economical hotels in Manhatten, New York

[fastmiele 59]

I am travelling to Manhatten from Tuesday May 20-23 and looking for hotel accomodations for 2 people. I have a friend who recommended me Chelsea Lodge because its very economical. I got word back from the place that they are completely booked. So now I am kind of left scrambling to find something below $200 a night. I was searching around the internet and found that the average price of a 3 Star hotel is $300 and up. That's way above my budget. Ideally I am looking for something in the $150 range.

One friend referred me to "priceline.com" for discounted hotel accomodations. I was going over all the information and its quite attractive and interesting, but my analysis has lead me to believe that in order to get a good price/discount you must book a few months in advance or within one week of your trip. I already tried booking any 3 Star hotel under $170 and I had no luck.

Does anyone have any advice/tips ?

Thanks.

(sleepless in TO)

[Jason Harris 31]

I haven't used the site but a friend referred me to BiddingForTravel.com. He said it's helpful in two way: 1) people post what bids have recently been accepted; 2) there are discussions about the algorithms used by Priceline.

Apparently, there is something about the way Priceline prioritizes its bids that can lead the system into booking the higher star hotels.

[fastmiele 59]

yeah, my friend referred me to that site too and I tried to follow people's strategy of adding zones and stuff.

As a newbie I didn't have much success. I started off with 4 star and went downwards to 3 stars. I also started adding more zones and increasing my price to $170. After that point I stopped because the price was just getting too high for my budget.

A couple people told at this point I cannot really do anything because the threshold is around $170-225 per night. If I want anything lower than I have to wait until the last few days leading up to my trip. At that point there may be a lack of demand so they may lower their rates.

[Allsmokenopancake 0]

Do not stay at the Pennsylvania on 34th across from MSG. Dirty dirty hole of a place.

I stayed there once, never again.

Myself and my wife usually spend Christmas in New York (because we don't get the time to go home for long enough), but we usually stay in nice hotels (which are a lot cheaper at christmas because there are so many empty rooms. We stayed in the Waldorf Astoria last year for $219 a night)

[WhiskeyTango19 0]

Does it need to be in Manhattan? There are a LOT of hotels right across the river in Jersey that are much cheaper than NYC. Are you going to have a rental car, or just walking/mass transit?

[RadioGaGa 162]

Do not stay at the Pennsylvania on 34th across from MSG. Dirty dirty hole of a place.

I stayed there once, never again.

Myself and my wife usually spend Christmas in New York (because we don't get the time to go home for long enough), but we usually stay in nice hotels (which are a lot cheaper at christmas because there are so many empty rooms. We stayed in the Waldorf Astoria last year for $219 a night)

I stayed at the Penn in '98. I thought lobby looked great...like an old movie from the 40's. But, yeah...the room wasn't great.

I wasn't paying for that trip...so I didn't really care. He wouldn't get that place for his budget anyways....I was looking it up when I saw the thread...and the cheapest avaialable rooms for that time period are 249 a night.

[fastmiele 59]

Does it need to be in Manhattan? There are a LOT of hotels right across the river in Jersey that are much cheaper than NYC. Are you going to have a rental car, or just walking/mass transit?

It doesn't have to be in Manhatten, but it seems to be a bit challenge getting a place in Jersey too. My co-worker approached me with the idea of getting a hotel in Jersey along the Hudson River. He said it was only a 12 minute bus ride to get to Manhatten. He said he paid $79 a night. I was pretty excited and game. We went online to check it out. To my surprise the lowest rate available was $229 a night. http://www.starwoodhotels.com/sheraton/pro...propertyID=1177

So how did he get this rate ? He then started talking about William Shatner and then I realized that he must of used priceline.com to snag the deal.

I am all for saving money and it doesn't seem that bad of an idea going to Jersey, but I don't have a car and planning to buy that Metrocard where you get unlimited transit in Manhatten (ideal for me). Also, I am planning to go to a Yankees game and it may be some late nights so I don't want to be travelling around in Jersey at that point of the night. So that's why I am willing to pay a certain amount more for the convenience of a hotel near a Manhatten subway station.