Priceline Hotel: 4* NYC (MTW) Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers

[franklin411]

I figured I might as well start this thread and then update it when I find something. I've been looking for a 4* in Manhattan every day for the last 2 weeks, and no luck at all. I've tried just about every Manhattan zone, every price from $125-$170 a night, and three sets of dates (5/12-16, 5/13-16, 5/14-16) figuring I could split the bid, and no luck at all.

I've gone to HOTWIRE and all I'm seeing is a selection of 4-5 4* hotels at $200+ a night. They did add a new property today that I can't find on the HOTWIRE list...4* 5/12-16 for $189/night in Chelsea/Madison Square Garden with Boutique, smoke free, fitness, restaurant, business, and internet. That's a bit encouraging...hopefully some new inventory will come online soon.

I figure it's too early to pony up $200/night, but it's a bit discouraging to look at last year's calendar of wins and see so many fantastic 4* properties booked at way less than I'm bidding!

I'll update this if/when I find something. I'm also not settling for a 3.5* this early because I stayed at the Roosevelt 2 years ago. It was adequate in a Wal-Mart sort of way, but I was spoiled when I stayed at the Le Parker Meriden last summer for $135 a night!

[thereuare]

I agree that given the time you have before your arrival it's probably too early to be bidding $200 for a room for these dates, but remember what was happening with the economy last year at this time... the stock market hit it's low in March (likely when many dates for May were booked) and the economic news was still deteriorating. We're now (at least according to the news) apparently bottoming out so business prospects are at least improving (or hotels are hopefuly that it is) and hotels may not be discounting too deeply at this point in hopes of selling rooms themselves as full price.

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

Keep us updated as to your progress and let us know if we can be of any help along the way.

[franklin411]

Agreed! I guess it's a good sign that hotels and airlines have been trying to hold the line on prices. If they were as freaked out about the economy as the media hype would make it seem, we'd be seeing fare sales and rock bottom prices and we're not.

I'm still plugging away. I noticed that the hotels seem to be keeping their inventory off the discount websites for now. If you look around, either on the hotel's own website or on the non-invisible websites, you see that the prices on the invisible websites are basically the same. In other words, you're giving up the ability to choose for no appreciable discount.

Any thoughts on when I might want to think about compromising? My strategy so far has been bidding every day with CPS, Chelsea, Downtown, ESB, MSG, MTE, MTW, TS, East/West side up to $170 with no luck. I'm a bit surprised that I can't get anything even at $170 when you can go to travelzoo and get a 4* for $179 a night. That makes me think that I should just be patient and one day some 4* will just dump inventory on priceline and I can score for $150. IE I'm betting that it's not a matter of price, it's a matter of there being no inventory on priceline.

[thereuare]

I assume you're refering to the Hotel Mela, which i don't believe the $179/nite rate is available for your weekend dates (it's $199 5/14-5/16). Regardless, while this is a nice hotel, it is rated 3* by PRICELINE, so you're not really making an apples-to-apples comparison since you couldn't win this hotel when bidding 4* in NYC, since PRICELINE rates it below 4*.

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

[franklin411]

I got a room! I checked Hotwire and saw a 4* for $163 in Midtown Central with non-smoking/fitness/restaurant/business/internet as amenities. I checked the list and saw that this was likely the Sheraton, so I almost booked it through HOTWIRE. But then I got greedy and decided to try PRICELINE first. My opening bid of $145 for the Midtown West zone was immediately accepted for 5/12-5/16 at the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers.

I'm happy with the price--$100 cheaper than the hotel website and $18 cheaper than HOTWIRE. Tripadvisor reviews aren't fantastic, but you can't have it all. I'll be back in the summer, and hopefully it will be so hot in August that I can get a really awesome deal then!

Please update the thread title, if you would, and I used the PRICELINE link.

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success!

Nice to see that PRICELINE came thru for you and were you able to get a deal for this busy spring season.

Glad to see you're happy with the results and can make this property work well for your needs.

Thank you for sharing your win with the board and using our PRICELINE link to begin your bidding.

Enjoy your stay.

[llh58]

I got the Sheraton last June for $118 and got treated like royalty...We got a room on the 48th floor with a view of Central Park and we got club room privelages...We did mention it was our 50th bday celebration and just merely asked for a good room....they couldnt have been nicer and the hotel was great...the only thing I didnt like was we had a do not disturb sign on the door and the maid still came in and cleaned.......

[franklin411]

Hmm...Sounds really good! I hope their fitness center is good too. Thanks for the info! :)

[thereuare]

You can see their fitness center from the street... it's below the lobby level, but has full length windows and such to bring in natural light. I've seen it many times from the outside and it appears to have a lot of treadmills... it's not your typical, small, hotel fitness center which is often an afterthought and not much more than a small room with some ancient equipment thrown in.

[franklin411]

I forgot to thank you for this! I'm the type to worry about missing a workout, and it's definitely good to know that I won't have that problem here! :)

[franklin411]

So I was just bored and googling stuff, and I found out why the hotel gym is so nice...it costs $10 a day to use it! WTF???