Priceline Hotel: 4* NYC wanted 3/14 - 3/18

[kmenger]

I've reviewed the Priceline bidding strategies, but have been unsuccessful. I'm looking for a hotel in Upper Midtown and Midtown West (I've heard I would have the best 4* location luck in these sections). Ideally, we would like to be somewhere between Central Park and Times Square and we don't want to be too far east. We are staying 2/14 - 2/18 and are looking to spend $150 at absolute most for a 4*. Is this unreasonable?

Please let me know my options or suggestions for a strategy. Thanks so much!

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

It's not clear from your post above.. have you already tried bidding this stay? If so, how high have you already bid?

Are you sure you want to avoid MTE? You don't have to include it, but i think it will help your bidding strategy by giving you more bidding opportunities as well as increase the number of possible hotels able to accept your bid. I think the zone is perfectly acceptable and all reported 4* hotels are easily accessible to mass transit (if going for a 3* then some hotels do get a bit far east). Is there a particular property you're trying to avoid that, as you put it, is 'too far east'? Is this your first trip to NYC or have you been before?

Your stay includes Valentine's Day which is probably going to make your $150 budget a bit tough. Is SPLITTING YOUR PRICELINE BID an option?

Let us know your thoughts above and just ow firm your $150 limit is... we can certainly start there, but i'm going to guess that you're going to either have to raise your limit or lower your minimum star quality.

[kmenger]

Thanks for the quick response!

Wow, I just realized that I meant to put 3/14 - 3/18, rather than in Feb. We've tried bidding as high as $150 in UMC and MTW (adding UES and UWS for more bids) with no luck. Our stay is including St. Patrick's Day , but I'm not sure how big of an impact that has on rates. Do you still think $150 is out of line? I'm not sure how I feel about splitting our priceline bid, but would consider if it the rates will be a lot higher than $150. Do you think the rates would possibly get better if we waited a bit?

We've been to NYC a little less than 10 years ago, but I'm sure things have changed. The reason why we preferred the MTW and UMC areas is because we would love to walk everywhere, rather than depending on transportation. I've reviewed the MTE 4* map, and I didn't realize that the hotels were as centrally located as they are, but I'm still afraid it will be a pretty long walk to get towards Times Square or Central Park. If you think that the MTE hotels are still a reasonable walk, we will for sure add them to the mix.

I think this answers all the questions... let me know if you need any more info! Thanks again!

[thereuare]

I don't see any problem with including MTE in bidding at the 4* level, so based upon your comments above i'll include it. However, i suspsect your budget won't be enough for this complete stay, but may be enough for part of your stay. Let's try for the complete stay first and then we can go over your options if that is not successful.

You have two re-bid zones available at the 4* level. 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* MTW...

Bid $110, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $115, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $120, if rejected close browser and re-access priceline however you did previously.

Select 4* UM/CPS...

Bid $110, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $115, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $120, if rejected close browser and re-access priceline however you did previously.

Select 4* MTE...

Bid $110, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $115, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $120, if rejected close browser and re-access priceline however you did previously.

Select 4* MTW and UM/CPS...

Bid $125, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $130, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $135, if rejected close browser and re-access priceline however you did previously.

Select 4* MTW and MTE...

Bid $125, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $130, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $135, if rejected close browser and re-access priceline however you did previously.

Select 4* MTW and MTE and UM/CPS...

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

Bid $145, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $150.

Any questions feel free to ask.

Good Luck and let us know how it goes.

[kmenger]

Bummer, I tried the bidding strategy and all were rejected. What do you think is a reasonable price range for this time of year? I would almost prefer to pay a little extra than have to switch hotels in the middle of the trip. I'm just not sure what we would do with our luggage between check-out and check-in times between the hotels. Do hotels typically let you store the luggage there for a while as if you had to check out before you needed to go to the airport?

And I've been using the savingsbarn.com link for all my bids!

[thereuare]

Thanks for trying thru the SB links :)

You're probably looking in the $2xx's for a four star hotel for this complete stay. If you split, you can probably be successful close to your current budget for part of the stay, with the other half of your stay costing considerably more.

If you don't want to bid higher i think you have two choices:

1) split the stay with half of your stay at a 4* property and the other half at a 3* property

2) your entire stay at a 3* property

Of course you can also choose to wait it out, but the risk is that hotels get even more full and rates go even higher, and the current opportunities disappear.

Let us know your thoughts and we'll take it from there.

[kmenger]

I tried bidding again last night and Priceline still was not accepting. Now we've decided to try for a 3* because I think that splitting might be too stressful. I was reviewing the Upper Midtown area for hotels and am pleased by the two options: Hudson Hotel and Park Central Hotel, right? Would you suggest these two hotels? I think that the 3.5* hotel on Hotwire is the Hudson and it's going for $149. What do you think would be a reasonable bidding strategy on Priceline?

[thereuare]

...and am pleased by the two options: Hudson Hotel and Park Central Hotel, right?

Not exactly. Those may be the only two hotels at that star rating reported on the board... but there can be others and you can be the first to report a new hotel added to this zone.

Are you willing to accept any 3*property in this zone? Is the UM/CPS zone the only zone you want to bid if you are lowering your star rating to a 3*?

[kmenger]

I didn't receive the 3* information from this site. I looked up the 3* locations on Priceline and those were the two locations that appeared within the UM/CPS zone. Unless all the hotels that are possible do not show up, I believe those are the only two that are the options.

What do you think is a reasonable bidding strategy for these hotels?

[dahammer]

I looked up the 3* locations on Priceline and those were the two locations that appeared within the UM/CPS zone.

are you referring to Priceline's "Shop and Compare" product that allows you to see the name of the hotel and the price per night, thus avoiding the bidding process? Hotels that are shown in the "Shop and Compare" section don't always appear in the "Name Your Own Price" side.