I'm planning a trip to NYC in late September (23-26), and there seem to be basically no decent 4 stars for less than $400/night - can anyone explain to an ignorant German why prices for that period are almost double of those for the same time in August?

September is always especially pricey in NYC. I know there is a bunch of conventions and shows in town, notably Fashion Week and also Coterie.

I am not sure about this year, but the United Nations usually has some sort of an assembly during the 2nd or 3rd week of the month.

My mother is in the fashion indusrty and she attends the Coterie show; luckily, her hotel room at The London is complimentary via her Centurion card. The room, which usually goes for $399, is at $699 for her dates. Air fare was pretty cheap though.

Last year for the same show she stayed at the Carlyle which, she said, was filled with UN delegates.

Seems like September is overall a really busy month/high season in NYC.

That is also not on the weekend which depending on the area could be cheaper. I am going the 9/27-10/1 and it does suck that they still do not have summer rates. I am staying on the weekend so I got a 3 for 2 deal which brought down the price to around 310 a night. Then I am using starpoints for the 4th night.

Ouch! I have the same problem - wanting to fit 4 nights in NYC into a trip to various bits of the US, and the dates are fixed at 22-26/9 (arr Saturday, depart Wednesday). Scary prices, particularly for the Monday and Tuesday nights!

Any thoughts on places to stay which are clean and simple but have a room of at least, say 25 sq.ft within 10 minutes walk of Central Park? I don't need any hotel facilities or food except a clean, reasonable size room with one queen bed, with a decent bathroom, and preferably a laptop compatible in-room safe, and broadband internet access. I had been hoping to get away with US$300-350/night and I don't have any significant hotel chain loyalty or points to use.

Ouch! I have the same problem - wanting to fit 4 nights in NYC into a trip to various bits of the US, and the dates are fixed at 22-26/9 (arr Saturday, depart Wednesday). Scary prices, particularly for the Monday and Tuesday nights!

Any thoughts on places to stay which are clean and simple but have a room of at least, say 25 sq.ft within 10 minutes walk of Central Park? I don't need any hotel facilities or food except a clean, reasonable size room with one queen bed, with a decent bathroom, and preferably a laptop compatible in-room safe, and broadband internet access. I had been hoping to get away with US$300-350/night and I don't have any significant hotel chain loyalty or points to use.

Book a cancellable stay now! You should be able to find a 3* or 4* hotel, even for MON-WED in Midtown. Then start bidding on Priceline.com. You should be able to get a 4* hotel for around USD 200 a night - at least during weekend. MON-WED will be harder to get. You may have to split the days you are bidding for in order to get a succesful bid. You should wait until within one week of your stay - many rooms will be released to Priceline only a few days before. You will find much more details on betterbiding.com and biddingfortravel.com

I had a hard time for the nights of 10/3-10/4. The folks who run NYC hotels just KNOW when to squeeze you and from Labor day through to early December is one of those times.