Priceline Hotel: Gatwick Airport 4* Sept & Oct Bidding Assistance Pls

[MAXII]

Hi:

Hubby and I are bidding for a 4* hotel at Gatwick airport, Sept 25 for two nights, two people one room and for one night October 13th.

I don't want to risk a 3* star in September as we will be flying for around 15 hours and upon arrival we will want to get to the nearest hotel to shower and sleep!

I use Priceline and Hotwire regularly and have spent a lot of time researching the rates and hotels around Gatwick and I know I can get the Arora for around $180 per night, the Renaissance for around $160, and the Ramada for $192.

I started bidding about a month ago at $90 and I have reached $155. Should I hold off a while or should I go a tad higher?

Thanks in advance.

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Please use one thread for each stay... we'll use this thread for your 9/25-9/27 stay, feel free to start a new topic for your October stay.

The rates and hotels you mention above, are those hotel direct purchases or prices you suspect you can get thru Priceline? Are any of those rates refundable?

[MAXII]

The prices I quoted are those I can find looking at a variety of sources including the hotel's own websites, the well known sites like Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, some Canadian travel sites like Itravel2000 and a few Europe based sites too. I can't remember which were refundable or not specifically but I know the best rate I saw for the Ramada, the $192, was a 21 day advance rate which was definitely not refundable.

I have a hunch the PL 4* inventory for September at Gatwick may not be open yet. Maybe I should just start my bidding again in a month or so?

I have been bidding continuously over the last month and at one time, I had the message the average rate for a 4* Gatwick is $148 and this week that message jumped to $186.

Love this board by the way, found it yesterday while googling for bidding help and have already learned so much.

Thanks.

[thereuare]

Here's another tip:

Ignore the "average retail price" shown by priceline... it's meaningless :)

This is frequently a tough zone, this is what i would try...

Book the refundable rate (135GB... ~$270US) directly thru the Marritt website. Then submit a best rate guarantee claim form vs. the Expedia rate fo $137 (note: you don't book this directly thru Expedia as it's non-cancellable). If the claim is honored (read further) Marriott will match the $137 rate less an additional 25%, bringing your cost down to $103 which i think would be a very good rate for this stay.

There is a chance that Marriott will deny the claim as:

1) the other rate is non-refundable, so this is not a 'same booking type' situation, but i don't see anything in their terms that state the booking type must be identical

2) there is a clause that the guarantee won't apply where the rate is non-refundable and a voucher must be presented a check-in... the Expedia rate is non-refundable, but i don't see anything regarding a voucher being issued for the stay

If your claim is denied then you simply cancel the original reservation.

Let us know if you give this a try and how it goes or feel free to add your thoughts, comments, questions regarding the above.

[MAXII]

Hi:

Thanks for the tips and info. I decided to stick with trying Priceline for now as I usually get good deals. I started again at $80 and I am upto $92. My guess is that I will strike lucky late July or later.

Will let you all know.

Bye for now.