DPHtraveler

You are right once again! Just booked it, and indeed it is the Time New York Hotel. The rate went down slightly to $166 per night and is for a room that sleeps up to 2 adults, assigned at check in. Adding all the taxes and mandatory fee, total cost for 1 night is $251.18.

Priceline Express had a 4.5* hotel in Times Square district for $174 per night for Queen bed, for July 31-August 1, with these options: Restaurant Free Internet available Free Internet Fitness Center Bed choice available This hotel offers bed choices: Queen Bed - Superior Room; King Bed - Superior Room; King Bed - Deluxe room; Double Bed - Deluxe Room; and Deluxe Suite. Is the bed choice a good clue as to what hotel this might be? Do all the the 4.5 hotels in this district offer these bed choice options? Any guesses as to which hotel this is?

Back from NYC, and highly recommend the Westin Times Square for visitors who want to be in the thick of the action in Times Square. The room was decent size for a NYC hotel and looked nice. The area is thronged with tourists at all hours, but in a good spot near the theaters and on the same block as a major subway station serving 42nd St., which I used a lot. Since it is a few blocks further south than many of the other Times Square hotels, it is closer to Penn Station, which I walked to in about 10 minutes. One question for the future. The original Priceline Express deal showed a pretty low rate, but when you click on it and get to the details there was a "mandatory fee" that increased the daily rate by about $40 per night (this was in addition to the many taxes that are also added to the initial rate). Some other hotel deals had a "resort fee" that served a similar purpose. I spotted the "mandatory fee" early on and took it into account when deciding to choose the hotel, but I do think it is a bit deceptive. Is it common for Priceline Express and Hotwire deals to show an initial low rate, then jack it up with these hidden fees only after you click on it?

Ok, it's done! I went with the first Option in the above thread, which was the Priceline $4.5* Times Square -- Theatre District for $143, for June 27 - 29 (king bed option -- higher rates for other options). Before booking, I saw that in addition to the hotel rate, there was a "Hotel fee" of $68.86 (total for 2 nights), so that put the daily rate (without taxes) more like $177 per night. I was also able to use the Better Bidding coupon, which saved me $14 per night on the room (plus some tax savings, I assume). Total price all-in (including taxes, fees, etc.) for the 2 nights is $427.54, which is about $214 per night. The hotel turned out to be: --The Westin Times Square, which is exactly what you predicted it would be -- great job! I'm very happy with that hotel, as I've stayed there before, and the price I got was much better than if I booked online with the hotel, which would have been $533 for the 2 nights. Thanks for your help!

For one person seeking a 4.5* NYC hotel in Times Square area on June 27 - 29, I got the following results: 1. Priceline Express shows a hotel with rating of 7.0 for price of $192 per night with these amenities: Pets Allowed Restaurant Airport Shuttle Free Internet available Free Internet Free Breakfast Fitness Center Bed choice available Any idea which hotel this is? The 7.0 rating sounded low for a 4.5* hotel -- any ideas on that. 2. The same search (same dates, same 4.5*, same Times Square district) in Hotwire Easy View brings up two choices and a real anomaly. The lowest price is $147 per night (seem pretty low!), and 80% thumbs-up recommendation, and shows these amenities: Free breakfast Free internet Pet friendly Smoke-free rooms Restaurant(s) Business center Golf nearby Any idea which one this is? 3. The second option on Hotwire Easy View for these same parameters is $188 per night, with a 70% recommendation, and the following amenities: Free internet Boutique hotel Smoke-free rooms Fitness center Restaurant(s) Wheelchair accessible Have a guess on which this hotel is? Is it weird that this hotel is $40 per night more expensive the choice no. 2 and yet has a slightly lower recommendation? These prices do not yet include the 5 and 8 percent discount offered on your site. I need to move soon to make my arrangements. Any suggestions among these three? Thanks!

Yes, correct overnight date in NYC would be Saturday, Sept. 16. (Follow-up done on last trip.) Thanks

We ended up not going on this trip.

I'm planning a quickie trip to NYC to see a Broadway show this Saturday night, September 12 and need a hotel for that night only. I've stayed in the Theater District--Times Square area before, and used Hotwire and Priceline to do that, but wouldn't mind considering other nearby areas and taking a cab or subway to get a significantly better price for a 4* or better hotel. A hotel that is within walking distance to Central Park would be interesting, too. I will be driving to NY, but planning to find parking on my own separate from the hotel. Any suggestions for NYC areas I should consider beyond the Theater District?

Instead of bidding, I took the Priceline Express 4.5* hotel deal offered in Financial District at $193 per night, and applied the 5% discount from betterbidding website, which made the effective daily rate even lower. (Same amenities as in above thread.) The hotel was the Omni Hotel, which is what I wanted all along. By the way, this turned out to be a very good deal. About 2 weeks before my trip, I tried bidding on Priceline for an extra night (arriving 1 day earlier) in the same Financial Area district and 4.5*hotel.. By that time, the hotel rate was crazy high, and my Priceline bid for as high as $355 per night was not accepted! I could have had this earlier night for about $240 per night on Priceline Express about one month earlier. I ended up staying instead at the Hyatt Regency, booked under a different method for around $259 for that night. The Omni Hotel was great. Really like the free coffee delivery service to the room.

We're looking for a hotel close to MIT in Cambridge, MA for Sept. 8 - 11. Priceline Express had one choice, which was 3.5 stars, rated 7 of 10, 30% or more savings, with the following amenities: Business Center Fitness Center Restaurant Free Internet No smoking rooms/facilities The description says hotel is similar to Hyatt, Hilton, Sheraton, Doubletree, Crowne Plaza, and Marriott. Any of the hotels near the Charles River and MIT would be great, but the geographic area for this is large, extending pretty far north and west, and wouldn't want to stay that far away from MIT. Any thoughts of which hotel this might be?

Ok, I'm looking for 4.5* or higher in Financial District zone, with max bid of $192 per night, for July 20 - 24.

I did some checking using Bidding Helper on Priceline Express, breaking down my trip (July 20 - 24) into various combinations of those days as well as the entire period. My parameters were for 4.5* or 5* hotels in the Financial District - Embarcadaro zone only. I found that the lowest daily rate was for the period of Friday, July 21 - Monday, July 24. This produced a daily rate of $202 for the 4.5* and $348 for the 5*. For the full period of July 20 -24, the daily rate was $211 for the 4.5* and $389 for the 5*. For the 4.5* hotel, the daily rate is just $9 per day more when using the 4-day period. Interestingly, if I wanted pick up the July 20-21 day separately on a stand-alone basis, the daily rate for that one day would be $320 for the 4.5* and $392 for the 5*. So the 4-day rate for the 4.5* hotel seems to be quite a good deal -- the $118 higher rate for the first night should have added about $30 per day to the 4-day daily rate, but it only adds $9 per day. I'm thinking of just grabbing it instead of bidding. As to what I would need to save to make the bidding process worthwhile, probably would need a savings of about $25 per day, meaning a daily rate of about $191.

No problem. I thought you would say the Omni, and I wouldn't mind staying there or the other 4.5 star hotel that seems to be a possibility for this zone (Le Meridien). Any suggestions on how to bid this through the multiple zone technique? Also, in your experience, what is the likelihood of getting a significantly better rate for a 4.5* in this zone through bidding vs. simply taking the Priceline Express deal? I tried the multiple zone technique for a New York City hotel. It's a bit nerve-wracking because you need to make sure you know what star level hotels are available in the new zone you are adding, or you could be stuck with a hotel in that zone that you don't want to be in. I did not make any mistakes like that, but it's a bit scary the first time you try it. Anyway, after doing over 12 bids with that technique, I was only a few dollars away from the PricelIne Express price with no success, so I just went with that. Would you expect that to be the case here as well? Any pros and cons in using Priceline Express vs. Hotwire? Both have a very similar rate for 4.5* hotels in this zone ($211 vs. $213). Does the board 5% off PRICELINE EXPRESS discount code apply here, since my stay will be in July?

Thanks. All of the hotels i mentioned were in the Financial District - Embarcadaro zone, not Union Square zone.

Gained a lot of insight from this site when I booked a trip to New York and now planning a trip to San Fransicsco. 1. I need 2 rooms but slightly different dates. I need one room from July 20 - 24, and the other room from July 21 - 23. Any suggestions on how to place bids or use HOTWIRE or PRICELINE EXPRESS and end up in the same hotel? 2. For July 20 - 24, 2017, Priceline Express is showing the following deals in the Financial District - Embarcadero zone. Any idea on which hotels these are? 4.5* hotel, $211 per night, rated 9 out of 10, save 25% or more. Amenities listed are: Pets Allowed Business Center Restaurant Fitness Center No Smoking Rooms/Facilities 4* hotel, $215 per night, save 18% or more. Amenities include: Business Center Restaurant Free Internet Fitness Center No Smoking Rooms/Facilities. 3. For the same dates and zone, Hotwire Easy View is showing: 4.5*, $213 per night. Full amenities are: Pet Friendly Smoke-free rooms Fitness Center Restaurants Business Center Internet access Golf nearby Restaurant(s) Accessible path of travel (huh?) In-room accessibility Accessible bathroom ["Is this a good price?" box only lists the Omni, which is a hotel I like a lot] 4. One highly rated hotel I would like to avoid is the Palace Hotel, which is given 5 stars. The times I stayed there I was given a terribly small room with a window looking into a narrow alley and other landlocked rooms of the hotel. I assume if you get this hotel from Priceline or Hotwire you will have a good chance of getting one of these awful rooms. That's probably the main reason I wouldn't want to expand my zone to South of Market - Moscone, though I like other hotels in that zone. Thanks for your help!

The Priceline Express Deal that I took ($209, 4.5*, Time Square - Theater Dist.) is still available and the only amenity showing is "Free Internet". When I took the deal, there might have been some other amenities listed, but I'm not sure. I know that "Free Internet" would have been the only one that would have made any difference to me.

This was a PRICELINE EXPRESS Deal for a 4.5* at $209, but factoring in the 5% discount from BetterBidding results in an effective rate of about $199 per night (not including taxes and fees, which add a total of $269 for our 3-night, 2-room stay). Before taking the Express Deal, I did multiple bids, several different times, looking for a deal on a 4.5* hotel in the Times Square - Theatre Dist. I started bidding around $165 and my highest bid was $195. I had plenty of re-bids left, but at that point I went for the PRICELINE EXPRESS Deal because it offered the certainty of the amenity of Free Internet. Based on previous threads, I was pretty sure that I would be getting the Premiere Hotel and am perfectly happy with the result. Thanks, BetterBidding! The full list of Amenities are: Airport shuttle Business centre Facilities for disabled guests Fitness centre Free Internet Free WiFi Non-smoking rooms Non-smoking throughout Restaurant

Further update. I bid again for the Time Square - Theater District for 4.5*. My first bid was $165, and my bid was rejected but I got an immediate response from Priceline saying I could have a free rebid at $238 per night. I didn't do that, and instead added other zones for the following rebids: 179, 189, 196, and 199. None of these bids were accepted, so I am now wondering whether to: (1) look for a 4* and better deals, (2) proceed further with bididng for a 4.5*, or (3) take one of the Express Deals or Hotwire deals for 4.5 hotels that are only a few dollars higher than my rejected $199 bid but have slightly more info on them. My budget would allow bidding or taking a PRICELINE EXPRESS Deal up to $215 for a 4.5* hotel, but I would only want to spend the extra money if a 4.5 hotel really did provide a better experience than a 4 hotel. Any thoughts on this? Also, I would have no problem staying in the Rock Center zone, and would be happy to add that to my bidding, But if I can't get a 4.5* in Times Square zone for under $200, is it likely that I could get one in the Rock Center zone? If there is a decent chance of that, then I could do the rebidding scheme by adding Rock Center and see what happens. As to the $209 "4.5-star New to Hotwire in Rockefeller Center area," regular price $309, 32% off, -- I found that by using BiddingHelper and the first "Hotwire" tab. Amenities listed are: Boutique hotel, Business center, Children's activities, Fitness center, Golf nearby, Internet access, Pet friendly, Restaurant(s), Spa services,. When I click on the listing, the Amenities listed are slightly different: Business center, Children's activities, Fitness center, Golf nearby, Internet access, Pet friendly, Restaurant(s), Self-service laundry, Smoke-free rooms. That is still there. If I move to the next tab over, "Hotwire Easy View," there is 4.5* in Rock Center zone that is $207 per night - very close, but $2 less. Amenities are: Pet friendly, Smoke-free rooms, Fitness center, Restaurant(s), Business center, Self-service laundry, Internet access, Golf nearby, Children's activities, Accessible for hearing impaired, Accessible path of travel, In-room accessibility, Wheelchair accessible, Accessible bathroom. And when I click on this hotel, it goes to another screen about the hotel that says "Hot New Rate to Hotwire." Do you think this is the same hotel as the $209 in the Hotwire view or these are 2 different hotels? If the same hotel, why are there slightly different prices? Any idea as to what hotel(s) these are? Thanks again for your help!

Thanks for the help! Here's an update. I studied the threads of your rebidding system and determined which zones didn't have a 4.5* or higher hotel, allowing 15 rebids. My goal was a 4.5* in Times Square - Theater Dist. at under $200 per night. My bids were: 125, 150, 165, 172, 177,181,185,189, 193,195, and 197. I still had a few rebids left to do, but stopped at $197, because I am now re-thinking if I'd be just fine in a 4* hotel at, say, around $170 or less, and whether I should try that. I can still look for a 4.5* by adding the Rock Center zone as well. So that's where I am now - thinking about whether to go down to 4* level. Separately, I noticed that Hotwire has a 4.5* "New to Hotwire" hotel in Rock Center area at $209 per night, down from $309 per night, 32% off. Rating is 90% thumbs up, bed choice available. Amenities are: bus center, children's activities, fitness center, golf nearby, internet access, pet friendly, restaurant(s), self-service laundry, smoke-free rooms. Any idea which hotel this might be? On Priceline Express Deals, in the same Rock Center area, the only 4.5* Express Deal hotel offered was at $251 per night, a 28% savings, with free internet.

Ok, I'm ready to start bidding now -- using your links, of course! My primary goal would be to get one of the 4.5* hotels in the Times Square - Theater District at less than $200 per night. Right now, I can get one of those hotels on Priceline Express for $213 per night. I would also have no problem staying in Central Park South and Rockefeller Center zones, so if I can't get what I wanted in the Times Square zone, could expand my zones with a new set of bids. I think you have a system that essentially allows multiple bids by adding new zones that don't have even hotels rated as high as your bid. Could you set out what my bidding strategy should be based on these parameters? Thanks so much for your help!

Also, I noticed on Hotwire (using Betterbidding.com's links!) using my dates, a 4* hotel in Rock.Center area for $167 per night that had 85% thumbs-up recommendation. Any idea which hotel this might be?

Some more questions for you. I numbered them to make them easier to identify and respond - hope I'm not being a nuisance now. 1. Priceline Express Deals for my dates at the 4* or higher level for the Times Square - Theatre District comes back with: a 4.5* hotel at $213 per night, and a 4* hotel at $282 per night. What's going on here? The higher priced hotel has fewer amenities and the same 7 out of 10 rating. Why would anyone pick the (unidentified) hotel that is $70 more per night, has a lower star rating (only 1/2 lower), and fewer amenities? I don't get it. 2. In the results obtained in par. 1 above, when clicking on the "Is this a good price" box, it reveals the names of various hotels in these two categories. There appears to be no overlap. So, do some people pick the higher price category in hopes of landing one of those named hotels? 3. If the 4.5*, $213 hotel in the Times Square - Theater Dist. turns out to be the Premier, the rooms looked great on the hotel website. I think we'd be happy here. If I bid on a 4.5* hotel in this area, would I have a good chance of getting this hotel at a lower price? Any downside to bidding on a 4.5* in this area instead of taking the Express Deal? 4. Yes, I could expand my area to include Madison Square Garden - Convention Area and Rockefeller Center - Bryant Park. I checked Priceline Express Deals for my dates in these areas at 4* or higher, and one of the 4* hotels in the Madison Square Garden area was $161 per night, saying it was a savings of 28% or more, rated 7 out of 10. That seemed pretty good. Clicking on the "Is this a good price?" button showed it might be 1 of 4 different hotels: Doubletree, Stewart, Wyndham, Cassa. Any guess as to which one of these was the $161 rate? 5. Any downsides to the Madison Square Garden area for a tourist as opposed to Times Square - Theater Dist. area? 6. I assume that hotel taxes are in addition to the prices shown in Express Deals, is that right? For NYC, what % does that add? Wow, that was a lot of questions. Thanks for your time!

Thanks, you found it. I'm looking for something that is walkable to the theatre district, so that's why I picked that area, but would consider other nearby areas. Some quick questions: 1. Is there much of a difference between a 4.5* and 4* hotel? I don't have any particular hotel amenities I must have. 2. Our trip is for arriving on April 27 and departing on April 30. Is there a sweet-spot in terms of best period of time on when to bid for a hotel? What's the likelihood that a price a hotel would accept on a bid will get lower (or higher) as time moves closer to my dates? 3. As to budget, I would really like to find something in the $150 - $175 range on a 4* type hotel. Not sure how realistic that is, but can't hurt giving it a try. Any suggestion on what my first opening bid should be?

In PRICELINE EXPRESS Deals, the only option for my dates (4/27 - 4/30) for 4 or 5 star hotel in Times Square - Theatre District was a 4.5 hotel, priced at $213, shown as 22% discount from $273 per night. Wondering what this hotel might be, and suggestions for bidding on Priceline. We are a group of 4 adults and need 2 rooms; will be going to Broadway shows, so this is a convenient area for us, but would be wiling to look at other nearly areas in Manhattan.