Family friendly NYC hotels
NOVOTEL NEW YORK
Times Square, 226 West 52nd Street, New York.
Tel: 001-212-315-0100, novotel.com
Under 16s stay free with each paying adult (parents or grandparents) and they get a free buffet breakfast too. Those aged five and under get a toy on arrival at the hotel and there is an entertainment area with an Xbox console (although you may want to hide this fact). The hotel is in the theatre district, in the heart of Midtown, and so is a walk away from many attractions including Broadway theatres, and a not too great hike from the Empire State Building and MoMA. The hotel’s restaurant has massive windows – and a terrace – looking onto Times Square. There is a special 5pm check-out on Sundays to allow you time to get all the family paraphernalia together.
Rooms: There are 480 in total and family rooms accommodate two adults and two children on a king-size bed and a sofa bed, or on two double beds. Cots are available. Doubles start at around $149 (€113) a night. Rooms with a view of Times Square start at $184 (€140). Keep an eye out for frequent special offers and packages.
SKYLINE HOTEL,
725 Tenth avenue, 49th Street, New York.
Tel: 001-212-586-3400, skylinehotelny.com
The Skyline Hotel, in Midtown Manhattan, shows its family-friendly credentials by offering special packages and sizeable accommodation. Eighty per cent of the hotels rooms have two double beds or more and facilities include a rooftop swimming pool that is open until 10pm each night. While it doesn’t apply to Irish guests, the hotel’s extensive welcome runs to pets – up to two are allowed in each room (with a $200/€152 deposit, presumably to insure against Fido etching with his claws). The hotel is in an area formerly known as Hell’s Kitchen and close to where West Side Story was filmed. It is south west of Central Park, west of Times Square and within walking distance of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, Broadway and boat tours from Pier 83.
Rooms: There are 232 rooms including an executive king, with king-sized bed and sofa bed (from $180/€137), deluxe queen, with two queen beds (from $170/€130), junior suite, with two queen beds and a sofa bed in an adjoining room (from $305/€232), and a superior room, with two doubles beds (from $125/€95). The hotel runs frequent family package deals.
HOTEL BELLECLAIRE
250 West 77th Street, New York.
Tel: 001-212-362-7700, hotelbelleclaire.com
The main thing you want from a hotel when you arrive with kids in tow is to know that they actually want you and Hotel Belleclaire, on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, has many facilites geared to kids. There are multi-bed rooms – with doubles side by side – as well as what they say is one of the largest family suites in the city, with one double bed in one room and two double beds in an adjoining room. In recognition that kids don’t just stick to eating at meal times, and are wont to demand various concoctions at various times of the day, the family suites have microwaves in them, plus a fridge. There’s free coffee and tea in the lobby in the morning, and a welcome drink on arrival. For downtime, there are also free DVDs for families (and complimentary DVD players to go with them) – and free Wi-Fi – but there are lots of child-friendly things to do nearby.
The hotel is within walking distance of Central Park, the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the American Museum of Natural History (with exhibits from Earth to space) and the Beacon Theatre (musical theatre). The hotel occasionally has offers on museum tickets and the like.
Rooms: There are 230 rooms including deluxe doubles, with two double beds; parlor suites, with a bed and living room with sofa bed, and family suites, with accommodation for up to six people: a double bed in one room and two doubles in a connected room. deluxe doubles cost from $159 (€121) a night, parlor suites are from $309 (€235) and family suites cost from $349 (€265).