Priceline Hotel: 5* Paris - Champs / West

[tp208]

Hello All,

We need some help with a Paris Hotel. The Paris area is (Louvre - Marais) it shows up as a 4 * on Hotwire for with only High Speed Internet Icon @ $212 a night. The only 4 * listed on the betterbidding pinned list is the Westin. Is it safe to say this is the Westin?

Thanks to all for any help on this!

Looking forward to all your responses.

T

[tp208]

Sorry Dates for stay will be July 22 - July 26. Not sure if thats important.

Thanks again,

T

[AaronJB]

Welcome to Betterbidding. :)

Unfortunately, a 4* in this zone with only internet as the amenity set has not yet been reported to the board/ID'd, and with only internet showing, there's no way to narrow down what hotel this listing may be.

Please use the site's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchases and searches.

[tp208]

Hello all,

Little history of what we have been through over the last several days.

Trying to get a 5* in Paris in the Champs / west area bid over the last 3 days with no luck.

Dates trying July 22 - July 26 (4 nights)

Sunday - bid $125 (I know very low) 5* Champs/west FAIL No counter offer.

Added Opera bid $150 FAIL no counter offer redirected to a hotel list full price, could not rebid.

Monday - bid $175 5* Champs/west FAIL no counter offer.

Added Opera bid $200 FAIL no counter offer redirected to a hotel list full price, could not rebid.

Tuesday - bid $225 5* Champs/west FAIL no counter offer.

Added Opera bid $260 FAIL no counter offer redirected to a hotel list full price, could not rebid.

Not much luck. Now we are getting close to prices of 4 1/2 * prices on the HOTWIRE side.

Looks like we are going to have to drop to a 4* but here is the problem, there are about 12 4* hotels in that area.

We would like something a bit nicer, don't mind paying more, what happens if we bid $260 for a 4* and get a hotel that people are winning with $116, le meridian Champs for example.

Is there a better strategy?

Any help would be great!

[yellowdog]

tp208

Please keep all posts in the same thread since posts are for the same dates. We will edit and move your thread in the end.

If you need help with a bidding strategy so please post your budget/night for 5* VS 4* hotel. And the zone(s) you're willing to stay in.

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

Yellowdog.

[tp208]

Thanks yellowdog for the response. Here is the info you requested.

Our dates are July 22 - July 26 (4 nights)

Budgets:

5* we would go to 275-280

4* we would go to 250 if we knew it was going to be a decent hotel.

Zones:

1st - Champs / west

2nd - Opera

I hope this helps.

Thanks again.

[Romelle]

Paris is interesting for bidding at the 5* level. Lots of free rebids. If you aren't familiar with the concept, check the FAQs or do a search (upper right hand corner).

Regarding the 4*s, you might look at both the list of hotels others have won (top post in the Paris section), and the hotel reviews. See if you would be satisfied?? And for that matter, it is possible to get a hotel no one else has yet reported here. That has happened to me a couple times.

There is no control over just what hotel might be awarded on a successful bid. When bidding, you have to be willing to accept any one at the star level within the boundaries of the map.

Romelle

[thereuare]

tp208,

Now we are getting close to prices of 4 1/2 * prices on the HOTWIRE side.

But you're bidding on a 5* hotel... a 4.5* property on HOTWIRE is more likely a 4* rated on PRICELINE (rather then 5* rated)

Are you able to identify and comfortable with your SIX re-bid zones at the 5* level? (there are no re-bid zones available at the 4* level)

If you're new to re-bidding see this thread: Priceline Re-Bidding Explained

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

[tp208]

Thanks for all the advice. Here's what happened last night.

Started my bid using the links on the board!

Bid 5* champs and started at 260. Used the rebid strategy since the other zones do not have a 5*. Worked the bid all the way up to $310 adding zones, closing browser and using the PRICELINE link again.

NO LUCK!

HOTWIRE is showing a 4 1/2 * which we think is the Intercontinental hotel, great property, for $313. We may just do this, since we are not having any luck with PRICELINE.

When we bid the median price for 5* that price line shows is $531. At $310 shouldn't we be close? No counter offers at all.

Also if we do a direct lookup at the hotel sites themselves we get a full prepaid room direct from the hotels website for $365.

Could it be there is no 5* inventory on PRICELINE for Paris?

Thanks everyone!!!

[yellowdog]

tp208

Sorry to see this. There could be several reasons why you don't hit a 5* at PRICELINE.

Yes, the HOTWIRE property looks like an option for you. How high have you bid at the 4* level?

If you decide to book direcly so please take a look at boards support page.

Let us know what you decide.

Yellowdog.

[tp208]

Hey yellowdog,

We have not bid a 4* at all. Like it was explain on the board and the FAQ we could easily over bid using 4* trying to get a better property. If we bid more trying to get a better hotel, we may get any 4* even if they are accepting lower bids. This zone in Paris seems to be really tricky. They have 4* that range from $118 all the way pass $300.

Looking at the winning bid history it looks like the meridian north champs is getting all the 4* bids. Not somewhere we want to stay, bit far, not such a nice hotel. But they are gobbling up all the winning bids starting as low as $99 all the way into the $130. And his hotel is listed on the hot-wire side for $119.

This is were there seemed to be a big hole. We are willing to spend unto $300 a night but know if we bid for a 4* we are probably going to get a hotel that accept bids at around $100 and has not so good reviews. STUCK!

We are going to try and bid up 5* again and see what happens. Keep everyone posted.

Any thoughts would be great!!

[thereuare]

While conventional thinking may lead one to think that the percent discount increases as prices go up since the hotel has more margin in a higher priced room.. the opposite is actual true. The discount often actually decreases as the hotel rate at a given property increases (NOTE: i'm not talking about comparing a 2* hotel at $50 vs. a 4* at $100... but rather when the rate at the 4* goes from $100 to $300 due to higher demand)

Hotels typically use the opaque suppliers to unload inventory they don't think they will ultimately be able to sell on their own. The higher than usual prices indicate strong demand for hotel rooms, so a hotel will try to hold onto the rooms themselves in hopes of selling at full price... and either offer no deeply discounted inventory, or inventory at only a very small discount, in hopes of selling the room themselves at full price.

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

[tp208]

Hello all,

No luck so far with the Paris trip.

I have a related question for the community. Sort of silly.

There are three of us going on the trip. Two adults and a child. The options when I put the child on the search have become terrible. The options are better if I just include the two adults.

Is is really an issue in Paris? Most rooms say up to 3 people on their websites. Some direct sites don't even ask about kids, just number of adults in the room.

If we use just 2 adults are we going to have a problem when we get there?

Thanks again.

[WillTravel]

Yes, it would almost certainly be a problem.

Keep in mind that in Paris, a room for 2 is quite often barely big enough for 2, let alone 3.

With a child, look at options offered by Accor Hotels.

Accor's Novotel and Mercure brands typically (but you have to check on a per-hotel basis) allow one free child.