Hotwire Hotel: 4.5* New York City (Downtown - SoHo) W Hotel Downtown

[bob99]

Hi guys,

I've never used Priceline before, but I've been reading the site (and clicking the links) and I'm getting ready to put in my first bid.

I'll be in NYC from Monday May 7 - Friday May 11 (4 nights) and I'm looking to stay at one of the 4* hotels. I'm pretty flexible on the location as long as it's in Manhattan, but my top locations would be SOHO/ Times Square / Midtown East / Midtown West / Madison Square Garden.

Any tips on bidding? I've got about $200 per night budgeted, though I'm obviously happy to pay less. Any starting bids / recommends would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

...my top locations would be SOHO/ Times Square / Midtown East / Midtown West / Madison Square Garden.

Note that PRICELINE does not currently offer any 4* hotels in the MSG zone, which raises the question if you're familiar with re-bidding? If not, see this thread: Priceline Re-Bidding Explained and feel free to ask questions and/or confirm your re-bid zones with the board (HINT: currently when bidding 4* in NYC you have SEVEN re-bid zones)

I've got about $200 per night budgeted...

Is this all-in or bid amount? Neither may be enough for a 4* for these dates in the 'preferred' zones you've indicated, but we can give it a try. Did you want to first bid the four zones above up to your limit, then if rejected consider other zones within Manhattan... OR is lowest price the ultimate and you'd prefer the least expensive 4* in any of your acceptable zones throughout Manhattan?

Let us know the above and we'll take it from there.

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

[bob99]

I've been bidding on Priceline for the past week and a bit, but I've had no hits at all. I read the (very helpful) articles about re-bidding zones, but no matter what I threw at it, I couldn't catch a room. I was generally bidding between $190 - $260 for a 4.5* hotel with no success, and I had nearly every zone checked in multiple attempts. Hundreds of bids, but no success!

Since Priceline wasn't working out, I decided to give Hotwire a whirl. Using the hotel guide posted on this forum, I saw a 4.5* in the Downtown - SoHo area for $286 per night, and I knew it would only be the W Hotel Downtown or the Tribecca Grand Hotel. Both of them are great, and I ended up getting the W Hotel Downtown. While I would have preferred Tribecca due to a slightly better location, I'm still very happy. As my Priceline bids kept going higher and higher, I felt anxious about getting "stuck" with a hotel that I wasn't happy with, for a price that didn't really seem like that much of a deal.

It seems like my travel dates dictated the price, as I searched a few other dates further into the future and was able to find some slightly better deals. I'm also staying Monday - Friday, so a weekend stay would have probably brought the price down a bit more too.

And of course, I booked it using the HOTWIRE links on this site :) . Thanks for the help and the very useful information, I appreciate it.

Note: I'm travelling from Canada, so these rates are in CAD. I suspect if I had booked in USD it would be 3-4% cheaper.

If anyone has any questions about this booking, feel free to shoot me a message!

Amenities

--------

Fitness Center

Restaurant(s)

Business Center

High-Speed Internet Access

Price

----

Rate per night: CAD $286.47

Nights: 4

Rooms: 1

Taxes: CAD $119.64

Occupancy tax: CAD $77.93

Fees: CAD $41.21

Subtotal: CAD $1384.68

[bob99]

I ended up booking the W Hotel Downtown through HOTWIRE (sorry PRICELINE!) for $286 per night. It was more than I wanted to spend, but I'm happy with the hotel!

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success!

Glad to see you're please with the results and looking forward to your stay at this property.

If you're looking for a casual dinner not too far from your hotel i often recommend this place (it's a restaurant, not a slice shop) and is very reasonably priced for the quality of the ingredients (stick with their rectangle pie which is what they're best known for):

Adrienne's Pizza Bar

54 Stone Street

New York, New York, 10004

Thank you for sharing your results and using the HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your purchase.

Enjoy your stay.

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success!

Glad to see you're please with the results and looking forward to your stay at this property.

If you're looking for a casual dinner not too far from your hotel i often recommend this place (it's a restaurant, not a slice shop) and is very reasonably priced for the quality of the ingredients (stick with their rectangle pie which is what they're best known for):

Adrienne's Pizza Bar

54 Stone Street

New York, New York, 10004

Thank you for sharing your results and using the HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your purchase.

For the future, please change the currency drop down menu on the top right of HOTWIRE's page to US Dollars (and if applicable the country to United States). Then continue to search HOTWIRE and post to the board in US Dollars so that rates are consistent and not subject to interpretation due to future currency fluctuation. Once you're ready to purchase simply change the drop down menu to whatever currency you'd like to use and complete your purchase.

Enjoy your stay.

[bob99]

Thanks thereuare, I appreciate it!

Any other cool New York spots to check out? I'm going to see Woody Allen play at the Carlyle hotel, and I'm also going to see The Book of Mormon. Besides that, I'm pretty much open to everything! I've been to NYC a few times before, so I've done most of the touristy things. Any other recommended city spots would be appreciated!

[AaronJB]

I always recommend the Intrepid Air/Space Museum - pretty unique experience (on an aircraft carrier), fascinating museum and some pretty terrific views of the surrounding area.

[bob99]

Update: I now see this same room is $317 per night when I search the same dates on Hotwire. Since I've never booked this way before, I was curious to see if prices went up or down the closer it actually got to the travel dates.

At least in this specific scenario, it seems to be going up. So I'm glad I booked when I did!

Bob