Spiralling costs of trips to NYC- when to book.

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We need to go to NYC for a family thing in autumn and stay in a certain hotel. On Friday the price was £3850. Today the cost is £4510, a 17% rise in a week. The pound is rapidly becoming worthless against the dollar and its having a huge knock on effect as the hotels take payment in dollars. We couldn’t book on Friday as we were waiting confirmation from family about something which has now come through.

I honestly can’t see anything on the horizon that will reinstate global confidence in our currency. We are left with two options. Book now or hope the exchange rate improves and book later on, but if the hotel and plane becomes more booked up, then those costs might increase and eat any savings that we may make on a better exchange rate.

Try clearing your cookies...

When in Autumn? If it's half term of thanksgiving the demand will be higher for example. Is the price hotel only or a package?

I would book both flights and accommodations asap.

I'd recommend booking a package in sterling e.g. with BA Holidays then you know what you are paying regardless on exchange rate fluctuations.

Definitely try and book a package - either virgin or BA. Always works out cheaper for NY.

All of the above. Chances are if you looked and looked again cookies will have pushed the price up because now the know know you are really interested in that hotel on those dates. But also you may be able to get a package via an airline or e.g. Expedia.

Thanks for your replies so far.

Its not a half term here or there but it is Columbus Day weekend which doesn’t help.
i have cleared cookies and it’s not made a difference.

As for paying in sterling, we are getting quoted from ATOL protected UK travel agents (and would only pay for a package to get the protection). The problem is that the hotel charges the agent in USD, so $470 a night is becoming more and more in £.

Have you read the first answer?

It's a well known trick that airlines use sometimes.

X-post sorry discard my answer

Annoyingly Virgin and BA don’t offer the hotel that we need, only Expedia do. It’s a bog standard Marriott but it’s where the rest of family are staying.

The cookies thing is tosh, it makes no difference. Or at least not with full service airlines which you have been looking at. Which Marriott is it? Is there another hotel close by you could stay in instead?

Soooo... it's not tosh

I have spent the last 24 hours researching hotels that are near a subway line that connects to the existing hotel but also have a subway line that connects direct to family who live in Queens. Normally when we go to NYC we stay in Chelsea as we prefer a more chilled vibe, but the hotel is in midtown.

In the meantime, I’ve just checked Expedia and the original hotel package has gone down £100!

It will be dynamic pricing. So if the hotel has a rush of bookings all at once then they will assume there’s a private event locally and bump up the prices accordingly. Whilst it might not be possible, it’s always best to contact the hotel direct and agree a group booking rate if there’s lots of you going.

I have just used Trailfinders to book my NYC trip. I use them regularly and they are consistently cheaper than packaging it myself.

Columbus Day won’t have much impact on the hotel. Only government workers have this day off. The rest of us are all working as usual. It’s not like Thanksgiving or 4th July.

There has been a huge rush in travel to all destinations lately - especially as the “masks on planes” mandate has just been overturned. The very next day people were rushing to book to go to all sorts of places. Many people here did not want to fly whilst masks were still required (and I don’t blame them, it’s bloody uncomfortable) and the moment that was dropped, planes and hotels reported a surge in bookings. It’ll settle down.

It's not exchange rates making that size of a difference, it's dynamic pricing and demand. You're not going to get a good deal going to NYC by waiting for prices to drop, especially when you're restricted to specific dates and locations. There's too much pent-up demand from people who haven't been able to travel for the last 2 years. Airlines and hotels are trying to make the most of it and claw some money back after 2 years of almost nothing.

Can you book cancellable rooms at the hotel and just keep an eye on the prices ? I do that quite often - usually worth looking 2-3 weeks before arrival as if it's going to be reduced it's usually around then.

Did you look at Marriott direct? They usually have discounted rates if you sign up to their loyalty program. Or booking.com sometimes has a good discount if you have a genius level.

It really is, I’ve worked in the field for 20 odd years. Perhaps crappy low cost carriers and charter flights do, absolutely not for full service airlines who have to file their fares with IATA.