Priceline Hotel: Help w/ 4* USE OR USW 9/30-10/3 San Fran

[reeshu]

Hi! I have been trying to bid last week and most recently 9/7 on priceline for a 4* in USW. I started at $95 and went up to $125 with rebids with no luck. After looking at priceline, hotwire and individual sites I don't know what is enough although many have won bids for different dates in Sept/oct for around this price. I called Westin St. Francis yesterday and their best price was 226/nt , taxes and fees came to 783.64. I am willing to add USE. The other trick is there are 4 adults going, should I try for 2 rooms or can we just do 1? It's mom and sister's and we would like 1 room if possible. I know some hotels supposedly can only accomodate 2 people. Any help would be great. Also, we plan to use BART from airport and won't have a car so I guess this is the best area to stay in?! Thanks for your help!

[Gallus50]

You could also stay in Embarcadero/FD and SOMA. Your chances may be better in EMB/FD and SOMA on a weekend. I found SOMA to be noisy, but Colfax thinks it's fine. If you want to try 4 people in a room, go w/HW. SF often has rooms with only one bed.

[reeshu]

Ok, I was thinking USE or USW since it seems central. Thanks for the tip. Just not sure what is going on that weekend, I called Parc 55 & they said they are totally sold out1

[reeshu]

Sorry

Sorry I forgot to say my max bid is probably around 150-170 w/ taxes and fees included. We would like to stay in USE or USW if possible. Thanks

[Gallus50]

Sorry, Reeshu, but in terms of cost and availability, those dates look pretty bad.

I think you'll be able to find a hotel within your price range, but you won't be getting a great deal on a 4*. I checked HW, LMT, Kayak and a few specific sites and basically got hit with $200ish+ rates everywhere.

September and October are proving to be a huge challenge. Can you change your dates? That's what I would do. For example, the weather in early Nov is not that different, and the rates will probably be down considerably.

[AztecWolverine]

There is a huge Pediatrician (AAP) convention that starts on the 2nd + it is the last home stand for the SF Giants, and all of their games will be sold out (if they aren't already). The Pediatricians are taking 4500 hotel rooms, and are based at the Marriott Marquis and the InterContinental. They have 15 official hotels, including the Parc 55 (which is now Wyndham, not Renaissance anymore) and the Westin St. Francis. The Parc 55 is also used by visiting ballclubs, including the SD Padres, who are facing the Giants that weekend.

Do you know how to do permutational bidding? If you want to find the best Priceline price for that weekend, you'll need to use it. And you'll need to bid all the central areas -- Financial, SOMA, USE + USW. Since you are trying for a room with two beds I would not go below 4* -- in SF you will typically get only one bed at the 3* level, and will not even have room for a rollaway. At 3 1/2* level you might get lucky and get 2 beds, but with the high occupancy that weekend I doubt it. Remember, Priceline only guarantees one bed! Even the Le Meridien only had single-bed (King) rooms left for that weekend when I checked last week. Hotwire will give you two beds when you state that you have 4 people, but I checked Hotwire recently for that weekend, and the pickings were very slim. If you do bid Priceline I'd bring two backpacking inflatable pads to sleep on, in case you can't get two beds. I'd also arrive early in the afternoon to maximize your chances of getting two beds. If you call late the night before your stay, sometimes hotels will assign you a room with two beds, even with a Priceline bid. They won't give you a room # though until you check in. Join whatever frequent stay program your hotel has -- they let you input preferences, and even with a Priceline reservation some hotels will honor your preferences. Omni and Hyatt are great at this....

If your dates are set, and you can't win a reasonable bid, you might consider bidding in Oakland, and selecting two rooms. You can often get two rooms there for less than the price of one room in the City (of San Fran). You can take BART to get back & forth to the City. Since Priceline combined the airport and downtown Oakland areas I don't bid there as much as I used to, because I prefer to stay at the airport. The Hilton is often won there, and they have a shuttle to BART once an hour, and shuttle to the airport every half hour, free of charge. The Park Plaza charges to take you to the BART station (they are nearly across the street from the Hilton). The downtown Oakland hotels are within walking distance of the BART station.

Good Luck! Let us know how your bidding goes.... maybe we can help you further. :)

[Gallus50]

Very helpful, AztecWolverine.

reeshu - If you end up staying in Oakland, perhaps you could use HOTWIRE and get a room w/2 beds. I suppose you could also try staying out near SFO and take BART back and forth to the city. Most hotels have shuttles to airport/BART.

[AztecWolverine]

Gallus50, there is a major problem in using BART from SFO -- it costs $8.10 each way!!!! (I think the SFO unions, taxis, & shuttle services wielded their power on this one). It is much cheaper from the nearby Millbrae and San Bruno stops, but I don't know any hotel shuttles that would take you to those stops. Best alternative I found down there is the Caltrain, which only goes about once an hour, and doesn't have full service on weekend nights. It is only $2.50 each way, and cheaper with an 8 ride book for $17. There are several hotels nearby (within walking distance to) its South San Francisco stop -- Embassy Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton, Larkspur Landing, Comfort Suites.

Another alternative: There is an inexpensive Travelers Inn just one block from the Colma BART station (8007557973).

Is reeshu still out there? Please let us know if you got something!

[valencia]

Beware using priceline for more than 2 in the room. i called a few hotels about a third person who MIGHT be with the bidders two fo their four nights and how to handle that in case we won their hotel on priceline. Some hotels said.. pay the extra person fee IF THEY STILL HAD ROOM FOR ROLLAWAY. No 2 bed guarantees.

And Hyatt Embarcadero said one would have to call priceline and CHANGE the reservation, that they would NOT allow us just to pay the extra person fee.

Needless to say for this stay there was no priceline bidding at all. Just got my friends the three person room the dates they needed it, and then a 2 person room for the others at same hotel.

Too risky.

[beantowner]

I've been trying the dates for 10/2-10/5 with no such luck but my max has been $115. I've decided to stay in San Jose instead.

Priceline Win #1

Winning Priceline Bid #2