Any experiences using Priceline for NYC hotels?
 

What hotels did you end up with when you asked for a "4 star or more" NYC hotel? And what bidding price did they accept?<BR><BR>Was it a good experience? I want to use Priceline but I chicken out when it comes to slapping down the credit card!

we did 4* midtown south for $95. ended up with hotel avalon. we did it for some family members who were in town (we live in nyc). 3 of them stayed there and loved it. they had a suite with 2 double bed and a pullout sofa in the living room area. it also included breakfast. check biddingfortravel.com for lots of priceline info.

Thanks Marj.<BR><BR>Anyone else have any priceline/nyc experiences? I checked out biddingfortravel.com and I have to admit that it intimidated me even more!

Hi Andrea,I too was really nervous about using Priceline.com.I was able to get the Inter-Continental The Barclay on East 48th Street for $100<BR>a night for two nights.It looked so elegant and posh I did not want to use the reservation but I'm glad a did! What an excellent hotel.It was in a great location and the room was nice too.There were 3 of us so they upgraded us to a Deluxe Double with<BR>no charge! Now I go online and find those rooms for $500 a night! It was such a great room with a good price<BR>I decided to try Priceline.com for<BR>Air Tickets. Again,I got a price that could not be beat and times that could not be better if I had scheduled it myself and paid full price. I'm Very picky when it comes to what hotel(s) and airline/schedules I get.So far,so great!! Good Luck whatever you decide... But if you do go with Priceline,please let us know!

" I'm Very picky when it comes to what hotel(s) and airline/schedules I get.So far,so great!! "<BR><BR>So, you let someone else pick the flight times and the hotel for you??? You lucked out but it could have been much worse.<BR><BR>You're not THAT picky!!!!!!!!

Hi Sueanne,Your right.It could have been much worse.I did luck out. At first when I saw what hotel they gave me I panicked because I thought it was too 'upper class' for me and my friends.We are the 't-shirt/shorts' kinda crowd.We were out of place with all the black suits/dresses around but no one gave us a second look.If what I'm getting from Priceline.com is all just luck,then I'm glad.Have you used Priceline.com? Any good or bad experience you'd like to share?

Dear Debbie<BR>What a classy answer! We don't have to be snippy just because others are. I admire you!

I second Anonymous. Nice reply Debbie

Way to go Debbie! I think you very nicely put SueAnn "in her place" I for one found your priceline response helpful, and I thought your follow-up to SueAnn's snotty remarks was "priceless"

I'm sorry if my answer was snippy. I didn't mean to be. I just thought it was somewhat odd to talk about how picky you are and then let an outside company assign random flights/hotels for you. That's all. <BR><BR>I use Priceline often. Some good, some bad. Mostly good.

I think priceline is great. I use it for evey vacation. The good thing is that you never pay more than you wnat to. You also name the star that you want. I have ended up with 4 and 5 stars for 79 a night. You can't beat it.

Ok, thanks everyone. But what hotels did you get in NYC that were considered 4+ stars? And what did you pay?<BR><BR>Thanks again!

No offense, but INTIMIDATED(??) by a website? Are you sure you're ready for NYC?<BR><BR>Go back to www.biddingfortravel.com, page down to HOTELS and click on New York City, then click on the first post, which will answer your specific question.<BR><BR>If you can't figure this out, ask a friend that is more internet savy than yourself for some help.

The website www.biddingfortravel.com is not daunting but truly understanding the FAQ re/bidding is a bit more complex. The short version is this - if a bid is rejected the only way to rebid without waiting 72 hours (at which time you can make a new bid) is to add a lower * star category (e.g. your bid for a four star was rejected) OR add a diferent geographic zone for that city (any decent sized city is divided into "zones"). You are NOT allowed to simply increase the $ amount of your bid - you MUST change one of the two aforementioned categories. The FAQ explains how to get "free" rebids that will allow you to simply raise the $ amount. By going through a portion of the bidding process before finalizing a bid, one is able to see which geographic zones have four star (or three star) hotels. You can add a zone that has no four star hotels and then increase your $ bid at the same time. There is no risk of winning a hotel in the added zone because it has no four star hotels but this procedure does allow you to rebid. Now that I finallly understand it I've been very successful in my bidding. I'll be staying this weekend at the Hotel Triton (a very cool boutique hotel) in San Francisco and paying $65 per night. The absolute lowest price I found anywhere on the Internet was $109-129 per night for same hotel on same weekend. Priceline really works but having the extra edge in bidding knowledge can get you even better deals. P.S. I usually get even bigger discounts than I did on the Triton but I wanted a boutique hotel and bid only in that category for that reason. Based on recently posted winning bids I could most likely have gotten a four star hotel in SF for $50-60 per night. I have gotten deals as good as $60 per night on a hotel that was charging $169 per night to folks who were walking in on the day I arrived.

Owen - THANK YOU! Your response was great, it really cleared some things up for me. I'm printing your response and filing it with my travel stuff, I have just started using priceline and a few things were a little fuzzy (the tricks of the trade parts!). Also, I'm very interested in your SF hotel - would you be willing to post comments upon your return? We are fortunate enough to visit a few times a year and love the boutique-style hotels, I always like to hear about ones that we have not tried. Thanks again for your information regarding biddingfortavel.com & priceline.

Andrea, it's well worth your time learn how to use www.biddingfortravel.com. After you've done a bit of homework, one of the site administrators will personally hold your hand as you construct your bid. This week, I used Priceline for the first time and got a 4* hotel (Sheraton Grand) in Sacramento for $45/night. I wouldn't have known how to bid knowledgeably without the help of biddingfortravel.com. I'm hooked!

Following advice from BiddingForTravel (which I learned about here), I bid $75/night on Priceline for three weekend nights in mid-April at a four-star hotel in the Midtown East region of Manhattan. The bid was accepted - for the Grand Hyatt near Grand Central Station. The AAA discount price for the same hotel, same days is around $300/night. BiddingForTravel's hotel lists can give you a pretty good sense of what you're likely to get if you make certain bids (stars, locations). Of course there are no guarantees. But I'm very pleased with what I got and would go that route again.

I understand what you mean about biddingfortravel.com but I used it before bidding my trip to NYC and it proved to be really helpful. I got the Hilton Towers at Rockefeller (sp?) Center for 3 night June, 20 for $90. Can't beat that price or location altough I would have liked a smaller more boutique type hotel. That's the risk you take using Priceline. I did not have any luck with bids in the Midtown South or Soho/Tribeca area which is what I originally wanted.

I just used Priceline for the first time yesterday and am very upset.I bid for a four star and got a three star.I called custumer service at Priceline and was told they have their own rating system.I never would have bid $99 for a 3 star.Beware.I may continue my protest as I consider this deceptive on their part.By the way,The hotel is The Mansfield and if anyone can find it rated higher than 3 stars except by Priceline I would be interested to hear about it.

Response to Debbie: I recently "won" a 4* hotel on Priceline (Grand Hyatt $75/night) and was concerned because after I bid I saw reviews that said the hotel was HORRIBLE! I posted my concerns and fellow traveler "thereuare" gave me a link to the hotel reviews on "citysearch" this was very helpful. The link for the Mansfield review is http://newyork.citysearch.com/profile/7188134/ please check it out, the hotel sounds wonderful and should live up to 4*, also, I was told to go back to biddingfortravel.com and at the bottom of the page there are hotel reviews.