Priceline Hotel: Bidding Help 5/20-5/22

[paige81]

Hi I am looking for a bidding strategy for a *4 or *3 if necessary would go down to *2.5

Looking to stay MTW or MTE but if necessary open to all midtown locations. Also may be interest in downtown/SoHo but nervous of getting a Chinatown hotel..what are the more common downtown hotels?

My dates are 5/20 checkin - 5/22 check out

Will getting a room under $150 be possible?

Any help would be great!

[thereuare]

For starters...

What is more important, star rating or price? Would you prefer a 4* hotel that cost a bit more than a 3* OR a 3* hotel that cost a little less than you may have gotten a 4*? (i haven't looked at rates for your dates yet so i don't even know if $150 is feasible or not, but let us know the above and we'll take it from there)

[paige81]

Price is most important to us.

Thanks!

[thereuare]

So we'll start with 3* for MTE and/or MTW... if that fails you can then let us know if you'd rather open up to more zones or lower your star level for those two zones.

You have one re-bid zone avaiable when bidding 3* in NYC. 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 3* MTW...

Bid $120, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $130, if rejected close browser and re-access priceline however you did previously.

Select 3* MTE...

Bid $120, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $130, if rejected close browser and re-access priceline however you did previously.

Select 3* MTW and MTE...

Bid $140, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $150.

Good Luck and let us know how it goes.

[paige81]

I tried and had no luck :)

What shouls my next step be?

[thereuare]

Well that was your stated maximum, would you prefer to:

1) wait it out

2) lower to 2.5* for these two zone

3) add other zones at the 3* level

4) raise your maximum bid

[paige81]

We are still having no luck.

We have used the bidding stategy and also opened up upper and lower midtown - Bid as hight as 170 and still no luck.

We have found out that there is a huge convention in town that weekend. Do you think if we bid up to 180 we have a chance?

If we decide to lower our start rating to a 2.5 what should we start bidding at?

Also on hotwire I have found great rates for Sunday night for a 4* how do priceline and hotwire compare pricewise? If we deicde to split our stay should be bother with priceline or just get the hotwire hotel?

[thereuare]

Since these dates are Saturday to Monday, and we don't typically see business meetings over the weekend, what is the convention that you found that you believe are increasing rates for these dates?

Sunday is the typically the least expensive nite in NYC, so if you're considering SPLITTING YOUR PRICELINE BID i would still try Priceline but use a different strategy... so if you want to try that route let us know.

[blkjck1]

The events that I think are partially messing up hotel availability are all at Javits Center: the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (May 20 - May 23), Surtex show (May 21-23) and the National Stationery Show (May 21-24). According the Javits website, there are 500 exhibitors and 18,000 people are expected to take in the furniture event, and 1,400 exhibitors and 14,000 people are going to be there for the stationery show. I didn't see fully what Surtex is all about, except they expect 6,000 bodies in the room.

[paige81]

We have booked 2 different hotels as back ups for our stay, and will have to switch.

We found a 2.5 start hotel with good reviews on trip advisor for 167 tax in for the Satuday and another nicer hotel for the Sunday night in the same pricerange.

We will try priceline again just before we leave, but the prices for the weekend seems to be really so we think we might land up keeping our current reservations.

Thanks again for the help!