Priceline Hotel: 3-4* NYC Oct 22-29

[koolkidkp]

Hi,

I am a first time user for priceline.com and this forum. My co-worker introduce your forum to me and she saved alot from your advice. So, hopefully you can provide me with a similar result.

So here is my situation:

Arrival Oct 22 and planing to stay in NYC for 7 nights.

I need a room to accomodate 3 people (2 beds)

We can split our stay if that will save us some money.

Preference: 3-4* rating and we do not care where we stay (exclude NewJersey and airport area) as long as it is close to tourist attractions or subway.

Must include private washroom (I will be staying with 2 females)

I use hotwire and got a price quote for $298 per night at a 3* hotel (MTC).

I would also like to know what were the price for several previous bid winners and what were the hotels (I did not get a chance to monitor this forum)

I need help! Please provide me with the best bidding strategy (most appropriate minimum starting bid and my max bid will be $298 if 3*)

Thanks in advance,

PS: Let me know if you need more information

Kam

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

For starters you need to be aware that Priceline rooms are only guaranteed for double occupancy. Bidding for more than double occupancy, especially in a city such a NYC where rooms are notoriously small and some only have one bed in them without and additional space for a roll-a-way, is a risky proposition. Some take this risk and it works out 'ok', while others aren't so lucky... is this a risk you are willing to take?

If not, did you do the Hotwire search above for three people in the room (or did you use the default seelctions?) If you list the amenities associated with the above property we will try to help you identify it, and then be in a better position to try to 'better' the deal. As i had already started looking, would a room with two 'double' beds be sufficient for your needs?

Let us know and we'll have a closer look.

[koolkidkp]

Hi thereuare,

For Priceline rooms, do they provide queen size bed or double bed? I will need to ask my friends regarding the risk. I looked at previous bids and the price range is $120-220 per night but I guess the price will not apply to my situation.

My hotwire search did include 3 people. Here is my search so far:

I have split my bids to check for savings.

Oct 22-24 (Check Out)

MTC 4* $302 (Customer Favorite) (eg. Restuarnant/Fitness) (For 2 nights = $604)

SOHO 3

[thereuare]

For Priceline rooms, do they provide queen size bed or double bed?

Neither... it differs from hotel-to-hotel and from user-to-user; all that is guaranteed is "double occupancy", after that it is at the discretion of the hotel.

[koolkidkp]

Hi thereuare,

Can you identify/estimate the hotel offer from Hotwire from my previous post?

Thanks

Kam

[thereuare]

I can try if you include the complete list of amenties associated with each property you are interested in. (i don't think the amenities you've listed are all of the amenities that are shown)

[koolkidkp]

Hi thereuare,

After discussing with my friends, we have decided to bid on priceline. We rather pay for a lower rate. We don't mind getting one bed since we will be out all day and we just needed a place to sleep. So, will you provide us a bidding strategy. Please provide us a minimum bid and our maximum will be $230. I have seen on the post that someone got a bid for $120. So, should we start with a minimum bid of $100.

Criteria:

Arrival Oct 22 and planing to stay in NYC for 7 nights.

We can split our stay if that will save us some money or help us win

Preference: 3-4* rating and we do not care where we stay (exclude NewJersey and airport area) as long as it is close to tourist attractions or subway. Can you provide us zone suggestion.

Must include private washroom

Thanks

Kam

[thereuare]

we do not care where we stay (exclude NewJersey and airport area) as long as it is close to tourist attractions or subway

Subways are virtually all over Manhattan, but there can be areas within a zone that are a 10 minute walk to a subway station... is this acceptable?

What if you're close to a subway but it's 15-20 minutes to Times Square.

You may also want to read NYC ZONE DESCRIPTIONS

[koolkidkp]

We would like to bid on MTE, MTW, MTS and UM-CPS.

So, will you provide us a bidding strategy for both 3* and 4*. Please provide us a minimum bid and our maximum will be $230. I have seen on the post that someone got a bid for 4* $120. So, should we start with a minimum bid of $100.

Criteria:

Arrival Oct 22 and planing to stay in NYC for 7 nights.

We can split our stay if that will save us some money or help us win

Preference: 3-4* rating hotel

Must include private washroom

Thanks

Kam

[thereuare]

So, will you provide us a bidding strategy for both 3* and 4*.

Last question... did you want to try up to your maximum bid for a 4* and then try for a 3* or price is most important?

[koolkidkp]

Hi thereuare,

(1) Yeah how about we try bidding for 4* and if that fails we will try to bid 3*. We would like to change to max bid to $210. Please provide us a bidding strategy for both stars. I will also try to split the bids. Looks like Friday and Saturday night is the most expensive nights.

(2) For those nights we may consider staying near La guardia. So, can you also provide a bidding strategy for one or two night stay at a hotel near La guardia

So far at hotwire: Check in 10/22/05 - 10/23/05

Hotwire

3 stars = $133 (restuarant/fitness)

2 stars = $138 (complementary breakfast, airport shuttle, fitness)

Priceline

3 stars = range from 169-313

2 1/2 stars = range from 137-169

In terms of the airport stay, the max will be $100 (preferably 3 stars since there isn't any 4 stars)

Thanks in advance,

Kam

[thereuare]

It's good to have a back-up plan if your first plan of attack fails, but let's take it one step at a time and try first at the 4* level for your complete stay and then if that fails start breaking up the dates and seeing if you can find partial success at the 4* level... then based upon what dates still remain we'll begin to look at 3* and/or LGA.

However, above you state that it looks like Friday and Saturday nites are the most expenisve of your stay... but your stay runs from Saturday to Saturday... so are you refering to the first and last nites of your stay as being the most expenisve? If so, how many times are you willing to change hotels?

As a side note, i really don't recommend staying by LGA with the intention of commuting into NYC... most hotels there are not convenient to easy Manhattan transportation and the general area is not a very nice one.

[koolkidkp]

So thereuare,

What would you recommend that is a great place to stay outside of manhattan and has frequent/convenient transportation to manhattan for Saturday night stay (Oct 22)

Thanks

Kam

[thereuare]

Jersey City is by far the easiest to commute from (24/7 acceess, 8 minutes to Downtown, 16 minutes to midtown) and the Hyatt is the best hotel in the area.

The Hyatt is not available for 10/22 thru Hotwire, but is available for 10/23 for $128/nite... when searching for 10/22-10/24 the hotel is available for $193/nite.

What i would do is try to bid 3* Jersey City on Priceline (i would try $93) and if successful, then book the Hyatt directly on their website for 10/22 where the rate is $189/nite. If you're $93 is rejected on Priceline you can either wait 72 hours and try again (at $115) for 10/23 or you could book thru Hotwire and $128/nite. Depending upon the rate you get for 10/23, this will give you an average rate of less than $160 for the two nites, thus giving you a few extra dollars to spend elsewhere on your trip.

(just a note above, there is another 3* hotel in the Jersey City area, so there is a slight risk when bidding above that you get something other than the Hyatt, although the other 3* has not been seen for quite some time, if this is a major concern than you can just book the 2nd nite thru Hotwire where the Hyatt has been 'identified' and the first nite thru the Hyatt website)

Getting to Jersey City from LGA will be a slight hassle, but you can do it reasonably by taking a taxi to the Downtown Manhattan PATH station (~$20-$30) and then taking the PATH to the Hyatt ($1.50/each).

[koolkidkp]

Hi thereuare,

I will love to support this forum. I will bid through savingsbarn and also from the link for Hyatt.

Can you answer some of my question: Is there a direct subway from NJC to NYC? Can I use a metrocard for this?

Thanks

Kam

[thereuare]

There is a 'subway' from JC to NYC, but it's not a NYC city subway, it's called the PATH Train. The fare is $1.50/each way... which is not covered by an 'unlimited pass' metrocard.

You can read more about the PATH train in this thread:

NEW JERSEY HOTELS CLOSE TO NYC