Priceline Hotel: Help for a Honeymoon Stay

[babyj54]

:)

My fiance and I are headed to LA and San Diego hoping for a relatively inexpensive honeymoon. Yay! We're staying in LA from 8/08-8/13 and San Diego from 8/13-8/15 then up to Vegas for a couple days on our way home (already booked that leg). I've used Priceline quite a few times but have never thought of trying all the tips given on here. I was wondering if anyone had any specific advice though? We're hoping to stay in at least 3 star hotels for about $50-$60 a night. In LA we want to stay in the Redondo area (my Grandpa lives there) and in San Diego we're up for suggestions but we were thinking about the Seaworld area. Are these areas too pricey for a 3 star? Does anyone have tips?

Thanks for the help!

[babyj54]

:)

...more specifically we would really like to stay at the Crowne Plaza Redondo Beach. I noticed someone else got this hotel for around $55 but it was for a 1 night stay only...would we have that good of luck for 5 nights? How can we try to get this hotel for cheap?

Thanks again!

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Congratulations on your upcomging nutuals. :)

Please use separate threads for each leg of your stay... we'll use this thread for your 8/8-8/13 Redondo Beach stay, feel free to start a NEW TOPIC for your San Diego stay.

With PRICELINE there is no way to target a specific property. The Crowne Plaza was last reported to the board at the 3.5* level and you may be successful at landing a 3.5* property for $60 or under... but it may not be the Crowne Plaza. When bidding on PRICELINE you need to be willing to accept any hotel in the zone at the star level (or higher) that you select.

If you're trying to target a specific property HOTWIRE may be a better option, but it usually costs a little more than PRICELINE. I'm seeing what i believe to be the Crowne Plaza for $89/nite on HOTWIRE, not sure if you're willing to stretch your budget or if you'd rather take your chances with PRICELINE.

Let us know your thoughts and how you'd like to proceed and we'll take it from there.

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

[babyj54]

:)

Thanks for your help and sorry for posting 2 trips in one discussion. We have backed off wanting to stay in Crowne Plaza and are willing to look for anything in the 3 1/2 star range. Our problem now is choosing the area on Priceline. We want to stay as close to Redondo as possible so we're thinking of staying at the airport because that seems to be the best deal. We've also considered the Torrance/Carson area but that seems like it goes pretty far inland. It would be ideal to stay the Redondo area marked on Priceline but do you think we could get a 3 1/2 star in that area for $50-$60? Plus it seems like there are always parking fees if you stay near the beach... is that right?

Thank you!!

[thereuare]

With HOTWIRE having what is believed to be the Crowne Plaza showing up for $89 i would think it's certainly worth a try bidding up to your limit (although $70 may ultimately work better than $60... but let us know your limit and we'll suggest a strategy to follow)

I don't know enough about this area to know if the hotels charge for parking, and if so, how much... you can visit a few hotel websites of the hotel in this zone and see how much parking typically runs. Note that many airport hotels may charge for parking too.

If location is the primary objective you may want to try the beach zone first... if lowest price is the objective you may wan to bid both zones, gradually increasing your bid, and landing whichever zone accepts the lowest price.

Let us know how you'd like to proceed and we'll take it from there.

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

[mtc]

Parking is $20 to $30 at airport hotels. I have gotten the CP Redondo for about $60 a few years ago on Priceline, but I don't think you can get it at that rate for the weekend. You may want to do the airport hotels on the weekend days and try for the CP on the weekday days. You can get either Westin LAX, Renaissance LAX (4 stars) or Hilton LAX or Crowne Plaza LAX (3.5 stars) for about $60 particularly on weekends (Fri, Sat, Sun nites). They are all very good hotels, although there is nothing around them except the airport.

[Colfax]

Redondo-Manhattan is a more scenic and romantic area for a honeymoon than the airport, imo. If you win the 3.5* Crowne Plaza there's free street parking nearby. All the better airport hotels charge for parking too...and they don't all have free parking nearby...and they're not by the beach and ocean.

[babyj54]

:)

Thank you all for your help! The tips about the parking really helped us make our decision about where to bid. I think we will go ahead and bid in Redondo and hope we can park on the street somewhere close! We are staying in LA for weekdays only so it sounds like this is a good time to stay in that area right?

Thanks again!

[Colfax]

Sorry your thread got lost in the shuffle, babyj54. Have you done any 3.5* bidding in Manhattan/Redondo yet? Are you wanting a bid strategy? Please reaffirm your travel dates and bidding limit and someone will get back to you.