lcinva

Pretty frequent priceliner, and I've pricelined 3-4 times in SF (within last year) before - 4*, USW-Nob Hill or SOMA-Moscone. I've always won at around 100, give or take a little. I've been trying for May 8-13, same thing - I cannot win up to $175. I'm pretty close to website price at this point. Is there something going on that weekend?? I can't find anything. No idea what's going on, but it seems kind of bizarre esp. considering the other prices listed here. Seems like some of the hotels are sold out too, when I check availability on their sites. This is really a shot to my dignity as I don't think I've paid more than $110 for a 4* hotel (including Kauai, Vancouver, BC, WDC, SF) in 7 years. EEK!

Bid today for Kauai 5/8-5/14 in Lihue-Kapaa area, got Kauai Beach Resort. I guess it's classified as a resort now, instead of 3.5*? I see it's gotten good reviews, but just based on research and other stuff I totally expected to get the Marriott. I'm not really disappointed, I'm sure it will be fine. Just wanted to let TPTB know so they can update the hotel list!

I previously posted for a weekend in May where we got the Hotel Nikko for $86/night. I tried to find that same deal again on Top Secret for 5/20-5/23 and couldn't. It popped up again for 6/3-6/6 though, and I knew it was the Nikko so I went for it. It was $92/night, SF Union Square Nob Hill, 4 smiley face traveler review. Travelocity makes it ridiculously easy to determine which hotel ahead of time...just search your dates under their normal search, narrow down by area and star level, and then compare the sub category traveler review ratings. I'm happy! I like the Nikko. I bid on this knowing I will have to pay $20/night to upgrade to a king bed, and also pay $10 to use the health club. $112/night is pretty good considering though, and it's worth it to not be worried about bidding and getting the Westin St Francis which I'm totally scared of for some reason.

I've been checking 5/20-5/23 forever and couldn't find anything in USE or USW/Nob for less than $130 than wasn't the Westin St. Francis. Anyway, yesterday a 4* popped up for $104. The first time I looked, this hotel was $115 and the amenities were: Fitness center, restaurant, business center, internet After doing my research based on TA rating of 4.5 and only 100+ reviews, I kind of figured it was the Hotel Palomar as opposed to Parc 55 or Grand Hyatt. This research took about 30 minutes, and Hotwire timed out. I refreshed, and all of a sudden there was a 4* for $104, and the amenities were: Boutique, non-smoking, fitness center, restaurant, business center, internet and I was sure this was the Hotel Palomar. Weird, huh? Anyway, it was. TA reviews are really good, so I'm interested to see what this weird little boutique hotel is like.

Through Top Secret hotels we got the Hotel Nikko for $86/night for 4/30-5/2/2010. It was listed as a 4* San Francisco Union Square/Nob Hill. Amenities shown (I think) were gym, pool, business center, and internet. Traveler reviews were 4 happy faces. Like many SF hotels, this rate got us a "petite queen" room. We paid $20/night to upgrade to a regular size room with a king bed.

My husband has dental conferences every 3 weeks in SF for the next couple of months at the Westin St Francis. Friends who have stayed there before haven't liked it (and to me it looks old), and I know that if you use Priceline/Hotwire they stick you in a double bed, and my husband starfishes at night (i.e. takes up entire bed) so a double is out of the question. That being said - a couple weeks ago we had to go for the first time and Hotel Nikko was a Travelocity top secret hotel for $86/night, plus we upgraded to a normal room for $20/more. Now I'm trying to bid for May 20-23, and I can't get anything in USE or USW/Nob for under $100. Hotwire/Travelocity is the same. I don't mind paying $100, but most of these hotels pawn off a double bed on PL customers, forcing my starfishing husband and I to pay the extra $20-30 to upgrade, so really we've paid $120-130. In that case, I'd rather pay retail so they don't treat me worse or give me a worse room for having bid on Priceline. My question is, should I keep trying NYOP? I am a long time veteran of Priceline, but not in SF. Is there any history of prices going down right before, or will it just get worse? I looked up conventions, and all I see going on is a Google convention May 19-20 which should really affect us, but maybe it's a bigger deal than I think. I've never been such a failure at Priceline before and it makes me ill to think about getting a hotel room directly from the hotel. Any advice (either on bidding strategy for this area or a good hotel with decent retail prices) would be helpful!

The last few times I've tried to do name your own price flights on Priceline I get the "due to rapidly changing inventory...yada yada...unable to book your flight"...and then it sends me to the normal, scheduled flights without the option to 'add' things like stops, non-jet vs. jet, change airports, etc. I've booked flights before and this has only started happening in the last couple of months. Has anyone else experienced this? I didn't see another thread on this, but maybe I missed it.

Got this Hyatt again, for $40 - first try. To anyone staying in the area, this is a great hotel with room for bedding for 4 (king bed, sofa bed, free cot), with a separate 'living' area. Also very convenient to Vienna metro. Can't beat that for $40!

Had bid using rebid zones the whole week before for 10/10-12, up to $55, with nothing. Monday the 6th, I put in my first bid at $40 and got the Hyatt. I wish I could get a handle on their PRICELINE pattern! Anyway, I'm pretty happy, for $40!

I was pretty impressed! I used every combo of acceptable areas at each star level (using the subset rule)...wasn't sure if that would work, but it did. I worked my way down to 2.5*, and it gave me the 3* Courtyard. I kept offering $33 each time, especially since the counteroffer came up for $40 at 3.5* bidding. This is for a stay 10/16-10/19.

Won the now 3.5* Hyatt Fair Lakes. Bid for 2 rooms, got them both at $60...which seems a little high for this Hyatt, but I didn't really have a choice at this point. For Sept 26-28 stay. Bidding started at $33 (the red "price has little chance of being accepted started at $30, much less than last week), went up in $2 increments to $57, then last bid was $60.

Hi - feel free to move this to the Northern VA forum if that's where it belongs...it's more of a general question about this strategy though. Right now I am bidding on a room in Northern VA for 9/26-28, and there are 5 areas (for my purposes): ABCDE. I want to stay at a 3* in A. BCDE all have only 2* or below, so I should have plenty of free rebids, and used the permutations listed in this thread above. I started with A, then did AB, ABC, ABCD, ABCDE (because things were getting greyed out and I figured I'd use these combinations before restarting the browser to do AC, AD, etc.). I didn't get a win, closed my browser (IE), tried again to bid with AC. Said it was a duplicate request. I closed my browser, came back in, and deleted my cookies...tried again, still said AC and AD and any other combo were all duplicate requests at that point. Is there a specific order I have to do these combos in so Priceline doesn't lock me out (the order given in this thread)? If I had done AB, then logged out and done AC, would it have worked? Or has priceline gotten too smart? Any advice is great. Thanks! edit: I'm writing this message at 2:27 board time, which was 24 hours after my initial try of A, AB, ABC, ABCD, ABCDE. However, yesterday at about 5pm board time I went back and tried other combinations on their own AC, AD, AE, etc. It is possible that priceline sets the 24 hour limit based on which combination you try? It let me bid A, AB, ABC, ABCD, ABCDE, but not the combinations I tried last night at 5pm...I figured it was all based on the same date of stay, so it was 24hrs from the time of first combination bid. Maybe I'm wrong? Does this even make sense?

Sorry about that! It was Aug 1 - Aug 3. Thanks!

Different set of dates...my husband is in dental school and has some continuing education in DC every month for the next 6 months. I'm from northern Virginia, so I would rather stay there than DC...and I really liked the Hyatt we stayed in last time. The next time we go is Sept 26-28. I've been lowballing for the last month, around where I had a successful bid last time, and I get nothing. I figure something will come up later in the week, and I'm not super picky about the area or particular hotel (although I did like the Hyatt). After getting the "no chance at this price" message only when I bid for two rooms, I'm a little worried - but I have read through this board and it appears that message doesn't really make a difference. Part of me has wanted to contact the hotel and ask about a set rate for the next 6 times we go, but as you pointed out in another post, I don't want them to jack up their Priceline rates. If bidding for two rooms makes a difference, I'm fine getting our room and telling the others they're on their own. I just wanted to find out if anyone had any experience with this.. side note: thereuare, thanks for all of your info on this board. It has been definitely enlightening!

I bid $39 on the first try for a 3*, rebid $41 for a 2.5 or 3*, got the 3* Hyatt! Leighanna

Hi - I am new to this board, but have been pricelining forever...I thought I dominated priceline until I found this board! You guys are my heroes!! Here's my question - I have been bidding on a hotel room in Northern VA for the last month or so, figuring I wouldn't get what I wanted until the week of. Another person is coming and wants me to bid for them and get 2 rooms on the same bid. Previously, I would enter bids between $35-40 (I got a 3* Hyatt last time at this price) and though I wouldn't get a room, Priceline didn't give me the "Your price has no chance of being accepted). Now, bidding for 2 rooms, I get that message. Is this only because they have limited rooms at the lowest price (though you'd think they would have at least 2...), or is there something else I should know? Thanks!