Priceline Hotel: 3.5 * Minneapolis-St. Paul (Bloomington West-MOA) Sheraton Bloomington

[Frogger85]

Looking at 3.5* Hotels in the Minneapolis Airport/Mall of America area zone. I know that I will get

the Sheraton if I bid in Bloomington, MN and Crowne Plaza if I go Eagan, MN.

I have not seem any posts on 3.5* Hotels in the airport zone. Does anybody have any advice?

I going lowball on this $35-40 per night and will creep up using zones. Also Minneapolis West

zone is an option.

Thanks

[Romelle]

Are you looking for an actual airport hotel, or just wanting a nice hotel in the general south of the Twin Cities/Mall of America area?

Look in the list of hotels at the very top of the Minnesota PRICELINE area. The Hilton, the Marriott and the Radisson 3.5*s have all been reported as wins in the Airport MSP - Mall of America area. In Bloomington there are three 3.5*s. In Eagan there is only the one you mentioned. There are three in the Minneapolis-St Paul West area. In any case, there is NO sure thing when you are bidding. New hotels crop up, boundaries change, ratings change..... ??

It has been a couple years ago, but I was bidding the airport area and got the Sheraton Bloomington. I'd guess the boundaries have been changed since that time, but it was a bit of a challenge since the Sheraton didn't consistently run an airport shuttle as most airport hotels do.

Since you asked for advice, I recommend you take a very careful look at the PRICELINE map and make sure you are OK with ANY 3.5* within the boundaries of the areas you bid, whether it has been previously reported here or not.

In a couple other cities I've gotten hotels never reported to betterbidding before.

Romelle

[Frogger85]

Thanks for the advice..There is no flight involved..just hotels. I got the Sheraton Bloomington for $36, won't be going for

a while yet. That was in the bloomington zone, which has the 2 four stars not downtown (Westin Galleria/Sofitel). The

Airport zone had no 4* stars. Based on the zone maps the Sheraton is in Bloomington. The Sheraton looks nice, but

the reviews are all over the place. Based on this board it seems like if you bid in the $36-50 range for 4/3.5 * in the Bloomington zone your getting the Sheraton everytime. Looks like $55-60 will get you Sofitel.

I looking at the airport zone for a hotel that will be for somebody else. A shuttle to the MOA is a must. The Sheraton

worries me little until I go there. The Westin Galleria looks nice but I have not seen any wins on that one or if it

has a shuttle. The Sofitel seems nice but no pool. That's kinda why I not going to bid Bloomington.

This is a 3 night/2 rooms trip so it would be nice to get a low bid, but not miss out on a better hotel over

5-10 bucks. So If I bid in the Airport Zone 3.5* starting at $35 and going to $45 what do you think I would

get. It seems like $41 is the magic number. If I gotta higher than $47 I be adding 4* Downtown and go for

the Hyatt.

In short the only MSP hotels I know are downtown, so any advice is welcome.

[thereuare]

I got the Sheraton Bloomington for $36, won't be going for

a while yet. That was in the bloomington zone...

To confirm, you've bid and won a the 3.5* Sheraton in the Bloomington West - Mall of America Area zone? If so, what are the dates of this stay?

What are the dates you still need?

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

[Frogger85]

I will go ahead and post my Sheraton priceline win.

I am looking for March 31- April 3 2011 on this post.

March 31- Airport/MOA

April 1,2- Airport/MOA or Downtown depending on how the bidding goes.

[thereuare]

Did you want to try first try bidding for the complete stay (3/31-4/2) in the Airport-MofA zone... or did you want to purchase just the solo nite of 3/31 in this zone first, then try for the other two nites?

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

[Frogger85]

Did you want to try first try bidding for the complete stay (3/31-4/2) in the Airport-MofA zone... or did you want to purchase just the solo nite of 3/31 in this zone first, then try for the other two nites?

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

I'm booking these rooms (2 rooms/3 nights) as part of a gift trip, so I'm not the one staying in them. This is why I looking into it a little more. If it was for me I'd just bid low, go for best deal like most on this forum.

I would not mind getting them Downtown for Fri 4/1/11 and Sat 4/2/11, so I might try for 4* downtown starting at $38

and will go no higher than $47. I don't think I'll win but it is worth the try. I would drop star level but from what I see on this forum I would get the Millennium even if I went for 3* hotels.

If by some chance my bid was accepted (only shot would be Hyatt or Hilton) I would then bid on 2 rooms for 1 night

3.5* in the Airport/MOA zone for Thurs 3/31/11.

If I don't have any luck with the downtown, then I will bid for 2 rooms/3 Nights in the Airport/MOA zone starting

with 3.5* hotels for March 31, April 1, and April 2 of 2011.

Based Priceline summary before bidding 2 rooms/3 nights at $50 would cost me $350.40..$45=$316.02...$41=$288.54

...if I use my Sheraton Bloomington win of $36 as the lowest I can get it would total $254.22 looks like for every $1 I raise my bid it adds $6-7 to the total (2 rooms X 3 nights). It would be nice to keep the total around $300.

I do have a $50 dollar Priceline rewards, but it expires 12/31/10 and I won't be bidding in time to use it. It would have

been useful since it is a minimum 3*/3 nights one.

If I get another one like that in time, I will use it. So then I will bid 3 nights for the same hotel right off the bat using the

PRICELINE link.

With or without Priceline cash, would just bidding on 3 nights at the same hotel be a better move? Based on the

board I can't tell.

Any advice is always helpful...Thanks

[Romelle]

With or without Priceline cash, would just bidding on 3 nights at the same hotel be a better move? Based on the board I can't tell.

I just found this quote from thereuare (Thanks, thereuare!) on another post:

It depends upon the hotel... it used to be that your bid price needed to be high enough to win the most expensive nite of the stay on its own, but as technology has evolved, most hotels average the price over the entire stay (although if prices are really high for that solo nite, there may be no inventory given to the opaque suppliers, at which point it doesn't matter how much you average it, you won't be able to win the entire stay). Even if the hotel does average their opaque rate, SPLITTING YOUR PRICELINE BID can still be beneficial if you're willing to change hotels during the stay.

So, no advantage to bidding all three nights over just bidding one and two separately, other than the savings of the base PL fee. A chance of a disadvantage if there is no inventory for one of your nights.

It is indeed unfortunate you can't bid soon enough to use that $50. Bonus money seems to be rarer and rarer over time. There is a $20 value in the 2011 Entertainment Book if you happen to have access to one of those.

Romelle

[thereuare]

I'm not sure i'm following 100%...

Why wouldn't you simply bid for the complete stay (3/31-4/3) at the 3.5* level up to $47... then if rejected try the same for 3/31-4/2?

What is the objective/consideration for SPLITTING YOUR PRICELINE BID... is there a big rate change over the course of your stay?

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

[Frogger85]

Yeah, not using the PRICELINE Cash is a bummer, but I don't want to book such a long stay just yet since there are

no refunds. Kinda want to wait till trip was 4-5 weeks away.

I should have been clearer, my fault.

Day 1 (3/31/11)- This has to be a hotel near the MOA.

Day 2-3 (4/1/11 & 4/2/11) This can be either by the MOA or Downtown.

That is the reason for the split bid.

If I were to bid on 3 nights, it would only be for the MOA area and the only reason

to do that seems to be if I got some more PRICELINE cash. It seems like there

is no advantage, plus Thursday March 31, 2011 is a higher rate.

So the first thing will be trying to get 2 rooms/one night for Thurs March 31, 2011 using

the zones of Airport/MOA, Bloomington West, and Eagan.

Then try for downtown on Fri April 1 and Sat Apri 2 starting with downtown zone. I'm not

sure about the Midtown and Metrodome zones they seem pretty spread out. If I can't get

right downtown I might be better to just switch hotels in the Airport/MOA for nights 2-3 since you

would have a shuttle to the light rail station, plus I need a pool.

Hotels interested in:

Airport: Hilton Airport, Marriot Airport

Bloomington West: Bloomington Hilton and Sheraton

Eagan: Crowne Plaza

Downtown: Hyatt, Hilton, or Westin (need pool) also Grand Hotel Minneapolis has a pool but I won't get that.

Any advice or hotel reviews/warnings ect.... are welcome.

Thanks

[thereuare]

Rates can, and will likely, change between now and your stay... what may be your best option at the moment may not be your best option, or feasible, 2 months from now when you're ready to commit to a purchase.

Please resume this thread once you're ready to move forward.

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

[Frogger85]

I'll be watching the board for any wins/info...will post results.

[Romelle]

March 31 is the beginning of some of the local school spring breaks. The airlines are well aware of that and typically bump their rates up through that time. I don't know if there is a little increase in the hotel rates then, but there could be.

For now, it might be a good idea to bid the low end of your plan maybe about once a week just to check for new inventory in Priceline. As it gets closer, you can always raise your bids.

Romelle

[Frogger85]

March 31 is the beginning of some of the local school spring breaks. The airlines are well aware of that and typically bump their rates up through that time. I don't know if there is a little increase in the hotel rates then, but there could be.

For now, it might be a good idea to bid the low end of your plan maybe about once a week just to check for new inventory in Priceline. As it gets closer, you can always raise your bids.

Romelle

Thanks for the advice, I will most likely start bidding mid-Feb. Based on the board history I'm thinking the best

deals are going to be the Bloomington Sheraton in the MOA zone and the Hyatt in the downtown.

Regards

[rpb]

I posted my bidding experience here (Airport area, started bidding for 3.5* and then went down to 3*): Priceline Minneapolis Mall of America

Good luck with your bidding :)

[Frogger85]

Thanks for posting. If you feel like posting a short review of the hotel after your trip. I'll be sure to take a

look at it.

Regards

[Frogger85]

This is a follow up to my Minneapolis Airport Zone Help post.

This was for 2 rooms, 1 night. Rooms are part of trip that is a gift. Thurs by the MOA, Fri & Sat Downtown Minneapolis.

I was trying to book the Downtown nights first (see post), it must be a busy weekend cause my low bids were getting

me nowhere. Since I new that I was going to be paying more for the downtown rooms I went low for the Thursday

night rooms.

I checked 4/3.5 stars in the Bloomington and the Airport/MOA Zones.

Got the Sheraton Bloomington for $37 on my second bid using PRICELINE link.

Regards

[yellowdog]

Thank you for sharing your result with the board!

Enjoy your stay.

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

Yellowdog.