Priceline Hotel: 4* NYC (MTE) The Benjamin

[Bazcab]

Hi everyone,

I'm after some advice on bidding for a hotel through priceline.

I have attempted it a few times before (2007), but was unsuccesful at that time.

My wife and I have booked flights to New York for the 12th March - 17th March 2009.

We currently have a safety net hotel - Dream Hotel for 5 nights = $1100 (this is fully cancellable without penalty)

Ideally we would like to stay around the Madison Square Gardens area (stayed around there before), as we find it great for access to Penn station.

When normally would you advise we start going through Priceline for hotels?, and what are the hotel prices like on average in March?, we've always gone to New York in Nov/Dec, and expected the prices to be higher due to that time of year, can we expect much lower prices in March?

Thanks in advance for any help

Baz

[thereuare]

Please follow-up your previous Priceline New York City thread with whatever you ended up doing for that stay... then bump this thread and we'll have a look at the above.

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

[Bazcab]

Thanks thereuare, I've updated my previous post (apologies for not doing so earlier)

[thereuare]

What is the minimum star rating that you're looking for?

Also, the Madison Square Garden area is one zone on PRICELINE... is this the only zone you're willing to bid? The PRICELINE NYC zones are fairly compact and usually any of the midtown zones work out fine for the average user, but not sure exactly what your plans are to know if all the other midtown zones would work well for your needs.

If you let us know your star rating and zone preferences we'll be in a better postion to advise and answer your questions above.

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

[Bazcab]

I guess minimum star rating would 3, although I would love a 4.

I've seen from past personal experience that there are hotels which might be listed as a 4 star, but in reality they may be no better than a 2-3 stars hotel

I checked out Priceline just now (didn't realise they'd amended their zones), We would be happy with the following zones (in order of preference)

7 - Madison Sq Gardens

9 - Midtown West

2 - Central Park South

8 - Midtown East

10 - Times Square

Although, in all honesty we would be happy to try out new places, and perhaps stay further down towards Soho, etc. It would all be dependent on the price.

[thereuare]

I guess minimum star rating would 3, although I would love a 4.

Do you want to bid up to your limit for a 4* hotel first or are you looking for the least expensive 3* or better hotel for your need? (also, note that PRICELINE now has a 3.5* star level too)

We would be happy with the following zones (in order of preference)

7 - Madison Sq Gardens

9 - Midtown West

2 - Central Park South

8 - Midtown East

10 - Times Square

Is price or zone more important? Would you want a higher priced hotel in the MSG zone or a lower priced hotel in say the MTE or TS zone?

we would be happy to try out new places, and perhaps stay further down towards Soho, etc. It would all be dependent on the price

At what point would you want to include downtown and/or ESB... or do you want to stick with the above zones first and then only consider other zones should the above fail?

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

[Bazcab]

Do you want to bid up to your limit for a 4* hotel first or are you looking for the least expensive 3* or better hotel for your need?

I'd go with the least expensive 3* or better

Is price or zone more important? Would you want a higher priced hotel in the MSG zone or a lower priced hotel in say the MTE or TS zone?

The first zone (MSG) would be number one, as we've stayed here before, and thought it made a great central base to go see everything the city had to offer, and as such we'd perhaps pay a little more to stay here. That in mind, I would happily go to the other zones if a great offer was to be had.

At what point would you want to include downtown and/or ESB... or do you want to stick with the above zones first and then only consider other zones should the above fail?

I'd be happier sticking with the above zones first, and then branching out to further afield if required.

[thereuare]

The first zone (MSG) would be number one, as we've stayed here before, and thought it made a great central base to go see everything the city had to offer, and as such we'd perhaps pay a little more to stay here

How much more for just this zone?

Also, there is now 3.5* bidding offered thru PRICELINE, did you still want to stick with 3* and higher? (or increase the minimum to 3.5*?)

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

[Bazcab]

How much more for just this zone?

$50 extra per night? I would have guessed that the chances of getting a cheaper hotel room in the MSG area would be better than say Times Square.

Also, there is now 3.5* bidding offered thru PRICELINE, did you still want to stick with 3* and higher? (or increase the minimum to 3.5*?)

Yeah, I had a quick look at the new selections for Priceline and noticed the 3.5* option.

Looking at the hotel possibilities for that area on the lists posted on the forums, there aren't any 3.5* hotels listed in that area, so not sure what 3.5* options there would be? Is there likely to be a lot of hotels with 3.5* rating?

[thereuare]

$50 extra per night? I would have guessed that the chances of getting a cheaper hotel room in the MSG area would be better than say Times Square.

Not always the case... there are a lot of variable involved (business travelers vs. tourists), conventions in town (and which hotels are official properties for the convention), number of hotels at the star level in a given zone, etc, etc).

Is there likely to be a lot of hotels with 3.5* rating?

Yes there are... the 3.5* rating is new with PRICELINE and we're in the process of updating the hotel lists with the new star ratings, but as you might suspect, it is a monumental task so it will take sometime for all the lists to be updated.

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

[Bazcab]

Happy New Year to you all. Now that Xmas has passed I'm back on the search for our hotel bargain for March :)

Started out with a few tries tonight for a 3.5* MSG area

$110 3.5* MSG - Rejected

$113 3.5* MSG/CHE - Rejected

$115 3.5* MSG/CHE/LIC - Rejected

$120 3.5* MSG/CHE/LIC/UES - Rejected

I may attempt a few higher bids tomorrow, or change my initial search to Midtown East, as I notice a couple of success stories with The Benjamin around the same dates that I am booking.

[thereuare]

If you expand your geographic boundaries beyond the MSG area i think you may be able to get a 4* for amounts that you have already bid or, at least, a 3.5* within these amounts... but sure how set you are on this particular zone.

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

Keep us updated or let us know if we can be of further help.

[Bazcab]

After a couple of more attempts at getting a 4* MTE hotel, we changed our dates to the 03/12/09 to 03/16/09.

Today we got success with a bid of $133 for a 4* MTE confirmed as The Benjamin :) :) :o

I'm just off now to try and get another hotel booked up for the last day of our trip (03/17/09)

Thanks for all your help.

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your win!

Glad to see that you were flexible in SPLITTING YOUR PRICELINE BID and were able to do so in order to get a great deal on this propery... looks like you're happy with the results. I'll also add, if you hadn't seem me recommend it before, you're near Ess-A-Bagel... one of the best bagels in the city which makes for a great, and inexpenisve breakfast among locals, for one morning of your stay. (Location: Third Ave at 51st St)

Thank you for sharing your win with the board and using our PRICELINE link to begin your bidding. If you need help with the remaining nite of your stay please start a NEW TOPIC.

Have a great time in NYC!

[Bazcab]

a quick question:

How long "normally" does it take for a successful bid to show up on the "my trips" section of your priceline.com account?

I've checked today, and it still doesnt show, the only way to find it is to manually search for it using the number given by priceline.

Also, there is no payment taken for the hotel either, I assumed the money would be taken instantly?

Cheers

Baz

[AaronJB]

While trips usually show up right away, I think it's still within a reasonable amount of time. If it doesn't show up within the next day or two, I'd contact PRICELINE.

However, the fact that you are able to pull it up by using the number does confirm the reservation.