Hard to imagine that New York hotel prices were $300 to $500 a night for an ordinary room just 10 months ago. Luxury lodging like the Mandarin Oriental hotel opened its doors starting at $850 a night. Sleek boutiques wooing the hip and stylish traveler were getting around $450 a night and up for a designer room with expensive sheets.

Then the roof fell in. Wall Street's venerable investment, mergers and acquisition houses collapsed last fall. Other financial titans — banks and brokerages — ran out of money and credit, throwing thousands out of work. The dollar gained strength against the Euro and English pound, so big spending European shoppers and vacationers crossed New York off their list.

Sure, I'm wielding a broad brush. But these and other calamities forced New York hotels — from luxe to budget brands — to get real about rates or add goodies like free breakfast, complimentary parking or an extra night on the house. Rates for savvy shoppers spiraled downward through this past winter, spring and summer. Hospitality analysts predict rates and hotel revenues will continue to head south in the next few months even though occupancy, in some cases, could climb.

Looking for a real deal? Check out the smaller, older independent hotels that don't have a marquee name or a cast-in-concrete policy manual. There are hundreds of them in Manhattan. A week ago, I checked into the Park South at 122 E. 28th (www.parksouthhotel) on a friend's recommendation. On balance, it was an enjoyable and productive stay.

Usually, I don't expect swift, savvy service at an older, independently owned hotel. I figure these staffers are plying their skills in four-star hotels or glam boutiques. Wrong. Alfredo, a night front desk clerk, worked with my unusual requests and booked me a "superior" king for $169 a night. Add in all the Manhattan hospitality and state taxes and the price was $209 a night. Not exactly a giveaway but when New York was booming before September 2008, the rooms commanded $300 a night and up.

Lower priced lodgings can be found on Quikbook.com, a hotel discounter proffering Radio City Apartments with kitchens for as low as $145, a Hampton Inn for $150, others for $95 a night and the site even had a deal at the Park South for $140 a night. I should have checked it first but didn't.

Nevertheless, when I arrived a smiling doorman promptly unloaded luggage and was welcomed by Alfredo who remembered my calls. The lobby is somewhat dark because of the brown leather sofas and chairs, but the flowers were fresh, not plastic or paper.

My room was small and the view depressing — old bricks in what looked like a light shaft. But a phone call later and my new room was bigger, brighter and at the same rate — without a hassle. Rooms have somewhat dated furnishings, but the laser TV screens are flat and the small bathrooms are clean with plenty of plugs and towels. Room air-conditioning systems are dated but work.

Park South has soul. It's a restored 1906 building with 144-rooms and suites and two elevators that respond quickly. It's been everything from a YMCA to a civil defense center to a mental health clinic. Plus, owner Don Classie isn't dimeing-and-dollaring guests. Every room has hardwired Internet that works instantly and wireless, which can be accessed throughout the hotel. The business center, which must be unlocked by a bellman, has three fast Dell PCs, two laser printers and all sorts of office supplies for no charge. Manhattan's trendy, expensive ($302 per room today) Hotel Giraffe has a lone PC and printer in its lavish lobby.

Park South's fitness center is roomy and well equipped. I was expecting a guest pass and a two-block hike to a gym.

While the hotel's amenities for business travelers are generous, the star attraction is the Black Duck, a restaurant, bar, Victorian lounge with velvet sofas, outdoor cafe and neighborhood haunt for locals as well as hotel guests. From 7-11 a.m., the alabaster bar is a long gratis breakfast buffet with all sorts of healthy, fresh foods and fruit. No cellophane wrapped mini muffins or anemic croissants here. Bagels alone are huge.

But the Black Duck is a legend, not just a Manhattan dining and drinking den. "It was America's most notorious and fastest rum-running speedboat in New England during Prohibition," says Classie. who can usually be found on one of his barstools during the week chatting up customers. "The Duck was 75-feet-long, armor-plated, low profile and its three surplus World War I Packard engines, with 1,000 cases of liquor aboard, made it capable of outrunning Coast Guard patrol boats."

The current Duck's decor is a cross between a speakeasy and a saloon. Two alabaster mermaids are basically overhead sconces that light each end the bar. Classie says he bought them "from a guy who was having a flea market before he went to jail." In one end of the bar, a 75-inch television shows early Cagney, Bogart and other 1930s and '40s gangster films. Two other televisions are on for local news, but the decibel level is low. Flickering votive candles light up the back bar after sunset.

Classie isn't a tightfisted hotelier. The Black Duck has a 5-8 p.m. "happy hour" nightly with an Italian pinot grigio, pinot noir and a Brooklyn-brewed beer on tap for $5. Tiffany Norcross, a blond ponytailed former model, actress and wine-expert with a droll sense of humor, works the bar and makes, among other things, an icy Maker's Mark Manhattan filled to the brim for $10. Richard Schloss is a seasoned, professional food and drink manager who looks like he just came aboard from the Ritz Carlton or Four Seasons. He keeps things on even keel.

Proving the Duck is also a serious restaurant, executive chef Hector Tice has been invited to cook at the James Beard House. But when he's working the stoves here, he serves a three-course $35 prix fixed dinner. On Monday night, his version is a chicken noodle soup, a catch of the day or mini-burgers and a dessert. Price is a nostalgic $19.33, the year Prohibition ended.

Chris Barnett writes on business travel strategies that save time, money and stress. Reach him at [email protected]. To find out more about Chris Barnett and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.