Hotwire Hotel: 4* San Francisco (USE) Hotel Palomar

[lcinva]

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!

[BEAV]

I did a Priceline vacation package search (air + hotel) for both May 20-23 and May 21-23. When comparing the results it was apparent that Thursday (5/20) will require a higher NYOP rate than Friday and Saturday. So I'm of the opinion you haven't been successful for all 3 nights at $100 (or lower) because Thursday night, currently, requires a higher bid price.

If the Embarcadero zone will work for your stay, Hotwire is currently displaying a 4* hotel that appears to be a match with the Omni for $119 for all 3 nights May 20-23. This property consistantly receives positive customer feedback and you won't have the double bed issue here.

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.

[lcinva]

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.

[yellowdog]

lcinva

Thank you for sharing your result with the board!

Enjoy your stay.

Please use the site's HOTWIRE and PRICELINE links to start future purchases.

Yellowdog.

[thereuare]

I'm a little confused... can you add a reply to this thread confirming that you purchased the 4* property with:

Boutique, non-smoking, fitness center, restaurant, business center, internet

...and it was the Palomar?

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

Thanks.