In terms of hotels, hotwire.com is showing a 3.5-star hotel in the East Village/Lower East Side area with a 95% hotwire customer approval rating and a 4.5/5 tripadvisor approval rating for $221/night during the last week of September. Comparing this listing to the information on betterbidding.com, it appears that this hotel is probably the Wyndham Garden Inn Chinatown, which, while not in the most attractive location, is in a perfectly safe area, is close to the subway, and is in the heart of "real" NYC. IMHO, it's a great location from which to explore (by citibike, were it me, or by walking or subway for those who are not comfortable biking around the city).