Possibly the worst "5 Star" hotel I've ever stayed at. Closer to a poorly maintained 2* hotel. Be forewarned if you're looking to bid 5* in Spanish Steps - Trevi Fountain area!
Booked through Bidding.Helper going up in $5 increments from $150 for all 4* hotels from Midtown down to Financial District, took a pause around $180. Tried the same for 3* up to $175. Then finally went up to try $185 and $190 for 4* and finally landed the World Center Hotel. Currently priced on Expe.dia at US$236 a night, so a savings of $46 a night.
Used Bidding.Helper and booked 5* Grand Hotel Plaza in Rome (Spanish Steps - Trevi Fountain) for CAD 234 a night for 3 nights, which with taxes and fees came to CAD 795.6. The rate came from Agoda.com, so I checked what the rate on the site was, and their cheapest room is CAD 355.32 a night, so we saved CAD 121.32 a night before taxes and fees.
I should note that if booked elsewhere, it would've been about CAD250 - 276 per night before taxes and fees, so it's not a huge savings but it's better than nothing!
Original bid $50. Not accepted, but PRICELINE offered for me to up it to $62 without changing any fields. I closed the window and bid again at $55 and it was accepted. Almost sad I didn't go up in $1 increments instead of $5 :) Taxes and fees: US$16.88 Total with taxes: US$71.88 Expedia rate: $149 Parking is $20 there, so watch out for that.
Strange thing was that less than an hour before using the BiddingHelper.com, I had searched all of the Manhattan zones for $141 for 5*, then 4.5*, then 4* without any results!
Bid up from $131 in 5 dollar increments for only Midtown East, and then when I got up to 141 I added in Central Park South and won the Renaissance Hotel 57. Rate from Marriott site indicates that it's $269/night for those dates typically and $239 with AAA/CAA discount, so it's still a great deal. Glad I went with Priceline since the lowest Hotwire price for the area was about $160 in Midtown East and with taxes it was near $210 per night, whereas this at $141 with taxes is $173.25 per night.
