Priceline Hotel: Bidding Strategy for Newark Area Hotels

[flanhelsinki]

Hello,

Bidding newbie here. I have thoroughly studied the material on this site when it comes to the name-your-own-price tool. We fly in next week (Aug. 20) and need a place to stay at for a few days that is close to PATH. We will not have a car. I noticed that some 3 1/2 star hotels in Newark (Robert Treat Best Western, Hilton Penn Station) are rather close to Penn Station, as well as a 2 1/2 star hotel in Harrison (Hampton Inn). I started low with the 3 1/2's, at $100 but was rejected. So I guess my questions are these: 1)Is anyone familiar with other 3 1/2 stars in the "Newark" area? Are those two it? And how much would you bid on them? 2) My wife and I both have lived in tough neighborhoods, and we expect to be coming home rather late at night (After midnight) from NYC via PATH. If we stay at any of the above mentioned hotels (all have shuttle services/walking proximity), is it a good idea to be walking around those areas at that time? Any further advice would be helpful, as I'm still trying to get the hang of it and this trip is coming up. Thanks!

Daniel

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

I would not recommend walking around these areas at nite.

What are the complete dates of your stay? What is your maximum (per nite before fees/taxes) for this trip? Is this your only stay in the area or after a few days in this are (assuming you ultimately decide to stay here none-the-less) or is this is for your NYC-metro stay and then you'll be heading home or to another city?

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

[flanhelsinki]

Thank you. I guess my next question would be if you consider waiting in Penn Station for a shuttle at 1 in the morning would be dangerous as well? I wouldn't really need to be walking about the neighborhood. My Max is $100, and I've seen it during this time of year at these hotels before ( I believe it to be realistic). We need a place to stay for 4 days, after that we are staying in Carteret at the Executive Suites. By then, we will have our car so if we wanted to visit NYC we would be a 30 min drive away from the PATH, and I would just have to worry about parking the car at the PATH somewhere. For a 8 days (Starting 8/20) we will be visiting places in both Manhatten and Northern New Jersey. However we won't have a car till the 23rd, so we were hoping to get lodging close to the PATH or other transit so that we could spend those 4 days in Manhatten. Please advise.

Thanks, Daniel

[thereuare]

Ideally you would want some other option... i suppose you could wait in the main waiting area, where hopefully police are congregating, but you would still need to go outside to keep a lookout for and meet the shuttle at some point. Have you confirmed that the shuttle even runs that late at nite?

The Secaucus-North Bergen area would be another area to consider but you would commute by bus, which could be an issue if you want to stay out past 1am as some of the buses stop running at 1am (some at 2am), but you also may want to use HOTWIRE for this since there are some hotels that are not near a bus stop.

However, this creates another issue since without a car you then have to get to this area which can be expensive ($50??) by taxi or long via mass transit (assuming you fly in to EWR).

I think your options open up a bit if you can drop the requirement to get home so late at nite and/or if you're able to increase your budget... or have you looked into how much more it would cost to extend the rental car for the additional time you're in the area, as that would open up your possibilities even further (and as i type this seems like it may be your best option... what is your all-in rate for the 4 day rental?)

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

[flanhelsinki]

Good points. It's good to have someone familiar with the area helping me, I appreciate it. To rent a car for the full duration of our stay would be another $100 (but I might try using PRICELINE to name my own price on that as well...any thoughts?). That is a small price to pay however, considering we value safety and transportation over anything else. We are a young couple, from the west, poor college kids... but we would like to stay under $90 a night. Is this realistic? We are also looking at staying at a friends house in Union City (who is gone for a while), but I've heard things about that area as well. What would you advise? BTW, I used your links when I booked the Carteret Executive Suites (this is not set in stone either, I reserved them, but if I find a better deal, I can cancel them) and I hope you get some kind of kickback from that. Also, what is the situation with PATH? Is there parking we can use there, free/paid...etc. I know that PATH runs 24 hours, so that gives us more options.

Thanks, Daniel

Thanks again for your help

[thereuare]

For your complete stay (since i don't think Cateret is such a good idea) just over your original budget...

HOTWIRE has a 3* hotel for $106/nite with:

Free Parking

Pet Friendly

Indoor Pool

Smoke Free

Fitness

Pool

Restaurant

Business

Hi-Speed Internet

Golf

... best guess for this property would be the Sheraton Meadowlands. Unfortunately there is no bus service from this hotel, but they do run limited shuttle service to the train station (not the PATH but the NJ Train Station in Secaucus). The problem (once again) if you get home very late i'm sure their shuttle doesn't run at that hour, so you would need drive to the station (paid parking but i don't think it's that bad cost-wise although i've never parked there) OR take a taxi back to the hotel (i'm guessing $15-$20??). Other options is to drive to the Park N Ride (not sure what time last bus is) OR drive to a PATH station, but this option will cost money to park (figure $25-$30/day... except on weekends i can try to guide you to some free street parking)

EDIT TO ADD:to help stay within budget, searching 8/23-8/28 HOTWIRE has a 2.5* in the Secaucus-Meadowlands zone for $87/nite:

Free Parking

Complimentary Breakfast

Free Internet

Pet Friendly

Indoor Pool

Fitness

Pool

Restaurant

Business

Laundry

Hi-Speed Internet

Bathroom Accessible

Handicapped Parking

... best guess for this property would be the La Quinta Inn and Suites Secaucus-Meadowlands which has bus service near the door, or for nites will you be staying out too late (last bus from NYC may be at 1am or 2am... or stay out until service resumes at ~5:30am-6am ;) ) you can drive and park near a PATH station. If you go with this you can 'fill-in' the first 2-3 nites of your stay, although i haven't used all date combinations to see for what starting check-in date this option is offered, but if you let us know your current thoughts of all the options above i'll explore further.