Getting Discouraged with Priceline...(NYC)
 

Well, after reading about all the great deals the rest of you have been getting on Priceline.com, I've been bidding during the past week for a 4 star in West Midtown (OK, this is my only area selected but this is the area we really want). Anyway, I'm up to $105. per night for 4 nights Monday August 26- Friday August 30th.(before busy Labor day weekend). Still no acceptance. What am I doing wrong. Maybe I'm bidding too early for August? This is my first experience with Priceline.com but I'm already discouraged. I have 72 hrs. to figure out what I should do?? To those of you who have been successful on Priceline.com, I'd appreciate your ideas. I've already read success stories on biddingfortravel.com (different dates) and others are getting good deals..what's wrong? Should I lower to 3 star? I'm not sure what 3 stars are in the area I'm searching for...??Thanks, Marcie

Not a Priceline tip, but here's something for you to mull over:<BR><BR>In the Sunday NYT travel section (which comes out on Saturday night) There's an ad for the Empire Hotel, which is located across the street from Lincoln Center, a little north of Midtown, in an upscale residential/commercial area:<BR><BR>"Twice is nice for half the price:<BR>Book One Night, get one night free, from $119. Reservations 888-822-3555<BR>www.empirehotel.com<BR>Valid until August 31st, 2002. Based upon availability"<BR><BR>Hope this is useful!

Check rates and availability for 4* properties in Manhattan for that period - if it's anticipated to be a busy time the prcieline inventory will be smaller and prices higher. Biddingfortravel.com has a list of whaic properties have been awarded in the past for 3*, 4* etc. No gaurantee that you'll get those properties but it will give you a reference for checking prices and also let you determine if the types of properties thay list aat 3* are ones you'd be okay with. Check Hotwire also. They are presently showing $139 to $154 for 4* midtown (and they are a bit more lenient than PL in what they call 4*). You may have to go higher. Best bet might be to hunt for best deal on a refundable/cancellable reservation through regular channels and then try rebidding a few times between now and next month. Be sure to check the Hotel FAQ at referenced website to understand how you can get some "free rebids" without waiting 72 hours. I was in NYC today and the line at TKTS was one of the longest I've ever seen - this was at 6 PM when it is usually only a few yards long - also noticed all the double decker tourist buses were completely full. Tourism is back up and we should expect prices to be back up too (oh well...).

Well, priceline's inventory changes all the time so I suggest you just keep trying. You may feel the pain of " I need it now" but if your reservations are for August I wouldn't worry at this point. What I suggest is to look for a hotel property and book regularly through them (do NOT book a non-refundable hotel room); direct rates are ALWAYS going to be higher than priceline, but it should be considered a backup option. <BR><BR>Also, you may want to open your options to include Midtown East. Rates there are typically a bit lower than Midtown West.

Marcie:<BR>There really is no reason to limit your hotel search to only Midtown west. Manhattan has the best mass transit of any american city, and coupled with unlimitedtransit pasees, which are good on buses and subways, exactly where you will be staying really doesn't make much difference. If you limit the area where you want to stay, you only limit the #of hotels where you can possibley stay, and may not get the best value, regardless of how you book your room. I would continuw with Priceline, but add differnt zones. I mean, if you check biddingfortravel.comm, you will see people getting The Hyatt Stanhope for $80/nt. 2 yrs ago that hotel would be over $300/nt!!!

I have no experience using Priceline, but I know the New York hotel and tourist scene.<BR>A few "facts of life":<BR>1. You usually only hear the success stories about getting tremendous deals with Priceline. Rarely do hear about the times when it doesn't happen.<BR>2. The summertime is a peak tourist time in New York City. You're not going to find that many bargains 3 1/2 months out. Hotels aren't going to make a lot of their inventory available at bargain rates this far out. (Incidently, Labor Day is NOT a busy weekend in NYC. In fact, your planned vacation time may well be the last big tourist period of the summer!)<BR>3. $105 for a 4* hotel is not close to realistic for the summertime!

Book a cancellable back-up in the meantime, and try once/week. It sounds like Priceline just doesn't have inventory right now, and unless there is a MAJOR convention in town, i suspect inventory will open up.<BR><BR>I don't know if you have specific reasons for only wanting Midtown West, but i agree with the above poster that hotel location is not that much of a factor in NYC (at least not b/w midtown, midtown west, and midtown east). HOWEVER, it's your trip and don't let me talk you into anything you really don't want. I DO think it's too early to give up on Priceline and start lowering your star ratings.

Many people post below $100 for 4 Star hotels like that is the standard. My guess is that many of those bids were post 9/11 through March, pretty much a one time occurence. If you can get a 4 star in midtown for under $130 you've probably done well now through the end of the year. As others have told you, book something that is refundable and check with priceline a week or 2 before your visit.<BR><BR>Having said that, we would never use Priceline since staying at the RIGHT hotel is a major part of our enjoyment of a vacation. We HAVE to know where we're staying and only after having done exhaustive research regarding location, amenities, price, room type, etc. Best of Luck.

Frank, you don't know what you're talking about. People are still getting very good prices on Priceline. I just booked the NY Hilton for $90 for mid-May.

Get priceline bidding information from www.biddingfortravel.com. They also sometimes have bonus money links to add to your bid. If they have no inventory it won't matter how much you bid but the inventory changes constantly.

Johnq doesn't know what he's talking about. Just because he got a room on Priceline for mid-May doesn't mean that rooms are available for August or any other period. After all, Priceline is a vehicle for the disposal of excess inventory, and the inventory constantly changes. If mid-August is normally high season, one would naturally expect little or no excess inventory. However, if, as August approaches and it appears that demand will be soft, then excess inventory may be released thru Priceline. I therefore concur with the poster who suggested that you book a firm reservation now thru other means and check Priceline again for a better rate as August approaches.

WmShatner: Why don't you read my post a little more carefully. I was responding to Frank's suggestion that the under $100 Priceline successes were likely bids made through March and that a price under $130 would should now be considered a success. I do happen to know what I'm talking about, WmShatner. People have posted on biddingfortravel.com successful bids on rooms in August at the Park Stanhope Hyatt (Upper East Side), the Grand Hyatt (Midtown East) and the NY Hilton (Midtown West) in the $75-88 range.<BR><BR>I never suggested that Marcie shouldn't book a cancellable back-up reservation for now until she has success on Priceline.

Although biddingfortravel.com provides good advice, you really shouldn't expect to get the same rates that others did, even if bidding for the exact same date. The others may have gotten the last available rooms at price, or the Priceline computer may go "hmmm, there seems to be a lot of demand for this date, maybe I'll raise the price up a notch". Or perhaps a sizable amount of rooms remain unsold, and prices may have gone down.

I don't use priceline or any other site where you have to bid. I have worked for several hotels and it was funny when people with priceline res came in and actually paid more than the going rate(that they would have gotten if they had called us or even just walked in with no res). See when you bid, you have no idea what the "real" lowest price is so you could be paying a lot more. I am sure that there are some people that have gotten good deals through priceline but I would definitly be checking a lot of other places. And just because you keep bidding doesnt mean they are going to give in and give it to you for what you think you should get it at.

Some people book a "back-up" hotel and then try Priceline closer to date of travel.

Sounds like Leigh ran into Priceline customers who hadn't done their homework. One of the basic points that biddingfortravel.com makes is to DO YOUR HOMEWORK first, including checking their site to get an idea of which hotels you might get for a given location and number of stars, then check the hotels' own web sites and other regular booking sites to find out the best rates. Without that info, you might well overbid, as some of Leigh's guests apparently did.

A question for Leigh, which occaisionally comes up on the BiddingforTravel board....<BR><BR>Were Priceline customers assigned the worst rooms in the hotel? (ie- the smaller rooms, or those next to the elevators or ice machines?)

Thanks for all the responses. nyer, I took your advice and booked 4 nights at the Empire Hotel (pay for 3 and got 4th night free) as well as 4 nights at the Beacon Hotel. Both are further north west than I had wanted to be but will be more than acceptable should Priceline.com not pull through for us. Now I actually have 2 reservations and may have to chose which of these to keep and which to cancel. Thanks again! Marcie

I have never booked a hotel on one of these travel sites either. i guess I am too scared. I know where I want to stay and what is exceptable and I would not trust it to chance because where you stay does make things more or less enjoyable. As far as flights however I don't care as long as it is fast, convenient, and inexpensive. I love www.orbitz.com but to each her own.

I wouldn't call Priceline a travel site, it's more like a TV game show where you have to guess the price of an item behind a curtain which obscures the important details. And if you happen to guess correctly, you're obligated to buy the item at the winning price.<BR><BR>Some people are good at playing this game, others aren't.

Just a word of warning, Jackie: If you want a flight that's "fast, convenient, and inexpensive," then Priceline is not for you, since it focuses exclusively on the inexpensive part of that equation. Your Priceline flight might leave at some ungodly hour of the morning or night, and might involve at least one transfer.

Thereuare-<BR><BR>No, I wouldn't say that I ever noticed people with priceline reservations getting the worst rooms(not at the hotel I worked at at least). I worked for a Hyatt and it was a fairly nice hotel, the standard rooms were very nice and all exactly the same. So when a priceline res came in, they really got what everyone else got. In some cases you will get stuck with those rooms if you check in late and the occupancy rate is high, you just get stuck with what is available. But in other circumstances we often gave nicer rooms, like suites and penthouses to an average joe if we didnt have anything else available. However, I would not doubt that happens at other places.

Try Hotwire.

About the Empire Hotel deal mentioned in this thread: <BR><BR>"Twice is nice for half the price:<BR>Book One Night, get one night free, from $119. Reservations 888-822-3555<BR>www.empirehotel.com" <BR><BR>I called and the deal is not quite what you might assume. You get the last night free for any stay that's at least two days. So if you stay ten days, you pay for nine of them. They're out of $119 rooms for the rest of June; the cheapest room was $149. That's a good price if you're staying two nights, since you'd pay just $74.50/night. But the deal is less impressive for longer stays.

Have you considered bidding on a 3 star hotel on Priceline?<BR>I stayed at the Paramount two weeks ago for $100 and others have gotten it for less, depending on the date. The rooms are small, but the location is great. The other three star hotels I have gotten on Priceline were Hilton, Hyatt and Radisson.<BR><BR>Good luck!<BR><BR>Also, check Hotwire, you may be able to get something there.

I was another one of those Priceline naysayers until I got a $65/night room in Manhattan for Memorial Day Weekend. As I've said before, you get good rates on Priceline the same way you get to Carnegie Hall. Practice. <BR><BR>It is not for the inflexible or the faint of heart. You can get stuck, and you can overbid. But you also can get great deals in nice places. <BR><BR>I'm by no means an expert, but I'm certainly a convert. The advice given above is excellent, particularly the part about following the biddingfortravel forum. Read their FAQs, then read them again. Practice with unrealistically small bids to figure out how it works for yourself. Don't want to work at it? Fine. Pay rack rate.

I've done better on Hotwire.com and it seems so much easier to me than priceline.com. I guess everyone has had different experiences. I found priceline.com very frustrating! Kris

The OP is (was?) looking for a place for 4 consecutive nights, which might be the problem. If Priceline has no hotel with all 4 nights available, it will have to reject his bid. In that situation, I'd bid for 2 nights at a time. I'm willing to change hotels to save big bucks!

Syzt has a good point; the other big point is that Marcie was looking in early may for a room at the end of August/Labor Day. No way Priceline.com is going to have much of anything that far out. Look at the biddingfortravel.com reports and you'll see that most bids are in the 1-4 week future, not 3+ months. The hotels aren't going to release inventory to Priceline until they're fairly certain they won't be able to rent the rooms through other means. <BR><BR>It's also crucial to read the biddingfortravel hotel FAQ on how to re-bid through use of star levels and neighborhoods. <BR><BR>The rooms we've gotten through Priceline have always been standard or better, not inferior. Last week we spent 4 nights in very nice hotels in LA for an average of $50 a night, as opposed to the $189-$219 rates advertised in their "web specials." We are absolutely believers.

Try BiddingforTravel.com. People post bids that being accepted for most cities.<BR><BR>http://pub109.ezboard.com/bpricelineandexpediabidding<BR><BR>http://wwwbiddingfortravel.com<BR><BR><BR>A great site for anyone using Priceline.<BR>

I've had great luck on Priceline in both NYC and Orlando. Just be patient. I didn't find in any of the cases that I was given a less-desired room - my king size bedded room at the Millennium Broadway had a great view and was very large. The front desk clerk has the biggest say in what room you get.

I agree with above poster that says Priceline is a game show or casino. In my opinion, those who have Priceline" "success secrets" can not be correct - the very nature of the company contradicts that - they are selling leftovers, and that can often change. Hotels seem to be guessing that they will not have leftovers before Labor Day weekend.<BR><BR>The best tip I have heard is book a backup that is cancellable and keep trying. We booked Baltimore Inner Harbor 4 months out with few problems, even though everyone told us that would not work.<BR><BR>Also, biddinfortravel comments are similar to the ones you hear from everyone who has ever been to a casino - ever hear anyone brag about their failures?

I have to admit that I lucked out today and bid $90 for a 4* hotel in Midtown East and was accepted on first bid through priceline. So we are staying at the Grand Hyatt for well under half the room rate the hotel offered me. They just neglect to tell you it costs $40 a day to park there.

Note to LeeAnn - cheaper parking is available. There are places in midtown west where you can park for about $20 per 24 hours including taxes. Just drop off the luggage and one person at the hotel then go park the car and walk or subway back. You could also just park and take a cab. No way I'll pay $40 to park in NYC. I'm there several times every week and refuse to pay through the nose for parking.<BR><BR>Note to Gail: I'm a priceline adherent and believer and have gotten incredible deals. I agree that casinos are a rip-off and question the folks who insist that they always win. I don't always get the rrom or price I'm hoping for on Priceline but have studied and learned the bidding process. I research rates and availability carefully. On occasion Pricelin simply has no inventory available for my desired dates at a price I can justify and I make other arrangements. I just did some bidding last night. Tried for a room in Tillamook OR and also in Port Angeles WA. Couldn't get a room for the amount I was willing to bid and will find it through other means. I also bid and got a room for one night in Portland OR at the downtown Doubletree - $33 plus $5.95 Priceline processing fee. If you can find me another source that will provide me with a decent room that cheap in Portland I'd love to know what it is. Later that same week I'll be staying in Seattle for five nights at the new Eliott Grand Hyatt - paid $40 per night on Priceline - that is not a typo! It's not for everybody but success is not guaranteed and there's some work involved in research but I have consistently gotten great deals. I have never, ever gotten a good deal on airfare from Priceline and for that reason have never purchase air tickets through them - always stopped bidding because i got as high as I could justify but still wasn't winning my bids. Other folks seem to do well with air tix but that hasn't been my experience. Why would I pretend that I do well with hotel bids but acknowledge my failure to achieve any savings on air tickets? Because it's all true.

Thanks for posting your PL experience, Owen. I'm hooked on PL too. Taught my next door neighbor the ropes last night. She bid on a Seattle 4* and got the Eliott Grand Hyatt at $40 for an October date. What's not to like?

"What's not to like..." is Gail, the poster above, who has the absolute gall to say that people relating their own experiences..."are not correct." She needs a new four-letter name....maybe PITA.