Priceline Hotel: NYC Bidding Help

I am planning a baseball trip for my mother and I, starting Thursday September 20th.

I rarely spend time in the hotel aside from sleeping and bathing, so amenities aren't a high priority.

As we are two women travellers, safety is one concern.

Lastly, since we are attending 3 baseball games in the Bronx, ease of access to subway (4 & D) is ideal.

Aside from attending the baseball games (3-4 hrs per day), we would like to take in as much of Manhattan as possible and we'd like have our "base of operations" in Manhattan.

I've attempted bids for:

Midtown East, Midtown West, Upper West Side, Upper East Side, Central Park South, Morningside Heights - Harlem, Madison Square Garden - Convention Area, Empire State Building Area, Chelsea Area, Hell's Kitchen, Queensborough Bridge, Times Square - Theatre District

2* and up

$130 bid

and have not had any success

- I'd like to stick to the more northern parts of Manhattan - Upper East/Upper West/Harlem or Central Park/Times Square

- prefer more like a 2.5* or higher

- hoping to stay under $150/night with fees (on average)

I am debating a few different strategies...

- booking the HJ Bronx for the first night @ 127/night to bring down the average cost and thus allow me to budget more for the Fri & Sat nights

- waiting for a few more weeks to try re-bidding and having the HJ as a back-up

- splitting up the night stays and switching hotels in between days

- booking the Thursday alone and waiting for that e-mail that asks you if you'd like to take a second day at the same price (Priceline or Hotwire... can't remember which)

- waiting until the very last minute for a PRICELINE EXPRESS deal

Please give me any tips you have or correct any assumptions I may have made in my strategy thus far. Thanks!

Your $150 all-in price is equivalent to about a $125 bid price and at current price that is not likely going to be enough to stay in Manhattan for these dates (even if SPLITTING YOUR PRICELINE BID and searching for the weekend nites by themselves).

Using BiddingHelper.com and/or MAPS and HOTELS.com what is the best rate you're able to find at an acceptable hotel?

As far as the Howard Johnson goes, i wouldn't recommend staying Bronx... both from the location/safety point of view as well as the pictures i saw of the property.

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

I've decided to stay in the Bronx (Days Inn Yankees Stadium) for the Thursday as I will arrive in NYC just in time to check-in and go to the game. I can bring down my average cost and have re-budgeted the remaining days to

up to $170 all-in price

2* is ok

area is flexible - CP, MTW, MTE, TS are ideal / anywhere on Manhattan except FD, LES & Soho are ok.

based on BiddingHelper.com:

Hotwire: $187/night = $230.33/night with fees & taxes

Priceline: doesn't populate by BiddingHelper.com but manually via ExpressDeals - $187/night UWS (2*) = $228.90/night with fees & taxes OR $229/night = $266.27/night with fees & taxes for the Belnord Hotel

Hotels.com: doesn't populate either :(

There are two 1*'s that have decent reviews:

Harlem B&B (Harlem - Morningside)

Hotel 309 (Chelsea)

starting at $213 before taxes that I may have some luck bidding on

This is certainly proving much more difficult than my past experiences with PL!

Priceline: doesn't populate by BiddingHelper.com

Hotels.com: doesn't populate either

What browser and version are you using?

I have the oldest version of explorer at work :(

no privileges to update

Do you really mean the oldest version (as in not updated in a long time)?? Please send me a PM with the version number of Internet Explorer that you are using, as it works fine for more in both FF and IE.

Thanks.

PM sent.

I tried again and still no luck

Yesterday afternoon I received an email from PL with some recent rates people obtained for my same dates. There was one for MSG, 2.5* at $128 so I immediately went on the site to try that rate. No luck again! I even tried $138... and no luck

I don't know what these e-mails are about but they certainly do not seem accurate.

The emails are recent wins at that rate in that zone for that star level, but it is most likely for a different set of dates.

Thank you for using the site's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchases and searches.

It says my dates in the e-mail but this must not be accurate...

No luck again today. Is my price unrealistic or will I have a better chance in the coming weeks?

I tried to judge by getting prices for weekends up to the end of August but I wonder if September is just a totally different game.

Unsuccessful bid:

09/21/2012 to 09/23/2012

Midtown West, Upper West Side, Upper East Side, Midtown East, Central Park South, Queensborough Bridge, Madison Square Garden - Convention Area, Empire State Building Area, Chelsea Area, Hell's Kitchen, Times Square - Theatre District

2*

$150

August is low season... September is high season, so yes, they are different and typically not comparable.

As your browser is too old (5+ years) for BiddingHelper.com, if you're able to use MAPS and HOTELS.com, what is the best rate you're able to find at an acceptable hotel thru conventional booking channels?

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

I couldn't find anything in my preferred price range and ended up booking via Expedia using some points as a discount

Please remember to follow-up your threads with whatever you end up doing for the stay, even if you choose to book direct, cancel your trip, etc.

Please note from our Support Page that we are an affiliate of Expedia as well as most other major hotel chains and online booking agencies, please check for and use the links there whenever possible.

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