Hotwire Hotel: 4* NYC (MTW) Hilton New York

[ksinger]

For her birthday, I'm taking my wife to NYC for her first time. I've been many times, but never spent the night. We'll likely see a show (hopefully Broadway vs off), but don't have any other solid plans -- so much to do -- Central Park, Ground Zero, Empire State Building, shopping!

I'm looking for something nice (doesn't have to be 4*, but she won't go for dirty) for under $99/night. I've been looking at Hotwire debating between 3-star hotel in Empire State Building Area for $74 with breakfast, fitness, business center and internet (Hampton Inn?) and 3-star hotel in Midtown Central for $89 with internet. I've never done Hotwire or Priceline (other than for comparison shopping) so any advice is appreciated.

[thereuare]

I'm no longer seeing the 3* Empire State Buidling property on a search for your date above... are you still seeing this on your own HOTWIRE search?

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

[ksinger]

Unfortunately no!

I tried a couple Priceline bids last night, neither of which were accepted:

MTW, TS-TD, 4-star $103

MTW, 3.5-star $99

I knew I should have just booked the 3-star ESB especially since it included breakfast! Think I'll be able to find anything in my price range?

[AaronJB]

I'd also consider bidding for MTE and ESB; I'd try bidding for a 4* around $100 and a 3* around $85-90.

[ksinger]

I just booked a backup - Hilton Garden Inn New York/Chelsea "Road Warrior Package" includes breakfast for two, two drink coupons, and $5 pantry voucher for $134. I have to cancel 2 days in advance, which I REALLY hope I can do -- I'm thinking I'd be better off with the $129 4-star in TS-TD on Hotwire.

[AaronJB]

Yes, you can definitely do better than $134 on PRICELINE.

[ksinger]

Win!

$110, 4 Star, MTW, TS-TD, CPS

Hilton New York (1335 Avenue Of The Americas) Midtown West

through PRICELINE (using your link) thanks for the help!

Now to decide what show and other activities. I like the walking the Brooklyn Bridge idea someone posted, but think it might be a little too cold for that! My wife wants to see the Statue of Liberty, so maybe the ferry post will work.

I'm coming from the Philly suburbs, any better advice than my current plan: drive to Princeton, then take NJT into the city? Also, what about taking the subway while we're there? Is it like Boston where you get a "rechargeable" card? Safe to take the subway at night? How much more expensive are Taxis?

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your win!

Glad to see you're happy with the results and looking forward to your stay.

Not sure how convenient it is to where you are in Philly (or how you feel about bus travel), but you could look into MegaBus or BoltBus which both offer bus service between Philadelphia and NYC. Fares are capacity controlled and start at just $1, but with a week before your trip i'd guess that they're probably about $10-$15.

The subway works via a "Metrocard" which is refillable... each fare is $2 regardless of the distance travelled. (although you can get one free transfer between bus and subway (and vice-versa) w/n ~2 hours or so from the original entry point. There is also an unlimited day pass which is $7 which is good from the first time used thru 2am the following day.

The subways are 'generally' safe (for a big city) although you'll notice they're not as clean as the Boston system :) although you should use care as you would in any big city. Within Manhattan you should be fine riding the subways up until 10pm/11pm at nite (some lines outside of Manhattan, such as Brooklyn, Queens, etc i woudln't recommend riding, but you won't likely find yourself in these areas at this time of nite anyway) but after that time it's usually best just for non-locals to take a bus or taxi just to make sure there are no unexpected problems.

Thanks for sharing your win with teh board and using our PRICELINE link to begin your bidding.

Enjoy your stay.

[ksinger]

Weekend was a big hit - we had a great time. Thanks for all the help!

Ended up driving to Hamilton and taking NJ Transit from there to allow flexibility in our travel times. They offer a 1/2 price military discount, so round trip would have been about $10 each if my aunt hadn't had an extra two round trip tickets which worked out great for us!

The subway/bus system was great - we did the unlimited one-day pass for $7.50 and definitely got our money's worth. It was cleaner than I expected. Our first subway ride was on a very new train, incredibly clean. Our last was on an older train, still not too bad, the only nasty part was the station.

The NJ Transit train back was a double-decker which was really cool and we even got to meet your sister, which was totally random and really funny.

The Hilton New York was nice, centrally located. There was something that sounded like a vacuum being run a few rooms away the whole time, but we got used to it and didn't spend much time in the room anyway. Definitely worth $110 compared to others we walked past.

[thereuare]

...and we even got to meet your sister, which was totally random and really funny.

I don't have a sister :)

Just kidding :) She called me that nite to let me know she met somebody from the board.

Glad you enjoyed your stay.