Priceline Hotel: NYC Bidding Help - May 5th, 2014

[fprincipe]

(1) Arrive May 5th, 2014 and depart May 13th, 2014.  Total of 8 nights.
(2) Hoping to get a nice deal for 4 Star (with positive customer ratings), like $160.
(3) May go for a 3 Star (with positive customer ratings), $120 is a possibility?  Looking for best deal. 
(4) Preferred zones are MTE, MTW, TS, CPS, ESB, MSG, Chelsea

Yesterday night, I saw here a strategy proposed by thereuare (administrator), using the re-bid zone for 4*. I followed the steps but had to interrupt the procedure, when the bid was at $150. Is it really needed to wait at least 24 hours to bid again? Should I follow the same strategy?

In the case of 3*, it seems there is no re-bid zone. Am I correct?

Thank you so much for your help,

Flavio.

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

To begin a few comments about some of the zones above:

CPS - has the Hudson hotel which has notoriously small rooms (even by NYC standards), you may want to confirm this would be acceptable for an 8 nite stay

MTE - a few hotels have be up to a 15 minute walk to the subway (most are 10 minutes or less, a few substantially less)

Chelsea - subway can be up to 10 minute walk, but it's a 'hot' area right now so lots of boutiques, bars, restaurants, shops, etc. nearby that many bid this zone anyway regardless of the distance to the subway

Second... this is an expensive time of year in NYC and at current rates i don't think $160 will be enough for a 4* nor $120 for a 3*. If you search our sister site, MAPS and HOTELS.com, what is the best deal you're able to find at an acceptable hotel thru conventional booking channels?

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

Let us know your thoughts on zone and budget and we'll take it from there.

[fprincipe]

Thanks for your comments. Scenario using Maps.Hotels was pretty dark.

One thing I read at betterbidding is that I may need to split the stay, like 4 days each, to improve my chances despite changing hotels is quite annoying.

[thereuare]

Split.bid can be helpful under the right circumstances, but not sure just how much you would be saving for this particular trip.

Looking rates for 5/5-5/9 and then again for 5/9-5/13:

First set of dates PRICELINE EXPRESS has a 3* at ~$135 OR a 4* at $170

Second set of dates a 3* at $253 or a 4* at $300

--> giving an average rate of ~$190 for a 3* hotel... an average of $235 for a 4* hotel

Your complete stay:

3* - $212/nite (for Soho, not including in your zones above but perhaps acceptable??)

4* - $221/nite (MTE)

So using the above as a ballpark, you're looking at a savings of ~$30/nite for a 3* (but not in one of your zone choices above, savings would be less if sticking with only MTE, MTW, TS).... for a 4* the split dates actually comes to more on a per nite basis.

Let us know how you'd like to proceed and we'll try to assist in trying whatever approach you'd like to take.

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.