Times Square Hotels on New Year's Eve: Minimum Stays and Getting Past the Police Line
By SuddenStay Editorial · October 7, 2026
Photo: Pete Stewart from Perth, Australia, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Police close Times Square street by street on December 31, working north as the viewing areas fill, and a hotel room inside the closed area won't get you past the barricade by itself. Under the NYPD's rules, handed out through the Times Square Alliance, getting you in is partly your hotel's job. Those rules were for December 31, 2025, and none had been published for December 31, 2026, a Thursday, when we checked on October 7. Everything below about police access is last year's. What the Times Square hotels say about this year comes from their own booking screens and event pages that day.
How a hotel guest gets through the police line
Last year you could only enter from 6th or 8th Avenue, and once the streets closed nobody crossed Broadway or 7th Avenue. If your hotel is east of Broadway, the Alliance says to come in from 6th Avenue on the nearest cross street.
The NYPD packet says local businesses must put a representative at the nearest corner to identify their guests to the officer on duty, and it names hotels among the places police posts must let ticket and invitation holders reach. Without that representative, guests "will be delayed or refused access." The same packet asks for a printed invitation or a company ID showing your destination's address, and says passes have to come from the building itself. Nothing in it mentions a room key or a booking confirmation. Ask your hotel before you travel what it hands guests on the 31st and which corner its person will stand on. Everyone gets searched with a hand-held wand, and police can freeze a block for a while, which is why the Alliance tells businesses to bring guests in early.
The room or the viewing pen
The public viewing areas opened at 3 p.m. last year. Entry points were on 6th and 8th Avenues at 45th, 49th, 52nd and 56th Streets, and there were no viewing areas south of 43rd. Nobody sells food inside, and there are no portable restrooms. Police take any alcohol off you. A hotel room nearby is the bathroom and the warm place to wait, but leave your viewing area and the Alliance says you won't get your spot back.
Watching from the room only works if it faces the ball, and you can't step out onto a terrace to see it: last year's rules banned outdoor viewing from buildings. The Marquis is selling terrace tickets for this year's party anyway, so ask what's allowed before you count on a balcony. The Alliance's list of places with a view of the ball includes Renaissance New York, the Marriott Marquis, The Knickerbocker, Bar 54 at the Hyatt Centric and Tempo by Hilton at TSX Broadway.
The Marquis puts its ball-view rooms in a package
The New York Marriott Marquis on Broadway sells a ball-view room package and promises "front-row views" from your room. Stays between December 25 and January 1 need at least three nights, and four or more on some dates, and you can't check in on December 31. The page doesn't say which floors the package rooms are on, or whether the hotel meets package guests at the police line. When we priced a November night, Marriott's booking screen showed a $45 nightly destination fee built into the rate. If the package carries it too, four nights add $180 before tax.
The hotel also sells tickets to its own parties on December 31, 2026, among them The View on the 48th floor for 21 and over, and an all-ages night in the Broadway Ballroom. A third party, run by Balldrop.com, sells "Ball Drop Terrace Access" for 11:15 p.m. to 12:15 a.m.
Hilton Times Square: arrive on the 30th
Hilton New York Times Square, at 234 West 42nd Street, had no rooms for a stay starting December 31 at any length we tried, while stays starting the 30th returned rooms. The hotel publishes no minimum, so the 31st is either blocked or gone. It's the only hotel we found that names Times Square view rooms on its booking screen. On October 7, 11 of its 24 room types were already gone for December 30 to January 2. The corner Times Square view king was one of them, though three other Times Square view room types could still be booked. The address is south of 43rd, where there are no viewing areas, and west of 7th Avenue, so come in from 8th.
Three nights minimum on 8th Avenue
One night on the 31st returned nothing at InterContinental New York Times Square on West 44th at 8th Avenue, and neither did either two-night stay touching it. Three nights starting the 30th or the 31st returned rooms. The hotel never states a minimum, but its booking screen behaved like it has one. Every night carries a $45 amenity fee plus tax, $51.63 in all on the payment summary, so three nights add $154.89.
ROW NYC's booking calendar sets a three-night minimum for arrivals on December 30 or 31, so any stay there that includes the night of the 31st runs at least three nights. Its $40 destination fee is $45.90 with tax, paid to the hotel on arrival, which is $137.70 over three nights. Its Times Square view package is marked as not available on New Year's Eve.
Bar 54 sells its view by the ticket
At the Hyatt Centric Times Square, Bar 54 runs a party from 9 p.m. on December 31, 2026 until 2 a.m., with an open bar and a view of the ball drop, ticketed through Balldrop.com. The hotel is at 135 West 45th Street, east of Broadway, so guests come in from 6th Avenue. Bar 54 bills itself as a rooftop bar, which puts the outdoor viewing question to this party too. The bar's page says nothing about hotel guests. Hyatt's own site wouldn't load for us, so the hotel's minimum stay is unknown.
Where one night on the 31st is still possible
New York Hilton Midtown is on 6th Avenue between 53rd and 54th, one of the two avenues the public came in from last year, and the 52nd and 56th Street entry points are a couple of blocks from the door. Its booking screen sold a single night of December 31. A $40 nightly charge is built into the price, and it comes with a $20 daily food and beverage credit. None of its room names mention Times Square.
YOTEL New York Times Square is out at 10th Avenue and 42nd Street, past the stretch of 42nd that closed from 5th to 9th Avenue. One night on the 31st was bookable there too, with a $44 nightly charge included in the price and taxes on top. Pod Times Square, on 42nd just west of 9th Avenue, also sold the single night, and its facility fee is $29.84 a night with the tax already in. From any of the three you join the public line at a 6th or 8th Avenue entry point with everyone else, and you walk back to the room after midnight.
Four more inside the closure that we couldn't check
The Sheraton New York Times Square at 7th Avenue and 53rd, The Westin New York at Times Square on West 43rd, the W New York Times Square on Broadway and citizenM New York Times Square on West 50th all sit inside the closed area. All four book through Marriott's site, which stopped answering us before we reached their New Year's pages. The Westin's events calendar still lists a ball-drop night from 2023 and no New Year's event for 2026. On a November night the booking screens showed a $35 nightly destination fee at the Sheraton and $40 at the Westin and the W, each built into the rate. There was no separate fee line at citizenM, where the rate was shown with all fees included.
Leave the car, and check the subway
The city's notice for last year said parking garages stopped operating at 11 a.m. on the 31st, and from 4 p.m. the blocks from 6th to 8th Avenue between 42nd and 57th Streets were open to emergency vehicles only. If your hotel is inside that box, don't plan on driving in that day, whatever it charges to park.
The police packet said the 42nd Street entrances at Times Sq-42 St closed around 10 a.m., with the 41st Street entrances still open. The MTA's notice said the station's street exits would be closed, and that trains would skip 49 St and 57 St-7 Av from 11:45 a.m. on the 31st until 12:15 a.m. on New Year's Day. The two don't agree on whether you could use the station's street entrances at all, so check the MTA's notice for this year once it's posted. Last year NYC Emergency Management texted closure alerts to anyone who sent NEWYEARSEVE to 692692.
