Hotwire Hotel: 3-29 to 4-2 Travel Dates - Help Identify 4*-5*'s

[binagirl]

Can anyone help identify these Hotwire 4 to 5* hotels?

Traveling 3/29 to 4/2

1) 4* Empire State Building area Hotel - $191 Hotwire rate quoted (Normal hotwire rate $309, listed as a "best value")

Amenities:Fitness Center, Restaurant(s), Business Center, High-Speed Internet Access

6.1 miles from La Guardia

10.4 miles from Newark

12.8 miles from JFK

Recommended by 85 % of hotwire customers

2) 4* Midtown East area Hotel - $201 Hotwire rate quoted (Normal hotwire rate $277, listed as a "best value)

Amenities:Restaurant(s), Business Center, High-Speed Internet Access

5.3 miles from LGA

11.2 miles from EWR

12.8 miles from JFK

Recommended by 85% of hotwire customers

3) 4* Central Park area Hotel - $219 Hotwire rate quoted

Amenities: Boutique Hotel, Smoke Free Rooms, Fitness Center, Business Center, High-Speed Internet Access

4.8 miles from LGA

12.1 miles from EWR

13.6 miles from JFK

Recommended by 85% of hotwire customers

4) 4* Midtown Central area hotel - $254 Hotwire quoted rate

Amenties: Fitness Center, Restaurant(s), Business Center, High-Speed Internet Access, Spa Services

5.7 miles from LGA

10.9 miles from EWR

13.5 miles from JFK

Recommended by 95% of hotwire customers

5) 4.5* Dowtown SoHo Financial District area Hotel - $218 hotwire quoted rate (Normal hotwire rate of $340)

Amenities: Fitness Center, Restaurant(s), Business Center, High-Speed Internet Access

7.9 miles from LGA

8.8 miles from EWR

12.9 miles from JFK

Recommended by 90% of hotwire customers

and last one...

6) 5* Times Square Theatre District area Hotel - $366 Hotwire quoted rate

Amenities: Smoke Free Rooms, Fitness Center, Restaurant(s), Laundry Facilities (self-service), High-Speed Internet Access, Spa Services

6 miles from LGA

10.5 miles from EWR

13.6 miles from JFK

No recommendations from hotwire users yet (must be new...they say they are "still gathering reviews...") Gets a 4.5 from Tripadvisor

My first time here - hope I'm not asking for too much in one post. I'm planning a special once in a lifetime trip for my mother and just want it to be really nice for her.

Thank you for any help you can give me!

binagirl

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

What are the most important factors for this trip... quality of the hotel, centrally located, star rating, budget, etc?

What is your maximum budget per nite for this trip? Are you willing to spend $350+ for a hotel room for this trip?

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... and your searches too! (please click this HOTWIRE link before replying)

Thanks.

[binagirl]

Most important is star rating/quality & paying more for that isn't a problem but I want to get a good deal too. Ideally, I'd like to be in the $300 range per night but would go a bit higher if the property is a 5 star (Waldorf Towers or Chatwal).

Location: Midtown, Times Sq, Central Park or Upper East would all work...we like Korean food too so near Korean town would be great. My mother is older so I expect we aren't going to be doing a ton of walking and will be cabbing a lot anyhow so location is secondary. Being near a subway station would be a plus though.

I've been looking at Gansevoort Park, Waldorf Astoria plus the two 5 stars mentioned above.

Also - our dates are fairly flexible. I haven't booked airfares yet since getting a good room is more important than when we go. We could go anytime between late Feb. and late April. Is there a better time to look at for bargains? Should I wait a little longer for the best deal?

Thank you!

[thereuare]

Generally speaking, rates will be less between the end of February and the beginning of March... as you get into Spring rates spike higher rather quickly.

If you're looking to stay 'central' i would recommend sticking with the core MTE, MTC, ESB and TS zones on HOTWIRE... Central Park and UES (which are part of the same zone on HOTWIRE, and includes UWS too) can get a bit too far north, imo, and not as centrally located (the same goes for Downtown)

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

[binagirl]

Thank you for the advice on best time to travel and on the zones - very helpful. I will look more closely at the zones you mentioned as being more central. With that in mind, I think I would eliminate the central park and financial district zones on my list.

#6 on my list interests me the most since it fits my need for a more central location and is a 5 star/luxury property. Any idea what it might be? I'm thinking Chatwal.

I may try a bid on Priceline limiting the area to one there that would include Chatwal and specifying only 5 stars. I saw that someone here got a $325 rate at Chatwal by following a similar stratagy recently.

What do you think limiting to 5 stars in the corresponding Priceline zones would yield? I'd probably still keep the late March dates since that time is preferable to my Mom (even though it will cost more). It looks like Priceline doesn't have a lot of 5 star properties and I'm sure any of them would be nice enough to meet the luxury factor need. Should I start a new topic on the Priceline hotel forum?

Will use the board links to search and purchase - thanks again!

[thereuare]

The 5* hotel on HOTWIRE has not yet been reported to the board, the Chatwal is certainly one possibility, but there could be others too. As well, HOTWIRE is a little more 'generous' than PRICELINE in their star ratings, so you may ultimately find that this 5* on HOTWIRE is a 4* rated hotel on PRICELINE.

With PRICELINE there is no way to know or guess the hotel you will receive beforehand. However, 5* bidding has only recently been added to the Times Square zone and the Chatwal is the only hotel reported at the 5* level in this zone, so that would seem to be a likely outcome, but again, no guarantees as another 5* hotel could have been added to the zone and/or a previously reported hotel upgraded to the 5* level.

While i'm sure any 5* hotel will be quite nice, i'm also assuming you'll be 'out and about' most of your time in NYC and i don't think a 5* hotel would be worth $100-$150 more per nite vs. a 4* hotel... but it's your trip, money, etc. and you know your needs/expectations better than i do.

If you want to pursue PRICELINE we can do so here (please keep all posts for the same stay in the same thread) and once you win a hotel (thru either service) use the EDIT TO REPORT WIN button on the bottom right of the board and fill out the form, this thread will then appear in the correct forum based upon the service used.

Based upon the above let us know 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.

[binagirl]

When I plugged in my 4 night stay of 3/22 through 3/25 I was offered the following:

1) 4.5 star - Midtown Central - $239.00

Amenities: Fitness Center, Restaurant(s), Business Center, High Speed Internet

Recommended by 100% of Hotwire users

2) 4.5 star - Times Square/Theatre District - $277.00

Amenities: Fitness Center, Restaurant(s), Business Center, High Speed Internet

Recommended by 100% of Hotwire users

Any help in identifying what these properties might be would be greatly appreciated!

[thereuare]

Does this replace your New York City travel plans for Mar 29-Apr 2 OR are you visiting the city twice during this 10 day span?

Are your dates now firm? Have you booked your airfare yet?

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

[binagirl]

I haven't booked airfares yet and could do either set of dates (but not both)...just trying to find the best deal on a super nice hotel. Once I have an idea of where the best deal is possible as well as which dates allow me the best bang for my buck, I will book airfares.

Any advice?

[thereuare]

Please keep all posts for the same trip in the same thread.

Best guess for the MTC property is the Sofitel and best guess for the Times Square property is the InterContinental Times Square.

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

Let us know what you decide and how it goes or if we can be of further help.