Priceline Hotel: 4* NYC 6/4/08-6/7/08- Help please

[darzinger]

Hi,

I was looking for TWO rooms at a 4* hotel during 6/4 - 6/7 in the zones of MTE, MTW, and CPS but am willing to expand to MTS and SoHo as a last resort. The highest I'm hoping to bid is $180 but feel like I might have to push it up to $200. Any ideas on strategies would be greatly appreciated!

Also, we will have someone else joining us on 6/5 - 6/7 in which case, will PRICELINE give us another room in the same hotel for the same price if I call them? Is there absolutely no way we could Priceline and get the same hotel for this 2nd party?

Thanks in advance!

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

There is no way to get the second room, for a shorter period of time, at the same hotel (other than being lucky enough to win the same hotel on a subsequent bid).

There are two ways to play this:

1) as above, bid once for a stay from 6/4-6/7 and then bid again for 6/5-6/7

2) if being at the same property as the other party is important, you could bid for 2 rooms 6/5-6/7, and then either bid for one room for the nite of 6/4 (which would involve you having to change hotels after the first nite) OR purchase the hotel you receive for the nite of 6/4 (although keep in mind it may be prohibitively expensive to do so OR the hotel could be sold-out for that nite and you'd then be 'forced' to change hotels anyway)

Let us know know your thoughts and how you'd like to proceed.

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.

[darzinger]

Thanks for the reply! I think we're going to try for option 1 and bid separately. I read in the other thread about the four re-bidding zones when bidding for a 4* in NYC. Are those zones Brooklyn, Long Island, Upper West, and Upper East?

[thereuare]

In the last 24 hours priceline has re-defined their zones and boundaries, you now have SIX re-bid zones available. Please go back to PRICELINE and confirm your re-bid zones with the board.

If you'd like a strategy to follow feel free to ask.

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases. (please ask your friend to do the same)

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[darzinger]

Oh! Interesting.. yes a strategy to follow would be great! Thank you for all your help. :)

EDIT:: The new zones I see (from when I was bidding last night around midnight) when I go to the bidding page are:

Chelsea Area

Empire State Building Area

Madison Square Garden - Convention Area

Midtown South is now gone although that's around the same area as MSG area I believe.

It looks like

Chelsea Area - No 4* hotels

Empire State Building Area - two 4* hotels

70 Park Avenue Hotel

W New York - The Court

Madison Square Garden - No 4* hotels

[darzinger]

Also, is it true that you should try booking for 1 night and then Priceline will ask if you want to add dates for the price won?

[darzinger]

Yes, there are SIX re-bidding zones: Brooklyn, Chelsea, Long Island City, Madison Square Garden, Upper East Side, and Upper West Side. This is according the Priceline website.

Brooklyn- 0

Chelsea Area- 0

Long Island City - 0

Madison Square Garden - 0

Upper East Side - 0

Upper West Side - 0

Downtown/SoHo/Financial - 3

• Tribeca Grand Hotel
  
• 60 Thompson
  
• SoHo Grand Hotel
  

Empire State Building Area - 2

• 70 Park Avenue Hotel
  
• W New York - The Court
  

Midtown East - 5

• Intercontinental the Barclay
  
• Grand Hyatt New York
  
• Waldorf - Astoria
  
• W New York Hotel
  
• Omni Berkshire Place
  

Midtown West - 3

• Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers
  
• Hilton New York
  
• Royalton Hotel
  

Times Square / Theatre District - 4

• Millenium Broadway Hotel
  
• Westin New York Times Square
  
• The Muse Hotel, A Kimpton Hotel
  
• Hilton Times Square
  

Upper Midtown / Central Park South - 3

• Loews Regency Hotel
  
• Jumeirah Essex House
  
• Le Parker Meridien
  

[thereuare]

You have your re-bid zones correct, but you're not using the correct method to check your re-bid zones (so you're re-bid zones are correct, but only by coincidence)

You CAN"T use PRICELINE's "retail" product to determine what star ratings (or hotels) are available thru the "opaque" version of priceline. While the two services have a lot of overlap, they use a different pool of hotels. For further info on this topic see the related link in our PRICELINE FAQ. The correct way to determine your re-bid zones is expalined here: Priceline Re-Bidding Explained

You can't bid for just one nite and then use the extend your stay option to complete your stay. First, the extend your stay option isn't always offered (and when it is you're still not guaranteed success), and second, you can only extend your stay for the same number, or fewer, nites than the original bid... so you wouldn't be able to book one nite and then extend your stay two nites.

To confirm you're looking to bid for a 4 star hote in the MTE, MTW, or UM-CPS zones, for 6/4-6/7, at $200 or less.

Using your six re-bid zones you can try as follows...

Select 4* MTE and MTW and UM-CPS...

Bid $120, if rejected add re-bid zone1...

Bid $130, if rejected add re-bid zone2...

Bid $140, if rejected add re-bid zone3...

Bid $145, if rejected add re-bid zone4...

Bid $150, if rejected close browser and use our link to re-access PRICELINE.

Select 4* MTE and MTW and UM-CPS and re-bid zone5...

Bid $155, if rejected add re-bid zone1...

Bid $160, if rejected add re-bid zone2...

Bid $165, if rejected add re-bid zone3...

Bid $170, if rejected add re-bid zone4...

Bid $175, if rejected close browser and use our link to re-access PRICELINE.

Select 4* MTE and MTW and UM-CPS and re-bid zone6...

Bid $180, if rejected add re-bid zone1...

Bid $185, if rejected add re-bid zone2...

Bid $190, if rejected add re-bid zone3...

Bid $195, if rejected add re-bid zone4...

Bid $200.

Any questions feel free to ask.

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[darzinger]

I would be happy with either MTE, MTW, or CPS. Should I start with one of these at a time + re-bidding zones to increase my chances/# of bids?

[thereuare]

The strategy presented above gets you up to your stated maximum bid all within the same 'bidding cycle'... why would you want to break it down further?

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.

[darzinger]

I see.. no luck today on Priceline. How soon before the trip should I give up bidding as the trip is 2 weeks away? I think I can add Empire State Building Area and Times Square area if that gives me a better chance of winning. Are 2 rooms enough for 8 people generally in NY? I'm afraid some NY hotels only have enough room for 2 persons/room. For some reason, rates that weekend seem a little high - $400 - $500. Should I increase my max bid? Also, what is the deal with Quikbook?

[thereuare]

Are 2 rooms enough for 8 people generally in NY? I'm afraid some NY hotels only have enough room for 2 persons/room.

This is something you should ask in your FIRST post before you bid :) It is generally considered risky to bid on PRICELINE when seeking more than double occupancy as rooms are notoriously small, there is a higher percentage of hotel rooms with only one bed (given the small rooms), and many of these rooms don't have any space for a rollaway bed (again, given the small rooms).

if you're seeking quad occupancy for each room, how will you handle it if you receive a room with only one bed?

You can use HOTWIRE for up to quad occupancy per room... they will guarantee sleeping accomodations for as many people as you include in your earch.

What is it that you'd like to know regarding Quickbook?

[darzinger]

Yes, I realize that now! haha... I should just have "Newbie" written on my forehead.

It looks like Hotwire only has one 4* hotel available...

I've never heard of Quikbook before. Is the cancellable feature the only advantage of booking through them?

[thereuare]

Quikbook uses a different business model than most online booking agencies, this gives them better pricing on some properties. The lower price, in addition to the cancellability feature of most (not all) of their properties, makes it a good resource.

[lavendersblue28]

Hi,

Another suggestion is a fully refundable deal at the Millenium Broadway (a 4* in Times Square).

My dates are similar to yours and I had bad luck on PRICELINE and so booked this as a back up. The rate is for $189 per night but it's for a Superior King room or a Superior room with 2 twins. Not sure if this works for you but incase it does here's the link thru Hotwire travel ticker:

http://www.hotwire.com/travelticker/detail...king=deal-title

You can always make a reserveration here (refundable up to 24hours prior to check-in date) and keep trying on priceline. Good luck!

[thereuare]

Please click our HOTWIRE link before clicking the travelticker link above so that we get credit for any stays.

Thank you.

[darzinger]

Thanks for the options! Greatly appreciated. :)

[Angelnot]

I'm not sure if this is always the case but in the month that I watched the NYC board it seems most of the really good Priceline wins (read this as cheap) have been won less than a week before or even the day of the stay. To guarantee beds for eight people you would need 4 rooms and I'm guessing that is a pretty difficult last minute win. Last minute bidding is a not a strategy for the faint hearted, those without a cancellable back up or those who can't be flexible with their travel arrangements. Even if you wanted to gamble and bid on only 2 rooms it was noted by another poster that in NYC the hotel may not allow extra people in the room (even if they are willing to sleep on the floor) because of fire code.

[darzinger]

Thanks for your thoughts, Angelnot. I'm definitely faint-hearted here because I don't want to disappoint everyone in my family. I agree it would be difficult with the 8 people situation. Some rooms allow cots but probably more than not they won't due to firecode. I think I'm going to try and find the best deal via Quikbook instead since Hotwire isn't giving me many options either. Thanks for all the input! This is an awesome board.

[thereuare]

Do note that on Quickbook even though you select 2 rooms/8 adults there will still be many hotels shown with "2 people maximum" as they don't seem to filter rooms that don't fit the selected occupancy.

Let us know whatever you end up with or if we can be of further help.