I just returned from a short business trip to New York City. The Big Apple was hot, crowded, congested and teeming with tourists. Most of the travel polls now say that New York City is the number one destination for overseas visitors, and my observations certainly support that. Times square was packed with thousands of multilingual tourists snappin each other's photos in front of the glittering neon signs.

It is the height of the tourist season for the Big Apple and it usually gets fairly congested at this time of the year, but this is the worst I have seen since before 2001. Most of the hotels in the city are fully booked and rooms are hard to find. The prices for a night's accommodation have reached some exhorbitant levels. It is becoming nearly impossible to find a decent affordable hotel room in New York City.

If you plan on visiting New York City this year, you should make your hotel reservations far in advance of your stay. The best prices are available to those who book early. Once the occupancy rate gets above a certain level, many hotels cease to offer their lowest rate rooms and begin charging premium rates for their remaining rooms. Eventually, they fill up completely and no more rooms are available. Some business travelers forced to make last-minute arrangements have been forced to pay $500 or more per night for a hotel room.

When the hotel rooms in Manhattan get scarce and the prices elevate, you can look for hotels near the airports. Hotels in the vicinity of John F Kennedy International, LaGuardia International or Newark International are typically lower priced than similar accommodations in Manhattan and less likely to sell out. If you are driving to the Big Apple, the hotels in Secaucus New Jersey are also convenient to Manhattan and typically lower in price.