Hotwire Hotel: 4* NYC (MTC) Warwick Hotel

[robwoody]

Hi,

Thanks for having such a great message board - it's pretty sweet, but I see that I need some more help. I've been bidding the last few days for 4* in NYC on Priceline and I've been getting no love.

I started my bidding at $100 and have now gone all the way to $141 in $3-$5 increments.

I have used all your strategies and have rebid to try to get a 4* hotel in either MTE, MTW, or Times Square for Aug 13-18 (5 nights).

Are there any other strategies I can use? I saw in the win board that there were accepted bids for anywhere from 100-140.

Should I try to split the stay into a 2 night and a 3 night? Will that help? Is there some crazy event going on that has everything booked that week? Any idea how much higher will I need to go?

Thanks for the help!

[AaronJB]

Welcome to the site. :)

A little odd that you have not had any bids accepted in the $140 range, as HOTWIRE rates for 4*'s ($159-169) are not all that much higher than what you've bid up to and rates in NYC are really not that bad for these dates.

Keep in mind that what people have won for other dates doesn't reflect the prices you may encounter for your dates. Rates are date-specific.

What is your budget per night?

I wouldn't split this stay. Do you have any interest in the ESB area or UP/CPS?

Please use the site's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links.

[robwoody]

I was hoping for less than $140, but it looks like I won't get that. Is there any point in waiting to get a lower rate? Or are the rates set?

I was hoping for something a little more central to the sights. I read the post about it being ok to be a few zones out (Times/MTE/MTW seemed to be all comparable). Are ESB and UP/CPS too far out?

I was comparing to the calender of wins for the 100-140 comparison. That's why I was so surprised about the lack of success.

[thereuare]

To begin, is there a reason your're not including the CPS zone in your bidding? If not, i would bid again up to $140 including that zone. If you need a specific bidding strategy let us know and we'll supply one for you to follow.

Second, if you're willing to split your bid, i'd try bidding 8/13-8/17 and see if that lands you anything. If not, HOTWIRE has a 4* in the MTC zone with Restaurant, Fitness, Internet, Business for $146/nite and a TA rating of 4.0/5.0 with 380+ reviews. Best guess is that this si the Warwick (secondary guess would be the Helmsley Park Lane)... regardless of which the TA ratings are good and probalby worth the extra $6 vs. a 'unknown' PRICELINE hotel which could potentially have poorer reviews.

From there you can bid on PRICELINE for the last nite... or HOTWIRE once again has a 4* hotel for $156 with the amenities above, but no TA ratings, so it's possible (especially since other properties have been reported in this zone with this same amenity combination) that this is a different hotel than the one above.

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

Let us know your thougths and/or how it goes or any questions regarding the above.

[robwoody]

Will the 4* hotwire price go down over time, closer to the date? Or is it best to just book now? I tried priceline again, including CPS and I had no luck up to $135/night. I will take the 4* MTC if you don't think I will get any better prices for my travel dates for a 4*. The 5 nights price is $149. Both of those hotels look great.

As well, any idea what the $129 3.5* MTE is? The amenities are the same as the 4*, but there is no TA rating.

[robwoody]

Well, I booked on HOTWIRE. That was a bit frustrating :) I had the price locked in at $149/night and then after entering my information, I clicked the 'next' button and it booted me out to the home page with an error code. I went back in for the same dates and the price was increased to $156/night. What a sham. I phoned the customer service and they basically told me too bad for typing too slow.

So, not really the budget I was hoping for, but it's the Warwick at $156/night for Aug 13-18. The TA reviews are great, so hopefully it's all worth it in the end.

Thanks for helping me out as much as you could, AaronJB and thereuaure. The board has still been a great thing. If I didn't find the board I probably would have had to stay in a crappy 2* for the same price through Expedia....

[yellowdog]

Thank you for sharing your win with the board.

Good to see that the board was helpful for your booking.

Enjoy your stay.

Please use the site's HOTWIRE and PRICELINE links to start future purchases.

Yellowdog.