Priceline Hotel: Questions about May 14 MSG Stay

[Eire5]

I'm hoping to spend about $175 on Priceline for a 3 star in MSG area, but that may not be a reasonable budget.

 

Just wondering how often new Priceline coupons appear here.  The 7% one in recent posts has expired.  That's a great perk.

 

Also wondering about bidding the night before.  I looked on Priceline at tonight in MSG, for instance, and what they're claiming the average price is a lot lower than what they're claiming for May 14.  Maybe that's because May 14 is busier, and if I bid on May 13 I'll find that the prices haven't dropped. 

 

Thanks very much.  This site is so helpful.

 

[AaronJB]

Welcome to Betterbidding. :)

Unfortunately, there's no way to know when new coupons will arrive. There have been a number of them lately, hopefully that will continue.

 

A couple of questions:

 

Is MSG the only acceptable zone?

In terms of bidding regarding May 13, do you mean bidding for 5/13 instead or bidding last minute for 5/14?

 

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

[thereuare]

... and if you haven't yet, please read your messages before replying.

Thanks.

[Eire5]

I will be sure to use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links here.

 

That's right - I was thinking of bidding May 13 for the night of the 14th.  It looks as though bidding the day before may be as good as the day of, so I was thinking I'd try May 13.  But of course what's true for May 9 may not be what's true for May 14.  Though I'm only going by the average prices being shown for a given night and rating, I have no experience actually bidding.

[thereuare]

The average prices shown by PRICELINE (next to the bid amount box) is not a good indicator of prices and shouldn't be used to help in determining a bidding strategy or timing. As well, as you've eluded to, you're comparing apples-to-oranges, since demand may simply be lower for May 9th and that is why you're seeing lower rates for this nite vs. the nite you need next week. As well, demand in NYC for weekend nites (ie- tomorrow nite) is less than for mid-week nites, so it is reasonable that rates for tomorrow would be less than rates for mid-week next week, regardless of the fact of how near (or far) the stay is.

I think you're close enough to your arrival to start bidding now, especially if you're only bidding the one zone, as you have no re-bid zones available... what if you make your one bid on Tuesday nite and it's rejected... then what do you do?

How much are you expecting to pay for a 3* hotel for this nite?

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

[Eire5]

Looks as though there's a 3 star hotel in Time Square area for $210 as an priceline.Express Deal, so maybe I could get a 3 star for about $210 in MSG.

 

If I were to bid on Tuesday and it's rejected, I thought I could close the browser and click on a link which I saw on a post of yours providing instructions for bidding for another person.  I must have misunderstood.  I thought that link would allow me to bid again right away.  If that's incorrect, I could always have my husband bid from his own account and list me as the person who would be checking in.

 

Thanks for your patience.

[thereuare]

There may be little correlation between hotel prices from one zone to the next. If PRICELINE EXPRESS has a Times Square has a 3* hotel at $210, that may or may not have anything to do with the price of a 3* hotel in the MSG zone... what is the current pricing of a PRICELINE EXPRESS hotel in the MSG zone (which is the one you intend to bid on)?

The bidding strategies we use on the board entail multiple bids within the same 24 hour lock-out period due to the unique bidding combination of zones, you are only bidding one zone and have no re-bid zones, which doesn't give too much opportunity for multiple bids. Even if you have 2 or 3 bidding opportunities, bidding the nite before does not give you much flexibility in starting low and gradually increasing your bid price... the advantage of bidding 4-5 days before your arrival and having a game plan for rejected bids (ie- the opportunity to bid again the following day) i think far outweigh any last minute price drop you may see the nite before arrival.

While it's certain;y possible that a hotel does drastically drop rates the nite before, remember that while you are focused on this one nite, they are focused on managing their rates/inventory for the next week, month, and even year. Every hotel revenue manager has their own thoughts on how to price rooms, but by dropping rates at the absolute last minute they usually can't spur that much extra demand to make it worthwhile (as most people traveling already have their plans in place and a lower price doesn't usually cause enough demand for somebody to make a trip for tomorrow check-in that they otherwise were not planning), and would be better off holding rates firm for last minute walk-in customers. If they drop their hotel rates from $200 to $100 with less than 24 hours to go before check-in, even if they could get the word out (which is a task in itself) and let people know of the low last minute rate, would they generate twice as much business as a result? If the lower rated increases business by 50% the lower rate was a losing proposition revenue-wise. As well, even if they could sell-out the hotel at the lower rate, there are staffing concerns which now need to be taken into consideration as they had previously only planned on staffing for their previous occupancy levels.3

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