Times Square Archives - Your Mileage May Vary

Hotel Review: Courtyard New York Manhattan/Central Park

We’ve stayed at several hotels in Manhattan around the theater district. We’ve gone fancy, like the time we stayed at the Waldorf=Astoria and we’ve gone for the best value when we stayed at the Fitzpatrick Grand Central. This trip, we had a set of parameters we needed a hotel to meet. We didn’t want it to be too expensive and we wanted to be close to the Sheraton New York on 53rd St.

I was flexible with booking either a chain or independent hotel since I planned on using our Citi Prestige card to book our four-night stay and get one night free. A quick search turned up a hotel which had a rate which was almost too low to be believed.

Going to the hotel website, I confirmed the rate was real and booked a room with the Citi Concierge via email.

Here are the details of our stay:

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Longer ESTA Process, Theft at WDW, American Airlines Posted Emails & AA Acct. Numbers on ‘Net & More…

Happy Sunday to all of our travel friends, both near and far! Here are some articles we’ve read from other bloggers (and other sources) that we think you may like, as well, so we’re passing them along.

Continue reading “Longer ESTA Process, Theft at WDW, American Airlines Posted Emails & AA Acct. Numbers on ‘Net & More…”

Hotel Review: Residence Inn New York Manhattan/Times Square

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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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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Margaritaville Expands, Easy SPG Points, The Newest Harry Potter Ride, Getting A Free Night At A Better Hotel + More

Hi y’all! Here are some travel articles we’ve read this week that we thought you might find interesting!

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“It’s 5 O’Clock at a Margaritaville hotel somewhere” should be the new slogan for the hotels bearing the same name as the iconic Jimmy Buffett song. The brand is expanding rapidly from their original focus on beachfront resorts and is now opening locations in major cities. They’ve just announced a hotel in Times Square set to open in 2020.
Nick from Frequent Miler walks us through a dilemma that all collectors of miles and points eventually has to deal with; should you use your rewards points or should you pay cash? The answer is different for everyone but it depends on what value you give to your points.
Tourism to Las Vegas is going down and one expert is suggesting the dip is due to hotel fees and parking charges making trips there more expensive.
Last week, Southwest announced the cities they’ll fly to in Hawaii. This week, they revealed the what airports they’ll fly to Hawaii from. Maybe next week we’ll find out the exact routes.
Here’s how you can earn an easy 250 Starpoints on each Starwood stay just by using mobile check in with the SPG app.
Ed from Pizza In Motion tells us which six airlines were added to the list of those that participate with TSA Precheck.
Theme Park University has a good history of explaining new rides and attraction before they’re done and Hagrid’s Roller Coaster, currently under construction in Hogsmeade in the Wonderful World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando’s Islands of Adventure is no exception. Here’s what they write from what they know, what they can gather from the construction so far, and a smidge of whisperings from within the theme park industry.
Lucky from One Mile at a Time writes about changes that reportedly are coming to the Chase Sapphire Reserve card.
Stefan from Rapid Travel Chai shared the news that IHG has changed their minds (again) about the Anniversary Free Night from the IHG Rewards Club Select credit card. This time the change is for the better and IMHO it’s what they should have done in the first place.
Walt Disney World has held Night of Joy, an annual Christian rock themed event, for over 30 years. Until now. This week they announced they are shelving the popular event.
When booking a trip for his parents, James from One Mile at a Time learned the lesson that not everyone has the same preferences when they travel. What may seem like a perfectly normal plan to a miles and points junkie doesn’t appeal to the rest of the world. Heed his warning, as these words of wisdom are usually only learned from personal experience.

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