Priceline Hotel: NYC bidding advice

[nictam]

Hi,

Looking for a hotel in New York 7/18/09-7/26/09, would be happy to stay anywhere in Manhattan but Chelsea, Downtown, Midtown are some ideas.

We're on quite a tight budget so price would be around $70 a night, although that's probably pretty hopeful!

Any advice at all would be much appreciated as even after quite a lot of research, I'm still in the dark.

Thanks.

[AaronJB]

Welcome to the site.

Unfortunately, $70 is likely going to be unrealistic for these dates in NYC, although if you are flexible on where you're vacationing, you could probably easily get a nice hotel for $70 in another major city.

In terms of NYC, I think if you were able to stretch the budget to around $85-90, then that *may* be able to swing a 2.5* or 3* property. Given that you are trying to go for 8 straight days, that will also be an issue - you may have to end up splitting your stay between two hotels in order to have a better chance of having a bid accepted. If you did bid for NYC, you would have to be flexible and try both Midtown areas and downtown.

You could try bidding $70 for these dates in NYC since you have the time to, but again, it's highly unlikely that it will be accepted. You could also try bidding for 2*, but that is a little riskier - there are few reported 2* wins.

You could/probably would have an easier time bidding for a hotel outside the city (Jersey City, for example) and then taking the train in, but you have to realize that there's costs involved with that (train tickets, time, trying to get to the train back at a reasonable time, etc. etc.) and that's why I suggested - if possible - paying a little extra to try to stay in the city.

Please use the site's PRICELINE link to start bidding and let us know if you have any questions.

[blindman]

Welcome to Betterbidding

Thereuare is on vacation at present so he may not repond with a strategy until he returns (other experienced users may help though)

You do not mention what * rating you are looking for but with $70 maximum (bid?) IMHO you will not get a 3* never mind a 4* in Manhattan.

If that is truly your maximum bid then possibly look at Jersey City as an option as the Hyatt is quite often won at around $71.

It is a superb hotel.

If you do go ahead and bid then if you could use the PRICELINE links it would be appreciated.

Edit

Must type faster, AaronJb beat me to it !

[AaronJB]

If you're locked into NYC, we are happy to help you try to find a hotel there, but I think your money could go further in another city (with 8 days you could do two cities) - that's why I mentioned that in my original post.

[nictam]

Thank you both for your advice, I realise how expensive hotels in NY are. Do you think 80 dollars per night would be possible if I split the stay and was prepared to stay in any area and in a hotel of any star option? Changing city isn't an option as we have already booked flights.

[yellowdog]

nictam

Board needs to know what * rating you're looking for. And what zones you're willing to split between.

Take a look at HOTWIRE, it's a good indicator for the prices. You can usally get better price on PRICELINE but HOTWIRE is a good guide.

Yellowdog.