Hotels – Motels

The cheapest way to stay in the city is to use the hostels. Some are better and more comfortable than others so do your homework. If you do want an actual hotel, know that even places like Best Western can be around $200 in the city. Look for deals on the hotel’s website if you have a particular hotel in mind or call and ask to speak to the manager to ask about any manager’s specials.

Also, avoid the touristy areas like Times Square. Those will be more expensive than hotels in less touristy parts of Manhattan or another borough.

Your hotel might be a little cheaper, but I would avoid staying in NJ or just out of the city in NY state. When you add in the cost of the added transportation for NJ Transit, Metro North or Long Island Railroad to your hotel, it might equal or come close to a hotel or hostel in the city. Also, not all of those trains run all night so your nights would be cut short. And part of your day could be shot just getting into the city everyday depending upon just how far out you end up. Plus, some of those hotels like to advertise that they are “close to NYC” but in reality are an hour away – more by train.

This is a list of sites that have hostels:

And here’s a list of sites for cheaper hotels:

You might also want to try craigslist for people who are renting out their apartments for weekends that they will be away. Since you would have to find more than one place, this might more of a crapshoot for you, but it might be worth looking into anyway. I’m pretty sure there’s even a website for such a thing, but I really can’t remember what it is, but thought I’d mention in case someone else knows what I’m talking about and give you the name.

Good luck and have fun.

edit – I found some sites for the possibility of staying in someone’s home instead of a hotel.
homeexchange.com

I’ve never used any of them, so I can’t vouch for any, but I have it on a list of free/cheap things from some article I found on the web.