Colfax

Welcome to the board, mphdavid. For what dates are you finding this listing? Are you searching on 2 adults/0 children or some other combination? A moderator will move this thread to the Orange County board. Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links for your purchases and searches.

Welcome to the board, shelmarc. How many adults and children are in your party? PRICELINE only guarantees double occupancy, which could be a room with one bed. If you need two beds HOTWIRE might be the better option. Coronado will likely cost more than $100 on a July weekend. Once your bedding situtaion is clarified we can talk more about zones/locations. Please use these HOTWIRE and PRICELINE links for your purchases and searches.

Welcome to the board, stefmit. What are your travel dates? Does Hotwire offer a 3.5* in Downtown zone on those dates? If you'll post the hotel's icons (pool, restaurant, etc.) someone can offer an opinion whether it looks like Kyoto Grand or not. If you find different icon sets when searching on the address rather than the city please post both sets of icons that you see. Please use this HOTWIRE link for your purchases and searches.

I'm not familiar with the Marina Inn but the rate on their website for 9/12-9/15 is $99 for a "cozy queen" and $104 for "deluxe queen". Per their website Marina Inn does not provide free parking, or any parking apparently. The website says there's limited street parking (very limited I expect) or you can park at a nearby pay lot for an unspecified rate. Where are you finding a $140 rate? Maybe $140 is the total cost after tax and parking? Will you have a car in SF? I looked at the Marina Inn reviews on TripAdvisor, and while they're generally decent for a 2* hotel, I still think you can likely find something better with a $150 limit. Is that $150 plus parking, or $150 parking included? If you mean $150 with parking that means a bidding limit of about $100-110, which might be enough for a 3* or 2.5* or Fisherman's Wharf or a 3* in Union Square West or East. All those are popular areas with tourists. If Fisherman's Wharf area is your first choice you could bid there first, then if unsuccessful consider bidding USE or USW zones, or the Marina Inn. If you want to try Priceline bidding for a 3* in Fisherman's Wharf first please clarify your bidding limit for the room only (keeping in mind that parking will be around $35-45/night more) and someone will suggest a bidding strategy.

I thought these were new icons for the Holiday Inn Express, but they turned out to be new icons for Governors Inn. Smoke-free, Comp Breakfast, Fitness, Pool, Highspeed. Governors Inn is on Richards Blvd, not really what I consider downtown, but close. Large rooms, hotel recently renovated. Decent place for the money. Purchased through the BetterBidding HOTWIRE link.

Moderators, please move thread to SF board. :)

$140 sounds like a lot for a 2* motel on Lombard Street. Which motel are you considering? If you're willing to pay $140 for a 2* motel why will you only bid to $70-80 for a 3* on Priceline? If you can win a 3* in Fisherman's Wharf or Downtown on Priceline for $90-100 that would about match the cost of the 2* motel, even after parking charges, and you'd probably have a nicer place for the same money. Do you specifically want a motel style property with parking in front of your room?

Welcome to the board, suesue25. What are your travel dates? Are you seeing this listing on Hotwire or Priceline? Please use these HOTWIRE and PRICELINE links for your purchases and searches.

Hyatt and Intercontinental probably came up more often than any other 4* in Bev Hills-WeHo. Now that they're in Westwood zone the door is open for other 4* hotels in BH-WH zone to appear more often. I expect we'll be seeing more of Andaz, Sofitel, and Mondrian now, among others. I noticed something a little odd in Priceline's new Beverly Hills-WeHo zone map. There's a triangle-shaped notch cut out of the zone, at the west end. That missing triangle is where the Beverly Hilton is located. The zone looks like it was gerrymandered to specifically exclude the Hilton, which isn't in any Priceline zone now.

Welcome to BetterBidding, iluvthsgam. It's not too early to bid now if your dates are firm. Priceline reservations are nonchangeable. Sometimes success doesn't come until closer to your travel dates, but sometimes people win a month ahead too. Your $125 limit seems realistic, so I would give it a try now if you're ready. Both 4* in USE show available. Grand Hyatt $181. Westin SF $224. Hotwire has no 4* in USE zone. When bidding for a 4* in SF you have SIX rebid zones. Those are zones that only have less than 4* quality. Sounds like you understand rebidding. Feel free to post zone names for confirmation if you want. I suggest 80 for 4* in USE. Add your six rebids at 90, 100, 105, 110, 115, 120 or 125. Please start your bids with this PRICELINE link and let us know how it goes. Good luck!

I was in SF the same days as you, 6/14-6/16, mbstone. Priceline wasn't broken, just expensive. Those were busy dates--there have been a lot of them in SF lately--and probably you weren't bidding high enough at $91. I ended up paying $88 on Hotwire for a 3* in Civic Center South; high for that zone. iirc, the Hotwire 4* were all $200+. PL rates are up from a year ago in a number of places and it does make PL feel a little "broken" when you're used to getting something for $50's and suddenly it's $80's.

You're the first to report winning the Hyatt in PL's Century City-Westwood zone. Until now Century City area was part of Beverly Hills-West Hollywood zone. PL recently shifted CC out of BH-WH and merged it with the former Brentwood-Westwood zone, now renamed "Westwood-Century City". To update the Hotel List three hotels moved from BH-WH to WW-CC: 4* Hyatt Century Plaza 4* Intercontinental Century City 3* Courtyard Century City

Priceline and Hotwire rates have really shot up in Civic Center area this spring and summer. I'm consistently paying $70's and $80's now for hotels that I'd gotten accustomed to winning for $40's or $50's. I probably could have beat Hotwire's $88 rate bidding on Priceline but I only wanted Whitcomb for this trip, not the Holiday Inn next door. Icons as previously reported: Smokefree, Fitness, Restaurant, Business, Highspeed. Whitcomb's regular rate was $139 on 6/14 and $149 on 6/15. What's new at the Whitcomb is they've renovated some rooms with new furniture and upgraded linens and they're selling these as "Superior" rooms now at a higher rate. They gave me one of those Superior rooms on the sixth floor. If I'm paying more now I guess I getting more too. Still I'd prefer the "old days", in an unrenovated room for $55. Bought through the BetterBidding HOTWIRE link.

I don't know Orange County hotels well enough to comment there, but as far as beachfront zones in LA, there's Santa Monica-Marina Del Rey zone and Manhattan-Redondo Beach zones. In both those zones though, at every quality level, there are hotels that are six blocks or more from a beach. There's no Priceline bidding strategy that guarantees a beachfront hotel in any LA zone. Maybe someone else will have some tips for getting beachfront in Orange County.

The Sands is pretty much a dive, but it's the dive I like....as long as I get a high floor with good view. An Alexander Hamilton usually does the trick. This ain't Vegas. No need to call on Mr. Jackson. That $34 rate was a blend of $14 for the Thursday night and $54 for Friday. Icons as previously reported: Casino, Airport Shuttle, Fitness, Pool, Restaurant, Golf, Spa. Purchased through the BetterBidding HOTWIRE link.

If two parties bid different date sets they could win two different hotels. The only way to guarantee all four families are at the same hotel is bid 7/3-7/6 for four rooms and waste one unneeded night. There are only two reported 4* in Coronado so the odds of everyone winning the same hotel are better in Coronado than in other zones where there are eight or ten different 4*. But still not 100%.

I think it's odd that a Holiday Inn Express in Roseville charges a Resort Fee. It's not a resort type hotel and Roseville is a suburban area where resort fees aren't normal. There's no mention of a resort fee on HIE's website. I called the HIE and inquired. They told me no, they don't charge a resort fee. I wonder if Hotwire or HIE loaded a resort fee into this listing by mistake?

Welcome to the board, jeana1. The Doubletree is $269 for your dates but $239 for the OP's dates. It's possible Doubletree has a higher Priceline rate for your dates too. If you'd like help with your own stay please start a NEW TOPIC.

Moderators, please move thread to Orange County board. :)

I'm still seeing the same hotel that peacechik originally posted, including Restaurant icon, now for $78. peacechik--it doesn't happen often but occasionally someone wins a hotel that shows Sold Out on the hotel's own website. One scenario where that can happen is if the hotel assigns a bucket of rooms to Hotwire inventory, then sells out their regular priced inventory before the Hotwire rooms are gone. At that point the revenue manager would usually convert some or all the remining Hotwire inventory into regular priced rooms. But if you happen to be searching Hotwire before the conversion's done you might still find a room there, even though the hotel shows Sold Out on its own website. So the Sold Out doesn't completely rule Hilton out. But on further inspection I think this could also be the Doubletree, which has never been reported as a Hotwire win before. The Fairmont's another possibility, also unreported so far. The posted icons are very common and could apply to almost any 4* hotel. In light of Hilton's Sold Out status I'm favoring Doubletree now, with Fairmont and Hilton also possibilities.

Moderators, Please move San Jose thread to Cali-other board. :)

The "95% recommended" that you see refers to Hotwire reviews, not TripAdvisor reviews. Hotwire doesn't issue any info about which hotels have what % recommended so that 95% figure doesn't help with the ID---although it tells you this is a well-liked hotel, whatever it is. The Hilton San Jose has been reported with those icons before but at 3.5* level. The 4/5 TripAdvisor rating also matches Hilton. So the Hilton would be my best guess, upgraded from 3.5* to 4*. If you purchase please use this HOTWIRE link and let us know what you get. p.s. Hotwire recently merged the Downtown San Jose and Airport zones into a single "San Jose Area" zone. The Hotel List isn't updated yet to reflect the zone merge, so check the listings in both zones (Downtown and Airport) to view the universe of possibilities.

Here's a case where overbidding worked out for the best. You probably could have won a 3* in 80-Arden zone for less, maybe $40's, but it probably would have been the tired Radisson. This Courtyard's only a few years old and it's much nicer. It never comes up on Priceline because they apparently have a higher Priceline rate than Radisson. Enjoy your stay!

A three-night bid, then three more via Add a Night. I've been winning this HIE for $36 but they might have raised their Priceline rate. This time $36 got a $15 counteroffer. No rebid zones for 2.5* in Sacramento so I added South Natomas (also an acceptable zone) at $39 for the win. Still a fine deal at $39 with breakfast, parking, and internet included. Regular rate $100+. Bids placed through the BetterBidding PRICELINE link.

Checking HOTWIRE on 2 adults/2 children--guaranteeing two beds--they do have some things near Downtown/Mission Valley all three nights (no splitting) but higher than you've been bidding. 4* Gaslamp North $144 4* Downtown Harbor Island $163 3.5* Mission Valley $160 Or for under $100 with two beds there's 2* Mission Valley $83 2* Old Town $99 I wouldn't mention the 2* but they have 80% and 90% approval ratings, so possibly viable options if you want this area and $100 is your limit. You can probably beat these rates on PRICELINE but no two-bed guarantee.