Priceline Hotel: 4* NYC (MTE) Grand Hyatt

[Freyja]

Hi everyone! :)

Thinking of bidding for a 4* in either Times Square area, MTE or MTW. Need to stay under $150 incl. taxes and fees. Is this totally unrealistic? Seems to me that the Sheraton towers and Grand Hyatt seem to come up for around $120 quite frequently. How much should I figure in for taxes and fees? I read somewhere here yesterday that one of these nights, I believe it was June 16th seems to be a tough one to get. I would prefer not doing a split stay.

Should I start bidding now, or closer to the date? - It's not that far out.

Thanks for your help. This is a great board!

Freyja

[AaronJB]

Good morning.

It's not recommended to go on what other people have won for different dates, as rates are "date-specific". Taxes and fees are shown during the bidding process. $150 (including taxes and fees) works out to be about a bid of $125-130 a night or so. I won't go as far as to say that's going to be unrealistic, but I think a winning bid will require the upper end of your budget (start at $120, if that's not accepted $125)

My other recommendation would drop you down half a star level, but offer breakfast. HOTWIRE has a 3.5* in the Times Square/Theater District for $126 with the amenities: boutique, breakfast, pool, business, spa. This would likely be the Room-Mate Grace, which gets very good reviews and, again, offers free breakfast which is a pretty rare bonus for a NYC hotel. The other benefit of the Room-Mate Grace would be that it's a smaller boutique, which will likely offer more personalized service than giant properties like the Hyatt or Sheraton.

I wouldn't wait until closer to the date.

Please use the site's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchase.

[Freyja]

Thanks! Just took a look at the Room-Mate Grace. Looks wonderful. Very hip and youthful. Great for a young couple finally going away without the kids :)

How sure can I be that I would get this hotel if I go through HOTWIRE?

[AaronJB]

The Room-Mate Grace has previously been ID'd (reported to the board) with those amenities, and it's one of the very few hotels in NYC with a "free breakfast" icon. Nothing is 100% guaranteed with HOTWIRE, but I don't think there's anything else in that zone that could come up with that set of amenities.

It should appear as a 3.5* in the Times Square/Theatre District with the amenities: Boutique, Complimentary Breakfast, Pool, Business, Spa. I'm seeing it for $126 for your dates, but you may see a slightly different price.

[Freyja]

Thanks again for your prompt replies. I see "it" for $126 on HOTWIRE too. Might just go with that instead of PRICELINE. We love boutique style hotels and were really hoping for a hip and fun atmosphere, but it didn't seem within our budget. Now I just need to get our flights sorted so that I can go ahead with HOTWIRE. I would then go through the link on the top left of this page, right? :)

[AaronJB]

Correct. :)

[Freyja]

I just learned that the Room-Mate Grace, 3 1/2 *, (Times Square/Thatre district). is often showing up on HOTWIRE. It has free continental breakfast and gets excellent reviews. I've been looking into June dates and this hotel comes up for $126.

[AaronJB]

Unfortunately, not all hotels show up on all dates and the Room-Mate Grace is not showing for these dates on the service.

[thereuare]

HOTWIRE will only show one hotel at each star level in each zone (the lowest priced property) so it's not recommended (unless you're looking for a frustrating experience) to pick which hotel you want and then hope it shows up for your dates... a more productive approach, imo, is to search HOTWIRE for your dates to see what is available, then try to identify the properties offered to see if any of them are ones which you would like to stay in.

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

[Freyja]

I need help to id a 4* hotel, Central Park location. HOTWIRE says it to be Boutique, and have fitness centre, restaurant and high speed internet access. Shows up for $169 for 6/12-6/18.

[thereuare]

Please keep all posts for the same stay in the same thread.

Also, follow-up your Hotwire Orlando 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.

[Freyja]

Sorry. Thought that a Hotwire specific question should be posted on the Hotwire board.

Thanks for your help :)

[thereuare]

The above is a match for the Empire Hotel so that would be my best guess.

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

Let us know how it goes or if we can be of further help.

[Freyja]

Thanks for the amazing prompt service on these boards. I think I will start bidding on Priceline today. What I'm looking for is a 4*, preferably in the Times Square area, but MTW and MTE would be o.k. I might consider a 3 1/2 * but nothing below that. Max. bid $125. Could you offer any help on what would be my best strategy?

[Freyja]

Thanks for the amazing prompt service on these boards. I think I will start bidding on Priceline today. What I'm looking for is a 4*, preferably in the Times Square area, but MTW and MTE would be o.k. I might consider a 3 1/2 * but nothing below that. Max. bid $125. Could you offer any help on what would be my best strategy?

Well I decided to just go ahead and bid :)

Starting bid was $100 for 4*, Times Square. -Rejected

Added MTW and raised bid to $105 - Rejected

Added MTE and went to $115- Accepted.

Very pleased with this price although the hotel seems to get mixed reviews. I knew this beforehand and also knew that many of the reviews are based on peoples expectations who paid a lot more for their rooms than I am doing. :)

[AaronJB]

Which hotel did you get?

[Freyja]

LOL. Sorry. I guess I was still too excited when I wrote about the winning bid :)

I got the Grand Hyatt :)

[AaronJB]

Thanks for the follow-up.