We recently used hotwire.com and priceline.co.uk for booking a trip to Boston & New England. Both sites were recommended by colleagues at work and there was positive feedback on AAM.
We got a 4* hotel in Downtown Boston on a Sat night for $100, whereas the guidebook was telling us $300!
With both websites, you must enter your credit card details first and you blind book (i.e. you don't know which hotel you have gotten until after you have boooked).
Yes you can specify the standard of accommodation you want along with the general geographic location. If you do a search on hotwire or priceline for "condos" they are the equivalent of apartments and you can get a 1, 2 or 3 bedroom.
You also don't have to input your credit card details if you are an ebay user as they do accept paypal which is great peace of mind.
I also used hotwire recently and got a 3* hotel in the area I wanted (not in NYC but in the US) for $49 per night, exclusive of taxes. The same hotel was on special offer via an irish travel agent for over triple the price.
Check out www.betterbidding.com for further details on using these 2 accommodation booking sites.
myself and a few friends just came back from new york and stayed in self -catering apartments with great location right at the bottom of central park. it worked out to be great value between the four of us. check out [broken link removed]
Another priceline fan here (I have used hotwire in the past and liked it but find I can get better deals on priceline).
We got the Grand Hyatt at Grand Central Station in NYC for $120 a night instead of $295.
Priceline is a little scary at first, check out www.betterbidding.com for tips and ideas on how and where to bid.
For NYC we only bid on 4* (too many dodgy places included in the 3* ranking) in Midtown East. It can only be the Hyatt or the Intercontinental - both perfect.
Check the booking sites to get an idea of price and location that suits you. But also check direct on the websites of any of the hotels who have one, as they often have specials.
Last summer I got Fitzpatrick's Manhattan direct for much much less than any of the booking agents were offering.