Priceline Hotel: help is need for NYC hotels

[MilkaMilana]

Hi,

it will be great if you can help me with some direction in bidding for NYC for 11, May to 18, May, since this is my first time on priceline.

I have read all the guidelines and have pretty much the idea how it works. Nevertheless there are some questions that still bother me a bit:

1. It's a bit weird for me that all the prices during the biddind are not final (WITHOUT tax and fees), since we don't have that system here in Germany. How many percent of extra costs (fees, taxes, ect) should I plan in head when bidding?

2. From your own experience how much should I plan per day for a 3-4 star hotel in a central location (close to the subway)?

3. Is there any chance to get a hotel with priceline that surves breakfast?

4. Should I start bidding already or should I wait a bit closer to my dates?

Thanks a lot. I am sure will have more questions when start bidding.

[AaronJB]

Welcome to Betterbidding. :)

PRICELINE shows the amount of taxes/fees before you finalize your purchase and have the search see whether or not a hotel is willing to accept.

Which PRICELINE zones would be of interest (the areas are listed with a map on the second page of the bidding process), and what would be your desired max budget per night?

Few NYC hotels provide breakfast, and there is no way to increase the odds/ensure a property with breakfast by using PRICELINE. With HOTWIRE, you can look for a listing that shows "complimentary breakfast" among the amenities, which would guarantee breakfast (although there is no guarantee that a hotel that offers breakfast will be available on HOTWIRE for your dates.)

The FAQ provides a detailed discussion of bidding timing.

Thank you for using the site's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchases and searches.

[thereuare]

This is a fairly expensive time of year in NYC, and some ballpark prices that you may be looking at for something centrally located:

4* ~$200

3.5* ~$200

3* ~$160-$180

The above are bid amounts, so hotel tax (~15%) and PRICELINE / HOTWIRE booking fee (~$5/nite) would be on top of this, included in the total you pay PRICELINE (shown before your submit your bid).

Is this within your range of expectations?

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

[MilkaMilana]

After looking on all the hotels and winning prices I just gave up.

Got a nice private appartment next to Penn station instead.

Thanks for the reply anyways.

Now looking for hotels in Washington DC and Miami/Fort Lauderdale :)

[AaronJB]

Thank you for closing the thread.