Looking at 2nd to 8th October, don’t really have an area preference. We love to walk and explore and would like one bed (king/queen). We might do one day out of the city, potentially cold spring, so being near grand central will be good for that.

The Shelburne is considered a decent hotel, but is the budget option in the Affinia chain in NYC. You've quoted a good price but what is the "deluxe suite"? They don't have a room called that on their website.

It's further east than all of the Midtown sights, including Times Square, but walkable. You also have a few blocks to walk to the nearest subway station (the 6 train only, so you'll be transferring to other trains a lot).

Have you also looked at other Affinia options? The Fifty is a good hotel too.

Also take a look at something like booking.com that shows you all of the available properties and where they're located.

I think it's too early to lock in to one hotel yet. Keep looking, there could be great deals over the next year.

That was the description of the room I booked, but expect it’s just the suite with a pantry area. I’ll keep an eye out for offers and specials (while crossing fingers for the COVID vaccine).

Thank you

Grand Central Terminal is also walkable (7-8 mins) but within the station it can be confusing with all the different subway lines. It'll take extra time to find them. Good option though for having multiple subway lines handy.

Unless having apartment style with kitchen is important to you, keep looking. Based on my limited looking for myself, there are a large number of more upscale hotels that have rates within your budget, even for premium times like September and October. A number of hotels have reduced prices from what would be typical, even for cancelable rates.

Value is hard to measure because different people have different priorities. Some may love the idea of huge space, while others are more attuned to having luxurious bed linens and beautiful design, or great views,

My feeling is that having a kitchen is only useful if you are going to run back to eat. My travel style is to eat near wherever I am at rather then spend the time returning. If the room has a refrigerator, you could purchase something for breakfast unless you needed something big cooked.

If we’re there for 6 nights it might be good to have take out or pick something up from a deli on a couple of those. However we don’t necessarily need a kitchen for that....I like the idea of a hotel with wine hour, Giraffe and library might also be good options?

I liked the Arthouse on the UWS. Convenient location and there were some good room configurations. We didn’t have, nor want, a kitchen. Note that it does have a “resort” fee so the first glance of rates will ultimately be higher. I believe the Beacon is nearby so you might already know the area. Close to Central Park, lots of shops and restaurants, and subway stops.

Giraffe and Library are more upscale than Shelburne I believe. If you can get a similar room at those at the same rate as Shelburne I’d probably go for one of those.

But still too early to lock anything in. If it’s cancellable that’s good. Keep something for now and keep your eye out for other good deals as well.