Reasonably priced hotel to stay at in Manhattan?

I really like the Hotel Belleclaire on the west side. Im usually a Greenwich Village person, but Upper West Side is much more accessible to Central Park and museums (The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a walk across the park), and the subway downtown is only a block or two away. The rooms are pretty standard, but its a beautiful building, and a great starting off point for exploring. Plus as NYC hotels go, its pretty good quality for its price

Hi Mary, 

I apologize I'm unable to make actual hotel recommendations without knowing your budget. But in terms of areas to stay, here are my recommendations:

Since this is your first time in New York, I'm going to take the liberty and assume you plan to visit some of the iconic landmarks. If that's the case, I think Midtown Manhattanwould be a good area for you to stay. It has close access to Times Square Rockefeller Plaza Empire State Bldg Museum of Modern Art, to name a few; as well as world-class shopping on Fifth Avenue, and lots of dining options (both casual and fine).

SoHo is a trendy area with lots of shops, restaurants and nightlife. There are a few nice boutique hotels, but know the room sizes will be smaller. 

If you don't mind traveling a little bit, the Financial District will have better pricing than the areas mentioned above.

One thing I do is I create an email account for travel/dining/retail related emails. I get on the email list for chains I frequent to make sure I stay updated with their promotions. Most hotel chains does some sort of promotion 2-3 times a month. There are also sites like jetsetter if you are flexible with your traveling dates, you can really score some nice stays.

Hope this helps!

The Hudson Hotel has historically had good last-minute rates through sites like Priceline. Haven't done it in a few years, but I used to book it for visitors over the weekend.