Priceline Hotel: Need bidding advice

[Perplexed]

Hi all

I am new to this site & am looking for a reasonable price on a hotel to attend a friend's event Friday 9/24/2010

Would it be cheaper to try and stay overnight Thurs 9/23 & leave Sat 9/25 or are there more deals for weekend dates (ie check in Fri 9/24, check out morning of Sun 9/26)? I don't plan on doing touristy things just meeting business friends.

I'm not flying in (taking Amtrak, arriving at & departing from Penn Station) so I really don't want to stay near an airport.

Ideally I'd like to be near my friend's business office (630 9th Avenue) & the event location (333 West 23rd Street between 8th & 9th Ave), which I guess in hotelbizspeak means Chelsea.

I don't need a fancy 5 or 4 star hotel just a good safe clean place to stay, preferably as close as possible to the event site or his office or possibly near Penn Station if that is a reasonably safe area to stay. I can cab around if that's the best way to get around at night, use public transportation during day.

Any advice for the newbie? What are going rates on 2.5*-3.5* hotels in that area? One with Internet access would be nice if possible but not absolutely necessary.

Thanks!

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

What is your target 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.

[Perplexed]

Thanks to all here, but a friend in NYC called & got me into a cool historic budget hotel not far from Chelsea in the Village that never uses PRICELINE or HOTWIRE for listing its extra rooms (it never seems to have any so I got really lucky).

The rates quoted on HOTWIRE and PRICELINE certainly were too crazy high for me ($300/night & up). I'm pretty sure even if I bid 50% off I would not have gotten the 1 date I absolutely need (9/24) just from checking the availability of rooms on the websites of hotels known to have been previously won. This was obviously not a time where the bidding sites could help me (just not enough advance notice to keep rebidding for rooms or maybe it's too popular a time for an NYC visit).

Maybe the next time I travel I can use betterbidding.com's links.

[AaronJB]

If you could share the details of the regular rate deal, it would be greatly appreciated, as it may help others looking for this particular date.

Thank you for closing the thread, and enjoy your stay.