Priceline Hotel: Priceline bid- says check back later? 4* Monterey 10/8 - 10/10

[jaylee]

I tried J'R's excellent strategy for a 4* in Monterey on the days of 10/8-10. I'm hoping for the Clement. I don't know if it's because it's Columbus Day weekend, but I wasn't successful at the price point I was hoping for. Here was my strategy:

I checked rates, and Intercontinental Clement was $255/night (Friends and Family rate); Plaza Hotel was $270. Marriott was unavailable.

Yesterday, using the PRICELINE link, of course, I tried:

First bid: Zone 3, select 4*, $99 = rejected

Next, added Zone 4, $104 = rejected

Then, added Zone 2, $111 = rejected

Added Zone 1, $116 -> rejected

Today:

First bid: Zone 3, select 4*, $114 = rejected

Next, added Zone 4, $119 = rejected

Then, added Zone 2, $124 = rejected

Added Zone 1, $129-> rejected

Is it possible that I need to wait until it gets closer to October? And, if I decide to book there at $255 for insurance, will that cause a problem if I continue to try to book via PRICELINE? Any and all advise appreciated.

I did check HOTWIRE, but only one 4* came up, and my best guess on that one was that it was the Hyatt with the amenities listed. PRICELINE apparently rates the Hyatt as a 3.5*.

[J-R]

MRY summer/fall WE or holidays can be down right impossible to get a reasonable rate.

As far as your plan of attack ... hard to say what rates will do, but if you book IC FF then you'd be done as those bookings are non-refundable. The lowest retail flex rate on the IC site for the Clement is $374/per !

As far as your desire to bid more than 4 times a day ... if you follow the details in the first post of THIS POST then you should get up to 8 bids per day. This uses the permutation of your desired bidding zone along with the free rebid zones, and there's no need to clear browser history or cookies. It should be noted that because a zone is a free rebid today doesn't mean it's a free rebid tomorrow ... I always re-verify free rebid zones before bidding and it only takes a few seconds.

I can't find the Clement on hotwire either. Sometimes if its not coming up with the default of 2 adults, 4 adults work ... but not for your WE. Hotels.com has the Clement for $340/per and the Plaza at $257/per.

I consider my PL win good if the bid is 60% (or lower) of the lowest retail rate. $129/per would be a great win for the current retail prices.

[thereuare]

At the moment, rates for this weekend are a little higher than usual and therefore will likely take a higher then usual bid to be successful. Nobody can say if rates will come back down to more 'normalized' levels (perhaps high with hoteliers expecting higher then usual demand with the holiday weekend) OR if this demand materializes (and gets even stronger) and rates move higher from here.

The 4* showing on HOTWIRE (at least on my search) appears to be the Hyatt, which is 3.5* rated via PRICELINE, so using the HOTWIRE offer as a basis for 4* bidding on PRICELINE is probably not an apples-to-apples comparison.

If you book the Holiday Inn direct (please use our link in the support page if possible) there shouldn't be any problem as long as that rate is fully refundable, you'll need to check terms during the check-out process. I'm assuming your 'fear' is that since you'll have two reservations with the same name that they'll cancel the wrong one... so the best way to ensure this doesn't happen is that when you call to cancel you give them your (hotel direct) confirmation number instead of asking them to look up the reservation by last name :)

Thanks for using the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board for your searches, bidding, and purchases.

[jaylee]

Thank you both for your help. I'll try the permutations method, after first confirming 4* is only available in the one zone-- and as always using the PRICELINE link.

I did realize that comparing star ratings of Hotwire vs Priceline was not equal; that's the point I was attempting to make about the Hyatt being 4* for Hotwire, but 3.5 for Priceline :)

Once my 24 hours is up, I'll try again and let the board know of my progress. Thanks again!

[jaylee]

Hi, all. I don't know if this should go with my former post as it is for the same dates I was discussing earlier via Priceline. I've used the link from this site and been biding my time, bidding every other day or so, and bidding up to $154, all of which have been rejected. Today I bid 4* Monterey area, $111-- rejected. Since none of the other areas has 4* properties, I added Carmel and increased my bid to $119, and got the notice: "Your new request has already been submitted and received. We'll be able to tell you in 15 minutes whether or not we were able to find a hotel in the Monterey, CA area that was willing to accept your price. Please check back soon." Anyone else ever get this and/or know what this means?

[AaronJB]

Please keep all posts in this thread. Thanks. :)

This means that PRICELINE was not able to find an answer right away. Continue checking back and the service should have an answer for you shortly.

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