Priceline Hotel: New York - Sept 17th - 19th

[jzimmer14]

I am looking for a hotel in New York in Sept. Is it better to be bidding well in advance, or do prices get better as the date comes closer? Just curious... I guess it depends on different factors, but just wondering if there is a general rule of thumb.

[OSUBUCKEYES]

Good question. I have not noticed any specific pattern. I think its just the luck of the draw. I have seen prices go down on hotwire hotels as the dates near. This happened to me last year when I was going to Frankfurt and a convention was in town. Rooms were 300+ a month or so prior to my arrival and dropped to about $70 the week of my trip. That is not the norm from my experience however. You should begin your bidding as early as possible because it will give you more bids than beginning closer to your trip. Good luck and GO BUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[blindman]

I am looking for a hotel in New York in Sept. Is it better to be bidding well in advance, or do prices get better as the date comes closer? Just curious... I guess it depends on different factors, but just wondering if there is a general rule of thumb

PRICELINE FAQ :)

[thereuare]

If you post you dates in this thread and what you're looking for (star rating, budget, zones, etc) we'll move this thread to the NEW YORK forum and try to assist with this stay.

[jzimmer14]

I am trying to get 2 rooms in New York for Sept. 17th to 19th. I have tried just about everything. Have used many of the strategies that you gave to other bidders, with no luck. I am looking in MTE, MTW and UM/CPS. I have used the re-bid zones, and different strategies. Started at $120 for a 3* and gone up to $185 so far, and started at $150 for a 4* and gone upto $215.

Is this a bad time of the year? Is there something else I can do? Our budget was $200 a night, but that is seeming to be unrealistic at this point...

[jzimmer14]

I am not sure if this is possible to do or not. My wife and I, and a friend and his wife are going on a trip. We get there the same day, but they are staying 2 days longer. From what I gather there are 2 different options:

1 - bid as 2 separate stays. one for one length of stay, and the other for the longer length of stay. With this strategy, it is basically a crapshoot as to whether you will get the same hotel...

2 - bid as 1 stay, and then extend one of the rooms through priceline. But, in this scenario, there is no guarantee that you will get the room for the same price the other two nights...

is there any other strategy to use that I am missing?

thanks!

[GM Mike]

3 - Bid 2 rooms at the same time, both for the full (longer) length of stay then check out of one room early.

(Depending on your savings, this may be attractive, to guarantee the same hotel. This only works if both rooms are checking in on the same day, which yours are.)

[thereuare]

There is a flaw in your logic above, but first...

Is this for the same stay as your previous Priceline NYC thread?

[jzimmer14]

There is a flaw in your logic above, but first...

Is this for the same stay as your previous Priceline NYC thread?

Yes, this was for the same New York trip. I will explain all of what we ended up doing in the other thread.

[jzimmer14]

We did not have any luck using priceline on this trip. We bid all the way up to $200 on a 3* and $250 on a 4*. was not able to get anything... however, one of the people we travelled with works for the Marriot. She was never ever to get us a deal at any Marriots until about 2 weeks before we went, so rooms opened up, and that is what we ended up doing. We still paid around $200 a night for one of the Marriot Brands.

As it turns out, there was some sort of a fashion conference there the same time, which is why all the hotels were booked. Good because of all the models that were there, bad because hotels were tough to come by.