Priceline Hotel: 5/1 NYC 4* rejected up to $275

[Tino]

Need to be on the north side of Midtown, bid 4* every $10 from $140 up to $250 on

Midtown East

Midtown West

Upper East Side

Upper West Side

Upper Midtown/Central Park South

(some of these were free bids)

I'll start working the 3*, but there are a few sketchy properties I want to avoid.

[athtrasna]

It looks from Hotwire like the Grand Hyatt hasn't released its rooms for May yet. We have a cancellable reservation with another hotel in the hope we can get the Hyatt for under $200 later this month for first week in May.

[posters]

Any updates? I'm struggling with the same problem for 4/29 - 5/4 for MTE and upper. I'm not seeing any great deals on Hotwire either. I'm thinking even the park benches in Central Park will be over $200 a night.

[Tino]

Someone is claiming on TOBB that they just got the 4* MTW Marriott Marquis for one night on May 1 for $155, the same night I need.

I just bid MTW 4* at $155, and added $20 for each additional bid up to $235, using the same 5 regions. No luck.

I will continue to rebid these regions every day or two and see if anything comes up. My backup is using a SPG50 but it will still be over $300.

[thereuare]

Possible scenarios:

-the hotel only had one room loaded at that rate... and they have the last room

-the user bid a few days/weeks/months ago and only recently mentioned their results

A similar example is this recent Priceline Win where it took up to $180 for the user to be successful, although just two days earlier two others were successful for dates which overlappsed (you can see those Priceline InterContinental and another Priceline Inter-Continental).

The hotel market is much stronger than it was a few years ago, so in years past when occupancy was low, hotels could put a LOT of inventory into the system. I think during busy times of year (which spring in NYC certainly is) hotels can only offer a few rooms (if any during really busy periods) to the opaque suppliers.

Are you also using MTE in your bidding?

[Tino]

Yes, I used MTE (see post #1).

Change the header, because I just rebid from $200 up to $275 at the 4* level, still no luck. Will start bidding 3* tomorrow, starting at $160.

[blindman]

Title changed.

When you win I'll change the title to your success :)

[Tino]

I failed several more times up to $275. I ended up using a Starwood SPG50 award at the W on Lexington for a refundable rate of $325/night and got upgrades, points, etc.