for Broadway. When you buy tickets for most Broadway shows, you just need to include your Audience Rewards number on the reservation and you’ll receive your points after you’ve seen the show. You can enroll in the program for free at the Audience Rewards website.

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The Shower In Our Hotel Room Was Broken; Here’s What We Got For It

I’ve recently written about how we used points to book a Marriott Residence Inn in Manhattan along the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade route. While I have a full review of the hotel coming up soon, I’d like to share a quick story about the shower in the room.

After waking up at 5AM to get dressed in as many layers of clothes as we could, we headed out into the 22 degree weather to wait for the parade. While we were cold, it was totally worth it. Immediately after the parade we headed to our room to take a well deserved nap.

Several hours later, we started to warm up and wake up to face the rest of the day. That meant nice warm showers (and a much needed shave for me, as I let my beard grow out for the previous week, hoping it would keep my face warm. It didn’t).

When I went to take my shower, this was not what I wanted to see.

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How We Went To The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade With Miles & Points (and $22.40)

Last December, when we were putting up Christmas decorations at the house, Sharon and I were talking about the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York. Despite living in the area for most of our lives, I had never been to see the parade and Sharon last went to see it when she was three. We had a crazy idea that this would be the year we’d head to New York in November.

The first thing I needed to check was if I could get the time off of work over the holiday. Amazingly, space was there so I put in for the time off and it was quickly approved. Then it hit me. I’d need to make hotel and flight reservations during one of the busiest travel times of the year. The one thing working for me was that I had plenty of notice and I smartly took the Monday after the holiday off so we didn’t need to fly home on Sunday.

I’m always up for a challenge, so I started looking to see what was available (and for how much).

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How Do You Rebuild A Hotel Around A Historic Landmark?

New York City, and specifically the Manhattan/Times Square area, is the place we visit more often than anywhere else. We have a list of hotels where we like to stay and will choose from those, depending on the reason for our stay. There are the hotels good for a quick weekend of seeing shows. Other hotels are better for longer stays because they have larger rooms and are less expensive, even if they’re a bit further away from the theater district.

We have one hotel we save for a particular type of stay; one where we’re traveling with friends and are willing to split a room to save some money. At this hotel, every room is a two room suite with a main bedroom and and a large sofa bed in the living room. I was sad when I read this hotel is set to close as part of a massive redevelopment project.

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