Priceline Hotel: NEED HELP 3.5 OR 4 STAR NYC HOTEL

[finkie]

Hi there, have been reading the forum with interest. Have made a few bids but don't really know what I am doing, so decided to ask for some help.

I am looking for a fairly central hotel 3.5 or 4 star for 14th to 19th October for 2 people. Can you give me some idea on what price I should start at. I am not really interested in hotels that are more than 5 kilometres away from times square (3 miles?) as I will waste too much time and money on taxis / subway.

It seems to me that most bidders get cracking deals very last minute as opposed to bidding early. Please give me some ideas / thoughts / indications.

Thanks in advance, Finkie :)

[AaronJB]

Welcome to Betterbidding. :)

There is no guarantee with waiting until the last minute, and prices can definitely go the other way, as well. NYC in October is a very busy/expensive time traditionally, and unfortunately this year looks no different.

What bids have you made so far (star rating/zone/price) and which zones would acceptable? Additionally, what would be your desired max budget per night?

Thank you for using the site's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchases and searches.

[finkie]

Hi there, thanks for your reply. Well I saw someone had won a 4* in TS for $112, so repeated the bid, knowing that it was way too low, but gave it a try. I went upto $160. I put in TS, MTE, MTW, ESB, CPS, SOHO. I would like as central as possible. Last time I was in NY was about 12 years ago, we stayed at the crown plaza, but I would prefer to be not at the central park end more downtown if possible. Also is it really possible to get 50/60% off rack rates by bidding? i.e. a 400 dollar hotel for 160-200? Or is this too low for October. Please can you tell me what to start bidding at. Thanks

[thereuare]

It is possible to save 60% (or at times more) on a hotel room, but keep in mind that hotels use the opaque suppliers (PRICELINE / HOTWIRE) to sell excess inventory, rooms which they believe would otherwise go unsold. During peak times, when rates are highest, hotels have much higher occupancy levels and there is less need to discount as deeply (and less inventory given to the opaque suppliers). So while discounts of 50%+ are not that unusual, such discounts are not typically seen during times of the highest demand.

For your dates i'm guessing a 4* would be ~$300/nite... if you're bidding all zones at the 3.5* level perhaps someplace near $225... if you exclude CPS (Hudson Hotel has notoriously small rooms) and MTE (hotels can be up to 15 minute walk to the subway) then perhaps closer to the $250 area.

Let us know your thoughts and how you'd like to proceed and we'll take it from there.

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