Priceline Hotel: 4* Chicago (Millennium-Loop-Grant Park) Hilton Chicago

[farmer12]

Hello, I just started reading yesterday and have learned a lot already. I'm planning a weekend in Chicago for my wife and I, 12-3 - 12-5. Definitely budget travel, no solid plans, probably mostly shopping, relaxing, dining and some sight seeing. We will likely be coming in to town by train or bus. I see that some downtown 4* hotels have gone for around our desired budget of around $70/night.

Last night I did some PL bidding (used your link) on 4* MP/Loop hotels, 54, 56, 59, 61, 63, adding zones for each bid, all rejected. Tried these bids based on seeing the Hyatt go at similar rates on similar but not the exact dates. A few questions:

1. Based on what we want to do, should I try to stay in the NMA zone, MP/Loop, or would either work OK?

2. Is it reasonable to think I can get what I'm hoping for as noted above? 4* is definitely not necessary, we are not very picky, but would like to show my wife a nice weekend.

3. Was this PL bidding strategy executed correctly or should I make adjustments?

Sorry if this isn't in the right place for this post or if I didn't included pertinent info. I'm open to any and all suggestions, thanks a lot!

Brett

[beachpoker]

1. Based on what we want to do, should I try to stay in the NMA zone, MP/Loop, or would either work OK?

I don't know what those zones are. I can tell you, living in Chicago, staying in the Loop or River North would probably be the most fun.

2. Is it reasonable to think I can get what I'm hoping for as noted above? 4* is definitely not necessary, we are not very picky, but would like to show my wife a nice weekend.

The problem is that weekend is close enough to Xmas that it might be a little tougher. The good thing is it's right after Thanksgiving. I think if you either go up to $70 or down to 3.5 stars, then you should be successful.

3. Was this PL bidding strategy executed correctly or should I make adjustments?

Sounds good to me, but I'm not an expert.

[AaronJB]

Welcome to Betterbidding. :)

The River North/NMA zone has quite a bit of shopping, restaurant and nightlife activity. The River North area, in particular, has quite a wide variety of restaurants. This area is a bit (depending on where within) further away from museums, but the trip isn't vast from most parts of this area.

The Millennium Park/Loop/Grant Park area is closer to museums and has some shopping along State St. However, this area can be very quiet at night, especially in the South and West Loop.

Personally, the River North/NMA area is preferable, especially if you want to be out later into the evening. However, if the primary goal is to get the lowest price, it's worth considering both areas. I will say that some of the possibilities in the Millennium Park/Loop/Grant Park zone are more inconvenient from a tourist perspective.

The issue for these dates is that the Sunday night appears to be cheaper and that may lead to a cheaper price for all three nights together rather than these two nights - Friday/Saturday night alone. Unfortunately, I don't think that $70 for a 4* for these dates will be enough, but is certainly worth trying; I think it may take as much as $85-95 for a 4* win. In terms of 3.5*, I'd start at $60, then try $65 and then $70. I'd recommend primarily focusing on NMA-River North if you do choose 3.5*.

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

[farmer12]

Update...did a round of bidding this afternoon. Tried a 4* NMA bid of 70, then 3.5* NMA bids of 60, 65, 68, and 70...all rejected. Should I try to keep re-entering similar bids or is it that unlikely to work at this point? Alternatively, I guess next course would be to creep up my bids or possibly add MP/Loop to my 3.5* bidding. Any other thoughts or suggestions? Thanks for your help so far!

[AaronJB]

I do think the 3.5*'s in the NMA-River North area are - overall - preferable; if you can try up to $80 for a 3.5* I would recommend that. Otherwise, you can try again with the MP-Loop-Grant Park area and hopefully get a bid accepted at $70 or under.

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

[farmer12]

After a few more days working on this, I ended up getting a room yesterday. Had been focusing on the NMA zone and went down to 3.5* and up to $84 and still no luck. Yesterday I started back up to 4*, bid 80 for NMA, added MP/Loop and bid 70, then did free bids of 75, 80, and 84. On the last bid I got a room at the Hilton. In adding MP to my 4* bidding, I was hoping to get matched at the Hyatt. That being said, I'm not disappointed at all, like I said, we aren't very picky. Our cost of 168 in offer price and 34.60 in fees comes in at 202.60 for the trip. Travelocity and the Hilton website offer the same room for 371.94 total. So even if I got impatient and didn't end up in the perfect spot, I'm still pleased with the experience so far. Thanks for the help I received on this bidding and learning about Priceline overall!

Now to decide how to get there from NW Ohio (still debating between driving/bus/and train) and what to do with our time...should be great no matter what! Thanks again!!

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success!

Nice to see you received a nice deal for this stay and are happy with the results. While perhaps not your first choice in location, glad to hear that, for the price, you can make this work well for your needs.

Thank you for sharing your win with the board.

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

Enjoy your stay.

[AaronJB]

If you're looking for a burger, I'll recommend Hackney's Printers Row nearby (http://hackneysprintersrow.com/).

Breakfast-wise, Yolk (http://www.yolk-online.com/) is just to the South a bit.

Not sure if this is possible, but you could take the train one way and the bus the other. Driving is not the most optimal way in some regards and parking is expensive, but there are nice areas outside of the city if you want to browse around before heading back.

This property is not as centrally located, but it is a relatively quick walk through Grant Park from here to the Museum Campus.