Priceline Hotel: 4* NYC (MTE) The Benjamin

[sarm34]

Hi there,

First time poster, trying to utilize the info on this board. Specifically, I'm trying to book in NYC from the 1st to 7th of Sept. So far I've had no luck though - I've tried all of the strategies mentioned, and have been rejected all the way up to $185/night for the 4* range.

I've also tried splitting the trip in two, and bidding that way, although only up to about $170 so far. No dice.

Is this just a super-busy time of year, or should I just try on another day?

Thanks for the advice.

[GM Mike]

Don't know what part of the world you're from, but in the US, that is Labor Day weekend -- Monday 9/4 is a national holiday. It's the last weekend available before kids go back to school in most parts of the country.

So, yes, that's a bad weekend to try to find deals. :)

What about the techniques noted here about staying in New Jersey or Connecticut for part/all of the stay? Which NYC zones are you bidding in?

[sarm34]

Hey there,

Yeah, from the US, so I figured it would be a bad weekend to visit there. It's my wife and I's 5th anniversary, and our first trip to NY.

We're willing to pay more to be downtown, so the NJ thing isn't really an option.

I did get a hotel through Priceline eventually today, although I ended up paying a bit more than planned. I used the Savingsbarn.com link to do so. :)

I used all of the techniques I've read about on here, including the use of multiple rebid zones (UES and UWS for NYC). Closed my browser, reopened, etc. Even tried to split my bids. No dice, with a progression that looked somewhat like this:

9/1-9/7 - MTW, MTE, UMT - 120, 130, 140 (doing the progressive rebid combo's each time). rejected

9/1-9/4 - MTW, MTE, UMT - 120, 130, 140 - rejected

9/4-9/7 - MTW, MTE, UMT - 120, 130, 140 - rejected

9/1-9/7 - MTW, MTE, UMT - 150, 155, 160 - rejected

etc, etc, rinse and repeat. I did that progression with the 4*'s all the way up to $200.

Then I checked out Expedia and Orbitz, along with the listed hotels on Priceline and Hotwire. The best deals I found were for the Hilton Towers, I believe it was, for about $199/night for the first 4 nights, then $299 for the last two nights. But they were adding $30/night for an extra person (for 2 total), and another $50 or so in taxes. So I decided to go back to the drawing board on Priceline, to get a 4* place.

I did see some other deals under $200/night, but they were mostly 3* places that had such a wide range of reviews, that it made me a bit nervous to commit 6 nights to a place that could be a mixed bag. I'm sure many of them, like Park Central, would be fine, but I figured it was worth a few bucks more to lock up a 4* place.

In the end I decided to do one less night, and bumped my price up to $220 eventually. That was finally accepted by The Benjamin, which from the looks of the reviews online, seems to be a top notch place with a good location. So we're excited about that.

I am looking forward to using my Priceline skills that I now have on other trips in the future - and I learned a valuable lesson in setting expectations during busy travel times! I'm sure it's the same around Thanksgiving and Christmas.

[thereuare]

Thank you for sharing your win with the board and adding this property to our priceline hotel list.

In the end I decided to do one less night, and bumped my price up to $220 eventually. That was finally accepted by The Benjamin

So which nite did you drop (or what are the dates of your stay so we can get it right in the topic title?) Do you recall the amount of your highest previous bid which included the MTE zone? Can you confirm that this is indeed in the MTE zone?

Thanks!

[sarm34]

Hey there,

I dropped the night of the 6th, Wednesday night. Partially because it was trending as the most expensive. So Sept 1-6 in the end, for 5 nights.

The Benjamin does show up officially in the MTE section, according to my Priceline info. My last rejected bid was for $210, which included MTE, MTW, and UMT.