Sciamano

Thanks dahammer. It will be the first thing we are going to see then. :)

Thanks for the hints thereuare, both for the bids and for the restaurants. I actually have already been at Jackson Hole Burgers (this is going to be my 20th visit to NYC), but will happily try the other places. :) On the other hand it's the first time in NYC for my friend, so I would have preferred not to split our bid, in order not to waste any minute of our week. :o But since changing hotels means saving $350.. that's more than OK, considering the many better ways to spend that money I can think of! :) I'm now going to fax both properties to request a non-smoking king-size bed. The bed size because we are both fairly big persons, and the non-smoking because I suffer from allergic asthma, and smoke really makes me sick. Even though I know that this requests probably won't be honoured, it's still worth trying. Apart from this, does anyone know when the Christmas Tree in the Rockefeller center is dismantled? I really would love to show it to my friend (I think it's the most beautiful christmas tree in the world, every year!) but I'm not sure it will still be "up" when we get there. Thanks again for everything.

We've stayed at this hotel last summer. Five nights at around $100 per night. The hotel itself is beautiful. It's in a very good position, just a few steps from Republiky Namesti, which gives you access to the subway. As already noted, there is a supermarket right next to the hotel, which is very convenient. The old town is very close, and it's just a 15 minutes walk to Charles' Bridge. No mention of PL at check-in, but the hotel was full when we arrived, so we were assigned a smoking room with a king size bed. It was really smelly, so we asked if we could be moved to a non-smoking room, and they told us they would do that on the following day, since a couple of large groups would check out, making some non-smoking rooms available again. The promise was kept, and the room we received was very similar to the one we stayed in the first night, only without the smell. :) Rooms are large and clean. The bed was very comfortable and the air conditioning worked very well. Bathrooms were of adequate dimensions, very clean, and equipped with standard amenities and toiletries. Both the doorman and the concierge were very nice. The latter (a nice young lady) suggested a couple of restaurants and reserved them for us. We didn't find that eating in Prague was expensive at all. Unless you choose the "fanciest" restaurants, eating is pretty cheap. We went to "Nebozizek" on Petrin Hill, a very nice restaurant with a great view of the city, and spent something like $18 per person. Same thing at "Seven Angels" in the old town, which is the oldest restaurant in Prague.. very good prices. My favorite restaurant was "Metamorphis", which is right behind Tyn's Church. There is a Pizzeria at ground level but the "real" restaurant is downstairs. Very nice, very good food, great service for under $40 per person. Also, if you want a nice and cheap breakfast close to the hotel, go to the Caf

Mission accomplished. :) This was the bidding history: MTW $120 - rejected MTW + UWS $130 - rejected MTW + UWS + UES $140 - rejected Closed the browser and started a new bid: MTE $120 rejected, but received counter-offer of $142. Closed the browser again and started a new bid: MTE + UWS $127 - ACCEPTED Check-In Date: Monday, January 9, 2006 Check-Out Date: Thursday, January 12, 2006 Hotel Name: Grand Hyatt New York 109 East 42nd Street Park Avenue And Grand Central Station New York, New York 10017 212-883-1234 Your Offer Price: $127.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 3 Subtotal: $381.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $72.06 Total Charges: $453.06 The lowest rate for these dates on Hyatt.com is $225/night. A saving of $98/night is not that bad! :) I'm very very satisfied. With my backup reservation for my entire stay (1/5-12) at the Millennium UN Plaza we would have spent $1183+tax (~$1360). With Priceline we are spending $569 (at the Hilton) + $453 (at the Hyatt) = $1022 taxes included! A total saving of ~$340, and we are going to 4* hotels instead of a 3*... great great great! :o I placed my bids using the link at savingsbarn.com You totally deserved it! :) Thanks again soooooooo much!

As you can see here: PRICELINE WIN For the same dates I was able to get the New York Hilton for $120/night. But since bids are often "non repeatable", before you try anything just wait for thereuare to post a bidding strategy for you. Just wanted to tell you that reaching your goal is possible.

Hello again. :) Just wanted to post an update: I just tried up to $160 with no luck. There's no hurry anyway. Will try again. And again, and again... :)

Will do and report here afterwards. Thanks a lot.

Done. No luck. :)

If the Holiday Inn rate is cancellable, book it. Then bid with priceline, and see if you get a better hotel for less... You still have a lot of time..

Hi thereuare, here we are :) for the second half of my stay, from January 9 to 12 (3 nights). Yesterday I tried to bid for the whole stay (1/5-12) and I got rejected up to $140, therefore it is possible that we need to increase the maximum bid over $140. On the other hand, only two days ago my bids for $120 were rejected, while yesterday they were accepted (check my other topic)... My backup reservation costs $169+tax, so I'm willing to raise my bid limit to $160 for a 4-star hotel, if necessary. Thanks.

Thanks thereuare! We're halfway through! :) I've tried up to $140 for the whole stay, rejected. Then tried for 1/5-11 (6 nights), rejected. Then tried for 1/5-10 (5 nights), rejected. But when I tried for 1/5-9 (4 nights) my bid was ACCEPTED at $120 (first try): Reservation Information: Hilton New York Midtown West 1335 Avenue Of The Americas New York, New York 10019 Check-In Date: Thu, Jan 5, 2006 Check-In Time: After 03:00 PM Check-Out Date: Mon, Jan 9, 2006 Check-Out Time: 12:00 PM Your Offer Price: $120.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 4 Subtotal: $480.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $89.05 Total Charges: $569.05 (Bid placed through the link at savingsbarn.com) How do I bid for the remaining three nights (1/9-12)?

Good, I'll try again as soon as 72 hours have passed. :) Just to be prepared.. if I manage to get the first 6 nights at ~$130, how much should I bid for the seventh night? I could raise my budget if it is just for one night... Thanks P.S.: I really admire your patience. :-)

Someone on TOBB got the Hilton NY on 1/7 for $127. The official rate for that night is $269. The same rate is applicable to my stay for the 1/5-11 period. The night of 1/12 has a rate of $309. Can this information be useful somehow?

I'll try again for a 4* star in 72 hours, and then I'll decide. I'll keep you posted. Thanks for your help so far.

Thanks thereuare. In the meantime I did some research on 3* hotels for my stay, and especially for the MTE hotels, there seem to be nice rates which could be even better with Priceline: Doubletree Metropolitan: 1/5 $135 1/6 $152 1/7 $152 1/8 $118 1/9 $152 1/10 $186 1/11 $186 Crowne Plaza UN 1/5 $149 1/6 $149 1/7 $149 1/8 $149 1/9 $159 1/10 $159 1/11 $159 Radisson Lexington 1/5 $159 1/6 $149 1/7 $199 1/8 $159 1/9 $159 1/10 $159 1/11 $159 While the Marriott East Side, the Roosevelt and the 3*hotels in the MTW zone all have rates comparable to the 4* star hotels ones. Could this be useful? Maybe we can't get a 4* hotel with our budget, but could get one of the aforementioned 3* hotels.

Followed the strategy. All bids rejected. Every combination of dates up to $120. :)

Rebid zones are UES and UWS, since they don't have any 4 star hotel. I'm going to try right now, and see what happens. Will report as soon as I have news. Thanks

Hi thereuare. We decided to try and split our bid, as long as we can get a nice deal. :) Therefore I'm all ears.

Hi thereuare. I spoke to my friend and we decided to split our bid. But before we do this, I would like to hear your opinion on this: I noticed that the rate for the Marriott Marquis (for my dates) has decreased since I started looking for a hotel. It was $269/nt and now it has fallen to $220/nt. So we were wondering, what if they fall more in the near future? We might have a chance of getting a "whole" stay... Would it be utopic to go on bidding for the whole stay until, let's say, first week of december, and if nothing happens by then, split our bids? Would it be "dangerous" in terms of decreasing the chances of a success in the "split bid" strategy? Also, considering the split bid option, how would you bid, and what budget do you think would be necessary to cover the whole stay, for a 4-star hotel? You stated before that we could be successful at $120-130 for a part of our stay, but what about the remaining days? Thanks a lot

Thanks thereuare. I will explain all this to my friend tonight, and decide what to do. All this considered we will probably split our bid and try to get the most out of our budget. If this means we have to change hotels, ok. Thanks a lot so far, you've been very helpful.

I'll talk to my friend tonight, so that we can decide a definitive strategy and stick to it from now on. I've had a look at rates in NJ too, and it looks to me that those hotels behave strangely. Look at this: Doubletree Club Jersey City: 1/5 $219 1/6 $159 1/7 $159 1/8 $239 1/9 $239 1/10 $239 1/11 $239 BUT If I use 1/5-11 as checkin/checkout dates the website gives back a rate of $199/night AND If I use 1/6-11 as checkin/checkout dates the website gives back a rate of $159/night, even though the official rate for 1/8-9-10 is $239. So it looks to me that the "highest" rated dates in my stay are the first night (1/5) and the last (1/11)... Any thoughts? Finally, just as a clarification, with "you should be able to get a 4* property at/close to your budget" did you mean the initial $120 that I stated or the $175 of my highest bid? Thanks a lot for your patience. :)

The rate at the Milennium UN is refundable, so I booked it as a cancellable backup as you suggested. I understand your reasons regarding splitting our stay, and will talk to my friend to see if she would accept this. Someone also suggested to bid for a 3-star hotel in Jersey City, since it's just a commute of a few minutes by train and rates are much lower than Manhattan. We could also consider this, but only if that makes us save some money. What do you think?

Last saturday. It's not that we are not willing to split our bid, it's just that we consider this some sort of "last chance" in case we cannot find any other solution. At the moment, we'd rather save some money than stay at a better hotel. The problem seems to be that going under the 3-star level in NYC is risky... and if saving money means finding rats in our room (and it looks like this happens in some 2 star hotels in NY) then we definitely don't want this. :) On www.millenniumhotels.com The rate is still there, actually. :)

Hi thereuare, and thanks for your reply. Fact is that I've already tried to bid for a 4-star hotel in the MTW-MTE zone (and also added UMT-CPS as some sort of "rebid" zone, considering that the rates for that zone are usually much higher) and got rejected all my bids up to $175.. Therefore I think your strategy would definitely fail, unless there is something I did not understand and/or there's a mistake in the star-rating you are suggesting me to bid for. :)

Hi thereuare, and thanks for your reply. I think I've visited ALL the websites of ALL the hotels listed as possible candidates using Priceline in NYC, and it looks like the hotel with the best price/quality ratio for the period of our stay is the Milennium UN Plaza at $169/night. Considering it's a 3-star hotel, I guess we would want to save some money if we bid for a lower-rated hotel, such a 2.5-star. Therefore I'd say our maximum bid would be around $120, although I'm not sure it is a realistic goal. Regarding splitting the bid, we might consider it, but since there's still plenty of time we'd rather try a single bid for now. Other zones are not acceptable, because of the low quality of the 2.5 star hotels listed. It seems like the Courtyard Midtown is the only decent hotel in this star-rating. Anyway, alternative solutions for saving some money would be appreciated. :)