Priceline Hotel: 4* Hotels in Brussels city - Help with bidding

[ElPal]

Hi,

I am going to be in Brussels from 10-24 March and was looking for at least a 4* hotel in the city centre.

I may be able to get accomodation with a friend from 12-20 March.

I have used your link to attempt a 4* bid with priceline for $37 for 10-12 March but got the "almost no chance of being accepted" message and then sure enough it was rejected.

I see that people have previously got the NH Atlanta in Brussels for $40 so was hopeful that I might be able to get something around that price or even a bit less.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[yellowdog]

Rates are date specific so you can't compare them like this.

What would your max budget/night be before tax/fee?

Thanx for using boards PRICELINE link :)

Yellowdog.

[Romelle]

Bidding longer spans of time can be difficult because there has to be a hotel in Priceline that has all the days available for your bid. You can try bidding it at reasonable levels, but if it seems you are getting up too high you might want to look at splitting up the time. Take a look at the individual day rates in something like Expedia. Priceline now does some averaging, so that is not the issue. But running into a day with no, or very limited, availability is. With two weeks, you can almost count on running into some major event in a major city.

Romelle

[eaglelip]

Hotels in Brussels tend to fill during the week when Eurocrats are around. The weekends are the slow period, thus the super low rates like $40.

[ElPal]

Thanks for your replies.

Okay so I have narrowed it down. 10-12 March and 20-24 March.

I received the $5 per night bonus email from Priceline on Friday which expires today (Sunday).

First up, I selected Brussels city area (area 1), 20-24 March, 4* and above and put $40.

I was told that there was a small chance of being accepted.

Proceeded and did not alter bid - with the $5 bonus it made the bid $45 per night before fees and taxes.

It thought about it for a while and came back and said no.

I then changed the dates to the 10-12 March and did the same thing but also got refused.

I've seen that the NH Atlanta is often succesfully bidded for at $40 and not only for weekends either. I see in one post that it was 4* Brussels NH Atlanta , $40 ... 12/3/10-12/7/10 which is weekdays and weekend - Thurdsay to Monday - and is in March which is when I am also looking.

I would like to make the most of the bonus they have given me if I could. Any suggestions on where to from here?

[Romelle]

There aren't any free rebid zones for Brussels at the 4* level.

You could bid the 3* level, hoping for an upgrade.

You could squeeze another couple bids out of the situation for the one visit by bidding Mar 21-24 and Mar 20 - 23, hoping you would be offered an extension for the other day. But the extension would have another basic Priceline fee added to it, and the bonus money most likely wouldn't apply for the extra day.

I think that $5 bonus money is a one-time use, even if you don't do all five days the first time. So you want to use it on the longer stay.

Romelle

If you are feeling like a REAL gambler, you could throw in the airport zone for another bid. No guarantees here, but unlike many other cities, the Brussels airport hotels seem to run quite a bit more expensive. Very low bids don't have a big chance of success. For this experiment though, if I were doing it, I'd use the shorter time span and not burn my $5 bonus money deal. If I got unlucky and actually got an airport hotel, there would be less train fare and time back and forth. If it worked, I'd go on and do the longer time span, this time using that bonus. I don't think I'd risk the 3* bid here though as there just might be an airport one within the price range.

[thereuare]

What is the best deal you're able to find at an acceptable hotel for your dates?

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

[drewbles]

I'm also attempting to find a 4* hotel in Brussels around the same time but only for two nights. Attempted (using supplied PRICELINE link from here!) to get two nights 14th/15th March in 4* up to $99. No go. It wasn't accepted.

Looks like Brussels is just damn expensive around that week for some reason (will re-bid slightly higher, but it seems steep based on the amount of success people have had around $45 at the other 4* properties).

[thereuare]

drewbles,

Welcome to BetterBidding!

If you'd like help with your own stay, or to report future failed/successful bids, please start a NEW TOPIC.

Thanks for using the PRICELINE links on the board to begin your bidding.

[ElPal]

In the end, I stayed with a friend so didn't end up continuing with priceline bidding.

[thereuare]

Thanks for the follow-up.

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

Please remember to follow-up your threads with whatever you end up doing for the stay, even if you choose to book direct, cancel your trip, etc.