Priceline Hotel: First time visitor to NYC looking for advice!

[jjuk]

Hi,

First time posting - great website with very useful information.

I am travelling with my wife from the UK to NYC for 3 nights, from 10/28. I am looking for some help and advice on how I go about trying to bid and the best tactics to use for a room in NYC. I did not realise when I booked up my flight, that this is the 'high season' in NYC, so the prices have caught me a little 'off guard'.

Our budget is approximately up to $250 a night, but would prefer to pay less than this ideally. I was originally looking at the Secaucus area as I am going to see the New York Giants but whilst near to the stadium, a couple of people who know the area say it would be better as a first time visitor to stay as central as possible. There is not a lot to do in Secaucus I am told. I was going to try the Amerisuites hotel there as I believe, I could make a cancellation for no charge, if something else comes up cheaper. Any thoughts ?

Based on staying centrally, a couple of hotels I like the sound of are The Courtyard Times Square South and On The Avenue Hotels. The other hotel that appeals to me based on what I have read on this website is The Hyatt Regency Jersey City on The Hudson. Is this too far out for me to consider though, bearing in mind that I will be looking to make my way out to the Meadowlands on the Sunday morning ?

Whilst the hotwire website also appeals, as we do not know our way around, we don't want to take the risk of booking for a hotel, which we have not researched first. Does anyone else have any recommendations for hotels. We will basically be doing the touristy stuff for the rest of our visit.

Finally, is it too soon to be trying for a booking via Priceline for my dates ? Should I be waiting for much nearer the time of travelling ?

I would really appreciate any help anyone can give me with this. We are both looking forward to visiting this City, a trip I have personally wanted to make all my life. I just want to try to make the best of the short time I am there.

If anyone has any bidding tips, can they make it simple to follow as I have never done it before.

Many Thanks.

JJ

[thereuare]

Since you'll be in NYC for three days and Giant's stadium for half a day, i wouldn't plan my hotel stay around the football game since it is only 1/6 of your trip :) Better to be inconvenienced for 1/6 of your trip and centrally located for the other 5/6 than the other way around.

As far as opinions of when to bid, see the related link in our PRICELINE FAQ.

Which airport are you flying into?

I assume you don't intend to rent hire a car? :)

Is SPLITTING YOUR PRICELINE BID an option? (yeah, i know it's a 3 nite trip, but if you can save $25/nite would it be worth your while? $50/nite?)

[jjuk]

Firstly, thanks for replying Administrator.

I'll take on board your advice about not planning my hotel stay around the game. The two reasons I had considered it were a. The price compared to Central New York and b. Easier (on paper anyway) to find and get to the stadium. Not knowing my way around, I just want the simplist and cost effective way of getting to the game.

Yes, we would certainly consider splitting the Priceline bid. If we did that though, I would prefer the hotel move being after the first night or for the last night for more convenience. I would presume I would do this in the 'Name Your Own Price' section on Priceline (sorry if this is obvious to all you experts, I am just learning about the scheme).

We are flying into and departing from Newark Airport and yes, we have no intention of hiring a car for our stay. We are just looking for an enjoyable break in a safe environment.

Any help/advice would be most appreciated - Thanks again.

JJ

[thereuare]

Yes, i understand the cost difference between Secaucus and Manhattan (and the thought process behind it), but you don't want to stay there for your NYC trip, otherwise you may go home with more stories about how bad traffic can be in the Lincoln Tunnel than how much you liked Manhattan. :)

What star rating hotel are you looking for? There are a few 3* hotels within your budget thru HOTWIRE, or we can suggest bidding on one thru priceline.

How much would you want to save in order to make SPLITTING YOUR PRICELINE BID worthwhile?

[jjuk]

Well, yes I think I would be looking for a minimum 3* hotel or higher (I think 2.5* is an equivalent in the US). As I said in my original posting, something like the Courtyard Times Square South would now fit the location and be in the ballpark figure, price wise. My wife is a light sleeper so whilst we expect some street noise, as long as it is not like a racetrack outside 24-7 would be fine. The only other thing is that we would be looking for a room with en-suite facilities.

I would happily consider bidding through Hotwire but as I said recently, the only drawback for us would be as far as I understand it works, we would have no idea of the Hotel until after making full payment. At least you know the hotel you are bidding for with Priceline when naming your price (I think I am right in saying this). However, if you or anyone else knows better about Hotwire, I would be most appreciative.

As for price splitting saving, obviously the bigger saving the better but I suppose upwards of $40.00 a nite would be fine. Pretty flexible really, just want to ensure good, central location in a safe environment.

Regards,

JJ

[thereuare]

...we would have no idea of the Hotel until after making full payment. At least you know the hotel you are bidding for with Priceline when naming your price (I think I am right in saying this)

This is not correct. If you were able to bid on a specific hotel, nobody would ever book direct anymore (at higher prices). The deep discounts we often receive is in exchange for not knowing the specific hotel beforehand and being somewhat flexible in our plans.

You won't know the specific hotel with either service, which is why they're often refered to as opaque suppliers; although HOTWIRE actually gives you a bit more control of knowing the actual hotel beforehand (by taking an educated guess).

If you haven't already, give this thread a read which explains how both priceline and HOTWIRE work, their similarities, and their differences: I've Never Used Priceline or Hotwire

[jjuk]

Thanks for putting me right again Administrator.

Taking this advice into account now, can you recommend a bidding technique I could use for the dates I have specified, to get a decent hotel covering the Times Square area please. Would the Courtyard Times Square South be available on Hotwire as this or a similar type, standard, location of hotel is what we would be looking for. If not, could you make an 'educated guess' as to what hotels could be available at the moment, going by its description?

Can you also expand this criteria, to use for your previous suggestion of splitting a Priceline bid too.

Many Thanks Again,

JJ

[thereuare]

Few additional questions first. For starters:

we would be looking for a room with en-suite facilities.

Does mean a private bathroom OR a room with kitchenette facilities (refrigerator, stove, etc)?

Secondly, "Times Square" is not a priceline zone. Most tourists typically bid MTE, MTW, and UM/CPS, and during tough times/high demand, MTS as well. You can see the priceline zones by going to priceline and seeing the boundaries for each area, as well this tutorial i wrote on Priceline New York Zone Descriptions.

You can see hotels previously won in each zone (and many have links to reviews next to each of them) in our Priceline Hotel List and Hotwire Hotel List.

How much would you need to save to make changing hotels during your stay worth the inconvenience?

[GlennTheBaker]

I'm travelling to NYC from UK for 3 nights - Oct 27 to 30. I have made a cancellable reservation at the Marriott Financial Center in the Downtown area for $175 per night. This is my safety net in case I can't get anything via Priceline. This rate is available for the first 2 nights of your stay, just leaving you the third night. There is a pre-paid, non-refundable rate of $237 at the Courtyard Manhattan/Fifth Avenue for that night.

If you're interested, click HERE for the Financial Center and HERE for the Courtyard.

The rate at the Courtyard is available simply by searching from that particular hotel's page but the Financial Center rate only comes up when using the link above. The Financial Center hotel, although in the Downtown area, has a subway station very close by and you can be in Times Square in around 10 minutes.

Hope I've been of assistance.

[jjuk]

Glenn, Many thanks for the information you have provided, most helpful. I will keep it in mind as it looks a good backup option.

To the Administrator, our requirements would be for a private bathroom, as opposed to a shared one. Savings wise, for splitting the booking, I would be looking for around $40 a nite.

Any bidding techniques would be appreciated please.

Regards,

JJ

[thereuare]

Secondly, "Times Square" is not a priceline zone. Most tourists typically bid MTE, MTW, and UM/CPS, and during tough times/high demand, MTS as well. You can see the priceline zones by going to priceline and seeing the boundaries for each area, as well this tutorial i wrote on Priceline New York Zone Descriptions.

We'll still need to know which zone(s) you want to bid in order to suggest a strategy.

A room with a private bath is not an issue with either priceline or HOTWIRE.

[jjuk]

OK, On Priceline I would go for MTW first, UM/CPS second, then MTE.

For Hotwire, I would go for TS/TD first, followed by MTC & MTE.

As a wildcard, I would consider staying in Jersey City, if there was a chance to stay at a great rate in the HYatt Regency Jersey City on The Hudson.

[thereuare]

One last question (as things i'm looking at are constantly changing)...

Would you consider MTS as well? This area has easy subway access (as do the others your bidding) and including this zone will give you a LOT more re-bidding opportunities. There is a 3* available on HOTWIRE for $210/nite (believed to be the Radisson), as well as another 3* hotel for a little bit more, so I'd like to use as many re-bids as possible so that you can take advantage of the hotwire offer(s) if your Priceline bidding doesn't come thru (although more often than not, based upon HOTWIRE's prices, you'll likely have success on Priceline).

Let us know and we'll work around whatever you decide.

[jjuk]

Yes I would consider MTS but only as a last resort. Is the Radisson you mention the one listed as Lexington Hotel? Do you have an educated guess as to what the one which is a little more expensive is ?

[thereuare]

Yes, the HOTWIRE hotel i'm refering to would be the Radisson on Lexington? Would this be an acceptable hoel for you.

Please provide us with the amenities associated with the other 3* hotel on HOTWIRE (as well as any others in your price range) as i didn't write them down earlier... we'll then try to identify anything else you find; i believe the other was in the MTC zone.

Will you be trying to bid on Priceline first regardless of the HOTWIRE offerings?

[jjuk]

I've read mixed things about the Radisson so I probably would prefer to go elsewhere.

I've taken a look on Hotwire for the dates of travel - interesting to note in some cases, there appears to be a big difference in price, if I take the Saturday night out of the equation.

As for descriptions, this is what I have...

3* Midtown Central, Fitness Center, Restaurant, Trip Advisor rating 3.5/5 20+ Reviews, Midscale establishment offers more than just basics in style and comfort.

2* Boutique hotel in Times Square 3/5

3* Times Square Customer Favorite Fitness & Business Center,

4~ Boutique TImes Square Upscale establishment offers thoughtful features, quality rooms & high level of service 4/5

3.5* Midtown Central, Fitness Center, High Speed Internet Access, Restaurant

4* Midtown Central 3/5, 120+ Reviews Customer Favorite, Restaurant, High Speed Internet access, Business Center.

I would still appreciate some Priceline bidding tips though as well. Still don't understand about split bidding and how to go about doing it.

[thereuare]

Are all of the aboe within your price range? I seem to recall, ohter than the Radisson, there was only one (possibly two) that were $250 or under.

[jjuk]

3* Midtown was $227

2* Boutique was $265

3* Times Square was $315

4* Boutique was $323

3.5* Midtown Central $321

4* Midtown was $242

I've resigned myself to go up to these prices now, due to this being the 'high' season.

Any identis for these hotels ? Any Priceline bidding tips ?

[thereuare]

There is now a 4* hotel within your originally stated budget... yet you'd consider a 2* hotel for more than the price of the 4*? (same goes for 4 out of 5 of the other hotels, which are all priced higher, and rated lower)

Are these others legitimate possibilities? Seems to me that the normal course of action would be to identify the 4* first and if you're happy with it then either take that on HOTWIRE or try to beat it on priceline.

[jjuk]

Ok, well can you make a best guess as to what is the 4* Boutique Hotel identity is then please ? As stated previously, I am new to all this and am just answering all your questions, as and when asked.

The price quoted is per night for 2 nights. It goes up for 3 (because of the Saturday night I suppose).

Any chance of a bidding technique to use on Priceline ???

Please forgive my ignorance, but I have answered all your questions, only to be presented with more. Again, I apologise if I am not coming across as helpful or incisive enough for you to be able to help me, but I just don't seem to be getting anywhere fast here. I am looking to make a reservation by Wednesday.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks.

[thereuare]

I am not coming across as helpful or incisive enough for you to be able to help me, but I just don't seem to be getting anywhere fast here.

I think you do change your bidding parameters but don't say anything about it. We're trying to preserve our own time as well, so if somebody states that there budget is $250 and then asks us to identify properties which are priced at $300+... we do ask additional questions. It's not a productive use of time to identify any of the hotels above which are either 1) out of your price range or 2) not realistic based upon the alternate offerings (ie- the 2* hotel above for $265/nite when there is a 4* offered for less... don't think anybody would consider the 2* property under those circumstances).

Likewise, it doesn't make much sense to take the time to identify hotwire hotels if your ultimate intention is to bid on priceline anyway. The exception to this would be if the HOTWIRE hotel needed to be identified in order to see if it could be used as the 'next best option' and then used to set a maximum bid amount. Speaking of which, i'm still not sure of your maximum bid since you quoted prices above for only two nites of your stay or if you've decided to SPLITTING YOUR PRICELINE BID (again, us not understanding if you've changed our bidding parameters without clearly stating so). We certainly are here to help, but we can't suggest a strategy without knowing your maximum bid or knowing exactly what it is you're looking for.

[Blueskies]

JJ

It would be helpful perhaps if you would summarise your current thinking

Nights you want to bid for (split/not split)

Areas you want to bid in, in order of preference

Star level(s)

What, if any, of the hotwire offers are you interested in?

Did you arrange the back up that GlentheBaker suggested? If not, what was your thinking here?

You need to be the one making the decisions and there is a fair bit of research you have to do to get the deal, unless you are really lucky. You also have to understand that there are times when there are no deals out there at least that meet your criteria and in your timescales.

This board is more relaxed and we don't have to fill in forms here but you still need to do your homework and make decisions. Hopefully when you reply you will be in a position to bid later today. Good luck.

[GlennTheBaker]

I've just noticed that the link in my post regarding the Marriott Financial Center doesn't work properly. To obtain the $175 rate you need to enter D59 into the 'Corporate/Promotional code' box. The rate rules say it is for Marriott Rewards members but you do not have to enter a Marriott Rewards number to book at that rate.

[jjuk]

I went ahead and made a hotel booking yesterday. The benefit of the booking is that it is cancellable up to 4pm the night before travelling. This way, I have the security of having a confirmed reservation whilst having the option to have a look again on either Priceline or Hotwire, much nearer the date of departure for any 'last minute' great rates.

I have reviewed everything I have posted here in relation to my requirements going back to my original posting. In my view, the only thing I have really moved on by my own choosing is in relation to the nightly budget I had in mind, and this is only since fully researching the prices listed at the time of our stay, dictated we had little choice but to raise it.

I provided information on all the hotels listed on Hotwire as this is what the Administrator asked me to do. I did not realise he wanted me just to pick out the odd one as it was not clear in his posting, hence why I listed the 2 & 4* prices, despite the price differences. I just listed everything that was displayed, without any preference.

The parameters on where i was looking to stay was only at the suggestion of the Administrator, in the hope of attracting a lower price. Again, I was only interested in splitting the bid on Priceline as again, suggesteed to as a good idea. To date, I still have not got a clear understanding of the best method of doing this or how to do it. I also still have no idea about any one of the possible identities of the hotels listed on Hotwire, as I was asked to do.

The bottom line is all the amendments I made from my original posting, were of the suggestion of the Administrator to help achieve the best possible deal. I have no preference whether to use Priceline or Hotwire. I waas just trying to be as flexible as I could possibly be, to try and get some bidding tips. My only requirement was for a central location in a safe area at a reasonable rate.

Thanks anyway to everybody who posted on this thread who tried to help me. I still think this is a superb site, an excellent forum and it is wonderful that the likes of the Administrator, give up some of their own free time, solely to help other travellers. I would certainly recommend this site to other people. I am just a little disappointed that for my own experience, I did not get out of it, what I thought I would achieve from my initial request.

Best Wishes,

JJ

[GlennTheBaker]

Which hotel did you book in the end?