Priceline Hotel: 2.5* Newark (Elizabeth) Courtyard

[blkjck1]

This room was won due to a bidding error. I had originally bid for a 3* for Jersey City that was rejected at $125. I had already won 4 nights at the Hyatt Regency for $140 immediately after this time frame, so I thought I could use that as a ceiling rate. Then, I thought I was using a rebid zone, but I was then distracted, and then clicked as if I was bidding just for a 2.5* in Jersey City. So, I wound up getting accepted at the Courtyard in Elizabeth near EWR at $140+fees, for a 5 night total of $828.24.

Now, I've stayed here once as a result of the same type of bidding error when I was a Priceline rookie. It's a pretty decent hotel, but the problem is that it is so far out of Manhattan (at least for my wife), and the available permutations of getting to and from Manhattan (NJ Transit buses, trains to EWR, renting a car/parking somewhere in NJ/PATH or bus to NYC) weren't very appealing, and certainly not for 5 nights. My wife has a sense of humour, but made it clear to me the last time that Elizabeth was not somewhere she wanted to be at again unless we were flying out of EWR sometime early in the morning.

I was thinking that maybe I would write off the total cost and not tell my wife, but I felt I had nothing to lose by asking Priceline if there was any option, including booking a room in JC at rack rates (better to pay full price at somewhere we want to be rather than a cheaper room where we didn't want to be). I called Priceline's customer service, and they have cancelled the reservation at a cost of one night's stay ($165.65), with the option of getting back all but $25 if I can do a proper booking. I've booked Gild Hall through the Quikbook link for this time frame, but still trying to get a JC hotel. If I can get JC Doubletree, Courtyard, or Hyatt, I'll be very happy to get all but $25 back, but happy enough now that I got $662 back on a reservation I really didn't want to ever use. Moral of the story: Don't get distracted when bidding!

The original was booked through the PRICELINE link.

[thereuare]

Thanks for the post and for using our PRICELINE links.

What is your maximum bid for this stay now... seems like you can add $25 per nite to whatever your previous maximum was since this would be 'recoverable' from PRICELINE based upon the balance of the refund that would be given (if you're following my math).

Downside is that currently HOTWIRE shows NO AVAILABILITY in the Jersey City zone for your dates above... the silver lining though is that the Courtyard and Doubletree have not yet been reported to the board in this area via HOTWIRE, so they may not be participating hotels, and there may be available thru PRICELINE.

I assume you're not eligible for the full refund (less $25) if you get a PRICELINE win in NYC? (it must be Jersey City?)

Probably best to continue this discussion in the previous thread for these dates.

[blkjck1]

I've bid $140-$170 in JC for 2.5 and 3* hotels (and yes, I was paying attention this time :-)) for these dates, and given that the Courtyard and Doubletree were not showing any inventory with rack rates for all 5 nights, I figured I stood an outside chance of getting the Hyatt again for these nights. I think $175 is about as far as I would want to go and give up my existing booking with Gild Hall. We only want to move once while we're in the area.

I would think that I might get my maximum eligble refund if I booked a Manhattan hotel since the terms say you need to bid in the correct city, but at this point, I don't care so much. I think I came out ahead by mitigating the cost of my error by about 80%, and if I can make it 100% minus the $25, that would be a bonus.