A week of obscene hotel rates in SF, NYC Dreamforce and UN General Assemby pump up hotel prices to record levels

Unique bunk-bedded rooms at the Proper Hotel selling for a steep $932 per night during Dreamforce Unique bunk-bedded rooms at the Proper Hotel selling for a steep $932 per night during Dreamforce Photo: Chris McGinnis Photo: Chris McGinnis Image 1 of / 7 Caption Close A week of obscene hotel rates in SF, NYC 1 / 7 Back to Gallery

Here's a smart travel tip for you: If you want to get a good hotel deal during the fall months, it's best to book on weekends instead of weekdays. That's because fall is convention season, and big city hotels sell out fast at obscenely high rates paid by business travelers on expense accounts.

This week there are two really good examples of this: Dreamforce in San Francisco, and UN General Assembly week in New York City.

Salesforce's big Dreamforce conference kicks off today with a keynote speech by CEO Marc Benioff, followed by three days of schmoozing, concerts and cloud computing. The conference draws about 50,000-60,000 attendees to the city and hotels fill up fast at super-high rates. How high?

We clicked through the handy hotel deal finder Hotel Tonight in search of a room in downtown San Francisco for tonight and here's what we found:

Hotel Nikko near Union Square (rated "Luxe"): $964

Harbor Court on the Embarcadero ("Solid"): $782

Proper Hotel on Market Street (bunk bed room; "Hip"): $932

Vintage Court on Nob Hill ("Basic"): $602

Think you can save money by staying out by the airport? Fat chance. The Westin SFO is going for $837 tonight.

The same thing will happen when Oracle's OpenWorld takes over the city from October 21-25.

Have you ever been in NYC during the UN General Assembly? It happens every September, and the city's best hotels fill up fast with diplomats, heads of state and their retinues. The city is choked by traffic caused by motorcades, and is worst when the US president comes into town for a speech like President Trump did today. A fun and electric time to be in the big city for sure, but a hassle to get around and expensive to spend the night!

Checking Hotel Tonight for a room in Manhattan for tonight, we found the following "deals:"

Marriott Courtyard Midtown East ("Basic" according to Hotel tonight): $743

Kimpton Muse hotel in Midtown ("Hip"): $743

The Ace hotel near Empire State building ("Hip") $691

La Quinta Inn on Upper West side ("Basic"): $531

Holiday Inn Lower East Side ("Solid"): $554

Doubletree downtown near Battery Park ("Solid"): $563

Newer players such as Airbnb and Homeaway can help cut costs when hotels sell out, but a quick look at these sites find similarly inflated prices for midweek stays.

What's the most you've paid for a hotel? Was it worth it? Please leave your thoughts in the comments.

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Chris McGinnis is the founder of TravelSkills.com. The author is solely responsible for the content above, and it is used here by permission. You can reach Chris at chris@travelskills.com or on Twitter @cjmcginnis.