Another hotel I forgot to mention was the Shoreham. It's on 56th Street between 5th and 6th Ave's. (I think) It's a nice, elegant

little boutique hotel. A friend of mine likes the Benjamin on 50th St. and Lexington Ave. That's also a convenient location for you. Since you'll have appt's uptown and on Park Ave, I'd concentrate on trying to find a room in that neighborhood in your price range before going to another area. I know that there are some good websites that get NYC hotel rooms at excellent prices - unfortunately, I don't

recall the names of them. Perhaps someone here might know them or you could do a web search on google. Sometimes these sites can get you an incredible discount.

Another thing to consider are phone rates. Hotels charge a fortune for local calls and if you're going to have a lot of appt's here, you'll probably use the phone for a lot of local calls. Assuming you have a cell phone, ask your carrier about rates for using it here and/or find out the rates for local calls from all the hotels you're considering. It might not be a bargain if you're spending $50. a day in local phone calls! You *might* be able to make a deal with the hotel manager for either free local calls or a moderate flat fee.

I think the best way for us here to help you would be for you to find some options in your price range, list them here and then let us NYer's tell you what we think in terms of the location and what we might know of the hotel.

In terms of safety, NY is quite a safe city. Fortunately, we never make onto the the top 10 crime cities. That said, of course you should be careful and be aware of your surroundings and listen to your instincts. However, most of the hotels in your price are in good areas and certainly safe to walk around, especially during the day. Again, tell us the hotels you're considering and then let us give you feedback.

To get to Long Island, you'll need to take the Long Island RailRoad which is on the west side, 7th Ave and 33rd Street. Not a difficult thing to do at all. Have your hotel concierge (or your relative) look up the train schedule. Take a taxi from your hotel, but leave enough time to allow for traffic - especially if it's a weekend.

There could be a street parade going on that delays getting from the east side to the west. Again, your hotel concierge should be able to advise you of such things at the time.

Candice NYC