Hotwire Hotel: General advice re timing of bids

[slazman]

Hi ...

I've been referred to this site by your fans in a UK moneysaving forum .. they speak very highly of you.

I'm coming over to the States early September this year and stopping with a friend in Philadelphia. I plan to fufill a lifetime ambition and visit New York for around three days with my Wife. We would be coming in by train from Philadelphia.

We need to do some visit planning, using your excellent referrals re. where to go and what to do (a Broadway show is a must). I've been checking out the site re. bidding for hotels. My question is when is it best to bid to get a good deal ... now, nearer the date of travel (say late August) or just before we set out for New York (when we are in Phili)?

We would be looking for nice accomodation somewhere we don't have to spend too much time on trains or in taxi's so we acknowledge we may need to go higger in cost. There are so many myths in the UK about safety in New York but I guess it's just the same as any city in the world ... there are parts to be avoided.

Any help would be appreciated before we start to get sorted.

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

My advice is to start bidding with low-ball/reasonable amounts as soon as your plans are firm... always better to have time on your side.

You can read more here: When To Bid On Priceline - Early or Late

When you know your date(s) in August post them and we'll suggest a strategy to follow. Any strategy we suggest will likely involve RE-BIDDING so you may want to give that thread a read to make sure you understand it and ask any questions that you may have.

As far as NYC, i feel comfortable recommending any midtown zone, with midtown east (MTE), midtown west (MTW), and central park/upper midtown (CPS/UM) being the most popular. You can read details about each area in NYC PRICELINE ZONE DESCRIPTIONS. Don't worry about getting around too much as mass transit and taxis are easy accessible and fairly inexpensive... plus we'd recommend getting an unlimited METROCARD which entitles you to ride any subway or bus.

In order to save some money, you may also be interested to know that there are busses that go from Philadelphia to NYC for $20/RT!! The ride is only about 1hr and 45 minutes (not much longer than the train) and is probably much cheaper (may not be as nice of a ride as Amtrak, but the savings may be worth it). If you're interested in it let us know and we'll supply more info.

I know i gave you a lot to read thru above but take it one step at a time and feel free to ask any questions that you encounter along the way.

[slazman]

Thanks for that. I'll read up as advised and watch how things go during July. I'll post specific dates when things are firmed up and take it from there.

Nice tip about the bus. I'm looking forward to the visit already.

[slazman]

Just a couple of things I need to ask arising from my browsing. Sorry if there is a thread relating to them but can't find anything on a quick search ....

As our stay in New York is flexible - three days, two nights on any week day, are specific nights better than others for value/availability?. I think I saw on one post that you said Mondays are generally more expensive.

The other is are the prices quoted per room or per person ... in the UK we usually get quoted per person and that is what I am used to. Either way comapred to London you seem to get alot for your money even with a 3*, or am I easily impressed!

[thereuare]

Prices are quoted per room... usually for double occupancy. Some hotels charge extra for add'l people in the room, but in NYC some rooms can't hold more than two people.

While weekends in NYC can sometimes be less expensive than mid-week (i hesitate to use the word 'cheap' when refering to NYC), rates are determined more by conventions/events in town, and seasonality factors, more so than certain days of the week.

Although Expedia and Travelocity"]Travelocity are not very good sources for checking rates, they do show rates broken out day-by-day so you can often see if there is a rate change during your stay. Our own HOTEL CHECKER is also very good (IMO :) ) for quickly checking rates at multiple properties for different dates.