stephenf Posted May 23, 2012 Report Posted May 23, 2012 Hi everyone,I'm looking for some advice and bidding strategy help on a four night stay in NYC in July if possible. Had great luck with a recent DC bid (4* $96)thanks to Betterbidding (and specifically thereuare) and I'm excited to see what New York can offer my girlfriend and I!Our main focus is getting as nice a hotel as possible, on Manhattan Island, below our max budget of $150/night. From the priceline map we'd be happy with TS MTW MTE CPS ESB Chelsea or MSG...however if we're missing a trick by including or excluding an area please let us know.We'd be hoping for a 4* stay for our budget. If this turns out to be unrealistic, we would go down in our star request but would be hoping to lower our max budget a shade. Dates are Wed 7/18 to Sun 7/22 (4 nights). Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!Stephen
thereuare Posted May 23, 2012 Report Posted May 23, 2012 You can start with the following:When bidding 4* in NYC you have SEVEN re-bid zones. If you're not familiar with re-bidding please read Priceline Re-Bidding Explained and feel free to ask questions and/or confirm your re-bid zones with the board before proceeding.(NOTE: MSG has no 4* hotels so we've left that off of your bidding)Select 4* TS, MTW, MTE, ESB, Chelsea...Bid $100, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $105, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $110, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $115, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $120, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $125, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $128, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $130, if rejected close browser and use this link to re-access PRICELINESelect 4* CPS...Bid $100, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $105, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $110, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $115, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $120, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $125, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $128, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $130, if rejected close browser and use this link to re-access PRICELINESelect 4* TS, MTW, MTE, ESB, Chelsea, CPS...Bid $133, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $135, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $138, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $140, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $143, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $145, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $148, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $150Any questions feel free to ask.Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.Good luck and let us know how it goes. Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases
stephenf Posted May 23, 2012 Author Report Posted May 23, 2012 Hi thereuare,I've just run through the first two iterations of the strategy above and unfortunately come up empty handed. I reached a bid of £86/night ($135) which after taxes and fees are included equals $165/night, which is above our intended max budget of $150/night anyway so I decided to stop.Would you suggest there is any point in re-attempting the same strategy on another day (keeping the same travel dates) or should I just be looking at lowering stars now? If I kept going, do you have any guess as to what a likely winning price might be for a 4*/3.5*/3* around these dates?Thanks again for your help!All the best,Stephen
AaronJB Posted May 24, 2012 Report Posted May 24, 2012 This is generally around the time period when rates do come down somewhat in NYC due to hotter weather. I think you're probably not too far off at this point if a bid of $135 hasn't been accepted - but I'm guessing a 4* win will unfortunately go over your budget and probably require a $150-165 bid. Rates may come down closer to the dates, but there's no way to know - and rates will likely stay higher if there happens to be something going on on these dates. You can pick a "ceiling" and keep trying every couple of days at the 4* level and see if inventory opens up between now and your stay, or start at $110 and bid up to your max budget ($135) for a 3.5*. As for 3.5*, CPS has the Hudson at the 3.5* level, which offers extremely small rooms (even for NYC) and some 3.5*'s are far E in MTE; would these be acceptable?Thank you for using the site's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchases and searches.
stephenf Posted May 24, 2012 Author Report Posted May 24, 2012 I've just been back on to use the 3rd cycle of bids and got up to
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