The Wolcott Hotel, NYC, located on 31st Street, is 3 blocks away from the Empire State Building on 5th Ave. And its also supposed to be one of New York’s best kept hotel bargain secrets. Now this is no idle boast. The New York Times lists the hotel in its featured list of six bargain NYC hotels. The editor of NYCTourist.com, New York’s official tourism website, picks the hotel as his best pick for NYC lodging. With impeccable references like this for being a decent bargain hotel, its worth taking the trouble to find out what makes the Wolcott so attractive.

For starters, like all good Fifth Ave hotels, the Wolcott is a stroll away from the New York you see in the tourist brochures - Macy’s, the Garment District and Braodway, Javits, Penn Station, Madison Square Garden and the Rockefeller Center. Being so squarely situated in downtown Manhattan also makes it very convinient if you want to take a bus or the subway to other points of attraction in New York or the outer boroughs.

The ornate lobby of the hotel makes it seem more like the ballroom of the Titanic than a budget hotel, and you wonder how they can afford to keep all that brass and the solid wood furnishings and the chandeliers polished and clean. For business travelers, the hotel offers a business center, conference and exhibit rooms, a theater for presentations and a classroom. There’s also a fully equipped fitness center.

All rooms and suites at the Walcott feature television with cable, in-room movies and a Nintendo for games. Amenities include an in-room safe, hairdryer, iron/ironing board, with free coffee and muffins in the hotel lobby available every morning. Minimum booking is for two rooms (which is one the reasons the hotel is so affordable), since they collect at least $600 plus taxes from each guest. That basically means that the room rates start at $150 per room per night. For families, the Wolcott offers the ‘Triple Room’ with two connection rooms, one with twin beds. This ‘triple Room’ costs $320 for two nights, or $160 per night.

In summary, New York family hotels don’t come cheap, and its a good bet that you won’t find a more balanced deal, which has just the right mix of economy and luxury. If you’re looking at a family vacation in new York, you can save hundreds of dollars by putting up at the Wolcott, without your kids and spouse starting to grumble that you’re Uncle Scrooge’s second coming. Besides, you have a chance to win two free nights in New York. Click here to enter the contest (please enter Cango.com ion the field which asks where you heard about the contest).

Info: 4 West 31st Street New York, NY 10001; (212) 268-2900