Hotwire Hotel: 3.5* NYC (MTE) Hotel 57

[Windstorm]

A couple of years ago, we got the W Hotel on Lexington in MTE on Hotwire . . . we want to stay in New York City from December 16-19 and see that Hotwire has a 3.5* for $179 . . . would this be the W Hotel or some other one? Sure sounds like it. The Hotel Amenities are: Boutique Hotel, Business Center, Fitness Center, and High-Speed Internet Access. Trip Advisor rating of 2.0 on scale of 5.0 on 100+ reviews.

Thanks, thereuare . . . this forum has been a great help to me in the past.

[thereuare]

Thanks, thereuare . . . this forum has been a great help to me in the past.

So should we assume that you won a hotel in your Priceline NYC thread back in 2005 but never shared the win... or have you used the board and not posted your results for other stays? :)

[Windstorm]

My bad . . . and mea culpa. Yes, two years ago we got the W Hotel on Lexington through Hotwire during the U.S. Open tennis tournament for $159 a night, if I remember correctly. A great deal, especially for the end of August. We loved it . . . and a lot of the pro players stayed there during the tournament, so there was a lot of energy in the lobby.

Anyway, this 3.5* description of Mid-Town East hotel sure sounds like the W Hotel (the word "boutique" gives it away, I think), so I was just checking to see what you thought, thereuare . . .

[thereuare]

No, i don't think this is the W Hotel on Lexington.

The Tripadvisor rating should be enough to keep you away from this property, but if it isn't, please use this HOTWIRE link to begin any purchases you make.

[Windstorm]

Thanks, thereuare . . . you would know. Perhaps I'll set my sights on a 4* for Dec. 16-19. But I've seen in other posts that you like Beekman Towers. What I've seen online about the hotel looks good. What's your link to book for the Beekman Towers? I noticed on Expedia that it went from $529 for Saturday night, December 15, to $229 starting on Sunday night, December 16, which goes to show you that if you can stay away from Friday and Saturday night in December in New York, you can save some real money. Am I reading this right?

[thereuare]

I haven't checked the prices you're quoting from Expedia, but your interpretation is correct with an incorrect conclusion. Given your example you can save some money by booking 12/16-12/19, but it's not "Friday and Saturdays in December" that are high priced, it's that rates drop after 12/15. If you search for midweek nites during the first half of the month i bet you'll find them just as expensive as the Friday and Saturday nite you're refering to.

This is the link to the Beekman: HERE

I'll add though that while i do like the Beekman Tower, it is often based upon value/price, and sometimes there are better properties/values to be had. What is your budget for this stay?

I'll also add that if you're willing to stay in Jersey City and commute to the city via PATH train, you could stay at a very nice hotel with a NYC Skyline view for a fraction of the price of a hotel in NYC. (but you do lose the "NYC feel" and a bit of convenience of staying in the city itself)

[Windstorm]

Thank you for this great information, especially about the downturn in hotel prices after December 15. I figured that New York City was flooded with visitors who want to see all the Christmas lights and shopping, and they came in on weekends between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but I guess the weekdays are busy as well, keeping demand high.

As for my budget, I'd like to stay under $200 a night, but I would go up to $225 a night. I like your idea about staying in Jersey City, but I know my wife: she will want the 24/7 New York City "feel," so we would like to stay in Manhattan. But we don't have to stay in any particular area, although I remember reading that you said probably the best values or situations are in the Mid Town areas.

So I'm all ears . . .

I clicked on your link to the Beekman Towers, but no rooms were available starting on December 16 on the easyclicktravel website.

Thanks again, thereuare, for being generous with your time.

[thereuare]

It really depends what you're looking for, and what you're looking for in terms of room qulaity, size, price, value, etc:

GTA Hotels has the Affinia Manhattan for $227/nite (just $2 over your maximum stated above) and the reviews are excellent (this may be a good back-up in the meantime as it may be cancellable... as GTA Hotels states that "while the vast majority of our hotels are cancellable, the actual terms will be shown during the check-out process) so you'll need to go thru the process to see if cancellable or not)

HOTWIRE has a 3.5* in the MTC zone for just $139/nite (believed to be the Hudson Hotel... comments)

Paramount Hotel is available for $173/nite and user experiences

So the above gives you a range of prices at various star levels and quality. The other option is to try bidding on priceline in an effort to beat the best deal you can find above, but you'll have less control over the actual hotel you receive.

Please use the links above if you go with any of the above.

Let us know what you decide or if we can be of further help.

[Windstorm]

Again, great information here. I'm really thinking we'll go for the Hotwire 3.5* for $139 a night that came up today, which you believe is the Hudson. I followed your link and read the tripadvisor reviews . . . and looked at the pictures and video. Okay, no surprises. The room is small. But everyone agrees the Hudson is hip, in a great location, very good quality . . . but the room is far from spacious. But I don't think that will be a problem for us. Like a lot of people say, you're not in the room that much anyway.

We'll probably decide whether we pull the trigger later today, and we'll let you know what we finally decide to do. And we're happy to use the betterbidding link to HOTWIRE.

Thanks again for the direction and advice, and the $139 price looks super and will save us close to $300 on a three-day trip if we don't go with something like the Affinia or a Hotwire 4*.

[Windstorm]

Friday night

Thereuare . . . we pulled the trigger tonight, using your HOTWIRE link on betterbidding.com. My wife and I felt comfortable with the 3.5* Midtown East, a boutique hotel for $179 a night. We thought it may be the W Hotel on Lexington (where we did a Hotwire purchase in 2005 and liked very much, as I mentioned at the top of this thread). At the same time, we were fine with whatever came up. We got Hotel 57 when we clicked on "purchase". . . we didn't know anything about the hotel. We went to the Hotel 57 website, were quite impressed and wowed by the photos, then to tripadvisor.com and held out breath, and the reviews were quite positive. My wife and I are thrilled.

So, as we stand right now, this has a happy ending. I tried to post the win on the Hotwire calendar, but I couldn't figure out how to do that. If you show me how, I'll be glad to do that.

Thanks again for being a patient resource.

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success!

Fortunately the Tripadvisor information that HOTWIRE showed was way of the mark... i think they're mistakenly associating the data with another hotel with this property, as nothing regarding the information shown by hotwire is accurate for this property (and is much better than a 2/5 rating)

Glad to hear it worked out well for you and you're happy with the results.

Thank you for using our HOTWIRE link to begin your purchase and helping us add this property to the Hotwire Hotel List.

As far as the Winning Bids Calendar is concerned, as soon as we mark this as a 'win' (which we have now done) the results are automatically added to the calendar, so they should be there now.

Here's a reco from me: One morning try Ess-A-Bagel for breakfast (on Third Ave at 51st St)... it's near this hotel and has one of the best bagels in the city, making for a great, and inexpensive, breakfast.

Enjoy your stay.

[Windstorm]

You're absolutely correct . . . the tripadvisor information on Hotwire that said this propery was a 2 out of 5 was flat-out wrong. The tripadvisor reviews were generally positive, some very positive, and from what I've read, some folks have been paying $400 a night for this place, so we are ecstatic with $179 a night. My wife and I gave each other a high five after we saw pictures and read some of the reviews. Hotel 57 was a great Hotwire catch.

Thanks for arranging for our win to get posted on the Winning Bids Calendar, and my wife and I will definitely visit Ess-A-Bagel for breakfast. Sounds right up our alley . . .

Thereuare, we will enjoy our stay, thanks to your assist.