Just got back from our trip. The Emily Morgan was a fantastic hotel for our group. We were assigned a single queen room but asked for a double-double (we had kids with us) and they upgraded us (it is an upgrade if you look at their retail prices for these rooms) no questions asked. We ended up in a beautiful 6th floor room in the corner of the wedge-shaped hotel with windows directly overlooking the Alamo. The room was large.
We parked a few blocks away in a city-run indoor parking garage on St. Mary's Street. Another option slightly closer would have been the one on Houston St. Both are easy walking distance from the hotel. There is 15 minute unloading at the curb so we easily registered and ran our stuff up to the room, then drove to the parking and walked back. Valet parking was about $28 compared to the $9 (cash needed) we paid for city parking.
Breakfast buffet is about $14 at the hotel; we ate at a hole-in-the-wall Mexican cafe on Commerce near the Market Square for about $17 for the 4 of us, enjoying delicious homemade tortillas made into breakfast tacos.
Bottomline: you can do this quite affordably with a little effort.
Started bidding at $41, adding zones and incrementing by $5, going for 4* in Riverwalk area. Got the Emily Morgan when I reached $66
I used several bids up to $61 and finally jumped to $70 before my bid for 1 night in 4* French Quarter hotel was accepted. Got the Marriott. Since someone else recently posted $55 for 3 nights spanning my stay, I thought I could get a better deal, but no luck. Guess they don't like 1 night stands!
Actually, we are extending on either side, so the dates are check-in August 12, check-out August 17. Thanks again for all the help! I hope other readers benefit from the discussion, and I certainly hope they see how supportive you are for users of this forum and are thus as eager as I am to support you through the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links provided.
Well, today we decided to extend the trip beyond the convention for a couple days, and when I did, I found that the Crowne Plaza is now an average of $125 on HOTWIRE vs. $136 for the Holiday Inn Express. The latter is still nicer from a breakfast/free WiFi perspective, but my wife really prefers the proximity of the Crowne Plaza to her convention hotel, so we decided to go that route, and booked it for 5 nights at $125/night + taxes/fees. Just wanted to say thanks for all your help. I wouldn't have been so confident about the I.D. of the hotel without your help. Having ended up stuck in the West Side YMCA for 4 nights at $120/night for a paint-peeling-off-the-walls, pipes-running-along-the-ceiling, dimly lit postage stamp size room fully occupped by a double bed and small dresser, and with a teensy bathroom with a shower with a triangular footprint about 24" x 24" on the sides, I can assure you that $125 for the Crowne Plaza in Times Square area seems like a bargain to me!!
Now my only issue is that between yesterday and today the airfare jumped by about 25%. I think I'll take a chance and wait to see if it comes back down.
Ah, interesting! So that's how it works. Makes sense.
Thanks for the clarification on price. I guess I need to just go ahead then. And yes, I'll definitely use your links. Your provide a great service, and I've become as attached to it as I am to PRICELINE (and now I'm slowly starting to understand the value of HOTWIRE for certain cases too!).
thereyouare--would you please be kind enough to tell me precisely how you got $125 on the presumed Holiday Inn Express? Thanks!
OOPS! My goof. The price is $149 for 4 adults. For 2 adults + 2 children, it is $139. I still don't know how you get to $125. Can you explain?
Also, curiously, if I search for just 1 adult or 2 adults, this property doesn't show up at all. i.e., there are no hotels in the same part of town with 3* and a breakfast included (the coffee mug icon). Any idea why that is? Why would Hotwire only include that property if searching for 2+2 or 4 adults?
My target budget is as little as I can get away with! LOL (In other words, anywhere in NYC is more than I want to pay, but I realize I have to fork over the $$ and do want a place that is clean, safe and close to the convention hotel.
BUT, where are you getting these quotes??! I can't find quotes as low for either the Crown Plaza or the Holiday Inn Express as you are. Are you putting in different dates than I am? I'm searching HOTWIRE for 8/13/09 - 8/16/09. If I do for 2 adults + 2 children, I see $149 for a 3* hotel in Midtown Central that has breakfast, business center, internet, with TripAdvisor 4.0 out of 5 with 180+ ratings. I assume that is what you are assuming is the Holiday Inn Express? So how did you get $125/nite? (the breakfast would be a good adder considering there are 4 of us. Glad you brought this to my attention. Can I somehow get it for $125?).
When I search this evening I'm seeing the same hotel for $169/night. If I choose 4 adults instead of 2 adults/2 children, it is $196/night. As noted above, my kids are 21 and 23, so they are adults. I don't know how picky the hotels are on the matter, but technically if I book at the 2 adults/2 kids rate, I could run into trouble. Right?
thereuare--I notice on Expedia that most hotels in NYC have a surcharge for extra guests in the room beyond 2. My children are my children, to be sure, but they are 21 and 23 years old. So if I do the Hotwire search for 2 adults/2 children will I run into trouble at the hotel? If I search for 4 adults, I suspect I'll have a higher cost.
P.S.--I would consider New Jersey but with family of 4, the savings have to cover 4 round trips per day. Would need to be in safe area, near PATH station (or other recommended transportation), and very short commute time. Wife will be attending convention at Marriott Marquis on 48th and Broadway. So need convenience and accessability. It would be much preferred to be in Manhattan close to that location. Only would consider other if much less expensive (like at least $50/night less).
I'm interested in a hotel near Times Square (actually, 48th and Broadway) for the weekend of August 13-16. The biggest concern for me is that we'll be there with our kids and need 2 double beds (or rollways). Since Priceline only guarantees a room that sleeps 2 adults, that is a worry. In other major cities I've usually not been concerned because I can bid on a 3-4* hotel and know that there is a 95% chance I can get a double/double if I ask for it (I've only missed once in years of bidding). In NYC, however, there are a lot of hotels that don't have double/doubles (i.e., the majority of hotels near Times Square on Expedia fall in this category), so I fear the risk is high. So if you have any advice not only on bidding strategy for this area in general, but on how to get a room that sleeps 4, I'd appreciate it.
OK. Thought you could kill 2 birds with one stone. I'll post new topic.
I'm also very interested in this topic, but for the weekend of August 13-16. The biggest concern for me is that we'll be there with our kids and need 2 double beds. Since Priceline only guarantees a room that sleeps 2 adults, that is a worry. In other major cities I've usually not been concerned because I can bid on a 3-4* hotel and know that there is a 95% chance I can get a double/double if I ask for it (I've only missed once in years of bidding). In NYC, however, there are a lot of hotels that don't have double/doubles (i.e., the majority of hotels near Times Square on Expedia fall in this category), so I fear the risk is higher. So if you have any advice not only on bidding strategy as per the original post, but on how to get a room that sleeps 4, I'd appreciate it.
Sorry to be so late in checking back, but I had a great trip.
I have to say that my wife and I were DELIGHTED with our room at the Barbizon Palace! It was roomy, clean, very well appointed, and quiet. We did not try the restaurant so can't comment on that (breakfast is not included in the Priceline rate; we found that to be true in all 3 of our European Priceline hotels. I don't mind, as I'd rather have the lower price and then do what I want for breakfast). Internet was available but not included in the rate.
The location of this hotel has to be almost the most convenient in all of Amsterdam. It is right across the street from the Central Station (don't worry; we heard no train noise--the street is quite wide, plus buildings in between, plus trains aren't noisy, etc.). So, you can arrive from Schiphol on the direct Schipol-Central Station train that you pick up in the basement of Schiphol. And you can take canal boat cruises, trams, etc. from Central Station. Also, there is a tourist office there where you can buy many tour and other packages (though the hotel concierge can also help). And there is now a Sixt car rental location at the Central Station so you can rent a car from there conveniently.
We had a great time in Amsterdam (my first time outside of Schiphol), and I would be very happy to stay in the Barbizon Palace again. We ended up never taking a tram but just walking all over the city.
This was a comfortable if unexciting hotel. Nice quiet room yet near the airport. I'd stay there again. Be forewarned that the hotel shuttle runs every 30 minutes to/from Schipol. Get it at the curb outside the airport where all the hotel shuttles come. It is free from the airport to the hotel, but 5 Euro for the return trip. Parking is expensive at the hotel, so we found it cheaper to dump our rental car at the airport and then use the shuttle. This was just our last night before flying out anyway.
We ended up with a lovely, large corner room overlooking the city. The hotel itself is very nice and large by European standards, situated on the inner harbor. We were able to walk everywhere from there, use the harbor bus (boat), and also borrow the free bicycles from the lot across the street. If you want a charming old quaint hotel, this isn't it. This is a business-like hotel built to U.S. standards.
I only bid once, at $90, for Copenhagen 4* and it was excepted. Bid on 4/26/09, for 1 room for 2 nights May 8-10.
Maybe I bid too much. The earlier posts showed high bids for Copenhagen, though, and this is a good price in a city of high prices. There are no rebids in Copenhagen except by lowering quality rating, so I just went with the $90 bid.
I wanted to get the Marriott because I think I'll have better luck getting 3 adults in a room there (Expedia shows they allow it). Hopefully it will work out ok!
Your Offer Price: US$90.00
Number of Rooms: 1
Number of Nights: 2
Subtotal: US$180.00
Taxes and Service Fees:
US$52.84
Total Charges: US$232.84
(taxes and fees are killer, eh?!)
I probably overbid, but there was an earlier post for $80 at this hotel, so I thought I was lowballing it (there are limited zones in Amsterdam so I didn't want to run out of rebids). Oh well. Still almost half the best rate on the hotel's website.
One bid, 4*, Schiphol zone, $60, for 5/19/09 1 night.
Bid 4/26/09. Accepted.
Your Offer Price: US$60.00
Number of Rooms: 1
Number of Nights: 1
Subtotal: US$60.00
Taxes and Service Fees:
US$14.56
Total Charges: US$74.56
Based on other recent posts, I just straight off bid 5* city center at $67 and bid was accepted. I bid on 4/26/09 using the PRICELINE link on BB.
5/4-5/6 (2 nights)
Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: US$67.00
Subtotal: US$134.00
Taxes & Service Fees: US$24.26
Total Charges: US$158.26
Thanks everyone for your postings that helped me get this great deal! (now on to my other European vacation cities/hotels...)
BTW, the website for this hotel shows it to be quite nice inside, and very conveniently located just across from the main train station downtown.
Your Offer Price: $40.00
Number of Rooms: 1
Number of Nights: 1
Subtotal: $40.00
Taxes and Service Fees: $13.99
Total Charges: $53.99
I bid $35, 38, 39, 40 on a 3 star hotel in Houston West. Got the Omni at $40. This confirms the number posted earlier by myself and others and must represent the Omni's minimum accepted Priceline bid amount.
We were very pleased with this hotel (nice lobby, large/spacious room) when we stayed there a couple weeks ago and are happy to return.
I got the same price at the Westside Omni today (12/2/05) on short notice for tonight (one night). I originally bid $35 for Galleria 4* and got nothing, then tried $35 Houston West 3* and got nothing, so not having much time, added Galleria 3* and bid $40 for either Galleria or West 3*. I ended up with the Westside Omni.
Thanks! You've got a great site here. Read about it in USA Today and was checking it out. I've just finished reading through pretty much everything. I've learned a couple new ideas. We really ought to give some thought to coordinating a study of warning message correlations to bid levels. However, I'm concerned that doing this kind of thing in a public forum is probably counterproductive as PL or hotel managers probably monitor and would pick up on the effort and change the software to defeat such efforts.
2.5* Missoula Holiday Inn Express And Suites Missoula Northwest
in Priceline Hotels - Montana / Nebraska / New Hampshire / New Mexico
Posted
I bid various Missoula zones for 3* at $45, $50, $55 and $60; all were rejected. I then added 2.5* and only the North zone. I bid $45 and it was accepted. Should have started lower! However, this is a good price for that hotel that weekend since it is Labor Day weekend and there is a home game for UM that weekend as well. Expedia had a special negotiated rate for that hotel of $123/night, so I'm feeling smug. I added an extra night for 8/30 as well.