Priceline Hotel: Neet help with 4* for 5/27 - 5/29

[cpetcoff]

I am planning a trip to New York on Memorial Day weekend. Should I expect hotel rates to be higher in New York for such a big travel weekend? I may be willing to move my trip to the following weekend if rates are significantly lower. I've already tried the priceline bidding techniques explained on this website for teh 5/27 - 5/29 weekend and got up to $160 before I stopped trying.

[thereuare]

I would not expect rates to be high due to the holiday weekend.

Would you be flying, driving, train, bus, etc into the city?

[cpetcoff]

Flying. I've found pretty good rates on Jet Blue, but wanted to land the hotel before reserving the flight.

[thereuare]

Then it's not like you can take too long to book the hotel since the flights are capacity controled (ie- even if you can save $40 on the hotel by waiting it could end up costing you $50 more for airfare)

Why don't you develop a strategy and than try for one set of dates, and if rejected, try then same for the other set of dates... having the flexibility of two different dates doubles the amounts of bids you can make.

If you come the following weekend, would you also be using a Saturday check-in?

[cpetcoff]

No, it would be a friday through sunday stay if I went the following week. I'd really like to secure a 4 star or better hotel for less than $200 per night.

[thereuare]

Which zones did you included in your previous bidding (for 5/27-5/29... assuming you have not yet bid 6/2-6/4).

Let us know which zones are acceptable and if airfare is currently the same for both sets of dates. I also assume you do not want to SPLITTING YOUR PRICELINE BID for this two nite stay?

We'll then suggest a strategy for you to follow.

[cpetcoff]

Sure, I'm willing to split my bid. I am new to priceline bidding so I am not sure I used the best strategy in my first attempt. I tried MTW at $120, when rejected I added MTE and tried $125, when rejected I added Upper Mid Town at $130. I then added upper east and west side (there aren't many, if any hotels up there) each time raising my bid $5. I then closed my browser and started with MTE at $145, adding the same zones again. I used this strategy to get all the way up to $185 searching in each of those zones.

Let me know if I've done something wrong or if there is simply a better strategy.

[thereuare]

If you're willing to split your bid then "no problem", i'm fairly certain we can help you get accomodations for under $200/nite (average). However, you have a few options...

Have you ever been to NYC before? If so, you may want to consider staying the first nite in Jersey City where i believe you can get a very nice hotel for under $100 (vs. ~$200 in the city). There is a PATH train stop right near the hotel that will have you downtown in 8 minutes and midtown in 17 minutes. It's a very nice hotel and all the rooms have views of the Manhattan skyline... the downside is that you lose a bit of the "NYC feel" and if heading back late at nite (ie- after 2am) the wait for a train can be tiresome (up to 30 minutes) but at most 'normal' periods the train runs about every 15 minutes or less.

First let us know if that is an option and if so we'll walk you thru the steps for it... or if not an option we'll proceed to look at NYC bidding (but splitting the bid).

[cpetcoff]

thanks for all of your help thus far, but last night my wife found a package deal on Priceline that has us staying at the Le Parker Meridian for three nights. The package included round trip airfaire from Tampa and the total was just under $1100. I'd really like to have found a deal on hotels with priceline bidding techniques, but this package was too good to pass up.

thanks again, I'll try to use the bidding techniques on my next trip.