Priceline Hotel: 4* London (Regents Park-North London) Hilton Metropole

[COverturf]

I'm having trouble booking a room for this time period. My max is $115 for a 4* but nothing seems to be working. So I have a couple of questions.

- Would waiting until we get closer to the date help increase the chance of my bids being accepted?

- Would splitting up the dates 3/21 - 3/25 and 3/25 - 3/27 help increase the odds? I would have preferred not to switch hotels but do you think the average would still be around $115 for week?

- I'm not too particular in where I want to stay, just not the docklands and some area far to the east. So I've done the 4-star plus rebid zone techniques and almost added everything but nothing worked.

I realize this is spring break for many students, but I can't image them staying at 4* hotels.

Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated.

-CO

[AaronJB]

Welcome to Betterbidding. :)

There is no way to know if rates will improve as the dates get closer. If this is a busy time period, rates could go in the reverse direction and head upward as the dates get closer. When looking at regular rate, some properties are somewhat cheaper on the Fri/Sat, but quite a few are not and rates still seem a bit on the high side. Are you seeing anything of interest when searching on HOTWIRE?

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

[Romelle]

If you are arriving by air very late, or departing by air very early, an airport hotel can work well, and tends to be quite a bit less expensive. That could help your overall average and give you a few more $$ for the other days.

When splitting a bid, Priceline often offers an opportunity to "extend". This means adding some more days to your stay. It does cost another basic Priceline fee. Sometimes the extension rate is the same as the original bid rate, but it also can be higher. You can only extend a bid as many days as the original bid, and only on one side of the original bid (i.e. - not a day before and two after).

If you do decide to split your bid, try for the less expensive days first - the weekend days AaronJB mentioned. If you are successful at a lower bid, then you will know how much extra money you have for those more expensive days.

Longer spans of time require that one particular hotel have PL offerings for all the days being bid. By splitting up your stay, you don't need the full block all at one place, so you do improve your odds of success.

Romelle

[yellowdog]

COverturf

What is your plan if you don't get a 4* at max $115?

Chelsea-Knightsbridge and Regents Park-Baker Street zones looks like your best friends for the moment. I would try $120/125 here if you don't want to split your stay or go for a lower star rating.

Let us know how you want to procced.

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

Yellowdog.

[COverturf]

Thanks for everyone's advice. I'll keep bidding probably until next week up to the $115 max.

The current backup plan is to use Hotels.com since I have a 10% off coupon there and but even still the price is around $130 + fees. I'd rather not go up to $130 on priceline simply because I'd rather have the choice if I'm going to pay that much.

I've looked at hotwire too, but the prices seem comparable to Hotels.com and once again, I'd rather have the choice if I'm going to pay the same amount.

Thanks again and I've been using your links for my searches :)

[COverturf]

Got my bid to go through at $115! Staying at the Hilton London Metropole. Total with fees was $842. All one block didn't have to split my bids.

[AaronJB]

Congrats on your success. :)

Fantastic deal for this property! Hope you are looking forward to your stay.

Thank you for sharing your win and please use the site's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchases and searches.

Enjoy your stay.