durant durant

These are the only amenities that were listed through PRICELINE EXPRESS:

Pets Allowed

Restaurant

Fitness Center

Business Center

I've been monitoring options for a couple of days and ended up getting the Wyndham New Yorker as a PRICELINE EXPRESS deal.  Also used a 7% off coupon code to get an additional discount off of the $188.  All in all, very happy with the price.  Don't know much about the hotel, but it looks like it should do the trick.

Thanks to thereuare and AaronJB for the assistance.

I found a hotel on Hotwire in the MSG-Hell's Kitchen zone for $189.  This isn't my first choice location, but it's close enough and the price seems better.  Any idea what this would be?

4 star

Free Internet
Smoke Free Rooms
Fitness Center
Restaurant(s)
Business Center
Golf Nearby
Accessible for the blind
Accessible for the deaf

4 of 5 stars on Tripadvisor

70% recommended on Hotwire

Standard rate $353

Are you seeing these as PRICELINE EXPRESS deals or on Hot.wire?  I only have experience with the name your price feature on Priceline.  I've always assumed that bidding was the best way to get the cheapest deal, but can you find better deals sometimes on Hot.wire or PRICELINE EXPRESS Deals?

I'm also seeing what appears to be The Lexington New York City for $216/nite and the Wyndham New Yorker for $226/nite should either of these be of interest.

Thanks for the feedback.  Where are you seeing these?

I have also bid on MTE and Central Park South.  I haven't included Times Square yet, but I'm not opposed to it if I need to branch out a bit more.  I've generally liked the MTW location in the past because it has been a nice central location.

Your feedback on the days of the week makes sense.  Unfortunately, my dates are firm for this trip...flights are booked.

I have been bidding on exclusively 4 star hotels.  I'm becoming more open to checking out the 3.5 star options though if that will help.

Thanks.

I've been trying to bid on a 4 star hotel primarily in the MTW area.  I am bidding on two rooms.  I have bid as high as $235 per night per room and still no luck.  I have used Priceline a couple of times to book a room in NYC and never had to pay nearly this much.  I booked 11/8 - 11/11 last year in MTW for $150/night (one room).

I'm wondering if you generally pay higher prices when you are trying to book two rooms?  Or maybe prices have just gone up quite a bit since the last time I was there.

Any advice?  I've been happy with bidding on Priceline in the past, so I've stuck with that.  But I'm open to trying Hotwire or something else if that might work better.

Thanks.

Thanks for the input. I also ended up getting the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel in Midtown West. Winning bid was $150.

I'm looking for a room in Central Park South, Midtown East, or Midtown West around $150. Would like something around 4* or higher. I've had luck in the past in this price range in this area, but it seems like I'm way off this time based on the standard rates I am seeing for rooms in these areas. Have prices gone up quite a bit in the last year or so? Or maybe I'm just trying to book the trip too late?

Do you have any advice or recommendations? I'm not totally locked in on these zones. I basically just want to score a nice hotel in a pretty good location somewhere in Manhattan (duh, right? :) ) Any advice or bidding strategy recommendations would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

$65 was rejected yesterday (Priceline counter-offered $80). Bid $70 today and won this hotel. If you look up this hotel on Priceline or other sites, the nightly rate is $207. So this seems like a pretty good deal.

I started bidding again tonight at $105. Went up in $5 increments. Ended up getting it booked at $115. I'm really happy with the price and location. Especially considering that I had gotten up to $140 before I quit bidding yesterday. I of course used the PRICELINE link (many times).

Thanks a lot for the help AaronJB and thereuare. Much appreciated.

Oh, ok. It sounds like that might work. I honestly haven't ever tried Hotwire before. I used Priceline the first time I checked out this forum, was happy with the results, and have stuck with that ever since. I'll have to check into the Hotwire deal. Thanks for the tip.

I've only bid in MTE so far as that was my first choice. I'm open to bidding some of the other zones though if they may be cheaper.

I am working on bidding for a 4* hotel in Midtown East for 2/23 thru 2/26. My highest bid so far was $140, which is right around the ceiling I was hoping to pay.

What is a reasonable price to expect to pay for a 4* in Midtown East at this time of year?

Am I better off waiting until closer to the date of the trip?

I settled on Midtown East mostly because it seems like a pretty good location and offers quite a few 4* hotels. Midtown West, Times Square-Theatre District, and Central Park South are all pretty close. Do any of those areas generally offer lower 4* prices than Midtown East does?

Thanks!

Bid $80, $90, $100, $105, $110. Added in different region each time that did not include a 4* hotel. Based on my research of prices and available 4* hotels in this sub-region, I was pretty sure that I would end up with the Fairmont Battery Wharf. The pictures look very nice and all of the reviews are mostly positive, so I'm happy with the result. The hotel is ranked #6 out of 73 Boston hotels on tripadvisor.com.

Tried several bids for 5* and 4* hotels in the Mayfair-Soho and Westminster areas. This ended up being the one. Lots of reviews online say the hotel is a little dated, but I'm excited about the location. Location was my main priority anyways, so I can't complain.

I used the PRICELINE link up above.

I've seen that a few other people have recently won this hotel at the same price. I tried several other bid combinations at lower prices, but $120 seemed to be the magic number. I was hoping I could spend a little less, but after several bids over the last few days, I've realized this is a pretty decent deal. Most sites list this hotel at around $297/night for these dates. Location and online reviews seem to be mostly favorable. I used the PRICELINE link above for every bid.

Thanks everybody for your help and advice. I really appreciate it.

I'll be moving on to book 5 nights in Paris now and I will definitely continue to use this site for that leg of the trip. If anybody has any useful tips for Paris, I'd like to hear them. Otherwise, I will figure it out on my own. Haven't really delved into that part of the trip yet.

Thanks again.

I tried several cycles of bids on the 5* hotels, but wasn't having much luck in my price range. Once I started getting up out of my range, I switched to looking for 4*'s. I ended up with the Hilton London Olympia in Kensington - Earls Court - Knightsbridge for $95/night. The reviews online are pretty hit or miss. I was a little disappointed at first with the location, but it should work out OK. Hard to argue with $95/night I guess.

Thanks for your help. Do you want me to start a new post to show this in the subject line? Or is there any other info I should add?

Sorry. I just reread my answer and realized I wandered a little from your main question.

To answer your question - price is more important than zone.

My preference would be the cheapest 5* I can find, followed by the cheapest 4* I can find...in any of these zones. I ranked the zones in order of preference, but I guess that really only comes into play if I can get a 5* for the same price in multiple zones. For example, if I can get a 5* in Mayfair-Soho and also in Bloomsbury-Marble Arch for the same price, my preference would be the one in the Mayfair-Soho zone. But if I can get the 5* in Bloomsbury-Marble Arch for $15 less per night, then I'd probably go that route. Does that make sense?

I think I can be pretty flexible on location within these zones...they all seem to be located pretty centrally in London. I'm not going to get too hung up on one location.

Thanks again.

I'm glad to hear that the budget sounds sensible. I guess my first preference would be to land a 5* in my price range, and then move onto the 4* options if that didn't work out. I think I'd be happy with either option, but I'll probably aim high first. And I'd like to get it booked sometime in the next couple of days (if that affects the strategy at all).

You are correct, I just abbreviated the zones on Priceline to abbreviate. After looking a little more closely, I think this would be my order of preference...

Mayfair - Soho (zone 6)

Westminster (zone 10)

Kensington - Earls Court - Knightsbridge (zone 4)

Bloomsbury - Marble Arch (zone 1)

Notting Hill - Bayswater (zone 7)

Really, my main objective is to be as centrally located as possible. I haven't been to London before...I'm just reading guide books and looking online to figure out where I want to be. So I'm open to suggestion if you think any of these zones are better for that purpose than others.

Thanks again for your help. Let me know if I left out any important details.

Hello,

First post here. Forgive me if I'm asking a dumb question. Or point me in the right direction if I'm in the wrong spot.

I'm looking for a hotel in London for 4 nights (4/29/10 - 5/3/10).

My ideal scenario would be to score a 4* hotel in the $80-$100 range, or a 5* in the $100-120 range.

I'd like to be pretty centrally located. At this point my preferred areas would be Mayfair-Soho, Westminster, Kensington, or Notting Hill.

First question - are these reasonable goals?

Second question - if so, can somebody please help me out with a bidding strategy?

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide. I really appreciate the idea of this site, so I assure you that I'll follow up on how things go.

- durant durant