The newly renovated NYC Milburn Hotel, located in a cozy tree-lined residential neighbourhood,  consistently ranks in the top 10 lists of family hotels in New York, and its appeal can be summed up in three words - budget, family and location.  

Inspite of being located in a quiet and sedate section of the big city, the Milburn is conviniently accesible by bus, subway and taxi and minutes away from downtown Manhattan, the Theater District and Fifth Ave. shopping.

One bedroom suites for a full family are available for between $239 to $399 (taxes extra), and include wireless internet, a fully equipped kitchenette with microwave and refrigirator and stocked mini-bar, flat screen LCD television, cable TV, a VCR and CD player, hair dryer, iron/ironing board and coffee maker.

Includes a special VCD collection for kids and use of a heated swimming pool next to the hotel. Children under 12 are free. In addition to use of the kitchette, the hotel also offers a compimentary European style breakfast, discount access to a next door cafe which serves complimentary wine and Artisanal cheeses. Also included in the package is access to the New York Sports Club, along with overnight shoe shines.

What makes the Milburn hotel family friendly is not what it offers, but what it does not - A Times Square location, lots of swanky add-ons and gizmos in the rooms, a trendy bar with a crush of NYC patrons and hundreds of rooms (things which you normally associate with NYC hotels). The Milburn parleys the lack of these ‘NYC must-haves’ into an advantage with personalized service to the limited number of guests, low room rates and a peaceful stay on a quiet street insulated from the downtown rush and bedlam.

Even the decor has a certain understated charm with wide open spaces, soothing colors, solid furnishings and a homey feel, which certainly adds to the charm when you compare it the harsh edges, artsy cubicles and crazy multi-hued modern art adorning the walls of designer hotels.

Add to that the fact that the paint is still fresh, the bedsheets and carpets spotless and a host of new amneties and in-room services recently added after the renovation, and you have a pretty good deal if you want to explore New York with your family in a safe, comfortable and reasonable environment. In their own words, it’s a home away from home.

Info: The Milburn Hotel, 242 West 76th St, New York, NY 10023 (Btwn West End Ave. & Broadway); (212) 362-1006

If your concept of a family hotel means keeping kids happy with all sorts of diversions and amusements, and moms free to go around shopping in the finest shopping extravaganza in the world, then what you’re looking for is the Chambers Hotel on New York’s Fifth Avenue.

Chambers offers extensive help for making family vacations easier, with a complimentary kid-friendly DVD library, free wi-fi internet, cable television, cribs, rollaway beds, strollers, high chairs, laundry and maid service, room service, in room-dining, concierge, baby sitter, in room beauty treatments, masseuse…You name it - If a kid or mom wants or needs it, Chambers got it.

The rooms at the Chambers are sleek and luxurious, with lush Tibetian wool carpeting, wall to ceiling windows which light up the entire room and provide a great view of the sights on Fifth Avenue. The shower and bath have been attentively designed to be kid friendly, with short deep tubs to prevent accidents and extra large shower heads which spill the water forcefully and wide, which, if you remember your childhood, or have recently struggled to convince a kid to take a bath, is exactly what you need to coax an unwilling child into taking a bath.

Room rates, in line with the hotel’s amneties and  reputation, are way above normal, starting from $525 for a standard room, and on up to $675 for a room with a city view, walnut wood flooring and double beds. Well, nobody ever said family hotels in New York come cheap…

In fact, if I have to say so, the hotel, the glass-walled elevators climbing up the uniquely designed floors and the solid luxury and comfort of the outsize rooms make it one of the luxurious and decadent hotels in New York. The rooms all reflect this same decadence and a taste more suitable for the home office of a highly successful artist or writer, the shelves packed with books and magazines, a sleek flat screen television, understated colors and the huge windows opening out for a breathtaking view of New york City.

Dining and in-room service at the Chambers comes from the Town restaurant, slightly upscale, but with an innovative kitchen and a menu featuring modernistic versions of classic French cuisine such as chicken roasted with rhubarb, chanterelles and crushed parsnips, and Risotto of escargots with sweet garlic and black truffles. It’s actually quite chic and seems to be well frequented by NYC residents who like the ambience and the bar.

So, if you really, badly need a vacation, and so does your kid, or kids, then be willing to shell out the big bucks at the Chambers Hotel, and enjoy the guilty pleasures of the Big Apple while your children are taken care of by the hotel.

Info: 15 West 56 Street New York, NY 10019; (212) 974-5656

AP News report, via the Houston Chronicle, reports that Ethel Tropez, a Hurricane Katrina refugee from New Orleans who lives in Live Oak, Texas, says in court papers she was badly burned and suffered scarring and disfigurement after being scalded while taking a shower on March 29, 2007, in the Hotel Chandler, New York. Tropez’ lawyer, Christina Panzarella, said the water was too hot for a shower. Hotel general manager Simon van Kempen said when asked about the lawsuit that he had “no idea about any of this.” He said he would look into it and respond later.

The Chandler, owned by Triumph Hospitality, was formerly known as the Le Marquis Hotel, and is located in Murray Hill. The newly remodelled Hotel Chandler is now a luxury boutique hotel conviniently located close to the Garment and Flatiron Districts, the Empire State Building, Madison Square Garden and the Jacob K. Javits Center.

The hotel has 115 rooms, 8 junior suites and one ‘Chandler’ suite. Room rates start at $345, $595 for a junior suite and onwards. All the rooms have compimentary wi-fi and wired internet, ipod docks, wall mounted 32″ flat screen HD television, pay-per-view movies, 24 hour valet parking and concierge services, a stocked minibar and free delivery of the NY Times, along with nightly shoeshine services. In fact, the rooms look pretty snazzy and neat, and spacey, with ergonomic furniture, a work-desk and swanky lighting.

The hotel also has a fitness center and sauna, a business center with all the usual stuff including fax and copier. The dining comes NYC style, at the 12.31 lobby bar, with hanging lights and tall chairs reaching up to the curvy bar. The 12.31 offer complimentary wine and cheese, called the ‘Chandler Chin Chin’ (don’t ask), Mondays through Thursdays from 7pm until 8pm.

Info: 12 East 31st Street, New York City, New York 10016; (212) 889 -6363

So I was stuck on Staten Island over the weekend, because of the last minute rescheduling of an interview I had lined up at the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art in suburban Staten Island, and the thought of doing the ferry trip back to Manhattan and then back again to Staten Island on Monday morning was kinda depressing. So I poked around the hotels in Staten Island for a bit, until I bumped into the Hampton Inn and Suites, on South Avenue.

By NYC standards, the Hampton Inn & Suites was a sprawling huge structure, with expansive grounds and the look and feel of a federal building, rather than a dinky Hilton hotel. The lobby was as airy and opulent from the inside as the building looked from the outside. The Hampton has a bit of something for everyone, including tourists, families with kids, business conferences which expect luxury, a range of amneties and fast service, as well as budget travelers looking for some freebies.

The hotel is just minutes away from the sights and sounds of New York, including the financial district, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. So it’s a perfect location if you’re a visitor to New York looking for a quiet and comfortable place as headquarters for your excursions around the Big Apple. It’s in the middle of one of Staten Island’s numerous parks, so it’s also a good location if you have a thing for nature walks and hiking on trails.

The hotel offers double beds in rooms, cribs, high chairs and other kid-friendly amneties if you’re traveling with family, not to mention complimentary breakfast and drinks, a coin laundry and valet laundry services. For fitness freaks, there’s a pool, a jogging track and a fitness room with exercise equipment. For business travelers, the hotel offers comprehensive conferencing facilities, with meeting rooms, audio/video equipment, fax, printing and photocopying, and a public notary.

The hotel offers 107 guest rooms and suites, with a choice of a single King size bed or two Queen beds. The rooms, same as the hotel, are extra large with plush carpeting and a tinge of understated luxury. What I mean is that it has a downright easy and comfortable ambience, and you can make yourself right at home. Doesn’t mean it’s a dump. Just that the place looks nice, everything works just fine but its not like you’ll go ‘Wow! What a room!’ All rooms come equipped with a 32 inch flat screen television with complimentary high speed internet, coffee maker, hair dryer, iron/ironing board and a solid work desk and lap desk. The marble bathroom, again, was huge, with a swanky shower. Room rates start at $159, which if you consider the New York average of about $190, is quite fair, especially considering the size and spread of the accomodation, amneties and services.

The dining ain’t so bad either. Lorenzo’s Restaurant, Bar and Cabaret, a massive 150 seat diner serving free breakfast and coffee to hotel guests, along with daily lunch and dinner. The cuisine is Italian and continental, with exceptional service and a lobby lounge for after dinner entertainment and drinks. In fact, Lorenzo’s is more of a location for private and wedding parties, rather than just a simple restaurant. They pull out all the stops here, including live piano music, a cabaret show on Saturdays and a jazz brunch on Sundays. Hiroshi Yamazaki was playing live on the piano, and well…Let’s just say, for once, the heavens were smiling down on me, and I happened to be in the right place at the right time. 

Staten Island provides a nice balance between the mad rush of the City and the sedate rurality of the rest of New York. And if you’re looking for a realxing weekend getaway minutes away from downtown Manhattan, no place like the Hampton Inn and Suites.

Info: 1120 South Avenue, Staten Island, New York NY 10314; (718) 477-1600. 

Web links: Staten Island New York - hotels, visitors, restaurants, Staten Island Ferry

Are you sick and tired of the wall-to-wall election news coverage? I Am. Who cares what Hillary Clinton’s senior staffer said about Obama’s senior economist? Why should I listen to what some 83 year old in Philadelphia with one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel has to say about Clinton’s health plan? Or for that matter, what some 17 year old teen with freckles has to say about what the audacity of hope means (probably has something to do with grades not tanking inspite of spending all your time at political rallies shouting ‘Yes We Can’).

Point is, is there any place in New York safe from this barrage? Yes there is. The Casablanca Hotel in Times Square. The hotel is offering a special with the appropriately named promo code of DETOX, for election weary citizens in urgent need of rehab and relief from all the political news, valid for reservations made before April 30th with stay scheduled for a period between Memorial Day and Labor Day 2008.

You book under this package, and all your news channels will be blocked, and you also qualify for a discount of between $10 to $50 and a free Red, White and Blue turndown service which consists of brie and salt water crackers, garnished with blueberries and honey and served with red wine. “Our Red, White and Blue turndown service is a light and nourishing bedtime snack especially designed to give our weary travelers the relaxation and rest they deserve,” says General Manager John Taboada.

Only one question. Is there anyone who still reads newspapers and watches television news? What about the internet? The hotel can’t filter it, right? So how can you offer political rehab if you’re offering a room with wi-fi internet, with access to all the idiotic blogs and news websites, and worst of all - Youtube! Anyway, let’s just see what the hotel has to offer, in terms of rooms and amneties and dining.

The Casablanca is a family owned boutique hotel in midtown Manhattan, in the Theater district, with 48 luxurious rooms and suites, and the famous Rick’s Cafe on the 2nd floor. At Rick’s, European style breakfast buffet is served each morning, with assorted teas and international coffees, cookies and fresh fruit throughout the day, as well as a complimentary wine and cheese reception each evening from 5pm-8pm.

It kinda looks like a movie set home of a rich Arab sheikh or something, with quaint Moroccan decor featuring archways, lazily rotating ceiling fans, ornamental moldings, tapestries, paintings and murals hanging on the walls and corridors. In addition to Rick’s Cafe, there’s also an an adjacent courtyard called the Blue Parrot for guests who prefer to enjoy their cappuccino or Prosecco alfresco.

For fitness freaks, there’s a sports club with pool, sauna, weights and exercise machines. For business travelers, the hotel offers a conference room with space for upto 12 people, equipped with all the latest gizmos and business presentation hardware, along with fax and photocopier machines, same day laundry and dry cleaning services.

Normal room rates start at $319 plus a tax of $46.17, which makes it a whopping $365.17 for a one night stay. And the hotel claims their rooms are immune to a lot of things. Smoke free, sound proof and election-news proof (if you go for the DETOX package).  All the rooms and suites are equipped with complimetary wi-fi internet, tv with 36 cable channels, mini-bar packed with drinks, hairdryer and signature bath products.

One thing I have to say for the Casablanca. Somebody at the hotel has either a great sense of humor, or some very big delusions of grandeur. Everything has a distinctly pompous touch, with the ornate decor and the European style breakfast and the stiff necked and courteous staff with massive chips on their shoulders. The whole chilled champagne bucket on arrival thing is so yesterday now. But then, if you’re an NYC resident, or even a standard issue visitor to the Big Apple, there’s no way you’re going to shell out 400 bucks for a one night stay at a New York hotel. So I guess if you’re a rich Arab sheikh with a suitcase full of petro-dollars, you should feel right at home at the Casablanca.

Info: 147 W 43rd St New York, NY 10036; (212) 869-1212. Specials: For political rehab package with news free rooms, use promo code DETOX. Bookings before April 30th for stays between Memorial Day and Labor Day 2008.