Priceline advice please

snaver

Can anyone please tell me if the time to get the best deals on Priceline's 'name your own price' is booking as far ahead as possible (when hotels may have more rooms available) or just before you want to stay (when hotels may have empty rooms and less chance of filling them)? Any advice or experiences gratefully received.

jpsartre

There's no answer to your question. Depends on the hotel and how many rooms they have unsold.

vegasvisitor

Yes, will vary I'm afraid so no straight answer.

I would suggest looking up priceline express to see what's on offer. Then use https://www.betterbidding.com to work out what hotel it is. Then you can either use priceline express, or try bidding at the same target. Bidding may get your a further 10% off. So if you see a hotel on express for £50, try £45 of less by bidding. Depends how much time you have to be doing daily bids.

You may want to name your destination in case anyone has knowledge of it, or might be prepared to do a bit of prowling for you if you're not too used to Priceline you might want to get some help from folk who are more familiar. It is always a bit of a guessing game, so you have to be sure you won't be disappointed if you don't get exactly the hotel you are hoping for.

Hope this helps.

snaver

Thanks Lesley and JP, much appreciated. I'm looking specifically for the Times Square area of New York for a week in early May, if anyone has any advice or experiences they could share please?

vegasvisitor

Ouch, New York is always going to be expensive I think. I can't remember which we used, either Hotwire or Priceline for NY and we got Washington Jefferson and it wasn't great. It was reasonably near Times Square.

The next time we went we decided to try Jersey City instead and got the Westin very cheaply (might have been Hotwire), and it was a great deal! I liked Jersey City but if you really want Times Sq area you may not consider it.

Have you tried Priceline Express comparing with the hotel list on betterbidding.com? That should be your first port of call I would think. Match up the facilities and you should get an idea of what you might get. If you like all possible options you could try a priceline bid.

I'd also advise you to try Hotwire in case they offer something a bit different. I always try both.

At a glance, I put in 4-11May to see what comes up. Starts at £180 per night! Personally I wouldn't be wanting to pay that. There seem to be a lot in the 4* category in the hotel lists. 4.5* appears to be the Intercontinental, but pricey!!

duchy

I've Pricelined NYC twice- First time I wanted a 4* and got the Hilton (the one opposite BB Kings which was brilliant as I had tickets to a show there) . The second time a 3* superior -I got the Crowne Plaza - which was fine.

I'd use them again for Manhattan.

blindman

snaver wrote: »

Thanks Lesley and JP, much appreciated. I'm looking specifically for the Times Square area of New York for a week in early May, if anyone has any advice or experiences they could share please?

Read the guide I wrote a while back.

When to bid, early or late?
There is no good answer to this question. Some great hotels load their Priceline inventory months in advance. Others only load inventory or their best rates shortly before the dates.
Bid as soon as your dates are firm, but the lowest bid you’ve found with your research.
If you aren’t getting what you want, don’t keep bidding and raising your price through impatience. Stop bidding and make a cancellable backup.
Watch the two forums for winning bids in your city\zone and or wait until about one month to three weeks out, then bid more seriously.

Not sure why you want to stay in Times Square TBHO.

Read the New York thread for advice where to stay.

Jersey City can throw up some bargains but there is a trade off with convenience.


If you do some research the outcome should not be too much of a surprise.

snaver

Thank you all. Really sound advice.

jpsartre

Keep in mind that by using Hotels.com (which offers every 10th night free) and going through a cashback site like Topcashback (which often has a 10% cashback offer on Hotels.com), you can effectively get a 20% discount on the advertised rates.

visidigi

jpsartre wrote: »

Keep in mind that by using Hotels.com (which offers every 10th night free) and going through a cashback site like Topcashback (which often has a 10% cashback offer on Hotels.com), you can effectively get a 20% discount on the advertised rates.

This.

and the NYC metro is sooo easy.

Distrik is a nice hotel - I personally think buying into a fully refundable deal then constantly looking for better works - at least you can fall back to an early deal at no hit.

We've ended up booking 13 nights in California with 12% cashback and a free night through hotels.com.

Up front expense, but long term benefit