Hotwire Hotel: Help with New York 'zones' - Hotwire or Priceline

[SC1980]

Hi there,

 

I'm wondering if you can help me.  My husband and I are taking a trip to New York and surrounding area during the week of Oct 3 - our expected nights in New York City itself are Oct 3 and 4.  When I go to Hotwire (have just started looking today, to do some exploring, which I thought I'd do before asking any questions on this site) and just enter 'New York', of course there are a bunch of different areas/zones (e.g., Union Square - Flatiron, Grand Central, etc.).  I apologize if this question has been asked in this section of the forum before, but I didn't see it so I thought I'd start a new thread to ask - are there some zones specifically that I should be looking at to be right in the heart of New York?  Are there specific pros and cons to various zones about which I should be aware?

 

Secondarily, I'm wondering about the Priceline zones - there are so many... any specific ones the best or ones to stay away from?  For Oct 3 and 4, do you have any sense of whether I should try to do a 'name your own price', or am I best off to just do a Priceline Express or Hotwire deal (I know some cities like Chicago have different busy times like 'conference season' and things, but I don't know much about New York and if/when I'm likely to be able to get a good deal (through something like 'name your own price') versus just going with the best deal that I see.  Any thoughts/insight that you have would be greatly appreciated!

[AaronJB]

New York is generally very busy in the Fall and early (until around mid-December) Winter, then the January-March period is the slowest time period before traffic ramps back up into the Spring and early Summer. Late Summer can be somewhat less expensive.

 

I'd recommend staying in Midtown, although I think the note with that is that people often look to Times Square because it's arguably the most well-known area. However, it's also the most hectic (and often most expensive.) Personally, I'd recommend the East side (Midtown East, Empire State Building, Grand Central) as I've thought in my past visits that that has been a pleasant area that's still very convenient.  It also comes down to budget and what your plans are during the time and which area/s would be most convenient for your needs.

 

What would be your desired budget per night for this stay? Did you have any particular plans where you need to be close to an area, or is this more of a general sightseeing trip?

 

Please remember to return to BetterBidding and use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPSandHOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.

[thereuare]

Please start by following-up your previous Hotwire Grand Rapids thread with whatever you ended up doing for that trip.

 

Please remember to follow-up your threads with your wins/decisions as you make them (even if you don't ultimately use PRICELINE / HOTWIRE, cancel the trip, book direct, etc) as this help keep the board better organized and more useful for everyone... as well as being a courtesy to anyone who took the time to help with your travel plans.

 

As for NYC, i'm quite familiar with the city as well as the surrounding area... where else is it that you intend to visit?  For your time in Manhattan what is your desired star rating and expected budget (per nite before fees/taxes)... i can try to find the best options that meet your criteria.

 

Not sure how flexible your plans are, but typically NYC hotels are least expensive on Sunday nite, then Friday/Saturday nties, then midweek nites... so if you do have flexibility then you should try to include a Sunday nite in your plans to help keep prices down.

 

Are you ready to book/confirm this trip at this point in time?  How are you arriving to the city? (driving, bus, train, flying (which airport?))

 

Please remember to return to BetterBidding and use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPSandHOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.

[SC1980]

Thanks very much for your quick replies! Sorry about not posting about Grand Rapids sooner - I have just done so (although for some reason it all posted with a strikethrough on the text... sorry about that and I'm not sure why it did that). Please just let me know if you have any other questions/need any additional info about the Baymont in GR.

 

As for New York, we are arriving by car (driving from Toronto on Sunday, thought we'd stay outside NY on Sunday night because we won't get there til 6-7pm and probably won't have much energy to do anything... but if keeping a Sunday in the reservations would keep all nights cheaper (is that what you mean?) then we could definitely stay for 3 nights (Oct 2, 3, 4).  Our desired start rating is probably 4 stars... although we're not terribly picky/fancy people, so if you have any thoughts on whether 3.5 stars (or even 3) would be OK, please let me know.  Our price range/night is probably ~ $200 USD (top) before taxes/fees.  Is that doable if we throw a Sunday in there, do you think?  While we're there we would like to see the World Trade Center and perhaps some other 'touristy' stuff like Times Square, but we don't intend to do hardcore sightseeing... we're more likely to want to just walk/look around, sit on a patio one afternoon and just drink wine/people watch, do some light shopping, etc., than to have a check-list of things to see (is there anything specific in terms of sights that you'd recommend, though?).  

 

We can't book the hotel just yet - I'm just waiting on one thing at work to know if we can make the trip as long as we want (I`m pretty sure the Sunday evening through Wednesday morning in NY will work, but don't want to book until I confirm at work that I don't need to be back for Thursday (in which case we might want to shorten the NY nights to just 2... maybe Sunday/Monday).  Should I check in with you/this board next weekend (at which point I'll know for sure) when we're ready to book that day?

 

Thanks again so much for your help!

 

[thereuare]

Adding the Sunday nite is won't bring down the cost of the other nites on their own, but it should bring down the average cost.  For example (random prices not specific to your dates above)

Sun: $150

Mon: $200

Tues: $250

 

If looking at only Monday and Tuesday the average cost is $225/nite.. but if looking at all 3 nites the average cost is $200/nite.  So while adding Sunday does not change the actual price for Monday or Tuesday, it does bring down the average cost per nite.

 

Let us know once your plans are firm and you're ready to commit, as the offers may differ based upon the nites searched, or the hotels currently offered may not be the ones that are available once you're ready to move forward.

 

Please remember to return to BetterBidding and use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPSandHOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.

[SC1980]

Hi there,

 

Well you were right... best not to book/talk until we were absolutely sure, because our plans for the week of Oct 3 have changed slightly since my last post. Out trip will need to be shortened, so we will not be traveling to NY at the beginning of the week (but will be staying in NJ for Oct 5 and 6, so will head over to the NJ forum/page to ask a question there).  Sorry for the inconvenience, and thanks again for your help!

[AaronJB]

Thank you for closing the thread. We look forward to helping with the NJ stay.

 

Please remember to return to BetterBidding and use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPSandHOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.