Priceline Hotel: Help/advice please

[ssentry]

Hi there,

I'm new to the forum and am hoping for some advice from the more seasoned users :)

I'm trying to find a hotel in the times square/theatre district for Sept 23-28. I'm going with my mother for a few days to see some shows and would like to be closed to the theaters.

I tried using the re-bidding rules for 4* hotels and work my way from $120 up to $175 and nothing. I found a bunch of wins for central manhattan 4* hotels that range from 110-200 so it doesn't seem like these prices are completely unreasonable. We don't want to go any higher than that and ideally we'd like to max out at ~160USD

We'd be open to staying at a 3.5 hotel but when i went to the hotel's websites several of them have rooms with just a queen and we'd like to avoid that possibility (two beds is of course preferable but at least with a single king which the 4* hotels have as a possible room config we'd have lots of room to share).

Is it possible that closer to the date more rooms will open up and I can try the above again? Or should I start trying with the 3.5 and hope that if we win a room the hotel will grant our request for two beds?

BTW - We have a refundable reservation at another hotel as a backup.

TIA :)

[AaronJB]

Welcome to the site. :)

Rates are date-specific; while other users may have gotten hotels for particular rates for certain dates, if your dates are busier and/or you are trying for an area that's generally more expensive (TS), then prices are going to be higher.

The issue with bedding is that one cannot guarantee any sort of bedding using PRICELINE, which only guarantees 1 bed. New York City hotels are known for having smaller-than-average rooms (and even some upscale hotels have particularly small rooms.) While one can certainly request a room with 2 beds via a PRICELINE reservation, NYC is probably the most difficult (least likely for success) place to do so. Unfortunately, given the small rooms in NYC, rooms w/1 bed are often not a king bed.

Additionally, are you interested in any of the other nearby areas (Upper Midtown/Central Park South; Midtown East/West?) or are you only interested in Times Square?

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

[thereuare]

Current rates look a lot higher than your maximum bid... where and how much is your back-up?

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

[ssentry]

Our backup hotel is the Americana Inn for 160 a night (which is for a room with two twins). It's located just outside of the TS zone. We know it's a budget hotel and that's fine as long as it's clean (which reviews seem to say). Since we'll be doing the half price tickets we'll be in times square twice a day so being close would be great. I figured it was a long shot trying to get a nicer hotel through PRICELINE but I guess our numbers are too far off.

I know we'd have a better chance getting a 3 or 3.5 star hotel but unlike the TS 4* hotels that all seem to have 1 king or two beds in the room (I went to each website and completed a partial reservation to see what bed types they were offering) the lower one's do have rooms with only 1 queen so that's not ideal for our situation.

Thanks for the help, maybe I'll just keep trying as we get closer to the date and see if there are any last minute deals to be had.

[AaronJB]

The issue is that, given that this would be a PRICELINE reservation, there's a good chance you would not be given a room with 2 beds even if the hotel had those rooms available. I wouldn't take whether or not the hotels in the area have rooms with two beds available when considering using PRICELINE in NYC.

[ssentry]

Wasn't able to get a hotel via PRICELINE, booked though hotel website

[thereuare]

Thank you for closing this thread with your decision.

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or the links in our Support Page for your hotel direct purchases.

Thank you.