I saw a tourist!

As I was walking home. In front of Afghan Kebab House, reading the menu. They were clearly tourists, they were a family of four and they had maps and the little girl had a bag from some theme store in Times Square.

Tourists! On 37th Avenue! We get them so rarely here. It was actually pretty cool.

I saw a tourist!

Tourists in Jackson Heights? Can Bayside and Whitestone be far behind????

I saw a tourist!

Wherever there are illegal rentals, they will come.

I think you%26#39;re going to start seeing alot more tourists in Queens. I%26#39;ve been recommending the Choice Hotels in Long Island City for a little while now.

As Manhattan hotels are publishing $800.00USD / night room rates (and not even the Mandarin Oriental or the Ritz Carlton), you%26#39;re seeing more and more people realize that they%26#39;re going to be riding the subway anyway, why ride the subway an additional five to seven minutes to affordable lodging.

Have you see the new Marriott property off the LIE in Queens, that looks like a beautiful hotel...in Queens.

I doubt you%26#39;ll see the people who think little of dropping a thousand dollars on the Ritz but I definitely think you%26#39;ll see more and more of the mid-scale price seeking demographic.

Everybody I%26#39;ve spoken to that has stayed in Long Island City has found it to be a great value and they%26#39;ve enjoyed eating along Broadway in Astoria / Long Island City.

This is what happens when you guys keep telling people to get out of midtown!

:)

I live in Manhattan myself but I can%26#39;t say it enough, get out of Midtown. Don%26#39;t get me wrong, I like Midtown, I love New York City. But...NYC is so much more than Midtown and the Grand Hyatt. NYC is the people, NYC is the neighborhoods. NYC is Brooklyn Bridge Park (in Brooklyn). NYC is emerging from the N and W trains and climbing into Queensboro Plaza. NYC is five boroughs and people from every country in the world, so much more than just the tall buildings.

We don%26#39;t have any hotels. We don%26#39;t even have any illegal rentals. We have Little India, of course, but tourists don%26#39;t usually know about that.

I guess it%26#39;s time to start pointing out the high lights of the other boro%26#39;s, give them a reason to venture out of the city %26amp; into the rest of NYC

PLEASE!! I am one of those first time visitors to new york who is planning to bring my family this fall. I would rather stay in one of the boro%26#39;s (mid range price point as mentioned before) as well as seeing something other than just the %26#39;downtown highlights%26#39;. Any suggestions of things to do or places to stay outside the core would be great!!!

What do you want to see or do, Likendsun? There%26#39;s as much to do in the 4 other boroughs as there is to do in Manhattan.

Also, there are plenty of illegal hotel rooms in Jackson Heights. I%26#39;ve seen them mentioned here before, and a cursory internet search (I%26#39;m certainly not going to link to them) will show many.

%26lt;%26lt;%26lt;NYC is Brooklyn Bridge Park (in Brooklyn). %26gt;%26gt;%26gt;

Whereabouts is that?