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Priceline Hotel: First Time, need a Hotel in San Francisco 7/31


MattSC
By MattSC,
in

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I'm looking for 2 rooms in a 3* or 4* San Francisco Hotel. Zones 1,2,3,4,7,10 or 11 on July 31st.

I've put a bid in for $100 and was denied.

Any suggestions on what I can do next? I really don't want to spend more than $100 per room.

Also, what does USE and USW stand for?

Thanks for any help!

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Thanks for that, although I still don't quite understand how USE and USW traslate into zone names? Are they acronyms for somthing?

The zones I'm hoping to find something in are :

Zone 1: Civic Center

Zone 2: Financial District

Zone 3: Fishermans Wharf

Zone 4: Marina, Lombard Street

Zone 7: SOMA - Moscone Center

Zone 10: Union Square East

Zone 11: Union Square West - Nob Hill

Does bidding for 2 rooms decrease my chances of winning?

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In the Questions and Suggestions section, there is an area that contains FAQ's. Please do yourself a favor and read each thread. SF has lots of rebids and you can make the most of your opportunities this way. By no means do you have to do one blanket bid of $100 to cover all zones. Now that you have though, you may have to wait to bid again in those sections.

On HW - which can be somewhat of an indicator of availability - there are some 3* and 4* hotels. So you have a chance. You probably should check retail rates to see if they are especially high.

Bidding for 2 rooms instead of 1 shouldn't be a big deal. If there were only 1 room left at a hotel, they probably wouldn't be offering them on PL.

Union Square is very central in the city - that's why two of the zones are called USE and USW. (Union Square East and West)

BTW - Civic Center is not an especially nice area/kinda dodgy, but if you want a hotel at a good price, you should be able to find one there.

After you have a little more info, feel free to post back with specific questions.

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I still don't quite understand how USE and USW traslate into zone names? Are they acronyms for somthing?

Yes, acronyms...

Union Square East = USE

Union Square West = USW

For the $100 bid you made above was that at a 3* level or the 4*? (or did you bid all those zone at 4*, rejected, then lowered to 3* and tried again??)

If you let us know the zones you're willing to accept we'll suggest a strategy for you to follow.

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

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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Thanks to both of you for the info!

Yes, I first made the bid of $100 for 4* in all zones, then added the 3* and was still denied. I read the Bidding Strategy post and now realized I should have gone about it differently.

I'm willing to accept all the zones I listed although maybe not Civic Center now based on the comment from Gallus.

This is such a great service so thank you for the help. I'll go through the FAQ's right now. Any strategy you could help me out with would be much appreciated as I learn the ropes here.

I most definitely will make the purchase via the PRICELINE link above!

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Is $100 your maximum bid for this stay?

I assume you'd like to try for a 4* first up to your limit, then try for a 3.5*, then for a 3*? (although your chances seem somewhat low given you were just rejected for a 3* hotel yesterday up to $100)

Let us know the above and we'll suggest a strategy to follow.

Thanks in advance for using the requested PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board.

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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When bidding 4* in SF you have FIVE rebid zones. If you need help determining your rebid zones please ask. I think your revised $130 limit should be enough.

Please click this PRICELINE link.

Select USE, USW, SOMA, and Emb-Financial and bid $85 for 4*.

If rejected add rebid zone 1 (it doesn't matter which of the five your choose) and bid $90.

Add rebid zone 2 and bid $95.

Add rebid zone 3 and bid $100.

Add rebid zone 4 and bid $105.

If rejected close your browser and reaccess PRICELINE.

Select USE, USW, SOMA, and Emb-Financial PLUS rebid zone 5 (whichever rebid zone you didn't use in the first round), and bid $110.

Add rebid zone 1 and bid $115.

Add rebid zone 2 and bid $120.

Add rebid zone 3 and bid $125.

Add rebid zone 4 and bid $130.

Let us know how it goes. Good luck!

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Thanks Colfax, however zone 5 (SFO North) is too far away for us. We're trying to stay as close to the Ballpark as possible, it's my bachelor party and we have 9 guys and we're all going out for a night on the town after the Giants game.

Could I try this strategy using a different Zone than 5 after the initial bid?

Much thanks!

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Matt, I'll jump in here since Colfax is a bit of a night owl and may not be "on duty" yet!

Colfax didn't suggest you bid zone #5 (SFO North) with the intention of your actually being assigned a hotel there, but rather was referring to the 5 SF area zones that are considered "free" rebid zones. Knowing how to determine your free rebid zones is the single-most important factor of bidding on Priceline.

Please read the information linked below, then post your 5 free rebid zones and we'll take things from there.

Priceline Re-Bidding Explained

Good luck!

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You beat me to it BEAV.

MattSC,

Are you intending to squeeze 9 guys into two rooms, knowing you may get rooms with one bed? Priceline just guarantees double occupancy.

Well that kind of changes things. So you're saying there's no gaurantee that I'll have two beds per room?

Thanks, here's what I did:

I bid zones 2, 7, 10, 11 @ $95 and was denied.

Re-bid adding zone 3 @ $110 and was denied.

Re-bid adding 3.5* @ $110 and was denied.

Suggestions?

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Well that kind of changes things. So you're saying there's no gaurantee that I'll have two beds per room?
Correct... all that is guaranteed thru PRICELINE is a room which will accommodate double occupancy. If you're going to stretch the occupancy issue you may want to use HOTWIRE instead which allows you to search for up to quad occupancy per room... at least then you'll only be one person over your stated occupancy, and even then i wouldn't make it too noticeable at check-in.
Thanks, here's what I did:

I bid zones 2, 7, 10, 11 @ $95 and was denied.

Re-bid adding zone 3 @ $110 and was denied.

Re-bid adding 3.5* @ $110 and was denied.

Going forward please use the zone names, and not the numbers, so that others will know right away which zones you have bid. Also, it will avoid confusion down the road if/when PRICELINE re-names the zones and/or order in which they are listed.

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.

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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Matt - Availability for this weekend has gotten tighter and tighter. I don't know if you're going to be able to get what you want at your budget level - especially if you have 4+ in a room.

HW has almost nothing under $200. I did find a 3* centrally located with breakfast on lastminutetravel.com. Don't know what hotel it is, but you're pretty sure to have two beds b-cuz I requested 4 adults.

Grosvenor House Suites has a one bedroom suite with two doubles and a sofa bed for $249 that would sleep 6, but it might be a bit tight with 9.

You can keep plugging away with bids on PL, but I have a feeling it's going to be a big challenge.

Good luck and let us know what happens.

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We're trying to stay as close to the Ballpark as possible, it's my bachelor party and we have 9 guys and we're all going out for a night on the town after the Giants game.

Gallus50 is right that some parts Civic Center zone are "not so nice" and that's why CC usually costs less than other Downtown zones.

Two beds are never guaranteed on Priceline but Civic Center is the zone where you stand the best chance of getting two beds. 2.5* Hotel Whitcomb and 3* Holiday Inn Civic Center come up most often. Both have a lot of two bed rooms and they don't charge Priceline customers a "two-bed surcharge", like some of the Union Square hotels do. Despite the iffy neighborhood if you guys want to play the odds on getting two beds Civic Center is probably your best bet.

Between the Giants game and your night on the town it sounds like you'll mainly be using your hotel as a crashpad and the hotel's neighborhood might not be as important as it would be if you were staying in town several days. You can catch a cab from Civic Center area to the ballpark or to Union Square for less than $10.

This is an expensive night in Union Square. If you don't want to pay what it costs and decide to go the budget route instead I'll suggest bidding for four or five rooms in Civic Center, starting at $55 for 3*. If rejected add your one rebid zone Lombard-Marina and bid $65.

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Thank you everyone for your help. It looks like we're going to have to bite the bullet and book directly with a hotel because we need to gaurantee that we get double occupancy with both rooms. I have a few trips coming up soon though so I'll be sure to book any possible stays through this site, it's great!

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