smetz

I always use Priceline to bid for hotels in New York when I need to go, which I do on August 2nd - a Saturday. Up until a year or two ago, I nearly always got 4* hotels in the mid-town area right around 40% of the lowest internet rate. I don't think I ever paid above $150, when the rates were $300 to $350 on the hotel's website. The Hiltons were the most common hit, but I've also stayed at the Grand Hyatt and the Westin Times Square.

Lately, however, I've had nowhere near such luck with Priceline. Recently I've been bidding up to $200 for the 4* hotels on 8/2, which is a good bit more than 50% of their lowest internet rate, and no luck! Anyone else had this experience? And might the PL rates go down as the date gets closer?

Andrew

As always with Priceline, you need to check available rates on the dates of your stay. Just because you hit $150 on one date doesn't mean you will hit the same rate on another date. Priceline gets inventory from hotels based on their own availability. If they are booked, they aren't going to release any rooms to Priceline.

Priceline does sometimes get inventory from hotels near the last minute - I have had that happen (never bid for NYC though). But it's not something you can count on.

smetz

Hi Andrew - you're right, and I have checked the rates a number of the 4*s for 8/2, and for example the Waldorf Astoria has rooms available for $309, the Hilton Time Square was at $349, and the Hilton Millenium had a rate as low as $254 (as of this morning anyway). But in none of these areas did $200 hit. I'm starting to think that 40% or 50%, or maybe even 60% just doesn't work for PL in NYC anymore.

Hpyft

I live in NY but enjoy a yearly girls week- end in the city and always use Priceline. This is the first year that I was unable to score a room in a 3 or 4 star hotel that was within my limited budget. (Very limited this year) I was counter-offered several 3 star options for 150-175 a night. This was around 4th of July week. We decided to eat and drink the extra money and made it a day trip. I'd keep trying until the last minute.

Andrew

smetz, it may simply be that one or several hotels in NYC have simply stopped participating (for now) with Priceline. Or they may be seeing their hotels fairly full this summer. I don't think you can count on anything permanent with Priceline. Over time, hotels sign up with them, others drop out, finding it not worth it or whatever. Management changes, ownership changes. Next year at this time things may be different yet again, with any region not just NYC. I think you just kind of have to ride it out with Priceline.

mclaurie

Betterbidding.com has a wins calendar for Priceline and Hotwire. So far on 8/2, someone has won the Millenium Hilton for $170 and someone got Hotel 57 (3* um/cps) for $176. It doesn't say when these bids were made.

While a Sat. in August used to be a slow time in NYC, the continued weakness of the dollar vs. the pound and Euro has made NYC a prime vacation/shopping destination. Aug. 2 coincides with the beginning of the UK school hols for many. Book a backup hotel if you haven't already and keep trying. If downtown works for you, try that and see if you can get the Mill. Hilton. I think what you're seeing is not so much high PL rates, but hotels holding on to rooms for longer before releasing them to PL.

mclaurie

Btw, those "wins" were for Priceline. Hotwire often is an indicator of possible Priceline wins. I see quite a few options for a Hotwire purchase for that night. Have a look at figure out which hotels they are (using betterbidding Hotwire list and matching amenity icons).

smetz

Hpyft & Andrew - I have noticed that, with hotels in New York, they are often booked weeks out, but as the date approaches in the final few days or week, many more rooms become available, I suppose through cancellations (unless the hotels hold back on inventory). So waiting until the last minute may be the ticket. H, sorry you didn't get what you needed, but I hope you had a good time anyway.

mclaurie - thanks for the tips, I will check betterbidding.com. And actually I have tried downtown 4*, and the Millenium would be fine, but I think I went up to $200 there as well and still didn't hit. I guess I'll just have to be patient and hope that it loosens up closer to the date.

I do have a backup at Park South Hotel on 28th, at $270 for a king room which looks pretty nice. The Millenium also has a king for $280, which may be more convenient since my wife and I are going to try to see the waterfalls that night. But is getting to the Millenium in a car a hassle because of the construction on Fulton St? It seems that way when you walk by.

nytraveler

I would guess the issue is extra european travelers driving up hotel occupancy this summer due to the pitiful state of the dollar. I've seen noticeably more foreign visitors than usual - both from the hostel in my neighborhood and in midtown - looking more upscale.

And once a hotel hits a certain occupancy percentage they won;t do Priceline - or will set a much higher $ limit.

NeoPatrick

I know that Priceline adds on an extra fee to their "fees and taxes" above what the hotel charges. On my last cheapy in Ft. Lauderdale it was $7. Does anyone know if that goes up as a percentage, or if it is a higher amount for more expensive hotels, or if that's pretty much the extra they always charge?

Not trying to hijack your thread, smetz. But when the prices start getting closer to the lowest from the hotel, it's nice to know what additional price Priceline adds so you're really comparing bottom line prices.

lincasanova

i remember thinking it was closer to $15. you can see people´s results at www.betterbiddng.com.

they many times not only post the hotel and rate, but copy all the tax info, too.

that will get you a better idea.

smetz

NeoPatrick, no problem. So is the fee in the rate? I.e., a $200 win on Priceline does not all go to the hotel? Or is it that the taxes & fees added on by Priceline are more than just the taxes that the hotel would add?

NYTraveler - Ah, that makes sense. Maybe my only hope for a bargain is that they'll release some inventory closer to the date. The last four or five times I've been to New York I've stayed in Jersey City, and I'm really getting sick of the Path.

BarryK

I believe nytraveler is correct. We just got back from a trip to New England and I heard more French, Spanish, Italian, and German, than English on the streets of Boston and elsewhere. Also, more Quebec license plates in the parking lots of the outlets of Kittery than on the streets of Montreal :.)

NeoPatrick

smetz. The extra fee is added in with the taxes later. I was surprised when Priceline added somthing like $16 to a $59 reservation. I checked with the hotel and found that the usual total add on would be about $9 to that same price. Priceline adds an additional $7 to that, but it is lumped in with the "taxes and fees". When I questioned that here (or was that on Bidding for Travel?) I found that yes, Priceline does add on a "small fee in addition to what the hotel does".

$7 isn't much, but it's more than 10% of my bid. I was just curious if when you're bidding and winning at something like $150 if that extra is still just $7 or if it might be considerably more than that.

mclaurie

The price you bid on Priceline does not include any taxes or fees. In NYC, there's a tax as a % (something like 12%) and then an occupancy fee per night. It usually adds about 15% to the cost in total. PL evidently bundles their fee into the taxes at the end of the transaction.

As to the question of driving to the Mill. Hilton, I don't know. What I do know is you can do much better on a backup reservation than $270. I see LOTS of cheaper options on quikbook. You can get a queen room at the Park South for $209. Gild Hall, a LOVELY new boutique hotel in the financial district is $239 for a king room also on quikbook. The Exchange is another boutique down there for $239.

NeoPatrick

But mclaurie, do you know what that fee is in NYC? Does it remain a flat $7 above those other taxes and fees as I experienced in Florida? Or is it a percentage of the total bid price?

mclaurie

Sorry, I don't know.

smetz

Well, I'm clueless no more - I did not realize that priceline or the hotel added an extra fee in the "taxes & fees", though it probably doesn't take much thought to figure that out. Thanks for the info.

I'm also not familiar with quikbook, but I'm going to check that out for sure. I think the queen room on Park South's website was $224, so quikbook has a pretty good discount. And it sounds like Gild Hall might work pretty well too. Thanks.

Elizabeth

A Priceline report: just this week I was not able to find a room in their Midtown East zone for Oct 17-19, bidding up to $250 for 3.5, 3, and 2.5 stars.

I booked something cancellable - Radisson Lex had a special at $255 - and will try again close to my cancellation deadline, which is Oct 13.

A report from a Manhattan native - I have been here about 40 years, and in the last year especially the number of European tourists is highly noticeable. I live and work in neighborhoods formerly not very tourist-attracting - central Greenwich Village and Gramercy Park.

These days I see huge numbers of them even in these parts of town, identifiable by the maps and guidebooks they are consulting!! They are couples and even families with little kids ("even" because international travel with kiddies is an expensive as well as possibly challenging undertaking).

So -- they're all staying someplace!!


In

dmlove

Since we'll be there the same weekend as Elizabeth, I thought I'd report our experience -- we only bid 4*, and while we would have preferred the Central Park South area, we ended up with the W New York (Lexington and 48th) for $310. (We had bid all the 4* areas with the exception of SoHo/Downtown).