Priceline Hotel: Any good NYC-Downtown/Soho hotels

[shoeless]

I'll be going to NYC on 1/28 - 1/30 (2 nights) for a gymnastics meet in the Wall Street area. Haven't seen many postings on bids/wins in that area, probably since most folks want to be nearer to the theatre district.

I'll be there with my family (daughter is competing) and will be driving up from MD. I'm a little hesitant to try this area since the neighborhood goes downhill pretty quickly (as I recall) once you are outside of the financial district and I would not want to get stuck in a seedy hotel out there.

My current plan is to bid for the Jersey City Hyatt (I bid and won there last May with your help, thx) and just ride PATH across the river. However, the convenience of staying in the Downtown/Soho area is tempting. I'm hoping that this is not a very busy time of year and hotel rooms will be plentiful. Any suggestions?

Thanks

[thereuare]

Jersey City is probably going to be your best bet from a value standpoint, but if you want to stay downtown i would have no problems recommending both the MARRIOTT FINANCIAL CENTER (we housed guests here for our wedding a few years back) and the Embassy Suites. The Marriott is $159/nite for your date direct on their site.

[shoeless]

Thanks for the tip, I checked out the Marriott website and saw the offer you referenced. Even better, IMO, is the $179 package that includes parking and breakfast for 2.

I AM all about the best value though :). I looked through some of the old posts in the NY forum and didn't see any about NYC Downtown/Soho (I admit my search was not very thorough though). Is there any history on bids/wins in this area? I did the "view source" trick on the Priceline page and saw that the 4* cutoff for "almost no chance" is $50. Any idea what hotel might accept a bid in the $50 - $60 range?

Thanks again for your help/website.

[thereuare]

DOWNTOWN NYC HOTEL WINS

I could be wrong, but i'm very doubtful you will be successful for a 4* hotel in the $50-$60 range.

[shoeless]

Thanks for the link to the wins compilation. I would say I have to agree with you, winning in Downtown in my price range looks pretty slim (I may try anyway though). The gymnastics team has reserved several rooms at a hotel (don't remember which one) in the area for around $130/nt + parking. I may try to lo-ball bid the Downtown and if that doesn't work go to Jersey City. If all else fails we have the backup at $130. I'll post to either the NJ or NY forums if I end up bidding.

Thanks for your help. I honestly don't know how you find the time to manage this site and reply to everyone, but I assure you, we're glad that you do.

Thanks,

shoeless

[shoeless]

Rather than start a new thread, I'll update here.

I tried bidding Jersey City (hoping for the Hyatt) for $37 on 1/28 - 1/30 and was rejected. Didn't try adding zones or rebidding even though my 3 days are up now. We've pretty much decided to stay with the rest of the team at the Millenium Hilton at the group rate of $130/nt. Seems decent for that hotel and it is walking distance to the competition site (Pace Univ.) and has the advantage of being on the island.

So now for my next question. The parking lot that services the Hilton charges $45/24 hr. Since I won't be needing the car once we get there, is there a place on the Jersey side that I can long-term park and ride a train/bus into NY? I was considering parking in one of the Jersey City lots near the Exchange place PATH station and riding PATH in. Is long term parking allowed in those lots? If so, what are the rates? One website said around $17/24 hr. Does that sound right?

Are there better/cheaper/safer options if I decide to park farther out, such as Newark/Meadowlands, etc.

Thanks, hope this is not too off-topic.

RS

[thereuare]

From where will you be traveling from? (and how many, since you'll have to consider mass transportation costs for each in your party)

[shoeless]

We'll be driving up from Maryland. There are 4 of us, two of which are children (14 & 11). We plan on staying at the Millenium Hilton on Fri & Sat nights (1/28, 1/29). I'm considering driving up to somewhere in NJ on Thurs evening (depending on hotel/transport options/parking) so that we could have all day Fri for goofing off. Otherwise we'll drive up early on Fri and try to get there by noon or so.

Thanks for your help,

RS

[dahammer]

Shoeless,

thereuare is more familiar with this but an option is to take NJ Transit from the Princeton Junction train station Penn Station in NYC. The round trip OFF PEAK adult fare is $14.75 and ONE WAY child's fare is $4.40. This is cheaper than Amtrak, and parking at Princeton Junction was only $3.00 a day last year. This would make your trip into the city about $63 give or take. The phone # for NJ Transit is 1-800-772-2222. I did this last year and it worked great for me. You will need to grab a cab at Penn Station to get to the Millenium.

Good Luck, you could also bid for a room in the Newark-Hoboken or Secaucus-Meadowlands for Thursday night, you should get a good deal as the occupancy rate is down from Mon-Fri levels.

[thereuare]

If you click THIS LINK you'll get a full map of NJ Transit's train system (click the map picture for a blow up and interactive map).

On the red line is a stop METROPARK which is right near where the NJ Turnpike intersects the Garden State Parkway, so it's right on your route. If you're trying to minimize the driving this will have you travel a bit less by car and last time i checked the parking was $5/24 hours.

Here is a link to all of the Train Stations with Park and Ride...

and a link for Bus Park and Ride (ie- both the Lincoln Tunnel and Holland Tunnel are in Hudson County, so that would be a good starting point if you're trying to get as close to NYC on the NJ side)

[shoeless]

Thanks for the help, that's exactly what I was looking for. I don't rember how I came across this site, but I'm sure glad I did. I've never received anything but good, helpful advice.

Thanks again,

shoeless

[Juanjo28]

The Hilton is a great hotel for that rate and hopefully you'll get a room with a nice view of the harbor...pleasant stays