Priceline Hotel: 4* New York City, Please Help, Time is Running Out!

[sosubee]

Hi:

My head has been spinning trying to figure out how to bid for 4* Hotels in NYC. Any help you can provide would be surely appreciated. Tried to digest the material but getting more confused.

I would like to celebrate our 25th Anniversary in NYC without breaking the bank.... but have a good time doing it! Any suggestions for a Surprise Dinner,not too fancy but somewhere you'd take the Family....by the way, she's a Chef and I'm a Health Inspector :o !

Read the current reviews and would like stay at the following zones: Downtown SOHO,Central Park South,MTC,MTE,MTW

Need a bidding strategy for the following dates: 8 nights, September 27- October 5,2012. Wife does not want to split the stay, but if we can live in contrasting areas it would be fun!

Our bid range would be $175-$250,plus fees and taxes, but would like save money to eat out. Saw someone winning the Waldorf-Astoria for $150, didn't now if we could get it for 8 nights?

Many Thanks, Brad

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Wife does not want to split the stay, but if we can live in contrasting areas it would be fun!

Not sure if i'm understanding... if you're not willing to SPLITTING YOUR PRICELINE BID then your stay would be at one hotel, so where does 'contrasting areas' come into play?

following zones: Downtown SOHO,Central Park South,MTC,MTE,MTW

There is no MTC zone on PRICELINE... which zone is it that you're referring to? You don't mention ESB and/or TS which are both popular zones when bidding 4* in NYC, are either of these acceptable for this trip?

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

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

[sosubee]

Thereuare:

Sorry if I was unclear in my request:

1)Would like to stay in one hotel for 8 nights,

2)If I split my bid, I would like to visit another 4* Zone on my request list. Does a stay for 3,4 or 5 days make a difference in winning the bid? Would grouping the days- Thursday/Friday,Sat and Sunday give me a better chance.I read "weekends" are cheaper than weekdays.

I thought MTC = Central Park South? ESB and TS will be fine.

When should I start bidding? Have backup reservations?

Again thanks for all your help and will be bidding thru HOTWIRE/PRICELINE links!

[thereuare]

1)Would like to stay in one hotel for 8 nights,

2)If I split my bid, I would like to visit another 4* Zone on my request list. Does a stay for 3,4 or 5 days make a difference in winning the bid? Would grouping the days- Thursday/Friday,Sat and Sunday give me a better chance.I read "weekends" are cheaper than weekdays.

I do think your chances improve if you SPLITTING YOUR PRICELINE BID as you've indicated (or even if you try to add a few midweek nites to your weekend dates) but based upon current rates i think $200/nite may fall a little short for a 4* hotel for these dates (although possible if you're including the Downtown-Financial district in your bidding... but i would sooner spend an extra $10-$20/nite to stay in midtown vs. Downtown which i think is about the price difference for a subset of your stay, but not sure just how flexible your budget is). Did you want to try for the complete stay first up to $200/nite, then make a decision if SPLITTING YOUR PRICELINE BID is an option OR if you'd prefer to increase your budget or lower your star rating?

I thought MTC = Central Park South?

MTC = Midtown Central (a zone on HOTWIRE)

CPS = Central Park South (a PRICELINE zone)

ESB and TS will be fine.

So to confirm all of the following are acceptable at at the 4* level:

DT, Soho, CPS, MTE, MTW, TS, ESB

(ALSO NOTE: you listed 'Downtown-Soho' as one zone but these are two different zones, "Downtown-Financial" and "Soho-Tribeca", are both of these acceptable? Enter 'New York City, NY' in the BiddingHelper.com search box at the top of the page and once the page loads you'll see the PRICELINE "name your own price" zones... make sure these are the zones you're looking at and not the zones from the 'retail' section of their site)

When should I start bidding? Have backup reservations?

Your topic title includes "Running out of time" so not sure why you wouldn't begin now. For a back-up reservation have you found anything close to your target budget?

Thanks for using the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board.