Priceline Hotel: 4* London (Finsbury-Islington) Hilton Islington

[eurotravel]

In reviewing London hotels for these dates I have noticed that the prices for 11/10 and sometimes for 11/16 are considerably higher than for the other dates. I have read your threads regarding splitting bids and I am willing to do this. My question is, being this far out, should I start bidding the split dates now or wait.

I have been following your bidding stratagies so I understand that part of the process.

[AaronJB]

Welcome to Betterbidding. :)

What would be your desired budget per night and which zones would you be interested in bidding for? (Additionally, what would be your desired star rating?)

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

[eurotravel]

How do your questions answer mine? My question was do I begin splitting my stay now or should I wait a little longer?

[thereuare]

Because knowing your budget and which zones you're looking for will give us an idea if your expectations are realistic for the complete stay or if splitting the bid now would be the better course of action.

Of course you can't really complain about any answer given when you don't reply to questions asked of you :)

[eurotravel]

Sorry! I thought it was a simple question.

I have been bidding 4* hotels in Finsbury/Islington, Bloomsbury/Marble Arch,Mayfair/Soho and Westminster. My max bids have been $125.00 for these zones. I have been countered with a message such as "if you will raise your bid by $35.00 etc.", which I did not do. I tried to bid around it by adding 3* Wembley with no success.

I have been following a similar strategy for Chelsea/Knightsbridge, Kensington/Earls Court, Regents Park and Notting Hill/Bayswater. My max bid here has been $110.00. I have been countered with $25.00 as part of that bidding. Again, trying to bid around it with no success.

My first choice would be the first strategy.

I don't have a max budget as of now because I feel as though I have time and so I am testing the water. Of course my goal here is to not pay rack rates in London, which seem pretty high for this time period. As I get closer I might take the counter, if offered.

Also, I have looked at Hotwire. They have a hotel in the Kensington area for $147.00 per night. In the end I might have to pay that much but I don't want to pay that and get the Copthorne Tara or the Hilton Olympia.

[thereuare]

I have been bidding 4* hotels in Finsbury/Islington, Bloomsbury/Marble Arch,Mayfair/Soho and Westminster. My max bids have been $125.00 for these zones. I have been countered with a message such as "if you will raise your bid by $35.00 etc.", which I did not do. I tried to bid around it by adding 3* Wembley with no success.

Do you recall at what bid price you received the 'add $35' counter-offer... was it only on your last bid at $125 or prior to that?

I have been following a similar strategy for Chelsea/Knightsbridge, Kensington/Earls Court, Regents Park and Notting Hill/Bayswater. My max bid here has been $110.00. I have been countered with $25.00 as part of that bidding. Again, trying to bid around it with no success.

What star level are you bidding in this strategy? Do you recall the bid price at which you received the $25 counter-offer?

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

[eurotravel]

I was bidding 4* for both strategies. I believe that in both cases I received the counter offer when I placed my bid for the four combine zones at the top dollar amount.

[thereuare]

Rates at some properties are a little higher for the first and/or last nite of your stay. If you'd like to try SPLITTING YOUR PRICELINE BID i would try:

11/11-11/16 and if that is rejected re-try for 11/10-11/15

However, i'll add that based upon the counter-offers it appears that there is also a chance that you'll be successful for your second bidding zones if you're willing to bid as high as you did for your first bidding zones.

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

Let us know what you decide and how it goes or if we can be of further help.

[eurotravel]

Thanks for you input. I will work on this today and let you know of the outcome.

[eurotravel]

Update #1

I will need to update when there are any results good or bad as they will all run together later on.

I decided to bid for all six nights using my first strategy of Islington/Boomsbury/Mayfair/Westminster. Cut to the chase - I bid Islington/Westminster together, as second to last bid, at $120.00. Priceline came back with "add 30.00" which tells me that there is inventory in one of those two zones. I then bid $130 for all four zones. Priceline again came back with "add $30.00" which would make it $160.00 per night which I did not take.

I am going to bid my second strategy (Chelsea/Kensington/Regents Park/Notting Hill) for all six nights. If I do not have success I will begin splitting my dates.

[eurotravel]

Update #2

I decided to split my bid for 11/11 - 11/16 with no luck although I was offered to "raise the bid $35.00" for acceptance each time I included Islington in the bid - the lowest would have been $130.00, highest would have been $150.00.

Then I changed the dates to 11/12 - 11/16. On my first bid of $90.00 for Islington/Bloomsbury was offered "raise the bid $25.00" for acceptance. I tried to work around this by adding 3* Wembley with no luck. On my second to last bid in my strategy I bid $105.00 for Islington/Westminster and won.

4*, London Finsbury/Islington, Hilton

11/12 - 11/16 $105.00 per night, taxes of $85.16 for a grand total of $505.16 for the stay of four nights.

I have stayed here before and really like the hotel and neighborhood.

Now onto finding a priceline hotel for 11/10 - 11/12. Wish me luck!

P.S. I hope this isn't too much information.

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success!

Nice to see the SPLITTING YOUR PRICELINE BID and bidding strategies helped you land two great deals for this trip.

Glad to see you're familiar with the hotel and area and are happy with the results.

Thank you for sharing your win and using the PRICELINE links on the board to begin your bidding.

Enjoy this leg of your stay.