Priceline Hotel: New York City broadway 1-1 to 1-4

[jaylee]

I'm looking for a room in NYC -- I would like it on Broadway/Times Square. One issue-- this time I'm going with a girlfriend so I need two beds. Last year I wasn't thinking so didn't get a room through Priceline... I'm going to try to be smarter this time! Last year I stayed at the Marriott Marquis and paid big bucks-- but I would LOVE to stay there again! Any advice/hints -- or is getting a room with two beds not going to happen?

As always, I'll bid through the link on the board :)

Thanks in advance for your help! I LOVE this board! :)

[thereuare]

Hi. all. I first want to say I love this site. So much information and help, it's incredible!

One thing that makes this site so useful is that users share their results with others... if you look at YOUR THREADS all except for one have no follow-up as to what you ultimately did for each stay (even when we've requested a follow-up) which doesn't help other users, and instead makes then wonder if you ultimately won a hotel, cancelled the trip, made other plans and booked direct, etc. It's also not fair to those who took the time to try to assist in your travel plans.

Please help keep the board useful and organized by 'closing' your previous threads with whatever you ended up doing for each 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.

[jaylee]

You're quite right- I completely forgot to return afterward, and I apologize. I'll get my info and update my previous threads. Thanks, and sorry for not doing it sooner.

[thereuare]

Any advice/hints -- or is getting a room with two beds not going to happen?

There is no way to guarantee a room with two beds via PRICELINE. Space is tight amd at a premium in NYC, and rooms are notoriously small with many have little or no space even for a rollaway. It's considered risky to bid NYC if you absolutely need a room with two beds. If two beds is a need rather than a want then i wouldn't necessarily recommend PRICELINE for this stay.

HOTWIRE is an option as they allow you to search for up to quad occupancy and guarantee sleeping accomodations for everyone included in your search. So by searching for triple or quad occupancy you essentially guarantee two separate places to sleep... although the "second bed" could be a rollways, pullout sofabed, etc.

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

Let us know how you'd like to proceed and we'll advise accordingly.

[jaylee]

Great idea about HOTWIRE-- I am not familiar with them at all since I've always used PRICELINE-- so I'd better get myself educated :)

The times I've been to NYC, I've stayed at 4+ star hotels and the ones I've stayed in have had 2 queen or 1 king accommodations... so it never occurred to me this wasn't widely available. I appreciate the heads up about that! Your advice, as always, is very appreciated!

[thereuare]

The times I've been to NYC, I've stayed at 4+ star hotels and the ones I've stayed in have had 2 queen or 1 king accommodations... so it never occurred to me this wasn't widely available.

You stated above that you need two beds... if you received one King bed would that be acceptable? What if it were one Queen bed?

What is your expected budget? (per nite before taxes and fees)

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

[jaylee]

One king wouldn't be my first choice, but if there was a pull-out sofa that would probably be ok. One queen and a pull-out would work too-- again not my first choice. But, I went to the HOTWIRE forum and wasn't too excited by the way people complained of Hotwire's inflated star value, so I'm nervous about using them. From what I've read, PRICELINE seems to be more accurate with their ratings than HOTWIRE.

[thereuare]

Two Ponits:

1) all that is guaranteed with PRICELINE is a room which will accomodate double occupancy. The room you get could have two beds, it may have a pull-out sofabed, but you can NOT count on these things. You could just as easily get a room within only ONE BED (and no couch or pullout sofa)

2) with PRICELINE's new addition of the 3.5* star rating the difference many 2.5* properties have been upgaded to 3* and many 3* properties have been upgraded to 3.5* (and some 4* properties have been downgraded to 3.5*)... the difference in star ratings between each service has become much narrower... more hotels are now similarly rated than ever before.

Also, the idea would be that yo could hopefully identify the property on HOTWIRE and have a reasonable guess as to what it is, so the star rating shouldn't matter to you that much (assuming you've identified the property correctly)

If you need (as opposed to want) separate beds for this stay (be it one bed and a pullout sofa) then PRICELINE is probably not the way to go as they can not guarantee you want you need... hotw.wire, searching for triple occupancy, or booking direct is a better option since it can ensure you what you need for this stay.

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases. (or our links in the support page if you choose to book direct)

[jaylee]

Ok... your points are well-taken. I'll thoroughly investigate HOTWIRE and read that forum on NY. Thanks!

[jaylee]

I just wanted to give a brief followup. I've been checking HOTWIRE and I am not coming up with what I need as yet. Since flights having gotten much cheaper from Southern California, I may end up scrapping my trip and go to the (huge) Arabian horse show in Scottsdale in February instead :) I'm not going to get a bargain there in terms of accommodations, but at least flights are about $100!

I'm going to continue checking before completely make up my mind. Thanks for your help so far :)

[jaylee]

Just a final follow-up. I ended up not going to NY, and I'm glad because from what other friends have told me it was blasted cold! Too cold for my sensitive SoCal sensibilities, lol.

Now I'm looking at Vegas for the end of the month :)

I did book Scottsdale, I think I did well through Southwest. :)