My mother and I will be meeting my brother in NYC for a trip July 1st-10th. None of us have ever been before; my brother is flying in from Tokyo and we're sorta celebrating his soon-to-be graduation from college (he's going to school in Japan but we're celebrating here).
Anyways, it'll be the first time the 3 of us have been together in 7 years and I want this to be a nice trip but I don't want to break the bank either. Unfortunately, neither my mother or brother will give me numbers when I ask for their budget for the trip, so it's making it very painful to plan for. I will say that I think I can account for my mother to pay for her own meals and activities, and chip in another $200-$300 for accommodations and such. When I asked my brother what his budget was for accommodations he said "as cheap as possible" and sent me an airbnb link to a studio with one bed and said he'd bring a sleeping bag. That property was $90/night SO:
If I put in $600, my brother puts in $400 (estimate based on the property he sent me mentioned above), and my mom puts in $200, that puts us in the realm of a place that's ~$133/night *all inclusive*. I'd like to stick to around this budget as I can give a few hundred more, but that would eat into my spending cash.
Because the trip falls on 4th of July, our choices are very limited already. I need to find a place quick. My question surrounds where we can stay. I was looking at Jersey City and also found a nice place in Weehawken (I think that's how you spell it)-both of these places are on Airbnb. My friend from NY said I could do Jersey City but not Weehawken-that it would be too far/inconvenient for a NYC trip. There are also a few places left in Harlem, but they pretty much all have 1 bed only. In the Jersey City area I can find places with 2 beds still (although not many are left)-I really don't want my brother to fly all the way here and be in a sleeping bag!
Any suggestions on where to look to stay?