Priceline Hotel: Newbie - London 5* 2 nights

[divorcingjack]

Hi all, 

 

I'm new to Priceline and am devoting the next couple of days to finding a nice 5* in central-ish london, bloomsbury/kensington ideally. A 2 night trip (no kids!) - a treat for myself and my husband. There haven't been too many winning bids that I can see for 5* recently, so I'm after a bidding strategy. I don't really want to pay over about $140/night, so I'm aware I might have to downgrade to 4* to get this. 

 

Off to do some reading and research! Just one quick question - does the bidding helper "use" up a bid on priceline? I'm a bit confused as to how it works. 

 

Thanks!

 

dj 

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

 

The BiddingHelper.com tool does not 'take away' any of your PRICELINE bids... it's simply a tool that allows you to easily see your options with both PRICELINE, PRICELINE EXPRESS, and HOTWIRE with just one search.  As well, using the GREEN 'See All Amenities' button in the BiddingHelper.com EASY VIEW tab for HOTWIRE ensures you're seeing the complete amenity set for each property.  Lastly, in both the EASY VIEW tab and the PRICELINE EXPRESS tab each has a 'IS THIS A GOOD PRICE' feature that shows you hotels of the same star rating in the nearby area so you can make sure that the 'opaque' (PRICELINE / HOTWIRE) rate that you're seeing is a good price vs. a regular rate purchase in that area (or maybe you find a great price for a hotel that you're willing to book direct)

 

To get started, rates are date specific... what are the actual dates of your trip?

 

Please remember to return to BetterBidding and use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPSandHOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.

[divorcingjack]

Hi, 

 

Thanks so much for your reply and for explaining the tool, I'll give it a go now. I knew I'd forgotten something, the dates are 22-24th may :)

 

Thanks! 

[thereuare]

At current rates a centrally located 5* hotel will likely cost you closer to a little more than $200+... i don't think $140 has much of a shot, imo.

 

Please remember to return to BetterBidding and use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPSandHOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.

 

Let us know once you're ready to move forward and how you'd like to proceed and we'll take it from there.

[divorcingjack]

Thanks very much for the info - certainly looks like the 5* is out of reach on the budget :( 

 

Areas that I'd look at after some research include bloomsbury, mayfair, regents park, the city and westminster. I think I'll give the 5* a shot, in case of random luck! I have my re-bid areas worked out, so I'll give that a go up to limit and then work my way down to the 4*. I don't think there are any 4.5* in london, are there? 

 

One more quick question - I assume that the priceline UK site will charge the associated credit card in GBP? Are there any credit card changes? 

 

Thanks, 

dj 

[thereuare]

There are currently no 4.5* hotels offered in the London region.

 

I don't use the UK version of PRICELINE but I would assume that they charge in their local currency (but still please still use our PRICELINE link to access their site... if you're not automatically redirected to the UK version of their site then you can do so using a link near the footer of the PL page).

 

If you'd like help with a bidding strategy please let us know which zones you'd like to bid by PRICELINE name and we will advise accordingly. (NOTE: to confirm your re-bid zones you have 21 re-bid zones at the 5* level... 8 re-bid zones at the 4* level)

 

Please remember to return to BetterBidding and use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPSandHOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.

 

Good luck and let us know how it goes or if we can be of further help.