

Here's a problem I need solved ... - ColinWright

In less than two weeks I'm going to be giving a talk in New York.  On the evenings of the 6th and 7th I need a hotel in New York that's not too expensive (by local rates), close enough to the subway (or other transport) to be able to get around, in a reasonably sane place, reasonably close to Penn station (if that's hard to get to by subway (which would be hard to believe)), clean, and quiet.<p>I, however, have next to no knowledge of the layout of New York, its stations, its facilities, its districts, or its dangers.  Yes, I can learn all of this from the web, but how long will it take?  My guess is hours to try to find a reasonable deal, which is therefore not worth finding because it has cost me more to drive to the gas station than it has saved on the price of the gas.<p>Someone with a very small amount of local knowledge could solve this for me with almost no work.  If someone were coming to my area I could give them near complete guidance in less than 5 minutes.<p>Is there a web service to do this?  I can go to hotel web sites, but that doesn't tell me about the situation, transport, area, or anything.<p>What would <i>you</i> do?
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helen842000
What about Trippy.com or Virtual Tourist?

If you log into Trippy using your facebook login it finds people in your
social graph that have been, stayed, lived in the place you are visiting. It
allows you to ask for their recommendations.

You'd probably be more inclined to trust friends comments than those from
strangers.

The only advice I can provide re: NYC is that Penn Station is the stop for
Madison Square Garden and is only 2 stops down from Times Square - 42nd Street
station.

So really that area doesn't really fit into being quiet or sane! Good fun
though.

You could cut out Subway travel altogether and stay close to where you're
giving your talk. Least then if you have any free time after you're in the
heart of it.

~~~
ColinWright
Trippy may have turned out to be useful. Turns out I "know" two people on
Facebook who may have the knowledge.

Of course, they might not, since locals don't always know about hotels and the
like, but it's a start.

Thanks.

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rachelbythebay
Given that you have a bit of time, enough for some back-and-forth, how about a
forum?

<http://www.city-data.com/forum/new-york-city/>

Now, aggregating that data to make it fast for future people (while being
forward about the age of the data) might be an interesting business.

------
Mz
Ask if someone on HN who is local will email you (or call you even). I went up
to Boston once for a conference and drove through New York and it was a
nightmare. From the hotel in Boston, I called someone in the DC area that I
was stopping off to see on my way back and she very briefly gave me
instructions on how to get from Boston to her place without going straight
through the middle of New York city. She was appalled that I had done that to
begin with. The trip back south was far more pleasant and faster. Than she
gave me a day tour of DC when I briefly stayed with her and I probably hit a
lot of the highlights in a very short time without having to do any research
whatsoever. Having never done the tourist version of DC, I don't actually have
any basis of comparison so I probably don't really appreciate or understand
how good I had it.

For that matter, the entire trip to Boston had been facilitated from the get
go by similar personal connections, much of it through people I only knew
online before actually meeting them on that trip. I got a speaking gig to
bring down the cost of the conference and probably all kinds of other help
that I couldn't possibly recall after so many years. I was only a homemaker
doing volunteer work and trying to get what I needed to help my special needs
kids. It got me cross country and all that, on a stringent budget.

Best of luck.

EDIT/PS: With today being Thanksgiving in the US, this is one of the worst
possible days of the entire year to ask on the internet for this sort of US-
centric assistance. You might try again either tomorrow (Friday) or next
Monday/Tuesday. (My recollection is you are British or something. My apologies
if I have misremembered and thus inadvertently insulted you.)

~~~
ColinWright
It was my initial inclination to ask directly and openly for advice, but the
last time I did that I got a slew of replies telling me it was off-topic, the
item got flagged, and I got nothing useful. This despite it being a question
about technology.

Having said that, I really do think that this is something that could be
really useful. It probably already does - as an example Trippy has been
suggested (which I'll now investigate) - and if it doesn't exist, it should. I
would certainly be more inclined to trust the comments of someone from HN than
to trust random comments from people with no obvious shared interests or
abilities. It's tough to know what this thing would look like, but it seems an
opportunity. Maybe the forums (also suggested elsewhere) is the best it can
get.

I've put a few other feelers out to see what I get, and we'll see what
transpires by the weekend.

And I'm not British, but I am based in the UK - good call.

~~~
Mz
I've seen this type of idea come up elsewhere, though I don't recall the exact
specifics. I don't think it really works. What you want is based not just on
expertise but also on trust (of a sort that has to run both ways -- not just
you trusting them) and that is based on community and familiarity. I recognize
your name as someone who is a meaningful, regular (polite and well-behaved)
contributor and thus a legitimate member of the community. And I don't
participate that much and don't pay as much attention to names as I probably
should. If I recognize you and think you are a decent person, odds are very
high others here do too. You might try checking profiles to find out who is in
New York or check HN Office Hours or other HN related resources.

My long standing experience on the Internet is that very intellectual sites
like HN which do a decent job of fostering community are The Place To Go for
stuff like this, even when it is "off topic". HN is probably your best bet for
getting what you need -- or, more accurately, the members of HN are probably
your best bet, as the competence here runs fairly high and your name is known.
Since this site isn't designed or intended to act as a forum in the same way a
lot of discussion boards are, you just may have to be a little creative in
tapping into this network.

Again: Today is just about the worst day possible to pursue this. I think only
Christmas would be worse. This entire four day weekend may be slow as this is
the biggest travel holiday of the year. So you have four days to do some
research and thinking and figure out how best to tap into what you need.

Best of luck.

