Priceline Hotel: Arrgh! What am I doing wrong?

[accountancyboy]

Hi guys

Seem to be hitting a brick wall here.

Am in New York 22/10 to 27/10 and cant seem to get anything under $300!

Kepp seeing people winning the Grand Hyatt at crazy prices like $140 :)

I tried altering my dates - e.g just bidding for 24/10 to 27/10 but no luck (I see someone else today has won for 24/10 to 26/10 at $140 - all I am doing is adding a Sunday which is the cheapest night of the three)

I should mention I am bidding from the UK priceline site - but was told inventory and pricing is same as the US site

Thanks for any advice you are able to offer

Thanks

[accountancyboy]

I am happy to use the links to do my bidding - just need a little help as to where I am going wrong

Some others I know are saying that perhaps a 5 night stay is too long to get a good deal on Priceline?

thanks in advance

[slick_gd]

I would agree with your friends in this case. When you bid for 5 nights you have to beat the hotel price for all 5 nights, so if even 1 night is going for $300, then you have to bid 300 to get it, which could result in massive overpayment.

Have you thought about splitting your bids? is this an option?

Please read this thread to get some more info: Splitting Priceline Bids

With splitting your bid you are not guaranteed that you will get the same hotel and therefore may have to change partway through your trip. Some people don't like to do this, but the savings may make it worth it.

[thereuare]

Am in New York 22/10 to 27/10 and cant seem to get anything under $300!

You can easily beat this if you're willing to SPLITTING YOUR PRICELINE BID... and if you're not willling to...

Using HOTWIRE (where prices are shown) as an example:

HOTWIRE shows a 4* hotel in the TS zone for th first two nites of your stay at $229/nite... the remaining 3 nites a 4* hotel in the ESB for $229 or a 4* hotel in the MTE zone also for $229.

Searching HOTWIRE for your complete stay shows a 4* hotel in the ESB zone for $249/nite if you'd rather not change hotels during your stay.

Let us know how you'd like to proceed and your maximum bid (by splitting as well as not splitting) and we'll try to help accordingly.

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

[accountancyboy]

Happy to split the bid if the saving is worthwhile - could you pleasesuggest something - it if creates a good saving then I will go for it

Thanks in advance

[thereuare]

What is your maximum bid for this stay?

Which zones are you willing to accept?

Let us know the above and we'll be able to suggest a strategy for you to follow.

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

[accountancyboy]

max = $250 per night

happy to use priceline or hotwire

Zones - want to stay in CPS / MTE / MTW preferably

Wouls stay in Empire State / Times Square if the deal was good enough

Thanks for your help

[thereuare]

max = $250 per night

The example above indicates that this is too high, as it was outlined how you could do this for $229 or less.

Zones - want to stay in CPS / MTE / MTW preferably

Wouls stay in Empire State / Times Square if the deal was good enough

What is "good enough"... how much would you need to save vs. a win in the CPS, MTE, or MTW zones to make the ESB or TS zones worthwhile to you?

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

[Danielle FL]

We were looking for 10/23 - 10/26 and realized the 23rd was giving us issues.

We were able to get the Millenium Hilton thru Priceline for $200 a night. Try for the financial district.