jcr25

Because of the Penn Relay Races in Philadelphia during my visit, I had a very hard time finding a room. (See my plight here: Last minute trip to Philadelphia)

I've been putting in a series of bids every day for the past four days, and finally won. I'll give you a sense of today's bids; I'm not sure I can remember them all.

I started bidding at $80 on 3* properties in Philadelphia (Downtown), and gradually began expanding my search zone - to the Airport, Stadium, University, and City Line areas - and lowering my standards to 2* properties. I was rejected at $90, $100, and $110 in all of these areas. I added Philadelphia (Cherry Hill-Mount Laurel) but dropped my price down to $70 and was rejected. Then I added Philadelphia (Gloucester-Runnemede-Deptford, NJ) and bumped my price to $85 and was accepted. Bid info is below. And thanks again to everyone who gave me helpful suggestions.

Your Offer Price: $85.00

Number of Rooms: 1

Number of Nights: 3

Subtotal: $255.00

Taxes and Service Fees: $45.98

Total Charges*: $300.98

Next time I go to Philadelphia I'll make sure the city isn't expecting thousands of high school track athletes.

Dear everyone who helped me- I found a room! It's a 2* property - Holiday Inn - in Philadelphia (Gloucester-Runnemede-Deptford, NJ), and I got it for $85/night. It's not ideally located - it is in New Jersey - but it is close enough to a PATCO station to be acceptable, and the PATCO train will get me right downtown to Philly where I need to be.

I'll post the win in the appropriate fashion for others to view, but I wanted to say thanks again to the people who posted here for all your help!

Barry- I guess it is just my lucky weekend. :)

I'll check Priceline again tomorrow morning in case they get any new inventory (per Beach Bum's suggestion, below). If not, I'll try to find a hotel out in the suburbs and use SEPTA to get to Center City.

Keep your fingers crossed for me!

dahammer- This is so helpful. I may survive this trip after all! Thanks very much.

dahammer and rb-boddabing-- Thanks so much for your help. I wish I could change the date of my trip given that the city will be overrun by track athletes. (Pun intended!) :) But I'm stuck, and will just have to take the SEPTA rail downtown from wherever I'm able to stay.

One more question, then: If I end up staying in Cherry Hill/Mt. Laurel I'll have to take PATCO to SEPTA. Does either of you (or anyone else viewing) have any sense of how easy/hard it will be to get to a PATCO station from Cherry Hill/Mt. Laurel? (I looked at the route map, and it appears that the closest station is at Collingswood, which might be a bit of a hike.)

Thanks again for your assistance. I really appreciate it.

BeachBum- thanks very much for these tips! I'll try again Monday morning and see if I have better luck then.

Dear expert bidders-

Can you help me strategize?

I've got to make a last minute trip to Philadelphia late next week: 4/26-4/29. I wanted to stay Downtown, and in a 3* hotel. I perused this board and saw people winning 3* hotels (Downtown) for between $55 and $65, so I bid $56 - and lost.

I added 2.5* (Downtown) to my bid and upped it to $61 - and lost.

I added 2.0* (Downtown) to my bid and upped it to $66 - and lost.

I added 1.0* (Downtown) to my bid and upped it to $71 - and lost.

Finally, I added 4.0* (Downtown) to my bid and upped it to my top bid - $76 - and, as I expected, lost.

(After this, I went to a few other hotel sites and discovered that the King Tut exhibit is in Philadelphia right now and that rooms are VERY expensive.)

At this point, I have to expand my search area to include areas further out - Philadelphia (University Area), Philadelphia (Stadium Area), or Philadelphia (Airport). (Incidentally, in looking at the very helpful hotel list and map on this site, I don't see any hotels in University Area or Stadium Area, just by the Airport.)

But I'm not clear about something: I think I only have three bids left - one for each of these three areas; is this right?

If so, does anyone have any tips about how much I should bid? (I see winning bids at the Airport in the $50 range, but since this is the last minute, I may need to go in with a higher bid, or even readjust my $75/night budget.)

If anybody can clarify, or give me any other tips, I would greatly appreciate it!

Thanks.