Priceline Hotel: Bidding Help Pls. London 5* Mayfair -Soho 5/30 - 6/3 (4 nights)

[mcremata]

any advice? willing to pay upto $225. if i'm not successful, will downgrade to 4* which from what i read on this board can be found in the mid-low $100's.

[thereuare]

When bidding 5* in London you have 8 re-bid zones. If you're not familiar with re-bidding please read Priceline Re-Bidding Explained and feel free to ask questions and/or confirm your re-bid zones with the board before proceeding.

Select 5* Mayfair-Soho...

Bid $150, if rejected add re-bid zone1...

Bid $155, if rejected add re-bid zone2...

Bid $160, if rejected add re-bid zone3...

Bid $165, if rejected add re-bid zone4...

Bid $170, if rejected add re-bid zone5...

Bid $175, if rejected add re-bid zone6...

Bid $180, if rejected add re-bid zone7...

Bid $185, if rejected close browser and re-access priceline however you did previously.

Select 5* Mayfair-Soho and re-bid zone8...

Bid $190, if rejected add re-bid zone1...

Bid $195, if rejected add re-bid zone2...

Bid $200, if rejected add re-bid zone3...

Bid $205, if rejected add re-bid zone4...

Bid $210, if rejected add re-bid zone5...

Bid $215, if rejected add re-bid zone6...

Bid $220, if rejected add re-bid zone7...

Bid $225.

Any questions feel free to ask.

Good Luck and let us know how it goes.

[mcremata]

thanks for the strategy help. unfortunatley i got nowhere, despite going up to $235. anyone had any luck w/ a 5* in the area for these dates? what's the conventional wisdom on how far i'll have to go in price to have an accepted offer? does anyone know if the 4* in the same area are more or less on par?

[WillTravel]

My personal opinion - most of the 5* hotels in this area don't have terrific reviews. I personally think you'd do pretty well with the known 4* hotels in Mayfair-Soho, alll of which do have good reviews (at least last time I checked, but look yourself). Of course, as always, an unknown hotel is always a possibility.

Look on Hotwire for your dates. One 4* Mayfair-Soho hotel comes up at $329. Although there's not necessarily any correspondence between Priceline and Hotwire prices, that leads me to expect that it might be quite difficult or impossible to get a bid for 4* hotels on Priceline in the low-$100s. For further confirmation, look up the retail prices for 4* hotels in Mayfair-Soho for your date range.

Mayfair-Soho does provide the best location for tourists who want to explore central London. But with a long stay that is less than a month away, I would start thinking about other areas, or drastically increase my price range.

Splitting your bid is another option, but you might have to end up in two areas then anyway.

[thereuare]

what's the conventional wisdom on how far i'll have to go in price to have an accepted offer?

I don't think there is a 'conventional wisdom' on this since rates are date specific, but i looked at two of the 5* hotel sin this zone... and each is $500+ per nite.

does anyone know if the 4* in the same area are more or less on par?

I'd begin by reading reviews of the known 4* properties in addition to WillTravel's comments above.

Let us know how you'd like to proceed from here and we'll advise accordingly.

[mcremata]

Thanks for the input. I'll focus on a 4*, but from what I can see there are no free bid zones in London in this category. Anything I'm missing? What's the best strategy for 4* in Mayfair - Soho? Up to $180.

[thereuare]

You are correct that there are no re-bid zones available at the 4* level in London.

However, rates don't appear too high (at least at one hotel i checked) so i would begin at $80 and increase by $5 every 24 hours... i would try that for 7-10 days (which should bring you up to $125/nite or so) and we'll then take it from there.

Keep us updated.