my sister, daughter and i will be visiting new york december 13-17. i was interested in the lucerne but it's a little pricey. i noticed the excelsior is the only hotel listed on priceline on the upper west side. has anyone tried this? thank you

Take a look at biddingfortravel.com and betterbidding.com Both sites are good to see what hotels are available and what you should bid.

Live here - so obviously don;t bid on hotels. but it gets good reviews for a moderate hotel and is in a great location - only a few blocks from the Lucerne.

If you want this I would try bidding right away - since you're going at the busiest time of year. Agree to look at the web sites listed to see what type of price you might get - assuming they have enough availability to give any rooms to Priceline.

I stayed here a few weeks ago. It was a great location and nice clean room. Very small though; Our bed was a queen and a 3rd person would have to sleep on the carpet. If you can get two rooms on Priceline, I'm sure you'll be happy.

If you want three people in one room in NYC, priceline is definitely not for you.

You can specify three people on hotwire, though. Also, check www.tripadvisor.com for more hotel reviews.

Finally, even if you're willing to bid on two rooms, be well aware that you could get something other than the excelsior. I don't think a lot of people bid UWS on priceline, because most people are interested in midtown, and 4* (which isn't a priceline option for UWS). If that's OK, great! If you want to know what you'll be getting in advance, you're taking a risk with priceline.

Sorry - didn't realize there were 3 of you. You can;t do Priceline - it's for 2 people only - and many hotel rooms in NYC hold only 3 people - unless one is in infant or small child. And the hotel would charge extra for a third person - even if you had the luck to get a room that would hold 3.

You'll need to try HotWire - or the hotel websites - which often have the best prices anyway.