Hotel Change

Almost all the hotels in mid-town Manhattan are a bit beyond our budget so we always stay in the area just south of the Empire State Building which happens to be Koreatown.  The prices seem to be the lowest in this area but, regardless of the budget prices, some of the hotels are quite nice.  For this next trip to Manhattan this coming Christmas with Lukey and Kenzie, we had already made reservations to stay at the Life Hotel on 31st Street just a block or two from the Empire State Building.

The Life Hotel was just recently reopened and is actually quite nice.  This building used to be the headquarters for Life magazine but it more recently had been converted to a hotel.  We were really excited to be staying in a hotel that used to be the headquarters for Life magazine.

Since I will be our tour guide and this is Lukey and Kenzie's first trip to Manhattan, I was familiarizing myself with Grand Central Terminal late last night in preparation of this upcoming Christmas visit to Manhattan.  I was getting my bearings and refreshing my memory while looking at a map of Grand Central when I noticed that there is an entrance to the Hyatt Grand Central right inside Grand Central Terminal.  

Hmmm...  I was thinking, "a Hyatt in mid-town Manhattan...  right on top of Grand Central Terminal...  this will ikely be beyond our budget" but I figured I had nothing to lose in checking this out so I did a quick search in Google to get to the Hyatt Grand Central website.

It turns out that the Hyatt will be only an additional $100 compared to our stay at Life Hotel!

Sheila had already fallen asleep for the night so I waited until this morning to discuss what I found last night while she was sleeping.

The only sort of downside to this Hyatt location is that Penn Station (our arrival station) is only a half of a mile from Life Hotel while Grand Central Terminal and the Hyatt is a mile from Penn Station.  

However...  

When Amtrak drops us off at Penn Station, we could just hop on the 1, 2 or 3 train in Penn Station...  go just two short stops to Times Square...  then transfer to the Shuttle which takes us directly to Grand Central (which is also just two short stops).  That is pretty easy and requires minimal walking with luggage.

Even a walk from Penn Station to Grand Central wouldn't be bad...  just walk down 34th Street past Macy's to the base of the Empire State Building on 5th Avenue...  then up 5th Avenue to 42nd Street (at the huge New York Public Library)...  then a couple of blocks down 42nd Street to Grand Central.  We've done that walk many times and it isn't bad at all.  Plus, there are plenty of sites to see along this route... ie, Macy's where the Thanksgiving Parade is seen on television every year, the Empire State Building, passing all the shops on 5th Avenue, and the Public Library of Ghostbusters fame.  The downside is that we would be wheeling luggage with us.  Wheeling luggage isn't terrible but it is a bit annoying navigating curbs and potholes for every street we need to cross while trying to stay out of everyone else's way.

Taking the subway is pretty easy though.  It is not pretty but it is easy.  That being said, the time it takes to wait for a train, then ride to the first stop...  wait for the transfer...  then ride to our destination...  is probably about the same amount of time as walking the mile.  The subway would be less curbs to deal with while dragging our luggage while walking.  So, the two modes of transportation are probably equal when it comes to pro's and con's.

One of the downsides to staying at the Life Hotel is that Lukey and Kenzie would be sharing a rather narrow futon.  Finding anything other than Korean food around the area of the Life Hotel is difficult too so that was another little sticking point.  Another downside of the Life Hotel is that 31st isn't the nicest street.  The hotel is beautiful but the street is a bit nasty...  not unsafe, just filthy.  The Hyatt would resolve all these little sticking points of staying at the Life Hotel.

The Hyatt is located above Grand Central Terminal within blocks of the Bryant Park skating rink and Christmas Village, Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Radio City Music Hall, St Patrick's Cathedral...  it is right in mid-town Manhattan where most of the sites we plan to visit are located.  This is a huge plus that saves quite a bit of time.  

The Hyatt has a larger room than the Life Hotel.  The Hyatt has two double beds which provides more sleeping room and a more comfortable sleeping arrangement for Lukey and Kenzie.  The Hyatt has a city view from our room which is a nice plus.  And, the Hyatt has a nice restaurant.  Right across the street from the Hyatt is a place we planned to eat breakfast one of the days too.  Grand Central Terminal is a good place for purchasing little snack food items and drinks for our room both of which are difficult to find near the Life Hotel.

We had another little logistical problem with the Life Hotel.  Sheila and the kids will be skating early in the morning on Tuesday and Wednesday (one morning at Rockefeller Center, the next morning at Bryant Park) and then they will want to drop their skates off at the hotel so they are not carrying them around all day long.  Well, the Life Hotel is about a 20 minute walk from these rinks while the Hyatt is just a few blocks away.  Over the course of the two days, being closer to these rinks could save us about two hours in time and that is significant.

Needless to say, Sheila agreed with me this morning in that the Hyatt is a better option for us on this trip.  We booked a City View room at the Hyatt and cancelled our room at the Life Hotel.