Hotwire Hotel: 3.5* NYC (MTE) The New York Helmsley

[rmunson1]

First, my fall back plan - I don't really have one, but if I absolutely have to, I have a VRBO double bed (problem with a bed that small for me/wife) for $800 for the 4 nights. Looking at other recent wins on, what seem to me to be, dates having more demand and they are winning at prices far below my offers.

I have been working daily for a week with various bidding strategies, starting low, using free rebids, watching that miserable 'Negotiator' screen (doing refreshes 8-10 times before it tells me my credit card has not been charged).

I am using the usual areas - MTE, MTW, CPS and TS with the available free rebids. I have tried 4* up to $160, 3.5* up to $164 and 3* up to $160 with no luck. Is there some monster convention in NYC that week?

Prices on Expedia seem to be $300-400 for most rooms. Hotwire's cheapest is $180 for a 2.5* in TS. Not appealing. Hotwire offers a smoking deal of $424 for a 5* in TS, but that becomes $1990 for 4 nights after taxes and fees!!!?!?!?!?!

Obviously, I can just keep trying daily and up my price, but seeking any inside knowledge/guidance on what is going on and why can't I get a room? Basically, my plan is to finally force a room by bidding high enough, but it is killing me to pay that much for a room for 4 nights in early May.

Thanks for any help/advice anyone has.

[thereuare]

Seasonally it's a very expensive time of year in NYC and it's not uncommon for a $200+ bid needed to get accepted this time of year. As well, your dates are for mostly midweek nites, which are typically more expensive then weekend nites... i don't suppose you could change your dates to 5/12-5/16 or (even better) 5/6-5/10?

Is SPLITTING YOUR PRICELINE BID an option? Is there a reason you're not including ESB in your 4* (and below) bidding? When bidding 3.5* or 3* are you including MSG in your bidding or just the original zones you've selected (and you may want to re-consider if you're including MTE and/or CPS in your 3.5* and below bidding)... but let's start with these questions and we'll take it from there.

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

[rmunson1]

Yes, I could split, but probably as a last resort. But, I have browsed around quite a few sites looking for something reasonable and one site was showing me Tue-Thur nightly prices of $166 and Fri night was $219 (can't remember the property). I guess higher midweek vs. higher on the weekend may depend on the specific hotels involved.

No, I can't change the dates, the dates are fixed. Not only do I have my airline (I could pay a lot for a hotel before it paid for changing my tickets) but we are going to a 5/12 program at the grandson's pre-school, so the dates are rather immovable.

No particular reason for failing to include ESB and MSB (more south than I want, but not horrible), but to confirm, they were not included in any of my bidding. So, yes, I can include those.

Yes, I was including MTE and CPS in my bidding at all levels (4*, 3.5*, 3*). Tell me more about 'want to reconsider' regarding MTE and CPS in 3.5* and below bidding (perhaps this is just related to your advice to 'include ESB and MSG') - if so, then I got it. Anyway, if your 'reconsider' comment was because some 3.5* and 3* winning bids in MTE/CPS might not be what I want, then I need clarification!

One poster reported $121 for Memorial Weekend MTW at the Hilton, 3.5*. I would have thought Memorial weekend would be much higher demand than 5/10-5/14. That is why I am so stunned and frustrated to be failing in the $160s while going all the way down to 3*.

Thanks,

Bob

[thereuare]

At 3.5* and under the following 'caveats' exist for the following zones:

MTE - has some known hotels which can be up to to a 15 minute walk to the subway. Not a problem for some... too far for others. If this is a bit too far east then you might want to consider not bidding this zone

CPS - at the 3.5* and under level contains the Hudson Hotel which has notorious small rooms (even by NYC standards) so you may not want to bid this zone if a very small room is not what you're looking for

There are tourists visiting NYC every day of the week, but business travelers tend to only come midweek (Mon-Thur), which is why weekends and holidays tend to be a little less expensive (notice i didn't say cheap :) ) then midweek... less demand usually translates to lower prices.

At the 3.5*/4* level you're probably looking at ~$180-$220 for this stay... what is your current maximum bid?

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

[rmunson1]

Thanks for the warning about 3.5* and below for CPS and MTE. Duly noted.

Current high bid has been $165 on 4* (ESB, MTE, TS, MTW, UWS, CPS). Tonight, I didn't try 3.5* nor 3*. I hate to think of $180-220, especially when I see what other winning bids have been lately, but I fear that is the reality of the dates I have chosen. Anyway, thanks for the info. I'll keep plugging.

[thereuare]

Let us know if we can be of further help with a bidding strategy or any other info.

Thanks for using the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your bidding.

[rmunson1]

This is redundant, but, FYI, I never go to the PRICELINE web site without going to/through Better Bidding first.

New highs last night with no luck. - 3* $170 for some new areas (Chelsea, ESB, MSG, UES, TS, MTW (plus Queensboro and Coney Island)) and 4* $190 for every area in New York except Hell's Kitchen and Soho. Later I even tried Soho up to $180 as a 4* with no luck. So, I am only leaving out Hell's Kitchen!?!?!

My frustration with other wins continues to haunt me. Priceline has a new feature that allows me to request emails learning about new wins (of course Better Bidding does that, but not everyone posts their wins on Better Bidding). Better bidding is FAR more explicit - it includes the name of the hotel and the dates. Priceline's email only includes the zone, the star level and the price - here is a recap of those emails from Priceline:

TS $130 4*

TS $120 3.5*

TS $140 3.5*

I get about one of these per day. Hasn't helped, but I get them anyway!

My only plan, right now, is to keep bidding every area but Hell's Kitchen and keep going higher until I get one.

If I were to split, would I do Tue/Wed separate from Thur/Fri, or would I need Tue-Thur separate from Fri. My stay is fixed, arriving next Tue, 5/10 - 5/14.

[thereuare]

Unfortunately i don't think splitting will necessarily help that much, but if you want to give it a try i would try the following date combinations:

5/10-5/14

5/11-5/14

5/10-5/13

5/10-5/12

5/12-5/14

As noted above rates are date specific, so the winning bids of others (whose dates, and rates, are cheaper then your own) offer little guidance for your own stay. At the moment it appears that you'll likely need to go into the $200's to be successful for these dates.

If you don't want to go the condo route i did find the Cosmopolitan hotel thru DHR... i don't know too much about this property, but the reviews are good, at $163/nite it's cheaper then your back-up condo, but i think it too may be for a room with only one double bed.

Thanks for using the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board for your bidding/purchases (or this DHR link should you decide to go that route)

[rmunson1]

Update (as an aside - if repeating the same behavior while expecting different results is insanity, then...I'm getting there).

Reminder - I'm trying for NYC 5/10 - 5/14, best value I can find.

Last night I failed to win bidding 4* $150-$180 for areas I want (TS, MTE, MTW, CPS) and 4 more bids at $180 for areas I don't want so much (Chelsea, Soho, ESB, UWS) and 6 more free rebids for areas that don't have 4* properties, taking my total bid up to $210 for every area in NYC but Hell's Kitchen.

Today, just for the heck of it, I tried the exact same $s bid and same areas as last night, but modified the dates.

Once for 5/10 - 5/13 and again for 5/11 - 5/14. All failed.

Then I tried 3* (didn't bother with 3.5*) for 7 areas that are acceptable (TS, MTW, ESB, UES, MSG, Chelsea, Soho) bidding from $120 - $150 and then did 3 free rebids (UWS isn't exactly free, but Better Bidding indicates no 3.5* and no 3*, only the Empire as a 4* - we've been to the Empire (last time in NY) and find it acceptable) so Coney, Queensboro and UWS I used bids of $160, $170, $180 - nothing.

Bottom line, virtually everything in NY, 3*, $180 got nothing. Everything in NY 4*, $210, got nothing.

5/10 is coming soon. I guess I just keep going higher.

[thereuare]

Check out HOTWIRE for 5/12-5/14 as there are some 3.5*/4* hotels just over the levels you've been bidding.

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

[rmunson1]

Check out HOTWIRE for 5/12-5/14 as there are some 3.5*/4* hotels just over the levels you've been bidding.

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

Thanks for the tip. I may regret this, since I never got past $210 for all 4 nights on Priceline and would certainly have preferred to not move hotels mid-stay. Anyway, I went ahead and booked Hotwire for Thur/Fri nights, now I need Tue/Wed nights. It was the Helmsley, but I knew it was before I bought it due to your incredible data base of amenities for each hotel. $206. Now to try Priceline for the other 2 nights. Thanks.

[rmunson1]

Amenities Restaurant, Business Center, Internet - full match with your data base. Thanks.

[AaronJB]

Congrats on your success. :)

Very nice deal for this property (which is not often seen as a win) during a busy period. Please post a new thread and we would be happy to help with the additional pair of nights.

Thank you for sharing your win and using the site's HOTWIRE link.

Enjoy your stay.

[rmunson1]

I tried Priceline one last time last night. I bid every NY area except Hell's Kitchen for a 4* and failed at $225! I finally gave up and booked Franklin Hotel 164 East 87th Street New York, NY 10128. I used 'getaroom' and paid $236 plus taxes/fees. Since our target destination is actually 201 E 87th Street (daughter's place), this hotel always had some appeal (queen beds, expensive, so not our first choice, but...). It was a long frustrating month with Priceline. If I'm not mistaken, this is my first time in 25-30 attempts that I have had to give up and use something else other than Priceline. Previously, I was always able to get something at a reasonable price. So, it usually works, but this time it didn't.

My initial attempt on Priceline was for 4 nights, 5/10 - 5/14. I spent an inordinate amount of time browsing various web sites. I saw some that showed 5/10 at $219 and 5/11-5/14 at $933!! I saw one that had Tue at $180 and Wed at $310. So, my only conclusion is that I hit some spectacular mid-week event that has nearly every room in NYC booked for some of the dates I was looking for. A very tough reservation to get. But, the saga is over.

[thereuare]

Glad you found something which will work for your needs the additional two nites.

Have a great trip and enjoy the time with your family.