Priceline Hotel: Any NYOP Hotels in Bern Switzerland?

[sush]

Hi I needed help to identify an Priceline Name you own price hotels in Bern/ Interlaken area in Switzerland? I'm looking for a place to stay from 17-20Sep. Can I bid for any cities in this area and if so what is the bidding strategy I should use and the lowest I can go in each star category? I'm willing to even stay in 2* or 3* hotels. It looked like Priceline did list Zurich as a city for Name your own price option but I'm not familiar with other cities in Switzerland for this option. We will rent a car and drive around so I'm ok with any city in that area. Thanks

[Romelle]

There are other ways of doing this, but one way that works is to first click on the blue Priceline up above, just filling in the city with some nonsense like xyz. You will get a screen offering you the list of cities. Follow this on in and see what cities are biddable. Some of these will turn out to just route you to the retail side of PL, but some are probably actually biddable.

You can look at the List of Hotels at the very top of this Priceline-Other Countries and see if people have been kind enough to report other Switzerland cities. Also, you can do a search on Switzerland in the Search (upper right hand on this page in the bar).

And finally, if you haven't done it already, I'd really recommend getting an armload of guide books from your local library. Then, when you find one you particularly like, actually buying it though someplace like amazon.com (also linkable from this site under the Support/Travel tab up above). Lonely Planet series is my personal favorite, but there are lots of other good ones.

Romelle

[sush]

I did pick up the Discover Europe Lonely Planet book and Europe for Dummies books from the library to get some insight but still looking at what are the other good hotel websites to go through to book hotels in Switzerland

[tenerifesharon]

I don't think you will find NYOP hotels on Priceline for anywhere in Switzerland other than Zurich. I also tried Basel and Lucerne for your dates. Priceline is showing lots of hotel possibilities, but none for which you can bid, only regular booking.

An excellent european website for hotel prices is www.hrs.de Put in your information and see what they come up with

[MadFlyer]

Bern did start appearing on Hotwire a few weeks ago and the rate has been $119 for every date I have checked. When adding one night taxes it is about $136, but you get a better deal for a multiple night stay.

With a trip advisor rating of 4 and the features listed it would seem to be the HI Westside, connected to the shopping centre and spa. Bern has not showed up on Priceline yet. Hotwire was new in Switzerland in just the past year.

If it is the HI, they do not get the concept really as about the same rate can be found on other channels through www.kayak.com

[sush]

Thanks for the response on Bern hotels on hotwire, I need to check on Bern for 18-20Sep for 1 room. I just realised in my search for a hotel in Zurich for 17-18 Sep that even if I bid for a 100 dollars for a 4 star I have to take into account that I'd be paying an additional 20 just for parking my car. I also tried my searches for european sites thru a website called www.travelsupermarket.com which basically consolidates a lot of european hotel sites ( like kayak ) and gives the prices in GBP. Expedia for now seems to be giving out good prices for switzerland hotels but even the hotels directly on their sites seem to offer lower prices, if I go the non refundable route. For Zurich I finally might to go for a 3 star 'Hostellerie Geroldswil Swiss Quality Hotel' (59 + 12 parking) in Geroldswil which is about 13 miles from downtown Zurich which also seems to include breakfast through hotelpronto.com

Your inputs on the other search sites are appreciated. Thanks

[sush]

I finally booked 18-19 Sep in Hotel Blume (B&B in Interlaken) for a double bed with shared bathroom for 110CHF directly from their website.

I did find it listed on Expedia, PRICELINE and Hotels.com.

For 19-20Sep booked Hotel Tschuggen (B&B in Grindelwald) via Expedia.com for a double bed with shared bathroom for 116CHF a night. These were the best hotels I could find in the area for a non-hostel type hotel and still get a nice home cooked breakfast.

Both had great reviews on tripadvisor.com

Also they included free wifi and free parking which was an added bonus to save on costs. Most 4* hotels charge $20-25 just for parking and an additional fee for breakfast.

[das_ubersoldat]

the best site in europe for hotel booking is www.trivago.de

you could have booked hotel blume for 90 CHF there.