Priceline Hotel: Downtown SFO for $80?

[lcf76]

We are traveling to SFO in October and need a room for 10/1/10 (check-in) - 10/3/10 (checkout). We are really flexible about the zone. I would take USE, USW, Financial District, SOMA, Wharf, Civic Center (in that order of preference). I'd like to stay in a 3* or above. We are going to an event at Golden Gate Park so I'd like to stay in the downtown area.

I took a cut at bidding 3*, 3.5* & 4* at $80 and struck out. I see the best deal on Hotwire is $105-3*-Nob Hill for those dates.

Here's the order I bid if that is helpful (all bids were for $80)l:

1. USE 4*

2. USE+USW 4*

3. USE+USW+Financial 4*

4. USE+USW+SOMA 4*

5. USE + Wharf 3.5*

6. SOMA 3*

7. SOMA + USE 3*

I realize there are a few more permutations that I could try but I thought I'd see if this forum could help before I got too carried away. So, any suggestions? Am I too early in my search?

PS> I used your PRICELINE link.

[thereuare]

I would take USE, USW, Financial District, SOMA, Wharf, Civic Center (in that order of preference).

Are you willing to pay more to stay in your first zone choice vs. your second, in your second zone choice vs. your third, etc, etc OR is the goal the least expensive in any of these zones?

I took a cut at bidding 3*, 3.5* & 4* at $80 and struck out.

Are you willing to pay more for a 4* vs. a 3.5* vs. a 3* OR is your goal the least expensive 3* or better for this stay?

Thanks for using the PRICELINE links on the board to begin your bidding :)

[lcf76]

I'm not willing to pay more to stay in one area over another (within those 6 zones) so the goal is the least expensive 3* or better in any of those zones.

You can see by my bidding so far that I was just trying to win in the preferred zone before the less preferred zone although any would do. In some cases, the 3* options that have been won are better in one zone over another so I switched up my preferences based on that for the 3* hotels.

[thereuare]

I see you also did bid all acceptable zones at the 3* level... although i'm assuming based upon your comments that all 6 zones would be acceptable.

So that we don't suggest a strategy which goes higher then you're willing to pay, what is your maximum bid for this stay?

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

EDIT to ADD: i just saw your topic title... is $80 your maximum bid? Are all SIX zones indeed acceptable at the 3* level?

[lcf76]

$80 is my max bid for a 3* in these zones. I think that I'm okay with a 3* from any of these zones but it is hard for me to tell since I'm not that familiar with SFO 3* hotels. Are there any zones on my list where a 3* isn't desirable? We don't care about the size of the room...just that it is clean and hospitable.

[thereuare]

At the 3* level in the USW zone there may be some properties which are in the tenderloin, and while ok for some, others avoid it due to the homelessness in this part of the zone... but we have quite a few San Francisco locals on the board and hopefully they'll be able to comment further.

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

[Gallus50]

On your list, I consider Civic Center to be sketchy and do not recommend it. USW is generally OK. It can border the Tenderloin, but if you don't walk too far in certain directions, it is fine. Most of USW is close to Union Square, Nob Hill and Russian Hill. USW is also fairly convenient in terms of GG Park, because the Geary bus goes straight there.

If you're in SOMA, FD or USE, I think you can take the J Church muni line, but don't quote me on it. Please don't try to park at GG Park during an event. You will almost certainly regret it.

Hope this helps.

[lcf76]

Thanks for the tips. We will be car-less in SF so life should be good. Do you think I should take CC off my list (or just for the below 4* hotels)?

I'm going to give it another go this evening.

Anyone want to chime in on a strategy that might yield a hotel per my description above?

[lcf76]

Bidding history (all bids $80):

USW 4* -rejected

USW + USE 4*- rejected

USW + USE + Wharf + Financial Dist. 4*- rejected

USW 3.5* - rejected

USW+USE 3.5* -rejected

USW + USE + SOMA 3.5* - rejected

USW+USE+SOMA+Wharf+FD 3.5* -rejected

USW 3* - rejected

USW + USE 3* -rejected

USW + USE + SOMA 3* - rejected

USW + USE + SOMA + Wharf + FD 3* - rejected.

There is a Hotwire hotel in Nob Hill Area 3* for $89 so I'm a little surprised my bid wasn't accepted. I'm going to see if your hotwire pages can clue me in on the property.

[lcf76]

I see this hotel for $89 for 10/1 - 10/3. Any thoughts on what it is?

3* - Nob Hill Area Hotel

Non-Smoking

Fitness Center

Restaurant

Business Center

High Speed Internet

_______________________

Never mind...I clicked through and HOTWIRE told me: Hotel Vintage Plaza. Hmmm....I haven't used HOTWIRE in a while and I didn't realize it told you the hotel now.

Anyway, the description on the pinned list is a little different so you might want to update it.

[yellowdog]

lcf76

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.

Never mind...I clicked through and Hotwire told me: Hotel Vintage Plaza. Hmmm....I haven't used Hotwire in a while and I didn't realize it told you the hotel now.

They don't. You're not looking at an opaque hotel. It's an Hotels.com listing

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

Yellowdog.

[Gallus50]

If you're heading to GG Park, Japantown/Civic Center North wouldn't be a bad location - that part of CC isn't bad, so you could bid that and you might be fine. (HI Golden Gateway is a decent hotel, for example.) But if you could maybe stretch to $89 for a HW hotel, why don't you try bidding to $89 and see what you get?

Also - are you sure it was the Vintage Plaza hotel on HW? As far as I know, there is no Vintage Plaza. There is a Hotel Vintage Court, though. Rooms are small but it's pretty nice. Decent location, too.

Hang in there.

[lcf76]

Sorry, that was a typo. It was Hotel Vintage Court.

Of course, I am willing to go higher on my price for a hotel but I thought it would be nice to stay under $80 if I could get it. We are going to SFO so we have to sleep somewhere. Since I have a month+ before we depart, I thought I'd try my luck (with all of your help) at a low price. Plus, if I go higher, I might end up booking directly with a hotel rather than shopping through PRICELINE. At this point, my max bid is $80 on PRICELINE.

I also figured that since I could find a hotel on HOTWIRE for $89, I should be able to get it on PL for less. At least that has been my experience in the past. Is this not playing out any longer this way?

-Laura

[AaronJB]

I'm now seeing a 3* in the Nob Hill area w/Non-Smoking

Fitness Center

Restaurant

Business Center

High Speed Internet

And it is a now a discount/HOTWIRE listing - not a "grey" regular rate listing through Hotels.com - now showing for $109.

If you were seeing a regular rate listing on HOTWIRE (although I'm no longer seeing that when searching) that was offered through Hotels.com for $89, there may not have been PRICELINE inventory at levels below that. Prices look to have changed since though, unfortunately.

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

[lcf76]

Bid the same on Aug 14 post and struck out again :)

[AaronJB]

Sorry to hear that you were unsuccessful. Are you thinking about raising your bids, or are you going to try to wait it out and continue at current bid level/s?

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

[lcf76]

Just wanted to give an update on what I'm doing for my stay in San Fran. I ended up booking via lastminutetravel.com. The hotel I got was the Hyatt Regency San Francisco

5 Embarcadero Center San Francisco California 94111 for $112/night including all taxes and fees. I figured that I could bid up to ~$89 on PRICELINE to get a price that works out (with the taxes/fees from PL) to about the same amount.

Still trying to use PRICELINE to get a rental car and possibly a hotel to go to Sonoma from 9/29-10/1. I'll post details of that on another thread.

Thanks for everyone's help!

[Gallus50]

Thanks for closing the thread.

As I mentioned in another post, Sept and early Oct are proving to be very challenging. If you see something relatively reasonable for your dates in this time period, don't wait. Book it. Or to paraphrase - he who hesitates will pay more than he wants to pay.

[yellowdog]

lcf76

Thanks for the follow-up and closing this thread.

Good to see that you found someting that works for your plans.

If you need any help with your Sonoma stay so just post in a new topic.

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

Yellowdog.