Cristina Lozano, a junior at New York University (NYU), has been staying at the chic W New York Hotel, a 1911 beaux arts-style building that overlooks Union Square Park and offers a short walk to the Empire State Building.
The hotel is booked until next summer, when prices are advertised from the $400s to the $600s a night. For now, the place belongs to Lozano and others like her, who