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?

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.

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
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
no charge! Now I go online and find those rooms for $500 a night! It was such a great room with a good price
I decided to try Priceline.com for
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!! "

So, you let someone else pick the flight times and the hotel for you??? You lucked out but it could have been much worse.

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
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.

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?

Thanks again!

No offense, but INTIMIDATED(??) by a website? Are you sure you're ready for NYC?

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.

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.