Priceline Hotel: 3* Orange County (Disneyland-Anaheim) Holiday Inn and Suites Walnut St

[Darth Mickey]

I am looking for advice on bidding on PL for a 3 1/2 * hotel for my 8 year-old daughter and I for a Disneyland trip 8/25/10 departing 8/30/10. I am looking to stay in the Disneyland Anaheim Priceline area or the Disneyland OC Garden Grove Priceline areas because we prefer a place with a theme park shuttle or access to the ART system.

Since we will have a rental car the last three days of the trip and an annual pass that gets us into the Disneyland parking garage I could theoretically consider an area adjacent to the Priceline Disneyland areas but I'd prefer not to. So if I don't get any good results with the two Disneyland areas though I could try bidding for areas like Fullerton, the Anaheim Hills, Newport-Huntington, Laguna Hills - Mission Viejo, or Buena Park - Cerritos or Costa Mesa - Irvine if I got desperate but I'd really prefer to stick to the Disneyland areas.

I'm looking to book through Priceline as I think I can usually save between $10 and $25 per night there over Hotwire. Ideally I'd like to find something for ~$55 per night or less but I know that may not be realistic for the 3 1/2* category in this area. I know there was a Priceline $10 per night bonus cash offer last month but haven't found anything like that around the web. Anybody have info on coupons, sales or bonus cash offers for Priceline I can use?

If I have to I am willing to settle for a 3* hotel in the two Disneyland areas but if I do then I would either use Hotwire or I would lower my bidding at Priceline to the $35-$45 per night range unless you all think i could get a 3 * in these areas for less. The only amenities I really need are comfy beds, a clean room, a working TV and a decent pool.

We have used both Hotwire and Priceline for these areas in the past two years and have previously stayed at the Anaheim Hilton, the Hyatt Regency Orange County, the Crowne Plaza in Garden Grove at Harbor and Chapman and the Holiday Inn on Manchester for between $50 and $65 per night. I discovered this site a few months ago and am really excited to finally use it. I will definitely post my results on this board once I purchase through either Priceline or Hotwire. Thanks in advance!

[Darth Mickey]

Please help in IDentifying the two following Disneyland South hotels for a stay from 8/25/10 - 8/30/10. Thanks!

3 1/2 * Anaheim - Disneyland South area hotel $64/night

Fitness Center

Pool

Restaurant

Business Center

High Speed Internet

Recommended in 95% of Hotwire customer reviews

200+ total reviews

Overall satisfaction 4.5

TripAdvisor 4 circle rating

This hotel does not charge an additional resort fee.

So far this is my preferred hotel on Hotwire for the high satisfaction rating and no resort fee.

I am also considering this property:

3 * Anaheim - Disneyland South area map $58/Night

Fitness Center

Pool

Restaurant

Business Center

Laundry Facilities

High Speed Internet

Recommended in 55% of Hotwire customer reviews.

Overall satisfaction 3. (This low satisfaction score concerns me and may cancel out the lack of a resort fee.)

This hotel does not charge an additional resort fee.

[Darth Mickey]

Please help ID the following hotels in the Anaheim - Disneyland North area:

3 1/2 * Anaheim - Disneyland North area hotel $69/Night - Bed Choice of 1 King or 2 Queen Beds raises this to $70/Night

Non-smoking

Fitness Center

Pool

Restaurant

Business Center

Laundry Facilities

High Speed Internet

Recommended in 75% of Hotwire customer reviews

200+ total reviews

Overall satisfaction 4.0

TripAdvisor 4 Circle Rating

This hotel does not charge an additional resort fee.

3 * Anaheim - Disneyland North area hotel $47/night

Non-smoking

Fitness Center

Pool

Restaurant

Business Center

Laundry Facilities

High Speed Internet

Recommended in 85% of Hotwire customer reviews (This high satisfaction rating looks pretty good to me and somewhat mitigates the resort fee.)

500+ total reviews

Overall satisfaction 4.0

Trip Advisor 3 1/2 circle rating

This hotel typically charges all guests a resort fee regardless of how the room is booked. The hotel collects this fee of about $15 per room per night directly from you, so it won't show in your Hotwire

[yellowdog]

Welcome to BetterBidding :)

Please keep all posts in the same thread since posts are for the same dates.

I'm looking to book through Priceline as I think I can usually save between $10 and $25 per night there over Hotwire.

If you intend to bid on PRICELINE anyway, let's start with your bidding before we attempt to ID the HOTWIRE hotels. All reported HOTWIRE hotels can be found in this link: Hotwire Anaheim Hotels

If you would like to get help with a bidding strategy so please post your budget/night for 3.5* and 3*, zone(s) you're willing to stay in.

Let us know how we can help you further.

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

Yellowdog.

[Darth Mickey]

Thanks for the help. Sorry for any confusion. It seemed logical that the request for Hotwire Info should go in the Hotwire section. Sorry for the error.

Just to keep it simple I'll condense my long original post to this:

Looking for a 3.5* hotel in Priceline's Anaheim Disneyland or Disneyland OC Garden Grove areas for 8/25 through a check out on 8/30/10 for about $55 per night or less. If there aren't any deals to be had for 3.5* hotels in this area I'd consider going to a 3* hotel for about $40 per night or less.

Any advice on what kind of bid I should start with?

Thanks for your assistance and I will use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on this board.

[thereuare]

I am looking to stay in the Disneyland Anaheim Priceline area or the Disneyland OC Garden Grove Priceline areas because we prefer a place with a theme park shuttle or access to the ART system.

The only amenities I really need are comfy beds, a clean room, a working TV and a decent pool.

Just to clarify... a shuttle and/or ART service, and a Pool, are not requirements for 3.5* hotels in this area. It sounds as if you know the area well and feel that this is a 'low risk' but just confirming and/or clarifying for future users who may not be as knowledgeable in this zone.

Assuming the above is "ok", at the 3.5* level in this area you have FOUR re-bid zones. If you're not familiar with re-bidding please read Priceline Re-Bidding Explained and feel free to ask questions and/or confirm your re-bid zones with the board before proceeding.

Select 3.5* Disneyland-Anaheim...

Bid $40, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $45, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $48, if rejected close browser and use this link to re-access PRICELINE...

Select 3.5* Disneyland-Garden Grove...

Bid $40, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $45, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $48, if rejected close browser and use this link to re-access PRICELINE...

Select 3.5* Disneyland-Anaheim and Disneyland-Garden Grove...

Bid $50, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $53, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $55, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $58, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $60

Any questions feel free to ask. You mentioned your budget of ~$55 but i went up to $60 as in this region this can often be the difference between success/failure... if you don't want to go up to this amount you can stop at whatever amount you're comfortable with.

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

Good luck and let us know how it goes or if we can be of further help.

[Darth Mickey]

Just to clarify... a shuttle and/or ART service, and a Pool, are not requirements for 3.5* hotels in this area. It sounds as if you know the area well and feel that this is a 'low risk' but just confirming and/or clarifying for future users who may not be as knowledgeable in this zone.

Assuming the above is "ok", at the 3.5* level in this area you have FOUR re-bid zones. If you're not familiar with re-bidding please read Priceline Re-Bidding Explained and feel free to ask questions and/or confirm your re-bid zones with the board before proceeding.

Any questions feel free to ask. You mentioned your budget of ~$55 but i went up to $60 as in this region this can often be the difference between success/failure... if you don't want to go up to this amount you can stop at whatever amount you're comfortable with.

Good luck and let us know how it goes or if we can be of further help.

Thanks for the help and advice. I tried bidding for a 3.5* hotel in both the Disneyland Anaheim and the Disneyland OC Garden Grove areas. I started my bidding at $40 and went up to $45 with no success. After much thought and a quick review of the 3* hotels in these zones I decided to go for extra savings over getting a high end hotel so I started over.

I went to Priceline through the link on this site and bid $38 for a 3* or 3.5* hotel in the Disneyland Anaheim area for 8/25-8/30. I was booked at the Holiday Inn & Suites Anaheim on Walnut next to the Mickey & Friends parking structure. After reviewing TripAdvisor it looks like this property will be more than fine for us. It does have a $10 per day Resort Fee which comes to $11.50 per day after tax. This Resort Fee was pretty much expected since most places on the ART lines have it but it does make this deal less of a steal when all is said and done.

You are quite right when you say I know the area well. I feel bad for people that book this hotel and look at Google Maps who decide it is an easy walk over to the Disneyland trams or the park gates. It is definitely a hike to either place and in late August it would be darn near suicidal because of the heat. We'll be getting an ART pass to take the shuttle to the park since that would be far easier than driving over to the parking structure, walking to the tram and then walking to the gates.

Thanks again for all your help and I look forward to using this site again in the future. Let me know if you want me to make a separate post about my bidding process and what I booked.

[Darth Mickey]

I went to Priceline through the link on this site and bid $38 for a 3* or 3.5* hotel in the Disneyland Anaheim area for 8/25-8/30. I was booked at the Holiday Inn & Suites Anaheim on Walnut next to the Mickey & Friends parking structure.

I tried bidding for a 3.5* hotel in both the Disneyland Anaheim and the Disneyland OC Garden Grove areas. I started my bidding at $40 and went up to $45 with no success. After much thought and a quick review of the 3* hotels in these zones I decided to go for extra savings over getting a high end hotel so I started over and booked the Walnut St. Holiday Inn & Suites at the rate listred above.

After reviewing TripAdvisor it looks like this property will be more than fine for us. It does have a $10 per day Resort Fee which comes to $11.50 per day after tax. This Resort Fee was pretty much expected since most places on the ART lines have it but it does make this deal less of a steal when all is said and done.

I did call the hotel to check on bed requests and incidental policies. The front-desk person said that I would definitely be in a room with one double-bed unless I paid $10 per night upon check-in to upgrade to a room with two double beds. I told him I'd think about it but I'll probably end up doing it. It just makes this hotel even less of a good deal.

I know that we are supposed to expect this kind of thing with Priceline bookings but usually the hotel will say that you could get a room with one bed but they'll note your request for a room with two beds and then see what happens. I've never had a hotel pretty much come right out and shake me down for more money that transparently.

If I go with the bed upgrade and after paying the taxes and resport fee this lower-end 3* hotel comes to more than $65 per night all in, so not such a terrific deal. Next time I might just use Hotwire since they now appear to clearly show in advance whether there are resort fees and what the taxes will be.

As far as incidentals go the clerk mentioned that if using a debit card their authorization hold is only $50 as opposed to the usual $100 at most other places so that's one bright spot I guess. If I had it to do over though I would have followed the example of another person on this board and bid $43 for a 3* hotel to get the Doubletree.

Still at the end of the day the hotel will just be aplace to crash at night and nap after lunch. Wish me luck and I'll let you know how the stay goes.

[AaronJB]

Congrats on your success. :)

Very nice deal for this Holiday Inn property. Sorry to hear about the upgrade fee; you may want to try again at a different time and see if there's a different response.

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

Enjoy your stay.