Do hotel concierges ever get good prices for shows, or are they only used by people with no time who are willing to pay big bucks?

They are usually used to get hard to get tickets at premium prices.

Agree. No good prices, just good tix.

For the best prices, you go to the discount websites or the TKTS booth.
For the best tickets (at high prices), you go to your concierge!

Concierges never get discount tickets - they get hard to get tickets at premium prices.

To get discounts go to broadwaybox.com which lists the shows that are offering discounts. Take the discount code, go to the regular web ticket seller for the show and pick your seats. Or - wait until you get to the city and go to the TKTS booth day of and take you chances (maybe a lot of shows and good tickets, may be only a few and not so good.)

Before getting tickets from the concierge,Try ticketmaster and ask for premium seats.All shows hold premium seats.(usually the best seats in the house)The tickets are expensive but not as much as a broker.I was able to get last minute tickets to Jersey Boys this way.Yes they were expensive but half the price I would have paid a broker.playbill.com is a great way to get discount tickets.

Just to clarify cindymal's post. Most premium seats sold by the theatre (via Telecharge or Tickemaster, depending on the theatre) are $250. But she is right, that many brokers are charging double that, and for tickets not nearly so good!!!

We've used the concierge only when we've had no time, it is extremely last minute, and we've already gone online in the hotel, tried broadwaybox.com and paid for the premium seats ourselves or used AmexPoints (which they will transfer and complete the transaction for you in seconds online now) -

It's not a great swap tickets for points, but for me it sometimes takes the sting out of having to pay for them -

You can usually get the same tix the concierge does, - our experience has been when we can not find tickets either at the theater, online or with a ticket broker we have used, then the concierge can find them w/ his contacts w/ other brokers, but the price is often ridiculous - although once the price was not bad, it was an hour before the show and we'd put a cap on what we'd pay and I think the concierge found someone who figured that was better than not selling them with only an hour to show time.

I know you aren't asking for this, but I think this is a good web page for lots of info about tickets and options -
http://home.nyc.rr.com/frugaltheatergoe/