sveg Posted June 3, 2003 Report Posted June 3, 2003 Hi! Need a hotel for a stay in Chicago later in a couple of weeks. Interested in staying in NMA or the Loop/Grant Park.The stay is from 6/13-6/17 or 6/18. Any suggestions on starting bid/strategy to follow?Available rates:Hilton Chicago: $204 Palmer House Hilton: $174W Chicago City Center: $261 (avg)Thanks!
thereuare Posted June 3, 2003 Report Posted June 3, 2003 Welcome to BetterBidding!What zone(s) in Chicago are you looking/willing to stay in? Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases
sveg Posted June 3, 2003 Author Report Posted June 3, 2003 Hi!Thanks for the very quick reply!Interested in staying in 1. North Michigan Ave 2. The Loop/Grant Park.
thereuare Posted June 3, 2003 Report Posted June 3, 2003 I would read thru THIS POST from yesterday or the day before which might just give you some useful info about somebody else's 'journey' of bidding this zone (but they're trying for August, so a little different than your won situation)I'm assuming that you know and understand re-bidding, but if not, read this: Bidding Again Before 72 hours and ASK any questions you may have.If you're 'ok' on all of the above, this is how i would proceed:4* Loop/Grant Park bid $56, if rejectedadd NMA zone and bid $60, if rejectedadd re-bid zone and bid $64add re-bid zone and bid $68add re-bid zone and bid $72add re-bid zone and bid $76If going thru the above strategy will go beyond what you're willing to spend, report back and i'll adjust the strategy slightly. As well, i would hope you'll be successful with the above, but you may not be. Since you date is approaching rapidly, do you have a back-up reserved yet and/or are you comfortable trying again in 72 hours (or would you rather just pay more now and be 'done' with it).Let us know if you have any questions OR how you make out.PS- i justed checked Hotwire for your dates and there is a 4* in the Loop @$64/nite. The amenities match those for the Sheraton Towers, but as the amenities are rather 'gereric' (ie- nothing that is uncommon for most hotels) this may or may not be the actual hotel you receive. However, if you'd be happy with this hotel (or Hotwire's judgement of the equivalent) you may not want to bid as high as i mentioned above. Let me know what your plan will be (if the Hotwire option interests you or not) and i'll adjust the bidding strategy above accordingly. Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases
sveg Posted June 3, 2003 Author Report Posted June 3, 2003 Hi! Thank you very much for a quick and such a comprehensive reply :) $64 is indeed a very good price for a 4* it seems. Are there other hotels known to come up with Hotwire with the same amenities? I have taken a look at the list given on this site, and it seems to be the only one. With the good Hotwire price taken into consideration, I feel that bidding very much more than $60 in the Loop/Grant Park would not be a very wise choice. I would however be willing to throw in a few more bucks if I could get a hotel in North Michigan Ave. I guess however this would be rather tricky, or do you have a good suggestion?I will be using Priceline UK, will this make any difference to my bidding strategy/amounts except I have to convert into
thereuare Posted June 3, 2003 Report Posted June 3, 2003 $64 is indeed a very good price for a 4* it seems. Are there other hotels known to come up with Hotwire with the same amenities? I have taken a look at the list given on this site, and it seems to be the only one. There are likley others, but this is the only one that is known at this time. BetterBidding is only 4 months young, and there are more Priceline results than Hotwire on the site, so we're still gathering data (and will always be as hotels are added/removed). Since the Hotwire amenities are somewhat 'generic', i wouldn't use Hotwire expecting the Sheraton Towers, but would say it's a reasonable guess as to a hotel that can be received. (and if you were opposed to the Sheraton Towers for any reason, i would avoid using Hotwire)The NMA zone is somewhat more expensive than the Grant/Loop zone, i think the least expensive i've seen in this zone is about $70. So you could try this first:4* NMA (only)bid $70, if rejected add re-bid zone...bid $75, if rejected add re-bid zone...bid $80, if rejected add re-bid zone...bid $83, if rejected add re-bid zone...bid $86.The above prices include bonus money, so if it says to bid $75, you're actual bid would be $65 if the bonus money wer $10 USD.This would bring your out of pocket bid amount to $76 which would be ~$10 more than the equivalent Hotwire amount, which would account for your preference for the NMA zone. You can adjust accordingly if you don't want to spend $10 more for the NMA zone (or raise it if the NMA zone is worth more than $10 extra).If the above fails.....4* Loop/Grant Park bid $53, if rejectedadd NMA zone and bid $55, if rejectedadd re-bid zone and bid $57add re-bid zone and bid $59add re-bid zone and bid $63add re-bid zone and bid $68I lowered the bids over the prior recommendation to take into consideration the Hotwire alternative and if bidding this sequence second, we know that the NMA zone is really not a possibility (since rejected above at higher levels).I made a few assumptions as to your desires/wants with the above strategy, so if there's something that doesn't seem right to you, post back with the add'l info and i'll adjust accordingly or comment as to why i think the strategy should 'stand'.If you have no further questions, Good Luck with the bid! (of course, feel free to comment further is there are questions) Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases
dataspaz Posted June 5, 2003 Report Posted June 5, 2003 There are several LARGE conventions this week in Chicago so I would book something now.
sveg Posted June 11, 2003 Author Report Posted June 11, 2003 Hi again, and sorry for my extremely late replies!The reason for this is I am actually helping a friend currently in the US to find a place to stay. She has had some real trouble changing her tickets, but finally she found a few available seats back to Europe and managed to change the ticket.They ended up on a stay from 6/12 - 6/16.Here are the results from Priceline UK. Values in US$ in brackets. Please note I had
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