Travel bleg: where should I stay in New York City?

When I published my 2013 end-of-year report on my manufactured spend activity, one of the requests I got from some readers was for more information on how I spend my miles and points and not just how I earn them. I just booked a pretty involved itinerary for March that I'll be posting about once it's finalized, but I'm still struggling with the last piece of the puzzle: where should I stay in New York City?

I'm planning on a long weekend in the City, preferably from Thursday to Sunday, although Friday to Sunday is fine as well. Since I always keep a balance of Club Carlson Gold Points, I went ahead and booked a 2-night award stay at the Radisson Martinique on Broadway for 50,000 Gold Points, valuing that 2-night stay at $222, which seems like a good value for New York City. For comparison, the AAA rate would be $511.92 for the same stay.

To book the previous Thursday would cost another 50,000 Gold Points or $238, which I consider a push since the paid rate would also earn Gold Points.

My concern is that for some reason I have a bad impression of the Radisson Martinique. I've never stayed there, but whenever I read about it it's people saying things like:

"It’s such a so so hotel. There is no way for me to pay to stay there."

"I am not the biggest fan of this hotel...Truly NY-style matchbox size rooms."

So I'm curious if my readers have any great insights or little-known hacks for getting great values in Manhattan. I have all of my February statement cycles to go, so I could run up the score on my Chase Sapphire Preferred in order to transfer Ultimate Rewards points to Hyatt and stay at one of their properties for 20,000 or 25,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points, but it's tough to imagine that's going to be a better value than the Radisson Martinique.

Are there other properties or programs I should be looking at? Good best rate guarantee opportunities?