Priceline Hotel: NYC- July 4-7

[Banalina]

I've just started the Priceline process using a 2 1/2* in the Central NYC area (I've picked almost every zone around mid-Manhattan) and started bidding at $50. I moved up to $55 with still no luck. Priceline median price is $182 for 2 1/2*.

I've never Priceline-ed before and found this site via a google search for tips and techniques. (And yes, I'll use your links for the next bid :) ) Any advise for this newbie?

[Romelle]

You've got time to keep gradually moving on up.

I'm just a member, but would guess it will take roughly 50% of that $182 to work. 4*s shown in the Priceline and Hotwire Calendar of Wins for your dates and location range from $120 to $159, and there is a 3 1/2* winning bid for one of your days for $110.

Romelle

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Bids in the $50's aren't realistic for NYC... what is the best rate you're able to find thru conventional booking channels for these dates? What is your maximum budget (per nite before taxes and fees) for this stay?

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

[Banalina]

I'd love to keep the price to $50/night, but willing to eventually go up to $75 if I can't find a room by the week before I go. The least expensive room I've seen so far on conventional sites is $115/night. The more I save on hotel, the more I can spend in NYC as I have a budget cap on the three days.

I've been looking at a lot of the posts and I've gathered that I should just start with one zone and then branch out before upping my bid? And, try to keep one bid per day? Did I blow it by upping the bid to $55 today? Does that mean I have to start at $55 tomorrow? Or should I go all in with the $75?

[WillTravel]

I think what you have to consider is that in almost all cases, the hotels at $115/night through conventional channels typically have terrible reviews, even scary reviews, and almost certainly will have shared bathrooms. $50/night is a typical hostel dorm bed price, when you add the rate plus tax. I hope you will get a cheap hotel room, but I think you have to have a backup plan, as the hope is very faint. You can continue bidding $50 or $55 as much as you want, but unless a miracle occurs, it won't be enough. It would be as hopeless as bidding $15 or $20 in a lot of markets.

[ritchie]

Have you considered trying New Jersey- Meadowlands area?? It may be more in your price range and it is my understanding that travelling into NYC via public transit is rather painless. ?? Just a thought.

[Romelle]

If you provide thereuare with the information asked, one of the moderators here will suggest a bidding strategy.

Meanwhile, to answer some of your questions and just respond in general:

There is NO connection between what you bid one day and what you choose to bid the next day. You can bid the same, higher or lower the next day. Each day's bidding is irrelevant to the following day's bidding. You didn't blow anything.

If you want to continue bidding on your own right now, list out the acceptable PRICELINE areas. You can bid Area 1 at $56, add Area 2 and increase your bid to $57, add Area 3 and increase your bid to $58, .... etc. Or increase your bid each time by more than $1. It is all a matter of how much time you want to spend exploring those lower levels. In any case, you don't want to immediately jump to the $75 as you will then wonder if you might have gotten it at $74, or $72, or ?? Better to explore the range and know for sure there is nothing there.

If you get a counter-offer, by all means ignore it and continue with your strategy. It is just a clue that there is some availability somewhere between your bid and the counter.

Write down what you are bidding as you go. It is all too easy to forget just what you did.

A back-up plan (cancelable reservations, 2*s, a friend, or ??) is ALWAYS a good thing. There is not a lot of history here on the NYC 2 1/2* hotels, but I agree that $75 top is pretty dicey. I really did use a hotel at the Newark airport for one visit (VERY cheap) when rates closer in were way too high. A lot of train travel, but still had a grand time.

And finally, you've still got over a month to go. PRICELINE inventory changes all the time, and sometimes hotels don't offer rooms until the very end. If you get up to your max budget and still haven't gotten anything, it makes sense to keep trying that top amount regularly then (every few days at first, and then even every day as you get closer to the end.

Romelle

[Banalina]

Hotels I've found through Travelocity are Hotel Riverside Studios for $105 and the Belnord Hotel for $122, both hotels are in the Upper West Side. There was also the Days Inn (Upper West Side) for $125 and the Da Vinci (Midtown) for $132. Of the four, only the Riverside had shared bathrooms. Based on this selection, I didn't think it was improbable to start bidding at $50.

I'd rather be in NYC for the experience and since I'll be trooping about town with a 14yr old, I don't want to have to take train after train to get back to the hotel when she's tired. I suppose that I could split the trip with the night of the 4th near EWR and two nights in Manhattan.

Anyway, for bidding strategy's sake, lets say, any zone in Manhattan, with preference to the ones around Times Square and Central Park, minimum bid $50 (open to suggestions) and maximum $80.

[thereuare]

...any zone in Manhattan, with preference to the ones around Times Square and Central Park...

Do you really want to include all zones OR just the ones around Times Square and Central Park? If you let us know which zones you're willing to accept, by PRICELINE name, we'll suggest a strategy for you to follow.

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

[Banalina]

I'd accept bookings in the following areas:

MSG, TS, MTE, MTW, CPS, HK, ESBA, CA

Least acceptable, but would definitely consider:

UWS, LWS, Secaucus, NJ

I've done a bit more reading and looked at other bidders' strategies and last night I tried:

3.5* with bids starting at $70, adding zones as listed above, gradually increasing prices to $87 with no luck, then tried one last bid at $87, but added 3*. No takers.

[thereuare]

You really need to be clear about what you want for this stay...

I'd accept bookings in the following areas:

MSG, TS, MTE, MTW, CPS, HK, ESBA, CA

Least acceptable, but would definitely consider:

UWS, LWS, Secaucus, NJ

Should we include UWS and LWS (<-- what zone is this??) in a bidding strategy or not?

gradually increasing prices to $87 with no luck

Your previous post, just yesterday, mentioned an $80 maximum bid... have you expanded this, as you have bid up to $87 on your last round of bidding.

If you read the reviews of the $105/nite hotel it is exactly the type of 'scary' reviews that WillTravel refers to above. The other hotels you've listed are about $125/nite... if you can spend $10-$15 more you an likely get a very nice 3.5* (or possibly even 4*) hotel in a central location.

If the above is over your budget you could stay in Secacus within your current bidding amounts, but it's a very different experience to staying directly in Manhattan, so you need to decide what it is that you want and what you're willing to pay for it.

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

[Banalina]

Basically, I want a decent hotel for the least amount of money. I have found however, that the least amount of money for a decent hotel will be higher than I first expected. I've gone from $50 to $87 in the quest to find a hotel that is fits the bill. From what I've read and researched online, NYC has a rating that's not quite in line with what I've come to expect during my travels. A 2*hotel in Chicago would translate to a 3.5* in NYC. I'm coming to terms with this, and that I'm going to have to go way over what I originally thought I'd spend.

The zone doesn't matter too much to me as long as it's fairly central and/or easy to access via public transport. I'd like to start in the middle and work outwards. We're flying into EWR around 5pm on Sunday, taking the train to Penn Station and then going to check in wherever we find a hotel and then hopefully have enough time to see some fireworks. Checking out Wednesday morning, going to Penn Station, storing our bags to get one last full day in NYC, then back to Penn Station to get a train to someplace in NJ for a wedding weekend.

So, let's say after all that, my upper limit is $100.

Oh, and that was supposed to be UES and UWS in my previous post.

[WillTravel]

Will it be OK if you and your child get a room with one bed?

[WillTravel]

Take a look at this TravelZoo offer:

http://www.travelzoo.com/hotels/new-york/825585/

You can get a room with one queen bed in what I think is a reasonable area for $129+tax (this would probably be equivalent to approximately $123 on Priceline, due to extra fees). Because it's cancellable, I would book it and continue to look for a better deal.

[hansie]

is there standard cancellation for this offer? i would love to book this room for backup but i couldn't find any cancellation informations for this offer.

[WillTravel]

Just continue clicking through the reservation. You will see that there are terms about having to cancel on the day before to avoid a charge.

[Banalina]

Thanks for that link! I've taken your and romelle's advise and now have a backup plan. I'm disappointed that no one has posted a strat for me, but now that I have this backup hotel booked for $129/night, I'll try to bid to get a hotel for around $90. Maybe I'll get lucky!

[WillTravel]

That's great that you have a backup plan. Do you want to restrict your bidding to Manhattan now?

With a child, I would probably take out CPS and MTW, because of the possibility of getting a really tiny room with just a double bed, or else bid 4* only in those zones. (I hope someone else can confirm that I am remembering right on this point.)

Because your limit is rather low, I don't think there's much need for a super-elaborate strategy.

I would do something like this for the Manhattan zones:

Preferred zones together at $85.

Non-preferred zones together at $85.

Preferred and non-preferred zones together at $90.

You could break this down further, if you wanted to bid on a dollar by dollar basis.

[thereuare]

I'm disappointed that no one has posted a strat for me...

We asked you to be specific in the zones you're willing to accept, and you replied:

Basically, I want a decent hotel for the least amount of money... The zone doesn't matter too much to me as long as it's fairly central and/or easy to access via public transport.

This doesn't help us provide a strategy for you. With PRICELINE you can only select the zones, without the caveat of "fairly central and/or easy to access via public transport". Besides this being subjective (what is close and central to one person may be far and out of the way to another person), you're bidding the lower rung of the star levels, which increases the chances that you'll be on the outskirts of the zone... therefore you need to look at the zones and make the call as to which would work for your needs.

If you let us know you're willing to accept ZoneA, ZoneB, and ZoneE... that we can use to suggest a strategy for you to follow. But we can't make judgment calls for you when you state "ZoneA, ZoneB, and ZoneE as long as _____" or "ZoneA, ZoneB, and ZoneE and perhaps ZoneG and ZoneH too".

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

[Banalina]

I don't understand. I've provided zones, given my top dollar. I'm a tourist in NYC. Exact location doesn't matter within the zones I've given above.

[thereuare]

I'd accept bookings in the following areas:

MSG, TS, MTE, MTW, CPS, HK, ESBA, CA

Least acceptable, but would definitely consider:

UWS, UES, Secaucus, NJ

Are we supposed to include UES and/or UWS in your bidding strategy??

The zone doesn't matter too much to me as long as it's fairly central and/or easy to access via public transport.

There are some parts of the zone(s) above which are a 15 minute walk to the subway... do you consider this 'central' and easy access to public transportation?

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

[Banalina]

Yes. All the zones I listed as acceptable, are, well, acceptable.

But, lets say: MSG, TS, MTE, MTW. $100 tops. And, since I've done some research, 3* plus, preferrable.

[thereuare]

Yes. All the zones I listed as acceptable, are, well, acceptable.

But, lets say: MSG, TS, MTE, MTW. $100 tops.

While you may know exactly what you want, do you see how the above can be contradictory for somebody trying to understand what it is you're looking for?

So to confirm... at this point you only want to bid for a 3* hotel in the MSG, TS, MTE, and MTW zones up $100? Is this correct?

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

[Banalina]

Yes. Your statement is correct. I apologize if I was being contradictory. It makes perfect sense to me however. Thanks for your help. :)

[thereuare]

At the 3* level in NYC you have ONE re-bid zone. 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 3* MSG and TS...

Bid $75, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $80, if rejected close browser and use our link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 3* MTE and MTW...

Bid $75, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $80, if rejected close browser and use our link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 3* MTE and TS...

Bid $85, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $90, if rejected close browser and use our link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 3* MSG and MTW...

Bid $85, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $90, if rejected close browser and use our link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 3* MSG and MTE...

Bid $93, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $95, if rejected close browser and use our link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 3* TS and MTW...

Bid $93, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $95, if rejected close browser and use our link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 3* MSG, MTE, TS, and MTW...

Bid $98, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $100

Any questions feel free to ask.

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

Good luck and let us know how it goes.