Hotwire Hotel: 3* New York City (Chelsea) Holiday Inn Sixth Avenue

[joshm0651]

Hello,

I am looking for a hotel in NYC checking in Sept 5 and checking out Sept 10.

The preferred hotel would have free internet in the room(as opposed to some hotels that have internet in the lobby area but a surcharge for the room). If it had a free breakfast as well that would be a bonus.

I looked at the 3* hotels on your Priceline hotel list page for NYC. The majority of hotels that offered free internet and breakfast were 3* hotels and were either Holiday Inn or Hampton Inns.

The areas that I thought would be good were Chelsea, MSG, Financial/Downtown, Soho, Central, HK.

When looking at 3* hotels for HK I didn't see any mentioned on the Priceline hotel list page so I thought I would include HK in my bidding to get extra bids. I realized that it was indicated that just because there isn't a 3* listed on the hotel list doesn't mean I couldn't get a 3* in HK so I stopped using HK in my bids.

The bidding I did was for:

1. Chelsea, MSG, F/DN - $130

2. Soho, HK, Central - $130

and I then tried the different combinations for those 6 areas. The highest bid I went to was $175. For the bids I put in around $165 - $175 I would then be redirected to a page saying that my bid was not accepted but that I could get another free bid if I increased my offer by $60 - $70. If my bid were increased to those amounts, ie $175 + $60 = $235 I would be paying just about the same price as some of the hotels listed in those areas.

1. Does that redirected page saying to increase my bid by X amount to get a free bid indicate that my chances of finding a place on Priceline for an amount less than the increased amount are slim to none? ie when I bid $175 and the redirected page says to increase by $60 for a total of $235 does this indicate that I shouldn't even bother try future bidding unless I am around the $235 otherwise I will keep getting redirected to the page to increase my bid?

2. Do you suggest that I include HK in my searches for a 3* to get extra bids? Or that there is a good likelihood that I will be stuck with something in HK? As indicated I included HK since the Priceline hotel list on this site indicated no 3* hotels.

3. What do you recommend?

Thank you for your time and assistance.

[AaronJB]

Welcome to Betterbidding.

As noted towards the top of the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE list pages, those hotels are what has been reported to the board - there is most likely others not yet reported to the board (new hotels are reported to the board pretty much daily.) If there is a 3* option to bid in HK, there is a possibility at that level.

If you got a "counter-offer", it does not mean that the counter-offer is what's required - what's required is somewhere in-between your last rejected bid and the counter-offer (and it may very close to your last rejected bid.)

Are you seeing any hotels on the Express Deals side with free breakfast and internet?

Additionally, beyond that, it becomes a matter of breakfast vs room cost - I'm seeing a 3.5* on HOTWIRE in the Empire State Building area for $153. You've already bid up to $175; while the 3.5* would not likely offer breakfast, you've be saving $22 a night that could go towards breakfast. There's also a 4* in MSG for $195.

Would the MTE/ESB areas be acceptable? Both nice areas and definitely more convenient than downtown.

Thank you for using the board's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchases and searches.

[joshm0651]

Hello,

Thank you for taking the time to respond.

I had not checked the PRICELINE EXPRESS Deals or the narrowed search on HOTWIRE. I just checked those sites and it appears that we can find what we are looking for.

Yes, any area, including MTE/ESB areas would be acceptable. I have not been to NYC since I was a child so I did not know those areas would be more convenient than downtown. We had been told that the subway makes everything close so not to worry too much about the location.

Thanks again!

[thereuare]

When bidding 3* in NYC there are no re-bid zones. However, for the future, the only method you should use to determine your re-bid zones is described here: Priceline Re-Bidding Explained

Also, note that in the CPS is the Hudson Hotel which has notoriously small rooms, and some of the MTE properties can be up to a 15 minute walk to the subway, if either would be an issue you may not want to include these zones in your bidding.

Please confirm exactly which zone(s) are acceptable, as well as your maximum bid, and we will suggest a strategy for you to follow.

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

[joshm0651]

Thanks. We went with Hotwire. Got a 3* for $167/night. It was the Holiday Inn Manhattan 6th Avenue.

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success!

Can you please add a reply to this thread with the amenities shown before your purchase... you can still view this information by going to HOTWIRE and clicking the MY ACCOUNT link near the top right of their home page.

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

Thanks, enjoy your stay.

[joshm0651]

Hello,

The amenity we searched for was free internet so that we could plan our next days adventures in the evenings.

I did use the link to HOTWIRE to make our purchase.

Thanks.

[yellowdog]

joshm0651

The amenity we searched for was free internet so that we could plan our next days adventures in the evenings.

We need to know the complete set of amenities that HOTWIRE associates with the hotel. You can still view this information by going to HOTWIRE and clicking the MY ACCOUNT link near the top right of their home page.

Thanx for using boards HOTWIRE links :)

Yellowdog.