I held off on posting anything about New York before we got here, to avoid tempting fate. Three days before we were due to arrive, our planned host (booked via Airbnb) cancelled our accommodation on us.
Apparently New York has recently passed legislation that means that people who sublet their apartments are in effect "illegal hotels". Sounds to me like political lobbying from the hotel trade, who don't like the competition.
Most people who sublet through Airbnb don't worry about this... but if their building owner finds out, then they may be forced to stop subletting. And that's exactly what happened to our original host: she had to cancel 9 bookings, but ours was the soonest.
Thankfully, this was resolved in a couple of hours, as yet another example of what you can do on a smartphone on WiFi. The Airbnb Android app let me find and qualify several alternative apartments, contract the owners, and agree a new stay. Airbnb were very good, providing a top-up credit if the new accommodation was more than the original... which of course it was. :o/
... and so we find ourselves in a lovely apartment, in the heart of Cobble Hill in Brooklyn, our only concern being can we avoid the kids breaking any of the somewhat fragile ornaments teetering on various surfaces around the apartment. Fingers crossed!
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