I'm bringing my 18 year old niece to NYC for her High School graduation gift, three mid-week days next week. Just settled on the dates, so its last minute.

After checking with Travelzoo and Quikdeals, I've decided to go with Priceline bids since I'd prefer not to pay more than $150 per night and have had good luck with Priceline in other cities. I'm looking to balance budget with safety and am wishing to hear from others who have used Priceline recently for hotels in mid-town, Gramercy, or Upper East/West side. We don't need many frills, but we do need safety, cleanliness, and two beds. I have my iPhone, so we don't need Wifi.

I'm planning to bid on 3 or 31/2 star hotels. Is it possible to get a room for $120 per night? $140? If anyone bid this star-level, were you happy with the hotel?

Thanks so much for any feedback/suggestions.

Please note it is spelled Manhattan.

There's no way to guarantee 2 beds with Priceline, particularly in Manhattan. You could even end up with a double bed, which would not be great unless you're both quite petite. Take a look at www.betterbidding.com for tips.

Bidding on Priceline gives you one bed as far as I know.

Do you know about the calendar of wins at www.betterbidding.com?

http://www.betterbidding.com/index.p...page=calendar&

You can see what has been won lately (and you can enter your win in return if you use it). In the past I've won The Roosevelt and one of the East Side Marriotts (not the Courtyard at 52nd/53rd, the other one).

If you use Hotwire instead of Priceline, and specify 3 people, you will get only rooms with two beds. Prices will be a little higher than on Priceline because you can usually identify the hotel with a little sleuthing.

Thanks for all of the helpful tips, esp about betterbidding.com and Hotline as an option. I'll check those out right now.

Sorry, I meant Hotwire.

Aduchamp, your spelling correction reminded me of when I lived there in the late '70s and my boyfriend gave me lessons on how to correctly pronounce the town. It wasn't MAN-hattan, as I grew up in Michigan thinking that it was--LOL.

Safety really isn't an issue if you are staying in Manhattan, though you will find that some streets look desolate and scary, but they are in fact quite safe.

It will be much harder to find a room with 2 beds in that price range, even at Priceline, which doesn't tend to work very well for mid-week travel to Manhattan.

You will HAVE to use Hotwire if you want an opaque site room in NYC to guarantee 2 beds. But hotels aren't discounting quite as much this summer as they did last year, so you might have to stretch to find a hotel that meets your price requirements. And it's possible that you might not find one at all. With hotel occupancy rates as high as they are now, $150 per night is not very realistic for even an average Manhattan hotel.

If you really have difficulty finding something there are a lot of mid-range chain hotels in Long Island City, Queens (1 subway stop from Midtown Manhattan) that are decent, particularly for the money, and you might be able to find a room in your price range there. Check the Country Inn & Suites Long Island City. My cousin stayed there recently and liked it.

The Country Inn & Suites that I referenced is $90 per night next week. I'd go for that if I were you. It's less than 5 minutes from all the major subway lines in Queens and is 1 to 3 stops from Manhattan depending on the line you take.

Hi Doug, Thanks for the Queens suggestions though I think I've got a Times Square hotel through Hotwire. If it was just my hubby and I, my original price seems to be in the ballpark for Priceline, but not with the 2 bed requirement. While its true you can request two beds with the hotel directly once Priceline books you in, not every hotel will be able to accommodate that, or even a give you a roll-away and with so few days in the city, I don't want to spend any time on hassles.

The hotel we're in isn't as low as I wanted (of course) but very near our bus-pickup at Rock Ctr for the third day and won't break the bank. $225 per night, if you are interested.

Thanks all for your suggestions, think I'm set.

Does you price include the taxes? Typically prices in the US do NOT include tax - and for hotels in NYC it's about 16%. (So more like $60.) And don't forget tips in restaurnts, cabs etc (20% is usual unless service is bad).

$225 per night is a good price for Times Square, and for that you'll probably end up in one of the mid-range chain hotels along 8th Avenue near Times Square. I hope it's not the Milford Plaza, though, which I don't particularly like. When you actually book, I'd love to know the name of the hotel.