Priceline Hotel: NYC in July

[lsu tiger]

My wife and I and 4 teenagers are going to NYC for the first time July 11-17. In the past and in other cities, we've used Priceline to get two rooms and always had luck with the hotel working with us for one of the rooms to have two queens (kids room). The three boys are fairly sized young men. I'd "like" to keep the lodging budget at $2000 for the six nights. I'd like to stay on Manhattan if at all possible.

What are the chances of getting one of the two rooms to have two queens? I know that PL only guarantees accommodations for 2 people. I'm not seeing many rooms with 2 queens...most that have 2 beds are doubles.

What strategy do you suggest other than increasing my budget. And, what is a good rule of thumb to use when looking at the PL discounted prices vs. name you price? In other words, if PL discounted price is $207/night, at which lowest price could I get the same room using name your price?

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

What are the chances of getting one of the two rooms to have two queens?... I'm not seeing many rooms with 2 queens...most that have 2 beds are doubles.

Impossible to say what the chances are as there are so many factors invovled... the hotel you ultimately receive, occupancy levels for the length of your stay, hotel policy, mood of the front desk person at time of check-in, etc, etc. As you can see there are too many unknowns, but what is known is that there are not a high percentage of rooms in NYC that have two queen beds, so from this aspect, i would not be very optimistic.

And, what is a good rule of thumb to use when looking at the PL discounted prices vs. name you price? In other words, if PL discounted price is $207/night, at which lowest price could I get the same room using name your price?

Again, there are too many variables for a general rule as it isn't this simple of a calculation. When hotels aer very busy and rack rates is $400/nite, hotels may figure they can sell most rooms on their own and discount very little or not at all from this figure... when occupancy is low and rack rate in NYC is $200/nite, hotels may be able to discount 50% or possibly more... most would think the opposite to be true and the the hotel would be more willing to discount a $400/nite rate than a $200/nite rate. Besides price there are other considerations as well, like seasonality factors, days of the week, star rating, etc.

What strategy do you suggest other than increasing my budget.

What star rating are you looking for? Have you done any bidding already? HOTWIRE allows you to search for up to quad occupancy per room and ensures sleeping accommodations for everyone you include in your search, but while it may be considered cramped by most, industry standard considers a double bed to accommodate two people, so you could still be in a situation where you receive a room with two double beds (which at least would be better than the PRICELINE possibility of receiving a room with only one bed). As well, with HOTWIRE the second 'bed' could be a rollaway brought into the room, pullout sofabed, etc.

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.