Hotwire Hotel: 4.5* New York City (Empire State Building) St. Giles - The Tuscany

[kuvesh]

I am a first time user of Priceline bidding.

 

My wife is taking a trip to New York Tues-Fri 20-23 May and needs a room, preferably in a 4* in Times Square / Mid Town West so it is convenient to catch some shows.

 

My budget is around $250 per night but obviously i would like to get the best savings possible.

 

I have read the post of re-bidding and am a bit confused.

 

Whilst priceline categorizes their hotels by "stars" there is obviously a differentiation in attractiveness of some hotels over others in the same category.  It got me thinking if I just bid my max (rather than trying to achieve the cheapest price) whether that will get me the more sought after hotels in that category.

 

Would really appreciate some guidance on the optimal strategy to achieve one of the better 4* hotels.

 

cheers

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Star ratings are subjective and there may be hotels within the same star rating that are more/less desirable than others. You can use the board's Priceline Hotel List as a guide to see if there are any zones you want to include/avoid based upon 'known' hotels in the zone, but be sure to read the comments at the top of the board to understand that the lists only contain hotels reported to the board and can never be considered complete since new hotels can be added/removed at any time, as well as star ratings changing at any time.

It's not recommended to bid higher for a 'better' hotel as you may receive the very same hotel you would have received if you had bid lower, essentially 'overbidding'. See this thread for a further discussion on a similar subject, but it addresses the same issue: Don't Bid Higher for a Specific Hotel

Besides bidding, you could use HOTWIRE where you can often use the amenities associated with the property to take a guess as to which hotel you will receive, and if you're unable to identify the hotel, you can use the percent recommended by previous guests, as well as the TA review information (when shown), to know if it's a 'good' hotel within the star rating. PRICELINE EXPRESS is an option as well and use their user review ratings to know if it's one of the better properties in the zone. The trade-off is that each of these options is usually a little more expensive than bidding on PRICELINE, but it does give you a little more control over the purchase.

Let us know your thoughts and how you'd like to proceed and we'll take it from there.

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

[kuvesh]

Thanks for the feedback.

Thinking about this a bit more, based on experience, does the list of hotels appearing in PRICELINE EXPRESS for a specific date range appear to match the hotel list actually participating in "name your price" for the same date? If so, that would mean we can narrow down the potential available hotels we are bidding on for a given date. My guess is that this is to too simple....

Presuming the hotels listed in priceline express are also taking bids, what discount to the PRICELINE EXPRESS price have people been successful in securing rooms?

[thereuare]

Each side of PRICELINE's service (Name Your Own Price, Priceline.express, and 'Retail' where the hotel names are shown before purchase) each user a different universe of hotels. There is a lot of overlap, but you can't use one side of their service to determine what you will get thru another side of their service.

There is no fixed amount or percentage of discount that bidding results in relative to PRICELINE EXPRESS, and it can differ from one location to the next as well as from one date to the next. We have even seen a few situations where bids up to the Priceline Express amount were rejected, making the PRICELINE EXPRESS a better deal than bidding.

I did just have a quick look at your dates and while your $250 budget does have a chance at a 4* hotel, it's hardly a lay-up, so you may not be able to 'pick and choose' as much as you may think for thees dates, which at least at the moment, are expensive (seasonally it's an expensive time of year in NYC)

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

Your thoughts?

[kuvesh]

Thanks for the clarification.

This is my first time using priceline bidding, so i am just trying to understand the system before starting to bid. Also given this is for my wife, i am trying to get the best outcome otherwise i will have to deal with her...

Given my wife just wants to be walking distance to the theatre district, i am thinking TS,CPS and MTW.

Appreciate your thoughts on bidding strategy. I can probably stretch the budget to $300/night if needed.

[thereuare]

You probably want to avoid the CPS zone as it has the Hudson Hotel, which while well located, has notoriously small rooms.

Here are some of your options as i see them based upon your previous comments...

You can bid for just TS and MTW up to $300, at current rates i'd put your success at 50/50, and if successful, will likely be near your upper limit.

On HOTWIRE I'm seeing what looks to be the 4* W New York in the MTE zone for $287/nite... not in your first choice of zones above, but is 4* rated and within your newly revised budget.

If you're willing to drop to a 3.5* property what looks to be the Yotel Times Square (but actually in HOTWIRE's MSG zone) is offered for $288/nite. Although a lower star rating then you were originally, this property gets good reviews as evidenced by it's 4.5/5.0 TA rating (so even if we're wrong with the guess you still have a very highly reviewed property) and, assuming i am right, this property is in the very northern most part of the MSG zone and would be an easy walk to most of the Theater District.

Based upon the above let us know your thoughts as to how you'd like to proceed and we'll advise accordingly.

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

[kuvesh]

Thanks for the ideas.

I think i will be most comfortable sticking to TS and MTW zones even if i have to use up most of my budget.

Appreciate your tips on priceline bidding strategy. Cheers

[thereuare]

When bidding 4* in NYC you have ONE re-bid zone. If you're not familiar with re-bidding please read Priceline Re-Bidding Explained and feel free to ask questions and/or confirm your re-bid zones with the board before proceeding.

Select 4* TS...

Bid $250, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $265, if rejected close browser and use this link to re-access PRICELINE...

Select 4* MTW...

Bid $250, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $265, if rejected close browser and use this link to re-access PRICELINE...

Select 4* TS and MTW...

Bid $280, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $290, if rejected close browser and use this link to re-access PRICELINE...

Normally we would start a little lower, but if you look in my signature there is currently a 10% OFF coupon for PRICELINE EXPRESS, which would bring their current two 4* offerings in the TS and MTW zones (priced at $327 and $330 respectively) down to your maximum budget of $300. So i would bid as per above, and if rejected, take the PRICELINE EXPRESS deal for whichever zone you prefer:

4* Times Square

Free Internet in room

Restaurant

Business Center

Fitness Center

--> these amenities are too common for me to take a guess as to which one it may be

4* Midtown West

Free Internet in room

Pets Allowed

Restaurant

Business Center

Fitness Center

--> again, common amenities but i think this one may be the Algonquin

Any questions feel free to ask.

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

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[kuvesh]

Amenities:

• Free internet
• Fitness centre
• Business centre
• Self service laundry

 

Actually think this is Empire State Building Area...

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success!

Hope you're pleased with the purchase and this property will work well for your plans this trip.

Thank you for sharing your win with the board.

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

Enjoy your stay.