Priceline Hotel: NYC June 1 - 6, 2005

[alsk]

Just stumbled upon this site today and it seems VERY helpful. I look forward to using it often!

Right now my husband and I are in the beginning stages of planning a trip to NYC early next summer. Our preliminary dates are June 1 - 6 (depending on when we can go for the best prices). We're planning to use Priceline to hopefully find a good 3 or 4* hotel in one of the midtown areas for 100 - 150.

I was doing some research on Hotwire for these dates just to get an idea on pricing and can't find anything for less than $211. Am I just starting too early and need to wait til March or April to start seriously looking? Or is there something going on that week that should make us consider changing our dates? I was originally thinking of May 26 - 31 (since the 30th is our anniversary), but we were thinking that Memorial Day Weekend might be crowded in NYC.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[thereuare]

I think the rates you're seeing on Hotwire is because it's a bit early. Rates i'm seeing elsewhere aren't that high. If you'd like us to suggest a strategy up to $150/nite let us know.

[mr.drew]

Thereuare is the host of this board, and an NYC resident, so he can help a great deal, but I can share what I know(also, I don't live in NYC, but did from 1998-2000).

That time of year shouldn't be too busy, NYC is busiest in the fall. There may be special weekends, conventions, etc, that affect pricing on certain weekends, however.

Your price range seems good enough to get a 4*, I would think. If you are familiar with the priceline zones, my favorite is Upper Midtown/Central Park South, followed by Midtown West, then Midtown East and Upper Eastside.

You might be a little bit early for your dates, but you can try now if you want, but if you don't get anything, it can't hurt to try later at this point, as more rooms may be released later.

Thereuare has some guides to NYC and info on re-bidding, etc, that you should read also. Good luck, and have fun. I went with my wife in late Sept, and we had a great time!

[mr.drew]

lol.. beaten to the punch... thereuare is the king!

[alsk]

Thanks for the info!

I will wait a few months before trying my bid on Priceline, I think, but you'll definitely be hearing from me again! I was mainly wanting to make sure there weren't any obvious red flags about those dates to anyone.

Thanks again for the quick responses. :)

[alsk]

Needing more advice on our summer NY trip:

We've actually decided to change our dates to May 28 - June 2 for the NYC part of our trip and are thinking of renting a car and driving across the state to see Niagara Falls June 2 - 4 as it doesn't cost any more for us to split our air ticket from mem to ewr and then from buffalo back to mem.

After reading so much great stuff about the famous Hyatt in Jersey City and the low priceline rate possibilities for it, I was wondering what you think of our chances of getting the Hyatt (OR another 3* Jersey City property ) for $60 or less for those dates.

Hotwire has the 3.5* property believed to be the Hyatt for $108 for those dates already, but the Hyatt website says $274, so I figure it will be awhile before they release any really low prices to Priceline. (I already tried a $38 bid just for fun).

Any insights into a plan would be helpful!

Oh, and if anyone knows of any scenice routes between jersey city and niagara falls, let me know! We'd like to take in as much scenery of New York State as we can during that drive.

Thanks a lot!

[thereuare]

The Priceline rate can't be too bad if Hotwire is offering at roughly $100/nite. I've been trying to compile more data on this hotel (as well as others) to gain a bit more insight as to their pricing... this hotel in particular is very 'wacky' :) with sometimes no rhyme or reason as to their pricing. I have noticed that they sometimes release inventory very close to check-in, but at other times their inventory also just disappears!

Besides the airline which you have already looked into, I would also advise you to check the car rental costs. This would be treated as a one-way rental, which means milage charges, and it may be much more expensive than you otherwise imagine.

[alsk]

Sorry for not following up. We did not end up going to NYC on this trip, but have postponed it until Summer '06.