If finding hotels near the Empire State Building is on your list of vacation tasks this summer, be prepared to use a large portion of your budget. The hotels in this region will cost you double and sometimes triple of those in surrounding states. However, it is possible to see a number of New York attractions all from the same trip and experience the city in depth rather than just the single visit to the state attraction.

As a New York City landmark and a National Historic Landmark, the Empire State Building located at 350 5th Avenue in New York City New York was built during the Great Depression. It was a contest between Water Chrysler of the Chrysler Corporation and John Jakob Raskob of General Motors. The challenge between the pair was to see who could build the tallest building. The building is more than a quarter of a mile tall and towers about the streets of Manhattan. On the 86th floor an Observatory is open to allow visitors to see a panoramic view of the city. More than 100 million visitors have accessed the Observatory since it opened in 1931. Following the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001, the Empire State Building returned to being the tallest building in New York. It is also the second tallest skyscraper in the Americas and the 9th tallest in the World. http://www.esbnyc.com/tourism/index.cfm?CFID=38106195&CFTOKEN=1841890

One way to obtain a better deal on hotels near the Empire State Building is to apply rewards earned from previous hotel stays. If you are a member of a rewards card program for a chain hotel like Marriott, Hampton Inn or Holiday Inn, check the program to see if you have enough points for a discount room or a free room for your stay in New York. Be advised that even for rewards programs, a stay in New York will use more of your rewards balance. For instance, on Holiday Inn rewards program through the Priority Club, a stay in a New York City room will use 25,000 points per night where many other areas use 10,000 or 15,000. If you do not have 25,000 points, you can use partial points and pay a balance of the room. For the hotel on Manhattan's 6th Avenue, rewards card members can cash in 15,000 points and pay $60 a night for the room. The same room, booked without the card and points is more than $300 per night. http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/pc/1/en/home

Frommers lists 85 hotels in the New York City area, with 18 of them being at the upper tier of pricing levels.http://www.frommers.com/hotels/hotel_more.cfm?destID=21&acc=51252 Expedia list more than 400 hotels in the attraction area but it is important to make complete plans and determine how best to utilize the resources. Many hotels will not accept reservations for just one night. Hotels in the immediate area of the attraction average more than $200 per night. http://www.expedia.com Hotels range in price from luxury to accommodations which include shared bathrooms and guest style homes.

An example of a luxury hotel in the area nearest the Empire state building is 60 Thompson:

60 Thompson

• Address: 60 Thompson Street New York, NY 10012
• Phone: 212-431-0400
• Price Range: from $639 double; from $750 suite

An example of one of the lower cost accommodations in the area is: http://www.frommers.com/hotels/hotel_more.cfm?destID=21&acc=31077

Americana Inn

• Address: 69 W 38th St, New York, NY 10018
• Phone: 212-840-6700
• Hotel is located in Midtown Manhattan
• Price Range: $90 to $150 with a $20 per person charge for more than one person. *Parking in the area is $30 and the Inn has a shared bathroom on the hallway.