Anyone who's traveled much will tell you that New York City hotels are among the priciest in the world. Still, there are bargains in the Big Apple, including these:
Hotel QT. Flash is hard to find on the cheap, but these spiffy digs give good groove for the buck. Yes, the rooms are quite small, but what the place lacks in volume it makes up for in style. The pool (photo, right) is a knock out, the amenities include DVD players, flat-screen TVs, and the location in Midtown can't be beat.
Larchmont Hotel. If Greenwich Village is where you want to be, this is the place for you. Bathrooms are shared, and there's no room service, but these residential-style accommodations are all anyone could want for the price. Rooms are small, but, hey, you didn't come all the way to New York to sit in a room, did you? You'll love the tasteful safari theme in the rooms, the cozy communal kitchen (where free Continental breakfast is served each morning), and the well-stocked bookshelves. The hotel is convenient to everything in the Village.
Millennium Hilton. During the week, this swanky black skyscraper across the street from Ground Zero is wall to wall business travelers, and the room rates reflect their hefty expense accounts. But on weekends, after the lap-top set has flown home, the hotel reduces rates, sometimes drastically, to attract customers. And who wouldn't want to stay here? Modern furniture, contoured built-in desks, enormous plasma TVs, generous views of both the Hudson and East rivers -- it's paradise, baby. The health club has an Olympic-size pool with windows that look out on St. Paul's Church.