Fokus17 Posted January 18, 2006 Report Share Posted January 18, 2006 My family of 4 is in need of a 4* hotel in MTW or MTE during June. We know we cannot be gauranteed a two bed room, but we want to try. Our max bid would be $200 per night. Please help with a strategy and let us know where we should start. What hotels are getting bids in this area and at what prices? Thanks for any help in advance. We are totally new to all of this Link to comment
thereuare Posted January 18, 2006 Report Share Posted January 18, 2006 Welcome to BetterBidding!Few questions first...Are you prepared for what you will do if you get a room with only one bed? (or worse, if the hotel tries to enforce a "double occupancy only"... this is rare, and less likely if your kids are still very young, how old are they?)Is there a reason you're avoiding the UM/CPS zone, which is also usually also included for 'most' NYC bidders.Let us know and we'll advise how to best proceed. Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases Link to comment
Fokus17 Posted January 18, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2006 How should i prepare myself if they do not offer another option than one bed? Do most hotels allow extra payment for a room with two beds? All 4 of us are adults. The UM zone is fine as well. I would just like to stay closer to the Time square area. Let me know if you can help Link to comment
thereuare Posted January 18, 2006 Report Share Posted January 18, 2006 You can certainly try one room for the four of you, but in NYC it can be risky (and only you can determine if it is a risk you are willing to accept or not). NYC hotel rooms are notoriously small, and at some properties (regardless of star rating) the majority of rooms only have one bed and don't have room to accomodate a rollaway. At properties where they do have two bedded rooms, or the rooms can fit a rollaway (although i'm doubtful most could fit two rollaways) they may accomodate you based upon availability and there may be an additional charge.So in a nutshell, it may not be a problem, or it may, it's a risk you'll have to decide if it's worth taking.You could try to search Hotwire which will allow you to search for quad occupancy (and therefore guarantee the hotel room will have enough sleeping accomodations for all four of you)You can also price rooms directly from the hotel for quad occupancy, and depending upon the rates you find, it may be cheaper to book 2 rooms thru priceline than one room direct.Let us know your thoughts. Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases Link to comment
Fokus17 Posted January 18, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2006 Here is some more info that might help. We are currently looking at hotels with rates around $220 a night. Of course with the two extra adult charges this really brings the rate to around 270 a night. Would it be crazy to possibly try for two rooms and maybe still come out better? Link to comment
thereuare Posted January 18, 2006 Report Share Posted January 18, 2006 I wouldn't jump on this just yet (before we spoke about it again), but just as an example and to try to find a "next best alternative" so that we know what we're trying to beat....There is a 3* on Hotwire, where you can get two rooms for $105/each, which is believed to be the Paramount Hotel. Assuming we have id the hotel correctly, you can read the reviews here (don't be alarmed by the title of the first one, the user actually didn't think it was too bad). From the reviews you can see that most actually think it's a good hotel with an excellent Times Square location, but that location comes at a price... extremely small rooms! Now if you plan on being in the room a lot this may not be what you're looking for, but if you're looking for a good place to sleep at nite and then be out touring the city most of the day, this may fit the bill (and you can then use some of the money saved to have a drink at their overpriced bar :) ) The other perk is that you each get your own rooms, which makes showering, getting ready, etc. a bit easier as well. Let us know if something such as the above would work or if it's not really what you're looking for and we'll take it from there. Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases Link to comment
Fokus17 Posted January 18, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2006 Ok let me try to give some more detail. Right now we are looking at staying at the Avalon Hotel near the Empire State building. We can get a room there in a junior suite(450 sq ft) for around $270 with the extra adult charges. The 105 a night rate on Hotwire for the Paramount loks great as it would only be 210 a night for two rooms and would save us some money. The decor of that hotel does not appeal to me and the rooms look super super small even to NY standards. However, if we tried on Priceline say around the $110 to $130 range, do you think it would be possible for a 4* such as the Grand Hyatt or one similar which i see people getting a lot. 3* makes me nervous because some hotel sights list hotels like the Milford Plaza and The Edison (two of which i have never been to or seen) as three star and then people give them reviews as being horrible. Let me know. Thanks so far for all of your help Link to comment
Fokus17 Posted January 18, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2006 Advice anyone? Link to comment
thereuare Posted January 18, 2006 Report Share Posted January 18, 2006 Please don't bump your threads after only 2 hours of no reply. For the most part we reply to oldest "last post" order, so often bumping your thread will result in a delayed response....I don't think you'll be successful with your $130 limit. Most of the sub-$120 bids are being accepted for the winter months, which is low season in Manhattan, rates tend to increase a bit for the spring.If you want to try anyway, you can bid as follows for a 4*, where you have two re-bid zones. If you''re not familiar with re-bidding please read Priceline Re-Bidding Explained and feel free to ask questions and/or confirm your re-bid zones with the board before proceeding.Select 4* MTW...Bid $105, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $110, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $115, if rejected close browser and re-access priceline however you did previously.Select 4* MTE...Bid $105, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $110, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $115, if rejected close browser and re-access priceline however you did previously.Select 4* UM/CPS...Bid $105, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $110, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $115, if rejected close browser and re-access priceline however you did previously.Select 4* MTE and MTW...Bid $120, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $125, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $130, if rejected close browser and re-access priceline however you did previously.Select 4* MTW and UM/CPS...Bid $120, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $125, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $130.If the above is rejected, what are your thoughts if you knew the 3* you would get would be the Paramount? Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases Link to comment
Fokus17 Posted January 18, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2006 my fear is that the rooms are way to small. Is there any way i could find out the square footage of the rooms? I also saw a picture of one of the bathrooms at the Paramount and it was so small it only had a shower that was only defined by a curtain and it was so small the toilet was at anangle in the corner. Many of the tripadvisor reviews said it sould not be considered an upscale hotel and found it to be really bad. It just worris me. Link to comment
thereuare Posted January 18, 2006 Report Share Posted January 18, 2006 Then it is not for you.Did you try the above 4* bidding? Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases Link to comment
Fokus17 Posted January 19, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2006 ok here i go again. I tried everything up to the $130 price and all rejected so i will wait the 72 hours. Here is my next question. What 3* besides the Paramount have been accepted latley. I know if i choose 3* i risk the chance of getting it but what other hotels fall into that range? Link to comment
thereuare Posted January 19, 2006 Report Share Posted January 19, 2006 Since there is often very little differece in NYC between the accepted bids of 3* and 4* hotels, and winter rates have been so cheap (by new york city standards), we have seen very little 3* bidding of late; certainly not enough to draw any conclusions from as to the likely outcome.We take great measures to keep all wins in the same title format:X* Region (zone) Hotel$xx ... xx/xx/xxOne of the reasons we do this is so that you can go to the PRICELINE NEW YORK section of the board, scan the topic titles, and very easily pick out the most recent wins at any star level. Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases Link to comment
Fokus17 Posted January 19, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2006 I'm sorry if i am not using the board properly. Is the Paramount in the MW or ME zone? Link to comment
thereuare Posted January 19, 2006 Report Share Posted January 19, 2006 I wasn't saying that you weren't using the board correctly (and there was no 'tone' implied in my reply above), just showing how you can easily see the information your looking for.... for this 3* question or any others you may want to see down the road. The old "give me a fish... teach me to fish" adage. :)As per our PRICELINE HOTEL LIST, the Paramount is in the MTW zone. Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases Link to comment
Fokus17 Posted January 19, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2006 OK one more question. Would it be possible to try for two rooms and purchase the insurance for $5 a night. Try to get two beds in one room and if granted cancle one of the rooms because we purchased the insurance. This way we could bid higher and only be out the money for the insurance. Sorry if this sounds confusing. I know i am trying to work the system, but im just trying to get the best deal. Please let me know Link to comment
thereuare Posted January 19, 2006 Report Share Posted January 19, 2006 The insurance only covers cancellation due to certain conditions, and the above is not one of them. Otherwise insurance wouldn't work with an opaque purchase system as users would simply pay $5/nite to see an unknown hotel and then cancel if they didn't like the property.As well, most hotels won't confirm your bedding arrangements and will simply take a room configuration request and tell you it will be assigned at check-in with your preference noted. So there is a good chance you won't have a "confirmed two bed situation" until your arrival. Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases Link to comment
Fokus17 Posted February 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 We decided to book through a hotel directly. Thanks for your help Link to comment
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