Priceline Hotel: 3* NYC (Long Island City) Holiday Inn LIC Manhattan View

[mi_wow]

Booked late evening on 8/19/2010

Total tax paid for 2 nights: $62.10

Max. budget is $160, 3 adults traveling.

Bidding history:

Our original target was 3.5* in zone 5 - Downtown Soho

We learned about the re-bidding strategy so chose the following 3 dummy zones with no 3.5* or higher, so we had 4 bidding chances with this combination:

Zone 4 - Coney Island

8 - Long Island City

13 - Upper East Side

1st bid: zone 5 @ $110

2nd bid: zone 5 + 4 @ $130

3rd bid: zone 5+4+8 @ $150

4th bid: zone 5+4+8+13 @ $160

all rejected.

Next we changed our target to zone 12 - Times Square - Theatre District using same dummy zones 4, 8, 13 and same bidding pattern. all got rejected.

Then we changed to 3* and tried zone 5-Downtown Soho again:

1st bid: zone 5 @ $110

2nd bid: zone 5 + 4 @ $130

3rd bid: zone 5+4+8 @ $140 and was accepted. This hotel is located in LIC. We then realized we had changed from 3.5* to 3* but forgot that LIC zone has 3* available! :)

We were upset at the beginning , but after we did some research on this hotel, most of the reviews are very good with ratings of more than 8 out of 10. The pics of the hotel seems nice. So we called the hotel right after to ask some questions. The staff is very nice and patient. He told us Priceline gave us a 1 queen bed room. We can add a rotary bed for $29/night, or upgrade to 2 queen beds for $35/night. The whole property is smoke-free, parking space is very limited at $20+tax per night, if it's all full then we can park our car at the garage next door for the same price. He said the subway station is about 1 block from the hotel, 10 mins to Times Square, and the subway day pass is $9. I asked about other fees, he told me firmly the only fees other than room rate are parking and the upgrade of $35 to 2 queen beds, no resort fees.

We think this is a surprise as we have never thought of staying in LIC area :) We're really looking forward to see the hotel and hope the trip is going to be a great one!

Thank you Better Bidding for all the info and tips, they're all very useful!

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Congratulations on your success! Sorry to hear of your bidding error, but glad to see you'll still be able to make this work for your needs and are looking forward to your stay.

Glad to hear the information on the board was helpful with your purchase and thank you for sharing your win with the board.

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

Enjoy your stay.