Priceline Hotel: bidding help NYC June 9-14

[zackeroo]

We've 3 people for 5 nights and right now have City Quarters at $250/night booked. We need to be in Midtown area. We can only split nights June 9-12, 12-14, but the cheap night is Sunday and we don't want to move Sun and Mon.

And for 3 people, what is the procedure? I'm just putting in 2 people and hope the extra person charge is not outrageous.

Help is appreciated, thank you.

[msilverhammer]

Hi,

See my posts related to the Murray Hill East Suites. This is rated 2* by PL, but 3* by others, and the reviews are great! Looks like a good find, and perhaps you can get it for less using my learning experience below. Hotel is near the UN and GCS, about 1.5 miles SE of CPS. The hotel is all suites so you will do better there because you need extra room. They have full kitchen, sofa beds, etc.

Here is my current strategy, based upon current NYC conditions for this week only. as 5, 4, and 3* hotels do not seem to be available for under $200 in all of the NYC areas, especially if you have a stay of 3 days or more, so I would probably start with 2.5* and 2* hotels. Even sites like Hotel.com, etc., do not show availability.

Start bidding $100 for a 2* in the MTS area first. Then if not accepted use free bids in UES, UWS, UMT/CPS and move up around $15 each time. If not accepted for a 2* by the time you have reached $145 you can then bid in the MTE and MTW areas and raise your price by $10 each time. You will be at $165 by this time. If still not accepted by PL, I would increase by $5 and bid again in the SOHO area. You should be successful with this strategy. Good Luck and let me know how everything worked out!

By the way...there is also a Howard Johnson's right near Central Park, which is rated as a 1*, so you might try to bid that also. You can also go directly to the HOJO site and get the room if all else fails. Also you can buy the Mayfair 2* directly from Priceline using their regular (non-bid) reservation system. I believe that the Mayfair is a boutique hotel in either MTW or MTE, which can be had for around $185.

Good Luck!

[zackeroo]

Thanks for the advice. We did not want to go as low as 2*, so I did bid up to $180 for 4* in all zones except Soho/DT and UWS. Unsuccessful. Also unsuccessful up to $160 for 3* in same areas. Tried all date combinations (those requiring only 1 move).

I found out that my friend got Club Quarters for $180 (not $250) like I originally thought; hence I made my bids lower for the 3*.

I hope others have better luck. I did notice that Sunday night is very cheap on Hotwire. But that is the only bargain date.

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

I would be very cautious about bidding one room for 3 people in NYC.... many rooms only have one bed and can't accomodate 3 people at any additional charge!

You may want to consider going with Hotwire which does allow you to select up to quad occupancy and guarantees that there will be enough sleeping accomodations for everyone in your party (that you included in your search).

Not sure if you've booked the Uptown or Downtown location of the Club Quarters, but i do believe their rooms are small, so i would be certain that they can accomodate three in a room.

You may also want to consider the Beekman Tower for $220/nite for a 1BR suite. You'll need to only do the search for two people, but the room is a true suite and has a Queen bed in the bedroom and a pull-out couch in the living room; the REVIEWS are excellent.