vanpoodle

Ohhh yes, I'm well aware of the * ratings only being a "rough guide" in Europe. I think because Rome is such a tourist mecca, the big hotels just aren't the same as elsewhere. From what I understand, even the airlines use crappy planes to get there because it's just people on holiday and not people on business. I have a ton of air miles that I would use for the Best Western if it comes to that!

Hey, it's not the newest property, but I've won it twice and was quite happy with it, especially at that price. Close to the tube (kilburn Park, Bakerloo line) and a bus alost at the front door that goes to Oxford Street. You've done well!

The flight is booked so now time to start bidding 4*. Used the link. Started low today at $50 for Spanish Steps, Coliseum/Termini, Vatican and Piazza Navona. Worked my way up painfully slowly with permutations using the 3 free re-bid zones, ending at $79. Will pick up again tomorrow and see if any lowballs get accepted, else it's the Best Western for us! But don't worry, I'll be using the site again to bid on Berlin! I'd been hoping there was a "cheap" zone in Rome not far from the action like London has at the moment, but sadly, doesn't look like it!

You might be overly optimistic for a 5*. I've tried in the past for them and given up and gone 4* when bidding got to $150 a night. Traditionally I see winning bids over $180. However, it is always worth trying and some other people got VERY lucky recently. I've been going to London and using PL for about 5 years now and those winning bids from a couple months ago were the first I'd ever seen of that kind of deal. Also, for the Westminster and Mayfair zones, I even gave up on 4* there when my bids of $150 were rejected -- this happened to me mid-November one year. Again, these are all very date specific and inventories change constantly. The zones are also varying, and I was able to get something accepted for $120 for 4* in another zone that time. You've got nearly 6 months to work with, so if it doesn't work now, take a break and try again in another few weeks. Sometimes the amazing deals come through much closer to checkin. Revenue Managers are always going over their projections and allocating inventory to Priceline if they reckon that their occupancy is lower than they want.

ooooh, that is a good app, thanks for recommending it! I looked further at the zones and the known hotels and will throw bids at Spanish Steps, Termini, Vatican and Navona. I'll see if anything gets accepted sub-$100 for 4*. I have points that I can use for a Best Western depending on how high the bidding goes. I'm not crazy about Best Western, but Rome is a weird city hotel wise, the big chains don't seem to have great hotels there, Tripadvisor has a lot of complaints about them all being tired. It seems better to use the points there than for Berlin or London where I can probably get a bid accepted at a lower price while it would cost the same points for a hotel stay. The flight should get booked today and I'll start the bids after that.

The deals right now are for 4* in the Regent's Park zone, if that interests you. They have been getting some great prices with 2 different Marriotts there if you wanted to try that, winning bids have landed in the $55-$100 range. It's still only a short tube ride into the very heart of things and they are both pretty good hotels. Westminster and Mayfair are two very expensive zones and those cheap winning bids were complete flukes, someone got VERY lucky!

If getting all 6 nights together doesn't end up working, you might find that you get deals on 3 night blocks but in different zones. In London the cheaper nights seem to be Fri-Mon, and then during the workweek they are a little pricier. BUT, some zones have the deals during the week and other zones have it on weekends. I just posted an overview of the ones on this forum yesterday if you wanted to take a look at that.

Which zones are you wanting? I just did a long response today about zones in London. Lately, there have been 2 Marriotts (4*)coming up for under $100 in Regent's Park and both have easy access by tube and aren't too far from central London.

It's 4*, as I think 5* will be too expensive, though that would be fabulous. Budget, well, it's a matter of what I have to pay. We're going for sure, and hotel price won't stop the trip! Certainly if the bidding gets too high I might find something better priced using a non-opaque site (like what happened with Sydney Australia last year, no matter how hard I worked PL, the bids kept climbing up to the point where it was pretty much the same as what I was finding elsewhere online on non-opaque sites. Hopefully that doesn't happen again, that was awful!) That crazy 80 Euro deal is only for 2 of the 4 nights and from seeing some of the Rome history before the zones got completely overhauled, I am unlikely to get anything as good as that on PL.

It's worth trying a few of the zones for a 4* (I wouldn't go lower in London) Lately, deals have been coming in for the Regent's Park zone from $60-$100 -- though June might be closer to the higher end of that range. That zone is fairly central, generally PL's hotels are a short tube ride in to the sights. The worst of the hotels PL uses there appears to be the Holiday Inn Camden Lock there which is middle of the road in terms of the hotel itself (not a TERRIBLE place or anything, just average) but it is in a really neat part of the city and still close in. Or you might get lucky and land one of the better hotels they are known to use for that zone.

Theoretically, Mayfair is the most expensive zone, and perhaps lower bids in Notting Hill or Bloomsbury are worth trying. I consider both of those zones as being worthy central bases for a visit to London. I think Westminster (also very central) is likely to have similar pricing to Mayfair. Docklands would be less expensive (I have seen winning bids at what I thought were expensive times below $100) but it is not central (though has good tube access), worth bidding on if nothing within budget working in the more desirable zones and the hassle of getting in and out of there is worth it considering the savings. The two Docklands 4* appear to be a Hilton or a Crowne Plaza and they're both pretty new. And the tube is close. Docklands also isn't exactly central but it is on 2 different tube lines so reasonable for getting to the main places of interest and there is an excellent museum very close to the Hilton Docklands.

Careful with Kensington as, while there are some fabulous 4* ones there, a few bidders have won hotels that I wouldn't be so thrilled with if it were me. I recommend to only bid there if you can't get reasonable bids in another zone and this one gets accepted at a low price.

There's nothing really wrong with City/London Bridge either, it should be cheaper than Mayfair/Westminster.

The 2 known 4* in Finsbury are both very nice hotels, they're just more than 10 minutes' walk to the tube. The east end is really getting revitalized and there is certainly night life there and it is hopping. It wouldn't be a hardship to take the tube to get to a more central zone from there to see the sights.

If you bid on Chelsea you're likely to get the Copthorne Football Club which is entirely decent, less than 10 minutes' walk to the tube, but in zone 2. Or maybe you'll have really good luck and not get this property but instead get a better one. I would only bid separately for Chelsea after reasonable bids in other zones have been rejected (you can use those other more desirable zones as re-bid zones and just work the bids on this zone starting really low) and the cost savings out there make up for the fact that it's not that great a hotel and it's out of the way and its rate is quite a bit cheaper than other comparable hotels and for good reason. (ie I knowingly bid this zone and won this hotel for $120 a night when bids into the $150s were getting rejected for 4* in the Westminster, Mayfair, Notting Hill, Bloomsbury, Regent's park). You are highly unlikely to get something in walking distance to Harrod's or anywhere walkable to Sloane Square -- there are a ton of great hotels in this zone but PL doesn't seem to use them for Name Your Own Price. There is no point bidding this zone plus a nicer zone in the same opening bid at a fair price for the nicer zone because you'll end up with this hotel and be overpaying for it! (the only caveat is that if Chelsea happens to be playing a home game next door (which isn't very often), then they likely haven't given any rooms over to PL for that one night)

Yes, I'm branching out from London! I have 2 nights booked (cancellable) for the 6&7 at an unbeatable price with a big chain (80 Euros), so I need 2 more for the 8&9 (that was kind of a flukey rate and tried a few permutations and that was as many nights as it would give me). If I do well with those I'll see if I can beat my cancellable rate and bid on those two nights as well. I just have no idea of which zones are desirable or which of those zones are usually less expensive than the others. Our flight routes through London so I'll do a night there on the way home, and I know my London bidding very well. Rome is a mystery though! We'll also be heading to Berlin for 3 nights, but that city looks easier and I am confident on how to bid there!

I'll be staying in Rome for 2 nights in early October with my mother. I see that the zones have increased in number. Can anyone share wisdom as to which zones are suitable for us on the tourist trail (good metro links would be helpful) and a rough idea of which tend to be the cheaper and more expensive zones? That will help me to concoct a bidding strategy -- which will of course follow along the lines of "start low and work my way higher among the various zones". I know my London bidding very well and am comfortable being out from the centre of things for a good deal on a room (knowing which are not too far out to make it ridiculous), but I just don't know how Rome works. I have also been told to be wary of pickpockets in the Termini zone, not sure if we should stay away from there?

Unfortunately, there are no guarantees that you'll not get the hotel you don't like with bidding. However, chances are very good that you'll be able to score a 4* hotel in that zone for $80-$100 with bidding. I guess you'll need to determine if the potential savings is worth the risk!

The deals right now seem to be in the North London/Regent's Park zone. Many bids have come up lately for less than $80 a night there (I won at $60 for a stay in March). The Marriott Maida Vale is a pretty good hotel and has great bus and tube links. Zone 2 -- but if price is more important than location, it's a great option. Mayfair/Soho is the most expensive zone and it might be tough to get below $100 a night there.

I had a lot of trouble with bidding in Sydney for my stay last August. I ended up having to go the traditional route when I saw that my bidding was getting to be higher than what other sites were listing for their retail sites. I did very well with bidding on priceline for Melbourne, but Sydney was trouble. The best I can guess is that they don't have that many hotels participating in NYOP. I think I got to just shy of $200 a night for 5* and gave up and booked a known 4*. There were a few dodgy 4* that barely squeaked in to the CBD with NYOP, so I wasn't willing to drop it down to 4* to snag a room. It's worth taking another look because if memory serves they may have changed the zones a bit since then.

I've made a few posts about London as it is one of my favourite cities to visit and PRICELINE has been excellent for it. I would encourage you to consider a couple of the other zones if price is most important to you. Bloomsbury is also very central. I have had my best PRICELINE deals slightly further out in Notting Hill and North London/Regent's Park and those are still very close to the heart of the city. There are many zones in London, some are a ways out, but the three I suggest might give you a better chance of scoring a great deal while being in the thick of things.

Please note that you can still use your Bonus Cash along with the board's PRICELINE links as follows...

1) click the PRICELINE link on the board

2) go to the MY PROFILE >> MY REWARDS link at the top right of their home page

3) use the bonus money link in the MY REWARDS section of your profile (not a link from an email) and bid as usual

Enjoy your stay.

yes, I linked to PRICELINE off your site when I did my bidding!

Okay, on my $60 win for the first part of this weekend where I burned $6.67 in bonus cash I TOTALLY overbid. Sigh. That's one reason why I like splitting up my stay as well, to see if I can get a better price that way. (I was thrilled last year when I got this hotel for $93).

So I went back in with a new bid, started at $55 and was offered a rebid at $66. Threw bids at the other zones I like up to $58, for Notting Hill, Bloomsbury, Mayfair and Westminster, all rejected. Went back to RP with one of those zones at $56, tried again with another zone and was accepted at $57. Utterly shocking. I was sure this process would take weeks like it has in the past. London seems to be great with Priceline, Sydney never worked for me, and other cities have had mixed results, but it really rocks for London. I don't think there is a Travelodge anywhere in North America that I could score for this price. It's a decent enough Marriott in London only a few tube stops from the action.

Oh, and this is Easter weekend, too, and I was sure I'd be looking at closer to $100.

Saw someone post their impossible low win for this hotel and figured that since this is Easter weekend there is NO WAY I'd get it for less so opened my bidding at $60. And won. I also burned up $6.67 a night in bonus cash with the bid, so technicall $66.67 a night though I paid $60 a night. I thought I was just doing an opening bid for a process that could strech into weeks. Wow. Still have 3 more nights to bid on. I have stayed at this hotel before and was perfectly happy with it for the price I scored it at then. It's not a place I'd happily pay $200 a night for, but it is a standard 1970s type of Marriott.

I would bid up to a max of $65 for the Tara, personally. It's not an especially great hotel. There have been some great wins posted recently for some better properties in that area in the $75-$95 range and I'd much rather stay in one of those!

Part of the fun of PRICELINE is not knowing which hotel you're getting until you've paid for it, so you can only guess at it and you'll never be 100% certain.

Wow -- that's a good hotel that comes on PL very rarely. Usually people get either the Holiday Inn or the Hilton Olympia in that zone! If you could have scored it for less, it wouldn't have been by very much.

If you're staying at the Marriott Maida Vale, we had a FANTASTIC dinner at a pizzeria across the street from the hotel and about two blocks up the hill (to the right if standing at the hotel front door facing the sidewalk). Can't remember the name of it, but a very tasty wood-oven pizza dinner ended up costing us less than the breakfast muffins and coffee earlier that morning at Marylebone train station.

Also check out London Walks (walks.com) if looking for something to do there, we had some fabulous walks with them. Ahhh, so many things I could recommend, London is fantastic! Dragon and Flagon pub walks, too. And another fellow does a Seven Noses of Soho walk as well as some others. Hopefully all can be found online but PM me if you would like more info. Dennis Severs House worth a look if they are open while you are there.

Just providing my opinion -- I would leave out Chelsea, Hammersmith, and Finsbury from bidding to start. They are usually the cheapest zones and I would rather stay in the other zones. Chelsea because it's likely to be the wretched Football Club hotel, Hammersmith because it is a bit further out, and Finsbury because while the two known hotels are nice, both are a bit far from the tube and the area is a bit more shall we say, rugged, than the other areas of London.

I would work through bidding in the more desirable zones and only come back to these zones if I can't get anything at a price I like in the other zones.

Wow, they've changed the zones! I wrote a long piece of advice about bidding in London a few months ago that you might find helpful as well.

Romelle is right that it is worth bidding all zones to a degree -- I also would avoid bidding in Kew/Richmond only because the hotels currently known to be used are not close to the tube. The more expensive zones are Mayfair and Westminster, the cheapest ones are Docklands and Hammersmith and come with a warning that they are a ways out. Make sure you do not overbid in the cheaper zones and look upon those as a Plan B if nothing is coming through at a reasonable price in the more desirable zones. In the middle (more or less in order depending on what PL has in stock) are Bloomsbury, Regent's Park, City, Notting Hill, Kensington and Chelsea.

I was looking at the new map and it looks like the Chelsea Football Club is still in Chelsea and is the most likely hotel to be won there. i have no idea what the 4* hotel would be for Hammersmith now. So my previous thoughts on being careful about bidding in Chelsea because you're most likely to get the Football Club is still true. It's a good backup plan if bidding in the other zones gets too expensive, but I would never bid Chelsea unless I was desperate.

So from what I can see, a 4* got added to Hammersmith and a new zone for East London/Limehouse has been added but that only has 2&3 star hotels. Very interesting. I will need to book another trip to London just to test it all out!

It looks like I won't be able to get to one of my bookings due to a work issue. So no insurance. I know it's not cancellable, and am PRETTY SURE it's not transferable. Should I call PRICELINE or the hotel to let them know we can't make it?

I just walked past it within the last 24 hours! It looks beautiful from the outside, is only a few minutes' walk from the Circular Quay train/ferry/bus terminal and very close to the harbour. It's also had good reviews. From what I gather, there has not been a lot of investment in new hotels in Sydney for the past few years and thus everything there is getting tired -- but this should be one of the better hotels in the city.