Priceline Hotel: Cheap Journey to New York (Sep. 2015)

[ol1v3r]

Hello!

 

I have some questions about a journey to New York.

 

My girlfriend and me would like to visit New York at the beginning of septembre for a week.

Our preference is a good hotel which is cheap and we can have our sleep and bath.

 

Now I would like to ask you whats the average price for one night in Manhattan in this time?

Would you like to prefer a hotel in Jersey? I heard the time to travel from Jersey to NY is about 45 min with the train.

 

Whats the perfect time to book a hotel with priceline? Very early or late before the preferred date?

 

I hope there are some answers for this and if I overlooked a topic like mine please mention it.

Sorry for my English. I'm from Germany and hope to improve it while our stay in the USA.

 

Thank you for your attention.

 

Best regards,

Ol1v3r

[AaronJB]

Welcome to Betterbidding.

 

September is generally the start of one of the busiest periods of the year and prices start to really ramp up until mid-December. Unfortunately, the most reasonable period in NYC is Jan-Feb.

 

Looking at the very first week of September, prices (at least at this point) do appear somewhat better than I'd expect, and you may be able to get a 4* for $125-135, with 3.5* and 3*s slightly lower. Rates vary significantly from day-to-day, so it really depends on what your exact dates of travel are. If you have not yet booked flight and could instead go at the end of August rather than early September, you would likely see a further improvement in rates and availability.

 

In terms of when to buy, there is no way to know; you have to be willing to jump when a good, acceptable deal presents itself. It's early at this point, but given the traditional traffic of this period, it's best to be on the lookout. You can use our RateDrop.com service to keep track of Hot.wire, PRICELINE EXPRESS and regular rate deals. 

 

If you were to look at options in New Jersey, the recommendation would be to consider the spread between the options in NYC and the options in Jersey. Given that it takes time, cost and effort to get to the city from Jersey, if the spread is not large, it may be worth the cost to stay in NYC instead and be able to step out of the hotel and be in NYC rather than having to travel.

 

Let us know your thoughts on the above, as well as your desired budget per night for this stay.

 

Thank you for using the board's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchases and searches.

[ol1v3r]

Ok, thanks for your answer.

 

The plan is that I will do an internship in South Carolina for 4 months.

After this my girlfriend will fly to the USA and we will travel for 2,5 weeks.

 

The last week of august ist also possible. I also prefer a stay in New York, but I dont know if our budget will fit at this time.

 

We will book our trip in 2 months I think, but I thought its better to inform me now.

I think we have a cap for the night rates at 120$ or ~100€.

But if you say that around 145$ for a 4* Hotel is possible I think positive that we can find something.

 

Included breakfast would be good, but I think its cheaper to eat somewhere else?

[thereuare]

Generally speaking, the earlier the better... if you can do late August that would likely be better than the beginning of September, which would be better than mid-September.

However, your best bet is wait until your plans are firm and you're ready to commit to a purchase, as hotels and/or rates currently offered may not be the ones offered once you're ready to move forward. (as well, rates can vary greatly from one day to the next so better to know once your dates, or date range, are firm and you're ready to purchase should something within your budget be offered)

We are well versed enough with PRICELINE / HOTWIRE and NYC that we can help you with your travel plans with every little lead time, as well as easily pick out the best options for your stay, once you're ready to move forward.

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPS and HOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.

[AaronJB]

Also, please let us know more about the rest of your journey, as we'd be happy to offer help with planning stays in other cities. Chicago is somewhat reasonable towards the end of Summer although also starts to go up a little more in September. There's some absolutely gorgeous trips that you can take from Chicago, including Lake Geneva (about an hour away, great night or two trip, pretty resort town) or Door County (a few hours away, but an absolutely stunning area - very quaint, no chains all local shops and little boutiques.) 

 

You can take the train from Chicago to NYC - Amtrak isn't the most comfortable option, but it's a great way to see the country, including an absolutely beautiful stretch along the Hudson River for a few hours between Albany and NYC.

 

In terms of Chicago, I'm seeing what appears to be the Hotel Indigo, which is in the terrific Gold Coast area, for $97 between 9/6-12 (you may see a slight difference in price and availability depends entirely on dates), for example.

 

Thank you for using the board's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchases and searches.

 

 

[ol1v3r]

Wow, that sounds very interesting. Chicago was also in my must have seen list. But I only thought about a flight from Chicago to New York, but it's right. Train would be a better option to see the land.

I checked the website from Amtrak and saw that the price for one ticket from Chicago to New York is around 100$. Are there some special discount tickets like here in Germany if I book very early?

 

The trip starts in Charleston, South Carolina. There I will stay for 4 months, after that I will show her some interesting sights in this area for 2-3 days.

After that we plan a flight to a city (New York/Chicago) and after we spend some time there, we would like to visit another interesting city.

We only have a problem to rent cars, because I will be 23 at this time and under 25 it's more expensive :(

 

New York is fixed for know, the other city/things aren't planned today.

 

Thank you for everything!

 

Regards,

ol1v3r

[AaronJB]

Amtrak has smart fares that change each week, but it's only for certain train routes and certain dates. You can keep checking that section to see if a CHI-NYC route pops up. While flying is certainly faster, you do see more on the train and one minor nice aspect is that in a number of major cities, the station is in the downtown area (as is the case with Union Station in Chicago and Penn in NYC) rather than having to commute to/from the airport.

 

You do not have to rent cars in NYC and Chicago, as it would only be a hassle (traffic and extremely high parking costs - in both cities, parking costs at the hotel may be as high as $70+ per night, that's $70 that can go towards a really nice dinner or any number of other things.)  You would rent a car if you had to do a side trip, but in terms of NYC/Chicago, I'd recommend absolutely NOT renting a car. If you flew to Chicago, you can get the Blue Line L train right from the airport to downtown.

 

Thank you for using the board's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchases and searches.

[thereuare]

Although i wouldn't do it, you could travel via Greyhound bus for ~$62 per one way ticket. A few 'express' buses (they do make a few stops) that do the trip in just under 18 hours, in some instances less time than the train. That is a long time to be sitting on a bus, but it can be a significant savings vs. the train if you have more time than money (and are OK with a long bus ride)

[ol1v3r]

Yesterday we booked our flights after I got my VISA for the USA.

 

Before of that we thought about this travel plan:

 

26.8. - 01.09.2015: New York City

Drive with a bus to Philadelphia and sleep there for one night

01.09. - 02.09.2015 Philadelphia

Then drive to Washington D.C. with the bus.

02.09. - 04.09.2015: Washington D.C.

Now fly to Chicago

04.-07.09.2015: Chicago

Return to Germany

 

We already heard that Chicago don't have so much touristical activites, so we reduced the time there and

inserted the visit of Philadelphia and Washington D.C.

 

I already checked the hotel prices for NYC. 800-1000€ is mostly the minimum for a stay in Manhattan.

3 weeks ago I saw a hotel in Manhattan with included breakfast around 700€. Now I'm unlucky, because the same hotel costs now around 1100€.

 

Which other districts of New York City are possible for a trip and have a short travelling time to Manhattan.

I already mentioend Jersey City, but there are only some high priced hotels and some which don't look so good.

 

Thank you for your attention. I hope you can help us!

[thereuare]

So are your flights confirmed to return to Germany from Chicago on Sept. 7th? (and your flight from DC --> Chicago??)

All of the cities you mention have lots of museums if that is your thing, but i think it would be best to put together a loose/general itinerary of what you may want to do in each city and use that to determine how much time to spend in each.

Being local to the NYC i'm biased, but i think it can be argued that there is more to do in NYC than any of the other cities (simply due to the size), but after that it really comes down to what type of things you like to do while on vacation. I'm not much of a museum person (nor am i into politics), and when i travel i like to eat the best casual food that the city is known for, as well as simply immerse myself in with the locals... so for me my 2nd choice in your list would be Chicago; whereas somebody who is interested in politics might make DC their top choice.

Once you come up with a general itinerary we can likely confirm if it's all do-able within your timeframe and form there can start on the hotel stays with firm dates in mind.

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

Let us know what you find and how we can be of further help in planning this trip.