Priceline Hotel: advice needed for June's travel

[vicky]

Hi all:

Glad I found this forum. I've used PL a few times already and didn't know about the re-bid zone which was a great idea. My friends and I are going to New York for the first time and I"ve got quite a few questions. please help us out.

1. There are 4 of us and we need two rooms for our stay. The thing is, two of us will be staying for 4 nights (12-16 of June), and the other two will be staying for 5 nights (12-17 of June.) I am thinking to bid for two rooms from 12-17 of June, then, I'll write to hotel and ask them to let me extend 1 night for the same price. Does this sound strange? Is this possible. Or maybe I should bid an extra room on 17/June? What are the chances of me getting a room at the same hotel?

2. In addition to this, Could anyone give me some idea about the areas in new york city. I know that MTE, MTW and UMT/CPS are good for first time visitors. How about downtown/Soho, MTS, Upper East/West Side? Are those bad area for visitors? (in terms of safety?)

3. our budget is $120 and we could probably strech to 140 depends on the area. should I try 4* hotels at all or maybe I should just ignore 4* and proceed to bid 3* hotels? When should I start bidding in order to get the best deal?

I know I've asked a lot of questions. Any helps and advices are highly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

[AaronJB]

1. If you write the hotel, they will honestly almost certainly say no when it comes to extending your stay at the priceline rate, as Priceline rates are through Priceline only. I think the solution here is the Priceline's "extend your stay" option, but I'm not sure whether or not you can select 1 room only to extend or if the only option is to extend the stay for both. Board leader thereuare will be able to answer that.

2. Downtown/Soho is not very convienient/central, and there's few hotel choices in the Upper West/East. These are not "bad" areas, but they're just not central. MTE, MTW and UMT/CPS are very good, and MTS would also probably be fine.

3. If you're ready to bid, I would start bidding ASAP. Prices are really pretty high for these dates; it won't hurt to try, but I'm afraid $140 won't be enough for a 4* and you may have trouble getting a 3* for that. If you look at any major hotel service, hotels in general for these dates are largely $300 and up in NYC.

[vicky]

Thanks for the reply,

I hope I can extend just 1 room only but I still don't know how to do it. hope board lead will see my post soon and help me out.

Although there are few hotel choices in the Upper West/East side, is the area itself convenient for tourist? my info is that those are residencial areas, is this correct?

My plan now is to book a backup hotel first, and I wonder if anyone can recommand a good backup hotels with a budget of $140 per room per night? (is this the right place to ask?) I know that with the low budget, we have to compromise on the location, thus we don't really mind about being in the Downtown/Soho, Upper West/East side as long as central manhatton can be reached within 20 minutes of subway.

by the way, Is red-roof inn a 1* or 2* hotel?

thanks.

[thereuare]

You can only extend your stay for the same number of rooms that you reserved on your original booking.

[blindman]

Thanks for the reply,

I hope I can extend just 1 room only but I still don't know how to do it. hope board lead will see my post soon and help me out.

Although there are few hotel choices in the Upper West/East side, is the area itself convenient for tourist? my info is that those are residencial areas, is this correct?

My plan now is to book a backup hotel first, and I wonder if anyone can recommand a good backup hotels with a budget of $140 per room per night? (is this the right place to ask?) I know that with the low budget, we have to compromise on the location, thus we don't really mind about being in the Downtown/Soho, Upper West/East side as long as central manhatton can be reached within 20 minutes of subway.

by the way, Is red-roof inn a 1* or 2* hotel?

thanks.

I hope I can extend just 1 room only

The answer is at post #9 here and is NO

Extending Priceline Stay

With such a (relatively) low budget you may have to consider not being In\On Manhattan but bidding for the outlying areas.

Popular places are Jersey City and then possibly Secaucus.

Both have multiple threads on the board, so have a look to see if any of those areas would suit.

Have a look at the MAPS section to get more info.

[vicky]

Hi,

I've already booked a room for 4ppl in park south hotel as my back up through Quikbook here ($299 per night). Our main purpose for this trip is shopping so our hotel budget are really tight. We set the budget at $130 but will increase it to $150 when it's closed to travel date. Because of our budget, we will have to stay in 2.5* or even 2* hotels if I don't get anything before 6/June.

I've checked that the starting price of many 2.5*/2* hotels are from $200. and my area preferences are: MTS -> UMT -> MTE/MTW -> UES

THX!

[vicky]

Thanks, the map is really helpful.

Jersey City sounds like a good idea, I guess I will definitely use it for my last bidding resort. It should be cheaper than my current booking ($150 for 2ppl) anyway.

I have one more questions though. Seeing as the area only has two 3* hotels, What are the chances of me getting two rooms (12-16/June, and 12-17/June) at the same hotel?

Or would you recommand the only 2.5* hotel in Jersey city?

Again, thanks for your reply. any advice is welcome and much appreciated.

[blindman]

If you look at HOTWIRE for those dates you'll see that the Hyatt is unavailable for the Tues and Wednesday (no surprise-this is the usual case).

It is available for two rooms from Thur-Sunday (again- no surprise)

The Hyatts web-site shows that their rates are

Tues Wed Thurs Frid Sat

429.00 429.00 329.00 239.00 239.00

When their rates fall to around $180-$200 and Hotwires rate falls to $120 then PL may have availability at around the $70-80 mark.

It is unusual to get rooms at the Hyatt during Tues and Wednesday

IMHO all the hotel options that have been reported in Jersey city are good, it's just that the Hyatt is usually the best value.

Good Luck

[vicky]

I see, I didn't realise hotwire can be used as an idea for the bidding price. you've provided a very useful information. Thanks!

How about the 2* and 2.5& hotels in NYC? What do you think of it, is there any hotel/area I should avoid if I'm to bid for the budget hotels?

[blindman]

I've never stayed in the 2* and 2.5* in NYC so can't comment, others may help.

When using PL the best value is often to bid at 4* as the savings can be greatest. When bidding for 2-2.5* the (usually) minimum savings is outweighed by the uncertainty of the hotel.

Have you looked at Newark - Meadowlands (Secaucus - North Bergen)

for hotels?

IMHO this area is really for the budget conscious who can tolerate (slight) inconvenience in travel to Manhattan.

Look at the reviews here