Priceline Hotel: 4* NYC (MTW) Sheraton New York

[mcgillli]

Hi there,

I've been looking through this forum for the past few days now and I'm still unable to come up with a good plan of action for bidding on a hotel for my trip to New York City this August. I'm from Toronto so we're trying to budget because of the exchange rate. The more I research the more confused I get. I've looked through numerous sites and I definitely know that I don't want to stay in a 2 star hotel! Some 3 star hotels looked very nice, but others don't look so great. So I was thinking to be on the safe side I would bid for a 4 star hotel, see if anything gets picked, and if not I will start again at 3 star. My goal is to get a bid for a 4 star hotel accepted at $120USD, this will work out to approximately $150CDN. Is this reasonable, or am I not being realistic?

I'm not too specific, but here are the details:

4 star

Mid-town preferred

Just 2 people

August 17-21 (4 nights)

Any help would be very helpful in brining some clarity to this process. Also, if anyone wouldn't mind sharing their experience who has booked a 4 star hotel through priceline in August would also be much appreciated. I know the administrator has spelled it out for some people as to how he would recommend bidding....I would LOVE if someone could share their recommendations with me.

Lindsey :)

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

We'll be happy to give you a step-by-step, but first... do you understand PRICELINE RE-BIDDING? If not, please read the previous link and ask any questions you may have and/or confirm your re-bid zone with the board (you have two re-bids available at the 4* level and 1 re-bid available at the 3* level).

[mcgillli]

I believe I do understand re-bidding. With a 4 star bid I can enter a new bid twice. My questions about re-bidding is:

1. Do I enter in another bid only after 72hrs?

2. If after my 2nd bid is not accepted and 72hrs have passed since I entered in my 2nd bid, is the whole bid cancelled?

3. How many times can I switch zones?

Thanks,

Lindsey :)

[thereuare]

I'm not so sure you have it down...

Priceline only lets you make the same exact bid once every 72 hours. You can bid again immediately if you do one of the following:

-add a zone

-change your check-in or check-out date

-lower your star rating

Re-Bidding is adding zones which only contain zones which have star levels lower than the zone you are bidding... thus you're adding a zone (which enables you to bid again immediately), but since there are no hotels in this new area which meet your miniumum star requirements, it is as if you're bidding again only for the original zone.

Hopefully this makes it a bit clearer, if not, you may want to look at the graphic (about 9 posts down) in the PRICELINE RE-BIDDING link.

Can you figure out which two zones are your re-bid zones at the four star level (and which one at the three star level)?

[mcgillli]

Hi there,

Does anyone have any guesses as to which hotel this could be:

4*

Midtown East

08/17 - 08/21

$169

Amenities include: Restaurant(s), Pool(s), Fitness Center, Tennis Nearby, Business Center

Thanks for your help,

Lindsey

[mcgillli]

Hi there,

Does anyone have any guesses as to which hotel this could be:

4*

Midtown East

08/17 - 08/21

$169

Amenities include: Restaurant(s), Pool(s), Fitness Center, Tennis Nearby, Business Center

Thanks for your help,

Lindsey

[mcgillli]

Hi there,

I've tried booking a 4* Aug 17-21 (4 nights) in MTE, MTW, UM/CPS and SOHO going up to $160 but no luck. Could this be because it's still a little over a month away and hotels aren't looking to sell off yet? Or because it's a longer stay and hotels may be reluctant to sell a room for cheap for 4 nights? Or could it just be bad luck this time around? I'm blocked for 72hrs, so I'll be trying it again Saturday....and I'm determined to get something for under $150! lol

Thanks,

Lindsey

[KatiesMom]

The 4* hotel you are listing matches the Millennium UN Plaza on hotwire. Read through the hotwire posted thread....all the way through and you will see it there.

[mcgillli]

After I was just about to try and split up the dates I tried one more time @ $175 and it was accepted! I then called the hotel to make sure we get a non-smoking, king bed, city view on a high floor, and they said that priceline has already booked me in for a non-smoking, king bed. Very happy with priceline.

Thanks for the help everyone!

Lindsey

[thereuare]

Glad it worked out for you.

Do you recall the amount of your previous bid just prior to this acceptance?

Enjoy your stay.

[mcgillli]

$170 was the amount previous that wasn't accepted.