vanpoodle

London can be tricky and you have picked the three most expensive zones -- over the past year the best deal has been for 4* In Regent's Park, where a Marriott was won for $78 - $100 during the time you're in London. Worth considering as a backup if deals don't come through for your preferred areas. Both hotels that PRICELINE has been using there for the past year are very close to the tube and are only a couple stops from Westminster. I have stayed at both and have been very happy and was well worth the savings to be still fairly close in. Also, with a longer stay that you have, you could consider splitting it into 2 stays if you don't mind moving hotels, sometimes that helps to get a better price. You can also take a look at PRICELINE EXPRESS Deals to get an idea of what might be available during your date and see if you're better in one zone for part of it then moving to another zone. From experience, NYOP comes in at $10-ish a night less tha PRICELINE EXPRESS Deals.

Yikes! Is Hammersmith back to being a re-bid zone? Two weeks ago it had a 4* so wasn't good for re-bidding. I haven't stayed in those zones in ages because they are so expensive. Have you considered at least adding in Bloomsbury because it borders those zones? This is why I've been staying at Regent's Park, for the past few months their go-to has been a pair of Marriotts with great tube access to the city, one at Swiss Cottage and the other at Kilburn Park.

Oh good, that is my favourite of the 2 Marriotts in Regent's Park. It is 5 minutes from Kilburn Park tube, and the bus stop out front has a bus that takes you directly to Oxford Street. Well, the other Marriott is probably nicer as far as hotels go, but not by a ton, this one has a good bus RIGHT THERE and tube pretty close!

Wow, that's crazy! I know the Regent's Park Marriott was going for bids of $78 for the night of Oct 13. If your stay was longer I'd suggest splitting it into 2 stays and being open to switching hotels because the deals can be in different zones for different nights, but with only 3 nights that's hard to want to do. I also really like the Notting Hill zone, it's still very central on the tube and a lot of fun. I would consider bidding there next if it were me. Take a look and see how pricing changes for each night in different zones with Express Deals, it might give you an idea of what the holdup is. What I have done, and only in times of desperation, is to look at staying in Kensington or Chelsea. If you stay in Chelsea it is likely the Copthorne Football Club hotel that you'd get. The location and hotel are decent enough though not top-tier like the other zones, but I must have saved at least $30 a night the time we stayed, and we had 3 rooms. We split our stay and went out there for the expensive night, it was worth it for us. I'm hesitant about Kensington. The location is great, I LOVE Kensington, but they have upgraded the Copthorne Tara to 4* (worth checking the listings in case they put it back down to 3* in which case the zone is back to being okay!). It's got good transit links and is fun on its own merits. The non-Tara hotels in Kensington are all pretty good. I might pick Finsbury first though if you can get a good price, it is still close to the action and the 2 known hotels are good ones, but it doesn't always come cheaply. City/London Bridge zone borders Westminster and is usually the same price, I'd be open to that one if the deal was good. Hammersmith/Wembley/Richmond are too far. Docklands is a ways out as well but it has good tube links, though one of the Hiltons they may use is on the riverfront and I think you have to use the hotel's water taxi to get to the tube, the other hotels are well linked though. Anyhow, those are just ideas for when desperate measures are needed!

London can be tricky -- over the past year the best deal has been for 4* In Regent's Park, where a Marriott was won for $78 during the time you're in London. Worth considering as a backup if deals don't come through for your preferred areas. Both hotels that PL has been using there for the past year are very close to the tube and are only a couple stops from Westminster. You can also take a look at Express Deals to get an idea of what might be available during your date. From experience, NYOP comes in at $10-ish a night less tha PRICELINE EXPRESS Deals.

Started low, slowly working my way up in $1 increments with Regent's Park and other zones that I would happily stay in, using permutations and combinations. First counter offer of $90 appeared when I got to $74. PRICELINE EXPRESS Deals had this zone listed for $94, though it said it had a hotel with free internet. This one only has free internet if you sit in the lobby. (amenities listed included pool, internet, gym, rating of 7.0 and higher. This hotel is 7.9) PRICELINE's retail price is $279 a night. I've stayed here and quite liked it, though a bit far from a bus or tube stop for my 80+ year old mother to happily walk. Sigh, would have preferred the Marriott Maida Vale this time because the bus is pretty much right out front, which is the one I seem to have been getting most often lately, except for this time! Prices for these Regent's Park properties aren't the screaming deals that they had been for several months earlier this year, sadly. I'd been snagging them in the $57-$65 a night range for the past year. And of course used the PRICELINE link from this site!

This was a PRICELINE EXPRESS Deal. I had gone to $104 for a hotel in downtown North a few weeks ago but gave it a rest. Went back at it today, up to $91 for North without even a counteroffer. PRICELINE EXPRESS had North at $145, South at $95. Bid on South up to $85 (using the PRICELINE link) then went to Priceline Express and took the deal which worked out to $85.50 a night using a 10% off coupon i had. Not bad for a long weekend, but would have preferred to be closer to Bloor Street.

Saturday is a fireworks night, that's what's going on: http://vancouver.about.com/od/vancouverevents/p/fireworks.htm

All the recent wins for Regent's Park are higher because it is high season now, the lower prices were booked last fall and winter. It could be that it is just too soon, the hotel revenue managers just haven't sold any rooms at low prices to PL. There's no rush to pay too much too soon, I'd wait a while before bidding higher. I know there's a huge conference called WTM in London in mid-November that makes it hard to get a cheap hotel, not sure what else is going on and if that is a factor. I also would not drop the star level, if it was a few days prior to your trip that would be a different story. You'll still almost 4 months out.

I'm just curious which zone is giving that message? Only because I would have thought that Regent's Park would be a little less than that, except that it is summer and a busier time. A lot of these really low wins were for the dark and wet months!

The 4* hotels for downtown north are in the Yonge and Bloor area if that's any help.

It might work because different hotels might have different inventory levels. On the other hand, PL tends to average out the nightly cost on longer stays and it could end up having the same price at the end of the day. That strategy works if you don't mind moving hotels, and works best in cities where you switch up the zones. In London, there are lots of zones with 4*, some of which are used more by business people during the week so they have cheaper prices on weekends. Then other zones might have more tourists on weekends so better prices during the week. The only caution is that PL builds in a service charge into the "taxes and fees" section and it's a bit of a mystery as to how much that fee is.

For 4*, Toronto has lots of re-bid zones. That hotel is in downtown south, which seems to have quite a few more hotels available than downtown north. I'd say just start low and work the permutations and combinations and work your way higher slowly. It is possible to get about 50 bids squeezed out at one sitting with that method, it just means you need to keep closing the browswer and starting your bidding over again which can be tedious!

I'd do things slightly differently with which zones I'd bid on. I would put Kensington and Chelsea on the shelf for now and then only go to them if bids in these other zones don't come in at a good price. You're just likey to get a hotel not as nice as the others if you bid on Chelsea off the bat. Just knowing that Regent's Park seems to be the "deal" zone and the moment with a nice Marriott at Swiss Cottage and another at Kilburn Park coming through (with the remote possibility of the Holiday Inn Camden Lock -- but beware that PL may throw us a surprise, but this is what I am guessing in the scenario in Regent's Park at the moment), I would start there and there mix and match in the other desired zones as re-bids there. Then if bidding gets too high and nothing comes through, I would turn to Chelsea and Kensington and start with low bids there and use the other zones as re-bid zones for that bidding process.

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 summer 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 and slightly shabby. 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)

When it gets that high, I'd consider other zones. Regent's Park may now be worth the savings. Chelsea and Kensington might be worth looking at, too. I see the retail prices for those dates are in the $280s for the 3 known hotels. The third alternative for Regent's Park is the Holiday Inn Camden Lock which is showing a retail price of $283. Theoretically you should be able to get it somewhere around half that price with NYOP. If that Holiday Inn comes through, it's a decent enough hotel in the heart of Camden Town and it faces onto the canal. It looks pretty modern from what I could tell having only been in the lobby. I was trying to see what the retail price is for Chelsea Football Club and on the retail site it has moved to Hammersmith (which is where it belongs!), and it is coming in at $550 a night which is outrageous. So, that being said, I would add Chelsea into the mix now for 4* because even if you get that one, as long as you get that zone at a good discount to the others it might be worth it. You can also start to think about Kensington. It is the Copthorne Tara that I would want to avoid, and it is showing a retail price of $376, while other, better hotels in that zone are coming in cheaper, like the Marriott Kensington at $289. HOWEVER i would set a much lower maximum for these zones because in my mind they are only worth the risks of getting an inferior hotel if the cost savings are large enough. For this trip they very well might be and if it was me booking, I would put up with one of those hotels in those zones because I'd be saving a ton. And you might not get a dog, you might get one of the really good ones!

Okay, took a look at the prices on Priceline and you may be right, they are way higher for those dates than usual. Shocking, sorry, caught me off guard with how affordable hotels in London have been, I should have gone there before second guessing you!

Whoa! Sorry to interrupt, but for 4*, I would start the bidding at about $60 for Regent's Park! It has been going for $50-$100 for a lot of people lately! I'd start the process at much less than $125. $125 makes sense if you're bidding on 5*, but not for 4* these days!

Be wary of Chelsea, the hotel that comes up is usually the Copthorne Football Club for 4* (read the reviews) and a Wyndham for 5*. I am sure the Wyndham is a nice enough property, but it is not central. If bids just aren't working for 4* in other zones then Chelsea will come in cheaper but it's a bit of a ways out and not really Chelsea. The Football Club is about average for a London hotel, hopefully they've put in some capital spending and put in new mattresses since I stayed there 2 years ago! I would also recommend Regent's Park, there are 2 Marriott hotels that have been having good deals lately for 4* (often below $80 a night), one is at the Kilburn Park tube station, the other is at Swiss Cottage.

Funny, that was the only Best Western of about 30 in Rome I could use points on for my stay, too! I'm all booked there.

You can use the search bar at the top right and type in London to filter your search. There hasn't been much lately for Finsbury, Kensington has some horrible 4* hotels in the mix so I steer clear right now (some people get lucky and get the Marriott though), and Westminster can be a bit pricey. Also note that July is an expensive time and those crazy low priced wins for Westminster a couple of months ago were VERY unusual. Regent's Park has been fabulous lately though. It's a good central zone and 4* hotels can be had in the $55-$80 range. Can't promise that for July as it is high season, but I'd say the chances are pretty good from what I've seen in the last several months. I highly recommend that you consider bidding there, the winning hotels lately have been Marriotts, it's still in the central city. The key to Priceline success is in re-bidding at one session. I recommend reading the FAQs to get the hang of it. A Key is to bid zone A. Close browser. go back in Bid zone B. Close browser. Bid zone C. Close Browser. Bid zones A & B a little higher. Close browser. Bid zones A & C, and so on. If you don't close the browser it makes you think that you can only add an extra zone and thus can't get the same range of bids in as it freezes the boxes that were ticked on prior bids. I hope that helps.

I don't know if you saw my recent post, but I looked at the zones and determined that the ones I'd be happy with were Coliseum/Termini, Spanish Steps, Piazza Navona and Vatican. There are also 3 free re-bid zones at the 4* level. It's always worth trying some lowball bids to see if you get anywhere. Florence looks to be cheaper than Rome. I have bid up to $93 for a stay earlier that same month, another member has bid up to $125 for 4* with no luck.

Wow, you got really lucky! This is one of the best hotels that PL uses in that zone. I haven't been bidding there because I am wary about getting the Copthorne Tara!

I put in another 18 bids this morning (using the PRICELINE link) with permutations and worked my way from $76-$93 with rejections and no sign of a counteroffer. I am guessing that a winning bid might be around $130 just looking at the history. I'm going to look further at the points for Best Western concept and see how much higher I should go before pursuing that route. But don't worry, even if PL isn't the best route for Rome I'll be back and bidding on other cities!

Heads up on London -- I just noticed that there are NO free re-bid zones for 4*! Things have changed, beware.