I work remotely and need to spend about a week in New York soon for a work project. Their accountant needs me to book a hotel vs a bnb because in their words it’s ‘recognized as standard business lodging’.
started looking at different accommodation options and tbh, didn’t expect hotel prices to be this high for just a week. I’d want to keep things in the allotment.
Super, Bookings kept showing lower hotel prices for a few places I checked, but I’ve never used them before. Is super. com is legit for hotels before booking something for the week. Did anyone save money using them for a work stay, and was it easy enough to use for reimbursement?
PS: Main thing is I need something straightforward that won’t cause issues when submitting for reimbursement. It’s reimbursed after the fact, so trying to keep upfront costs reasonable while staying within policy.
How do you save money on hotel bookings? Need to work out of N.Y for a week but on a budget.
byu/Successful_Front_299 inFrugal
Posted by Successful_Front_299
13 Comments
Talk to the project manager about the budget they expect to pay for a hotel room – it’s probably higher than you expect.
But if you don’t have the cash up front to rent the room, I guess you’ll have to stay further from the office and commute.
Look at places I. Jersey city or the Burroughs. NYC summer prices will be expensive.
NYC has a lot of hotels where there is a shared bathroom down the hall. These are generally cheaper than having a bathroom in the room.
Honestly, this needs to be a conversation with the project accountant. Prices in NYC are going to be high and you should be able to book a regular hotel through their website at the refundable rate and expect the company to pay for it. Make it their problem. Show them the price and make them find an alternative if they say they won’t pay for it
Does your company have a list of recommended hotels?
I’d expect them to have a list – both for controlling costs and to make sure you’re picking a hotel that’s convenient for work.
General advice: look at where you’ll need to be for work, look for hotels along subway / NJ transit / PATH / LIRR / etc. lines, double check travel time.
You could also ask if they’ll pay for the hotel up front, even if reimbursement is their typical policy. Since it’s a week they should recognize that’s a substantial cost to ask an employee to bear, especially in New York City
Here’s an older but still relevant column from Ask A Manager on how to approach your boss to ask: https://www.askamanager.org/2013/06/can-my-company-require-me-to-put-business-travel-on-my-own-credit-card.html
If this is in NYC, Air BnB is illegal unless it’s a 30 day stay or you stay in an apartment with a host and rent a room only.
So you wouldn’t be able to rent a legal AirBnB anyway if it’s only a week stay.
When I work in NYC I stay in New Jersey. It is much cheaper over there. You will add an hour to your commute both ways every day. I had a rental car because I didn’t take the time to understand the transit system but you may possibly get along without.
I also want to confirm that your company is reimbursing you because you shouldn’t be expected to pay for this. Surely, they want to save money too, but it shouldn’t be your money.
I agree your company should be prepared to pay the going rate. That said, CitizenM hotels in my experience have been modern, clean, (tiny), and way less than typical hotels.
Call the motel directly.
While I do use the web to check locations and surroundings, after checking a few sites, the massive number of cookies each search makes insures you will not get the lowest price. Even switching devices, the cheapest price the last four times were by calling the individual motel directly. Our last trip, the room was $113 a night including all taxes for a Friday-Saturday. The no discount price on the booking sites was $163 to 249. This was at a Days Inn, another pretty run down chain. Five times their rooms had issues, but the beds were always comfortable enough. Bring a power bar as there are not enough outlets open if you have three devices that need an outlet. It is common to have the lamp and cheap alarm take both outlets on one side of the bed. The bigger lower priced motels are cheaper and good enough for a place to wash up and sleep. We don’t go on trips to sit in the room.
The app Hotel Tonight, if the trip is relatively soon (within 2 months or less). It’s like a wholesaler of unpurchased hotel rooms.
I’ve used it in many high demand cities, including San Francisco, NYC, Philadelphia, and Boulder CO during homecoming lol. You do have to carefully examine the location you’re considering and match it to transit options. Never look only at mileage to where you want to be – that’s meaningless in NYC. Some very cheap hotels are that way because they are isolated and require a car.
I’ve called the hotel directly and been told they can’t match the HT price.
NYC or NYS ?
Google the hotel name and discount codes.
Had to stay ay Motel 6 and Super 8 for 6 months, and didnt discover the coupon codes that are available until 3 months in 🙁