Priceline Hotel: Hotel Win NYC: Priceline

[MightyBoognish]

I needed an inexpensive hotel in Midtown Manhattan for the dates: 11/30 and 12/1/2007 so I tried "name your own price" on Priceline and was successful in my bid of $219/night. I had started at $179 and was rejected, then rejected again at $200, and again at $209. The hotel we "won" was The Best Western Convention Center hotel (near Jacob Javitz Convention Center). Total price for two nights was about $518 with all taxes and fees. It's listed as a 2-star hotel.

I'm very familiar with NYC, and although this isn't the best location in terms of quick access to subways (about 4 blocks walk SE to Penn Station, or 4 blocks walk NE to Times Square), it's not so bad, considering I tried to book the same hotel for the same nights via the hotel's own website and couldn't get anything lower than $399/night. I tried calling and they gave the same rate over the phone. Anyway, my wife and I aren't looking for a swank hotel, just a comfortable, clean place to rest our heads after a long day/evening/night on the town.

Happy with my first successful Priceline "win", I tried for another hotel in Baltimore's Inner Harbor area for a trip we've planned over Thanksgiving: arriving 11/23 and departing 11/25. I put in $69 a night and scored The Tremont Plaza hotel. Seems like a nice hotel, and very near to where we want to be.

Now my dilemma is trying to find a hotel in NYC (pretty much any location is fine, although preferably NOT in the Upper West or Upper East Sides) via Priceline name your own price for 11/9 and 11/10 and I'm coming up dry. I've tried 3, 4, and 2 1/2 stars in virtually all the Manhattan locations (except Upper East and West) and with bids as high as $309 I've not been able to win those dates. What gives? Am I trying too late since those dates are only 12 days away...Priceline probably has sold out there allotment of NYC hotels for those dates...right? Is that a possibility?

[thereuare]

1) Please follow-up your previous Hotwire Austin thread with whatever you ended up doing for that stay

2) Please post each of your priceline wins (NYC and Baltimore) as NEW TOPICS so that the information can help others when they scan the topic titles of the board and/or look at the Priceline and Hotwire Calendar of Wins

3) Bump this thread and we'll have a look and comment regarding the above

[MightyBoognish]

OK, I followed up with a post about my Austin trip, and posted a separate message about my successful Priceline Baltimore bid for the Tremont Plaza Hotel.

I'd really appreciate any advice on scoring a 3 or 4 star NYC hotel via Priceline/Hotwire for $300/night or less for nights of November 9th and 10th. Thank you.

[thereuare]

To confirm, this is a 2 nite stay, 11/9-11/11?

[MightyBoognish]

To confirm, this is a 2 nite stay, 11/9-11/11?

Correct, two nights...arriving 11/9, departing 11/11.

I just tried Priceline, 4*, with all areas selected, and tried progressive bids up to $338, each of them unsuccessful.

My budget is $750-800, inclusive of all taxes, fees, etc.

Maybe I should try 3 star, all areas, $300, since 4 star was unsuccessful past my budget.

I'd prefer Soho, as that's where we will be spending the majority of our time (L.E.S., Tribeca, Union Square) but at this point will take anything up to around central park south, as I'm very familiar with subways, etc. so distance isn't too much of an issue...although yea, preference is Soho area.

[MightyBoognish]

Well our stay in Manhattan is just about one week away... any last-minute advice appreciated. Any area would be fine, but, if we had a choice. closer to SoHo the better.

Thank you.

[thereuare]

If you click this link to Quikbook you'll see the following:

Helmsley Midtown $300/nite

Paramount $359/nite

Beekman Tower $369/nite

Would either of these work for your needs? Both are cancellable, so you could book either as a cancellable back-up for the next few days, set your maximum bid accordingly (unless you have another back-up plan), and then try priceline.

Once your back-up is set let us know your maximum budget per nite before taxes and fees and we'll suggest a strategy to follow.