Hotwire Hotel: Traveling to New York with Family

[TrueCoolStone]

I am traveling to New York with my family, Dec 24, 2013 to Jan 3, 2014. There are seven in the family, kids are from 7 to 18 years old.

Is it possible to use priceline for booking hotels for a family or is it best to use hotwire where you can fill in the number of children?

Also, what part of New York is good when booking a hotel for the family and kids?

Are there must-see things for families and children in New York? Thank you so much.

Kent

[AaronJB]

HOTWIRE is the best option when there will be more than two in the room, although this is particularly true in NYC. How many rooms are you looking for?

What would be your desired budget per room/per night for this stay? Is breaking up your stay acceptable? (this period is partially very slow (12/23-28/29) and partially extremely, extremely busy (New Year's Eve and a day or two before) - breaking up your stay will likely lead to a better overall average.

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

[thereuare]

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

... and please click each of the links above before replying.

Thanks.

[TrueCoolStone]

Thank you, I clicked on the links. We would be booking 2 rooms and we would like to keep the price around $250 per room per night. We could switch hotels during the stay only if it will save us a good amount because of mobilizing the 5 kids and their luggage. Thank you for your help.

Kent

[thereuare]

Searching HOTWIRE for 2rooms/3adults/4children for your complete stay i see a 3.5* hotel in the Times Square zone for $264/nite which i'm guesins is likely the Belvedere... all other options are both more expensive and lower star rated.

You can try various date combinations of SPLITTING YOUR PRICELINE BID but i didn't see anything that would significantly reduce your costs since the most expensive nite of 12/31 is right in the middle of your stay.

Does the above work for your needs or do you see any cheaper options?

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

[TrueCoolStone]

Yes, I saw that one and it looks like my best option. The taxes and fees seem really high but maybe that is normal for NYC. Do the prices drop if you wait until a month or two away from the reservation or is it best to book early with the busy 12/31 during our stay? Thank you again.

[thereuare]

Nobody can say if rates will come down, or move higher, between now and your trip.

As you point out the nite if NYE would be a concern since many hotels will be able to sell out on their own (or at least be very near full occupancy). As hotels get comfortable with their current booking for this nite, they may pull inventory and not offer any rooms to PRICELINE or HOTWIRE for this nite. Even though it's just one nite of your longer stay, once a hotel doesn't offer any inventory for a given nite of your date range, it no longer an option for your entire stay. Also, searching for more than double occupancy often limits the number of participating hotels as well, especially in NYC.

This is a very 'unique' stay since you have very low demand/rates at the beginning of your stay, very high demand/rates in the middle of your stay, and then low rate/demand once again near the end... so there are a lot of moving parts to this one.

Just to make sure we're seeing the same property, the 3.5* in the Times Square zone i'm assuming to be the Belvedere has the following amenities:

Smoke Free

Restaurant

Business

Hi-Speed Internet

Blind Accessible

Deaf Accessible

Travel Accessible

Room Accessible

Bathroom Accessible

Roll-in Shower

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

Let us know whatever you decide to do for this stay or if we can be of further help.