Priceline Hotel: 3* San Francisco (SFO North-San Bruno) Holiday Inn Airport

[payneng]

Hi all,

So far I've been unsuccessful with my bidding experience on Priceline for a 3.5/4* in San Francisco from August 7 to 11 (sat-wed) - thought I'd register and seek advice.

So far, I have tried 4 separate bids -

USE 4* - going up to $120

Fin-Emb 4* - going up to $120

USE 3.5* - going up to $135

Fin-Emb 3.5* - going up to $135

I saw a couple references in the boards to splitting bids - is this something which would help me? Or am I bidding too low, price-wise? At this point I figure I'd better try the same areas for 3* (although I don't want to go any lower).

Thanks in advance for any suggestions...

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

You may have success if you are willing to split the stay by bididng the first nite of your stay separate from the last 3 nites... are you willing to change hotels during your stay, or would you prefer to lower your star rating and bid for one hotel for the complete stay? (alhtough you may still need to bid higher or lower your star rating for the first nite)

Let us know your thoughts and we'll take it from there.

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

[payneng]

Thanks for answering - I decided to go with a 3* bid (using the PRICELINE link from this website) before attempting to split my vote, and unfortunately made a stupid, stupid mistake (which teaches me to do anything before getting caffeine). I put in SFO North as a free re-bid, misreading my notes as it does have a 3*, and got the Holiday Inn at the Airport - not at all what I wanted, since my main goal was to be downtown. I assume nothing can be done, since it is non-refundable, transferable, etc. so I'm feeling pretty frustrated with myself. All this to say a disappointing first experience with Priceline, but again, I've definitely learnt my lesson!

[thereuare]

Thank you for sharing your results with the board... sorry to hear of your bidding error.

Can you please add a reply to this thread with the amount of the accepted bid so we can add this information to the topic title.

If it's any consolation bidding mistakes happen to most of us at one time another, just unfortunate that for you it happened on your first PRICELINE experience. While you're correct that PRICELINE purchases are non-refundable/non-changable, a few people have had success getting a 'one time exception', but there doesn't appear t be any trend as to when it's offered or not. It couldn't hurt to call or email PRICELINE and let them know you made a mistake and see if there is anything they can do for you.

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

If you pursue it let us know how it goes (and please also add the winning bid amount to this thread)

[NevadaJack]

The location is not bad at all. BART takes you downtown and you'll save some bucks

1. for the airport location

2. parking fees in downtown (HI has free parking !)

Make the best out of it !

Greetz

[payneng]

I contacted PRICELINE after reading thereuare's post... no luck. Then I tried the hotel, and again explained things. Very nice front desk person offered to look into it with Priceline - got back from lunch to find an email from Priceline cancelling my request!!!! What a relief... very, very grateful to the Holiday Inn for working this out for me!

Went back to PRICELINE using the link from this website and very, very cautiously split my bid since I'd still had no luck with the full time (and I'll be there in 2 days). Success!! Obviously I'd prefer not to switch hotels, but compared to being at the airport, it's a very minor disruption.

August 7-9: 4* for $130/night and ended up with Le Meridien in Embarcadero.

August 9-11: 4* for $150/night and ended up with Taj Campton Place in USE.

I would have thought the weekend would be more expensive, but guess not. Huge sigh of relief that it has worked out...

[AaronJB]

So glad to hear that the situation was able to be worked out and that you were able to get alternative properties (and both terrific deals!) for this stay.

If you could post the bid price for the Holiday Inn, as well as create separate threads for your two new wins, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! :)

Thank you for using the site's PRICELINE link to start your purchases and searches.

[payneng]

My "winning bid" for the Holiday Inn Airport was $130/night. This wouldn't have been a deal at all - the Holiday Inn website was offering rooms for $110/night! Another reason to be relieved it was cancelled...

[yellowdog]

payneng

Thanx for the follow-up!

Yellowdog.