jenndon

I have been VERY pleased with my 3* hotels won off priceline.

The 3 hotels that I have won have ended up being in MTE, but very close to the MTW border. I ended up with 3* hotels twice and a 4* once (because price was more important than 4*), and I honestly could tell no difference. The 3* that I got were great.

We just returned from our stay. It was really nice. The bed was extremely comfortable, and the staff was very attentive. I had not called ahead to request NS or a room type, but when we checked in, she said that she had upgraded us to a double--two beds and more room. I asked if it was NS, and it was not, so she moved us at our request to a regular Q room. It was quiet. The room was smallish, but standard for NYC. The bathroom was big and not cramped as some are. Everything seemed very new. The toiletries were Aveda and there was a bathrobe in the room. The coffee machine in the lobby frothed milk, ground the beans fresh, and also had hot water for tea or hot chocolate. The location was wonderful--sort of between MTE and MTW. I would be pleased if I got that hotel again.

We just returned from our stay. It was really nice. I will post this in the review section as well, but just wanted to keep with the thread. The bed was extremely comfortable, and the staff was very attentive. I had not called ahead to request NS or a room type, but when we checked in, she said that she had upgraded us to a double--two beds and more room. I asked if it was NS, and it was not, so she moved us at our request to a regular Q room. It was quiet. The room was smallish, but standard for NYC. The bathroom was big and not cramped as some are. Everything seemed very new. The toiletries were Aveda and there was a bathrobe in the room. The coffee machine in the lobby frothed milk, ground the beans fresh, and also had hot water for tea or hot chocolate. The location was wonderful--sort of between MTE and MTW. I would be pleased if I got that hotel again.

Bidding strategy-- On Sunday night-- 105 4* MTW 115 4* MTW, UM 125 4* MTW, UM, UES 135 4* MTW, UM, UWS all rejected (Was saving MTE for later rebid--dh wanted to wait on this and not end up at UN hotel). Tuesday bid-- 142 3* MTW, counteroffer to bid 22 higher Closed browser 148 3*, MTW, UM accepted! Shoreham hotel, 3 * MTW Great location for us and our plans. I am going to see if there are reviews here, but would love to hear any! Used Savingsbarn link.

I stayed at the NY Metropolitan Doubletree on Lexington (MTE). I bid for the hotel on PL about a week before my one night stay on 9/9/05, and won it for $135 for this 3* (even though other areas were much higher at the time!). Apparently this hotel has been recently renovated, and it showed. Our room was immaculate and very nice. Another great thing was lots of storage. There is a bureau in the room--half of it has 3 drawers for storage, but the other half (which usually has the fridge/mini bar which this room did not have), had some additional storage shelves. The bathroom was nice--very clean, large bathtub, and a wide vanity. It was an open cabinet style, and there was a shelf running under it--another place to store hairdryer/make up kit etc and not have to use the floor on the vanity itself. We had a K bed, and a bench and a chaise lounge. A nice sized NYC room. We checked in before 3pm and they had a room ready for us. I indicated that it was my daughter's 7th bday and did they have any type of "view" room of the city. They didn't really, but she did make sure ours faced the street, and not another building, so that worked for us. I told her that I didn't care if we had one bed or two. She said that we were given a queen, but could look into two beds. I told her that my daughter wanted to sleep with me anyway, and when I got to the room, she had given us a King--an upgrade over the "standard" room at this hotel. The bed was very comfortable. We were on the 5th floor, so we had some street noise, but it wasn't too bad. We were also given a room right by the elevator, but I didn't hear hallway noise and there was no elevator noise. The location was great. About 10 blocks from Grand Central, and two other subway stations on the block of the hotel. We walked to and from 5th avenue shopping and Times Square. We ate at the Metro Cafe which is right out the main door, and had a great selection of breakfast items, sandwiches, soup etc. The only drawback is the outside doesn't do justice to the refurbished rooms, and is kind of a let-down. The lobby is small, but there is a nice seating area. There is also a hotel bar, which we didn't go to, but on Friday night there were many 20 and 30 somethings in there. I would stay again. thereuare: If this is the Metropolitan Doubletree Hotel, can you indicate that in the heading? I think it will be easier to find with the full name. If not, repost this as a new hotel. For some reason, I get boggled reading through the lists.

ohvienna-- It sounds like you might need a little explanation of the bidding strategy in general. Use thereuare's plan above. The reason you only do one zone/star level at a time is that it enables you to bid higher if your first bid is rejected by adding another zone, without waiting the 72 hours that priceline causes you to wait before rebidding. That way you don't have to start at $120 or $130, but will eventually get there (and maybe get accepted at a lower bid). Also--if you type savingsbarn.com in your browser and use the PRICELINE link there it will help support this site. Finally, it's helpful to others looking in the area if you post your bidding strategy and what you ultimately won, or if you give up because it's too high. Good luck--

Hi and Welcome. Thereuare is the moderator and he has great strategy. If you will look at some of the other posts in this section, you will probably find it. Check out one of the links he includes about Re-bidding explained, because it would help. If you will update your post with your upper limit, I'm sure he will help you. If you are flexible in your zones, I would think you could get a 3*, depending on what you wanted to spend. I just got the Metropolitan NY Doubletree in MTE for $135 for one night. My post on that talks about my bidding strategy, I think. Basically, you want to only start with one zone, and then if you are rejected, you can add another zone and bid again (instead of waiting the 72 hrs), etc etc, and hopefully can find one within your price range.

Thanks, we are both looking forward to it! Got tickets for Friday night to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and I think we will head over to Essa Bagel for breakfast Saturday or a snack one afternoon, even though you didn't bring it up (to me). :)

Rower Rich-- I think that if you are used to cramming in rooms, then a 3* in NYC will probably be fine. It is my understanding that the difference between 3* and 4* in NYC is not always apparent. You mentioned being afraid of a 3* being in a bad location, but within the areas (MTE, MTW, UM), the areas are the same regardless of 3* or 4*. I think that any of the above areas would be good for you--I'm not sure if you've only bid on MTE thus far. I just booked a room in MTE for this Friday night (Sept 9), only a week off. I couldn't get 4* in any of the areas I mentioned above (bid up to $175), but got a 3* for $135 in MTE. Time is on your side. 6 weeks is not too far off, but try some other areas (MTW or UM)--all central to "the sights," and use the rebidding strategy, and then try 3* (and lower your initial offering when you switch star levels).

We stayed at this hotel from 1/1/03-1/5/03. We won it on PL on our first bid (I think it was our first PL experience) for $100. The lobby downstairs is very large. Check in was okay. We asked for a King room and were given it. The room (especially for NYC) was plenty large. The K bed and a small table with two side chairs. I wouldn't mind winning this again on PL, but I think I would probably choose another hotel in the "class" if I was just comparing them side by side.

Today I got MTE 3* Doubletree on Lexington for 135 for 9/9. Another user got this same rate earlier this week. I know it's a busy weekend--I don't know how much worse (or better?) Thursday would be, but you could try.

Bid Won! MTE Doubletree Metropolitan MTE 3* $135 staying Sept 9, one night. That was my first bid in MTE, and thanks to Beav's recent successful bid, sort of my "backup". I changed up my process (and $) from above (will detail below). 4* MTW 150 Add UES 155 Add UWS 160 3* MTW 160 4* MTW and UM 165 Add UWS 170 Add UES 175 3* UM 155 Add MTW 165 Add UWS 175 Then I just went straight to MTE at the 3*, not above, since I knew that Beav had gotten Dbltree, and the location was fine with me. Thereuare--I don't know if you (or I) can change the title of this post or repost so it would be easier to see the winning hotel/star rating/area.

I just saw that. Thanks. I'm rebidding tomorrow--those 72 hours take forever sometimes! It's good to know. I wouldn't at all mind being on Lexington, but I'm afraid of getting UN area in MTE. I know that there are some PL hotels over there, and that is far away from our target Times Square/Rockefeller Ctr area. If I'm unsuccessful, with my MTW/UM strategy I will probably add MTE, because those are better hotels than my backup. Thereuare (or others)--How is the transportation from UN to the other areas? We don't mind some walking, and I'm not too afraid of the subway (dh usually gets us going in the right direction and this is girl's only :) ). Also, I guess if I am paying $40 less for a hotel, we could certainly hail a couple of cabs to get to and from.

Me again-- Please look at my bidding strategy and tell me if you have any suggestions. I am totally obsessed with getting a winning bid! Just so you know, we are taking the train in from CT, so our "back up" is just not staying over, but we really want to stay over. I can rebid on Sunday morning and if I get all my ducks in a row, maybe I'll stop thinking about it! Remember, it's just me and my 7 yr old daugther, so location is really what's important--preferibly MTW, but I will bid on UM and wouldn't mind if that was where we ended up. I really wouldn't mind most of MTE, but just can't risk being stuck out by UN. I have bid 4* and 3* and been rejected up to $130. I don't know how high I'm willing to go. No higher than $170, and I really don't want to spend that. 4* MTW 140 Add UES 145 Add UWS 150 3* MTW 150 Add UWS 160 4* MTW and UM 160 Add UWS 165 Add UES 170 3* MTW and UM 165 then maybe try MTW 2.5* for 150 Questions--Are the rebids on the third bid, starting with MTW and UM not considered duplicates, since I added them on bid 1? I know that I have to open new browser window each time (from savingsbarn. com :)

Have you stayed at that Super 8 before? There isn't a link to applecore or any of the sites to get to Super8 from here is there? They do have a room for 9/9 which I am looking for $179, but it's smoking. Thanks--

I am sketchy on the details, since I didn't make the reservation, but I didn't see this hotel listed, so I thought I'd post it. -We spent two nights in Dallas North Galleria. We got the Embassy Suites Hotel Dallas--Near the Galleria. I think my friend only made one bid--maybe started at 4* and then rebid at 3*. We paid less than $75. There were 3 of us, and we loved the fact that we ended up with a suite.

Three of us stayed here for 2 nights in March 04 for a girls' shopping, talking and eating fest. We were so happy to get a suite--that was perfect for us. This hotel was very clean, and the service was great. They helped us with our bags and were great at giving us directions around town. The bathroom had a full size vanity (the double sink size, although I'm not sure if it had a double sink or not). There was a microwave and a fridge.

This is a kid trip so we are doing TRU Times Square, Build a Bear in Rockefeller Center, and American Girl primarily. She loves Times Square, and I'm hoping that we'll end up right there. I did try to bid Upper Midtown, but more as a free rebid, assuming that those hotels are going to cost more. If not, I don't mind being there at Central Park either. The other areas are just too far for us if we end up on the outskirts. Location is more important than luxury, so if I end up in 2.5 * near Times Square, that would be okay. I did bid 3* and 4*, going up to $130. I have my rebid strategy planned (adding areas etc), and will go a bit over $150 if necessary. I'll post results!

Any tips? I posted part of this question under a duplicate bid question. I want to take my 7 year old daughter. We are going for the day, but spending the night would be a fun bonus for both of us. I would like to stay in the Midtown West area. It seems that 3* and 4* are basically the same--price and quality. My husband has stayed in many of the 3* that were the same as the 4* listed. I have been rejected up to $130. I can rebid Sunday (I have already employed all your free rebid tips--thanks ever so much for those!!). I just wonder about the 2.5 *. The ones listed in the shop and compare seem okay, and I think some of them are just the boutique hotels that maybe don't have all the amenities? She's going to be excited by any hotel, and I just don't want to be grossed out. . . .