Keoni

Update! Following your advice I was able to score the Hyatt on the Hudson for the one night of July 5th. Started working backwords using Jersey City and Manhatten simultaneously, and before I could lock in Jersey City I was able to get Midtown East, International The Barclay for July 3 and 4. First bid was MTW 4 Star, $100 and rejected, added MTE, upped to $103, BINGO... a winner!!! Total with taxes and fees for two nights is $243.66. I start all my bids at Savings Barn and also support Entertainment books, currently have 3, and other companies listed on the help support Betterbidding site. Anyway, I figure you can parse this post up and move it to NYC or whatever. I only have to figure out where I'll stay on 2 July. Questions: Any idea how much it costs to park at Newark Airport x 24hours? Would this be a good option to drop the car, take public trans into NYC?

Ok, here is where I am with this mini vacation. The night of 2 July is still open and I am hoping to get somewhere near Newark N.J. as I will be driving up from D.C. Nights of 3, 4 July won Intercontinental The Barclay (4 *) in MTE for $103 per night, subtotal of $206 plus $37.66 taxes and fees. Final night of trip (thank you Thereyouare)!!! at the room with a view in beautiful Jersey City Hyatt on the Hudson for $37 per night plus $11.36 tax and fees. Now if I can just lock in my overnight stay at a place that will let me leave my car with fairly cheap parking, I think I have done this with an A+ for a grade. Keoni

Fightinirish, Thanks for the tip on Lower Manhatten. Right now I have a fallback (cancellable) reservation at the Hotel Pennsylvania for $155 per night including tax. My primary focus is on being as close to MTW as possible, W 55th Street, but not being familiar with the area I don't know if it makes a big difference at either location. The hotel room is mostly a nice bed to sleep as we plan to spend most of the time sightseeing or being with our friends at their location. Thereuare thinks that because of the massive crush of tourists during Thanksgiving the prices probably won't go down, rather they will go up so I have actiively been playing the bidding game for MTW, MTE, CPS/UPM, MTS up to $120 with no luck so far. I guess I could raise my bid to 130 to close with what I have at the Hotel Penn but that doesn't seem to make sense based upon the ability to Cancel Penn up to 24 hours in advance. There are a couple of things that I don't seem to understand regarding this bidding process. I see recommendations about using "rebids" that don't seem to be tied to changing anything. This has never been offered to me in the bidding process. Secondly, I have frequently had problems when I wanted to rebid but only changed the date, or changed the date and amount. Priceline would reply that I was submitting a duplicate request so it wouldn't let me bid. Anyway, thanks for the support on my bidding process. Regards, Keoni

Thanks for the help! Convenience to the transportation into the City is a key concern as is a place to leave my car. I would consider lowering to a 2.5 star hotel but I haven't really seen very many posts for Jersey City at less than 3 star so I wasn't willing to gamble not knowing what I would get. Seems most of the posts are for the 3* and I would be willing to go to $70 per night plus tax/fees before dropping back to 2.5 stars if you think I would get a place convenient to the transportation. Regards, Keoni

I have already booked a room at the JC DoubleTree Club Suites for November 19th - 23 and would like to move into NYC for 23 - 28 focusing on MTW/MTE/CPS/MTS in that order to be closer to friends already there. Prefer 4* $120 per night or less, and would also consider 3* for much less money. Suggestions? I continue to strike out using a gradual increase to the $120 level and adding rebids in the order of the zones listed above. Am I running into trouble trying to get cheap rooms around the holiday or are my expectations too low for hooking a room at the $120 level? Regards, Keoni

I have been trying to get a room in Jersey City for the dates of 2 - 6 July with the intention of traveling in to the city on the Path. I would love to hook that Hyatt room everyone is raving about but I haven't had any luck. Of course we would like to be in one hotel for the entire period but would also consider splitting for a couple of days at two hotels just to get the "room with a view." Any suggestions as I have stalled at bidding more than $45 per night based upon other posts that indicate $37 is the magic number? Also, I have already booked a room at the Jersey City DoubleTree Club Suites for November 19th - 23 paying $70.00 per night plus 47.55 in taxes and fees for $327.55 total. This was the result of many weeks and failed attempts gradually increasing from $32 and finally winning at $70. Am I running into trouble trying to get cheap rooms around the holiday weekends? Regards, Keoni

I see two different "wins" at two different NJ hotels, a 2.5 * and a 3* for what appears to be the same timeframe. Am I reading these postings correctly? I am always watching the area as I will be staying in the Courtyard over Thanksgiving and really appreciate the info found at this website. Regards, Keoni

You asked for a recommendation of a cancelable room in NYC so you can bid more relaxed on Priceline.com... I found the Howard Johnson at Penn Station (mid town Manhatten ) for about $82 a nite plus tax for 2 people. You can make your reservation at www.hojo.com and select New York City, New York. I am using HOJO as my safety net for a trip in November. I began bidding for my room as soon as the 330 day Priceline limit would allow using the strategy provided on this forum for 3 and 4 star hotels. I haven't been successful so far but I believe it is because no hotel anywhere would pass out its discounted rooms 11 months in advance! Now I can sit back, continue to bid the strategy knowing I have a room that I can cancel up to 24 hours in advance and my credit card hasn't been hit in advance. Good luck to you and support this forum and SAVINGSBARN.COM regards, Keoni My room at HOJO STANDARD SMOKING ROOM HAS ONE QUEEN BED AMENITIES ARE: PHONE COLOR TV PRIVATE BATH HOWARD JOHNSON MAKES YOU FEEL AT HOME CANCEL 24HRS PRIOR TO 4PM

Thereuare and Dirk, Thanks for the replies. Actually, $10 a day for a parking garage at the Hotel seems very reasonable. I am very excited about this trip and am looking forward to a real adventure both in Jersey City and NYC. I have scoured the posts and will try to be a good member and contributor to this forum. I am a big believer in small business and will support the Savingsbarn site whenever I do my leisure travel. Again, thanks for helping with my trip. Regards, Keoni

I have been trying for about a month to get the Hyatt on the Hudson for the weekend leading up to Thanksgiving. This would help reduce the cost of the visit to NYC which is the primary purpose and based upon all the rave reviews I was focused on getting this hotel. Unfortunately, greed set in. After numerous bids on many occasions staying in the $30, $35, $40 range I upped the ante on my last try to bid as follows: Nites of Nov 19 - 22 $60 Rejected Nites of Nov 19 - 21 $65 Thinking to add 22nd if successful, Rejected Nites 0f Nov 19 - 23 $70 Congrats ...Doubletree Club Suites :) 4 Nights @ $70 = $280 Taxes & Priceline fees = $47.55 Hilton.com's lowest price for this timeframe is $119.00 per night plus tax so the price is ok. Having read other posts regarding the Doubletree and Hyatt, parking is a concern. Does anyone know the parking situation at the Hyatt and price? I need to find a place to leave the car while trying for a 3 or 4 star in Manhatten for Nov 23 - 27.

First bid was accepted for $20.00 Dates of stay: 1 Night - 30 March 2004 Number of Rooms: 2 Total of $40.00 + 11.12 taxes/fees = $51.12 ) Orlando, Fla. Disney World Vicinity La Quinta Inn Lakeside 7769 West Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway Kissimmee, Florida 34747 407-396-2222 WDW La Quinta Inn Amenities Shown from Priceline: Remote Control TV w/premium channels Telephone with messaging Radio Alarm Clock Amenities shown at La Quinta website: Free Shuttle service to ALL Disney Parks Color TV with FREE Disney Channel and In-Room Fee Movies In-Room Refrigerator Coffee Maker, Amenities Refreshed Daily In-Room Safe Unlimited Local Phone Calls Daily Newspaper Children under 17 Stay Free in Same Room with Parents Sony PlayStation in Every Room($7.5 per hour) Rollaway Available for $10 Crib Available at No Charge Irons, Ironing Boards and Hair dryers in every room

I tried the 3* strategy and bid as follows: Airport for $25 Kissimmee for $27 (only has 2* and below) Winter Park for $30 (only has 2* and below) Florida Mall for $32 WDW for $35 All bids rejected Waited 72 hours and tried the same prices using the same strategy All bids rejected Waited 72 hours and tried the same strategy using the same prices for 2.5* All bids rejected Used a different account and went for a 2* at Walt Disney World thinking I wouldn't get it and would then move to Kissimmee and bid $22 (previous post indicated this would work) and was surprised to get accepted for $20!!! See my post for WDW 2*.

I'm not picky and am looking for an inexpensive motel near the Orlando airport with shuttle service to same. Can anyone recommend a bidding strategy for one night 30-31 March 2004 :)