Hotwire Hotel: 4* New York City (Long Island City) Z New York

[zidenis]

Hi. Using this board's HOTWIRE link, I got this offer:

 

2* Hoboken - North Bergen area

Check-in: Sun, Jul 20, 2014
Check-out: Mon, Jul 28, 2014

 

75% recommended
From $98 by $78 per night
No TripAdvisor information

 

Amenities:
Free Parking
Free Breakfast
Free Internet
Self service laundry
Internet access

 

Subtotal  $624.00
Tax recovery charges + fees $128.77
Hotwire total  $752.77

 

Please, help me on identifying the hotel.

 

I'm wondering if it's a good place to stay while visiting NYC.
In fact, I will stay  21 nights in NYC and I'm thinking about split the stay in two parts (one part in Manhathan, another outside Manhathan) to spend less on hotels. So I'm working on with this budget: up to $130 for manhathan and up to $100 for outside (without taxes).

 

PS: I've been in NYC one time before, so I already know the main touristic points. I'll arrive on JFK airport and I don't want to rent cars.

 

I appreciate any advice.

[zidenis]

Doing a research on Hotwire's NYC hotels offers, I found that Hotwire's taxes and fees are higher than others booking sites like hotels.com for the same area.

 

Area -=- Stars -=- Recommendation -=- Proporcional Taxes (= tax value / night value)*

Brooklyn -=- 2.5 -=- 70% -=- 24.498%
Brooklyn -=-3 -=- 70% -=- 28.003%
East Village -=- 2.5 -=- 90% -=- 26.505%
East Village -=- 3 -=- 70% -=- 26.527%
Elmhurst -=- 3 -=- 85% -=- 23.888%
Empire State -=- 2 -=- 85% -=- 26.275%
Empire State -=- 2.5 -=- 95% -=- 27.281%
Hoboken -=- 2 -=- 75% -=- 20.937%
Long Island -=- 2.5 -=- 70% -=- 27.319%
Long Island -=- 3 -=- 90% -=- 29.209%
Long Island -=- 3 -=- 80% -=- 25.679%
Long Island -=- 4 -=- 85% -=- 27.337%
Madison SG -=- 2.5 -=- 95% -=- 26.875%
Soho -=- 2.5 -=- 70% -=- 27.467%
Soho -=- 3.5 -=- 80% -=- 27.721%
Times Square -=- 2 -=- 80% -=- 27.354%
Times Square -=- 2.5 -=- 90% -=- 26.030%
Times Square -=- 3 -=- 75% -=- 27.213%
Times Square -=- 4 -=- 80% -=- 27.426%
Upper West -=- 2.5 -=- 75% -=- 26.980%
Upper West -=- 3 -=- 80% -=- 26.816%

* taxes varies according to check-in/check-out dates

 

In others sites, I encounter taxes varying from 16% to 21%.

So, anybody is noticing something like this?

 

P.S. 1: I'm a foreigner and don't know much about how US taxes works.

P.S. 2: Despite that, Hotwire's rates are better than these others sites.

 

Thanks.

 

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Unless your budget doesn't allow for it, the part of this zone you want to stay in is along the waterfront, and there are no 2* hotels in this part of the zone.

What are your full dates for this trip? Will all nites be spent in NYC?

As far as your taxes/fees assessment, the tax rate if fixed (a certain percentage) and although the fee fluctuates a bit, it is close to a 'flat dollar rate' per nite (for this example, let's use $7/nite). As you point out, the HOTWIRE rate is still cheapest, so let's use the following rate per nite for the hotel:

Conventional Booking Site - $100/nite ($7 booking fee) = 7%

Hot.wire rate - $60/nite ($7 booking fee) = 11.6%

Since you're applying the same $7 booking fee to each, the percentage is obviously much higher for the HOTWIRE property since the room rate per nite is much less.

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

[zidenis]

Thanks for this good explanation about the taxes.

Yes, all nights I'll spend in NYC.

I saw the drop of price, so I booked it for my entire stay (21 nights).

Got the Z Hotel New York

Free Internet

Pet friendly

Restaurant(s)

Business Center

Accessible for the deaf

Accessible path of travel

In-room accessibility

Wheelchair accessible

Accessible bathroom

Thanks for the help of the forum.

PS: used the board's HOTWIRE link.

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success!

Glad to see you received a nice deal for your entire stay and that this property will work for your needs this trip.

Thank you for using the HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your purchase and sharing your win, helping us add this new amenity set for this property to the Hotwire Hotel List.

Enjoy your stay.