Priceline Hotel: 4* San Jose Fairmont San Jose

[zzdocxx]

Dear Members

I will be attending a conference at the Fairmont in San Jose for a few days in May.

I've perused the winning bids for San Jose and also the Priceline Hotel list and areas map.

I see that a number of people have recently won the Fairmont for a great price, however I also see that other common wins for that area (San Jose) include the Doubletree, which is a bit far away, and the De Anza, which one person "hated".

I don't think I'll be able to pull this off, ie. being assured of landing at the Fairmont, and I think I will just have to bite the bullet and pay whatever price I can find online, which is about what the rate is for the reserved block of rooms.

But I thought I'd just ask here to see if I might be missing something in terms of strategy, or if there might be other resources I could use.

Thanks!

:)

[yellowdog]

Your best chance is HOTWIRE

You can't bid on a specific hotel when using PRICELINE. You have to be able to accept any hotel in the zone at the star rating (or higher) you select.

If you're trying to target a specific property then HOTWIRE can often be a better option if you're successfully able to identify it based upon the star rating and amenities shown before your purchase... the trade-off is that HOTWIRE usually costs a little more than PRICELINE, so you need to decide what is most important to you for a given stay, the lowest possible price OR the ability to take an educated guess as to the property you may receive.

Please post your dates for the stay.

Let us know how you want to procced.

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

Yellowdog.

[zzdocxx]

Thank you I did not know that as I have never used Hotwire, only Priceline a few times and only by following what I learned from this website. Of course I'll use the links and report back. I think I'll need to read up on how Hotwire works,

:)

[zzdocxx]

Hmmm I cannot find The Fairmont San Jose on the Hotwire lists, unless I am missing something.

That's OK I can bite the bullet if I have to.

I might just stay three nights during the conference and then stay with friends the other nights.

Thanks!

:)

[yellowdog]

Thanks for the follow-up and closing this thread.

Please check and use our links (if possible) in the support page for your hotel direct purchases.

Welcome back!

Yellowdog.

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

[zzdocxx]

I just got another idea but would like some input.

I am thinking I will book the first three nights at the Fairmont the conference rate, so I'll be sure of staying there through the conference.

Then I am staying an extra night in San Jose, and it would be OK with me if I stayed elsewhere.

If I bid and win the Fairmont for that extra night, will they make me check out and then check back in later?

Just wondering, thanks everyone!

:)

[Romelle]

I've had this situation with bookings from two different sources for different dates. I just explained to the front desk when I first checked in, and they let me stay in the same room. You shouldn't have a problem.

Romelle

[zzdocxx]

Thanks Romelle.

:)

[zzdocxx]

Something funny I noticed, and in retrospect this happened to me also when I booked for Minneapolis last week.

I went to Priceline via the link at the top of the page here.

I went to the name your price part, picked my area/zone, entered the price I was willing to pay, and then. . .

I got another page where I had to enter everything all over again.

I want to make sure that BB gets credit for these sales, anyone have an idea about what is going on?

One other thing, I just clicked the PRICELINE link here but without entering my dates, as I wanted to take a look at the zones first, and so forth, could that have been an issue?

Thanks.

Edit: OK I just put the dates in on this page and went there and it does work. It might be handy to have those little mini-calender popups where one can just click on the desired dates.

Hmmm, that's probably what happened on my Minneapolis booking, sorry. :)

Thanks!

[zzdocxx]

BOOYAH! ! !

I decided to try for the "night after" my conference ends, since I'd like to stay an extra night.

Trying for The Fairmont San Jose but I figured it would be OK to stay elsewhere the extra night if need be.

Here's how it went down, note that of the zones below, only Zone 7 (San Jose) has any 4* hotels:

Bid $65: San Jose (Zone 7) -- rejected :o

Bid $70: 7 + SJ South (Zone 8) -- rejected

---Closed Browser---

Bid $75: 7 + Mountain View (Zone 3) -- rejected

---Closed Browser---

Bid $80: 7 + Milpitas (Zone 2) -- rejected

---Closed Browser---

Bid $85: 7 + Newark/Fremont (Zone 4) -- rejected but offered 4* hotel for $110 (I declined)

---Closed Browser---

Bid $90: 7 + 8 + 3 -- rejected but offered 4* for $115 (I declined)

---Closed Browser---

Bid $95: 7 + 4 + 2 -- WON THE FAIRMONT (EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED) :)

So I won't need to transfer over to the De Anza, Doubletree, or Marriott on the last night.

My plan has been to just book the three nights of the conference at the conference rate, which is $169.

This is a bit like gambling when it plays out through so many bids, the excitement and disappointments, etc. and is probably dangerous.

:)

:)

OK would you prefer I post the winning combo in a different thread?

I bet the answer to that is yes, OK just let me know.

BTW here be the post where I picked up that "close browser" trick: Priceline Bidding

Also would appreciate any input about trying for that night before. I don't know if I should push my luck and try to get the night before the conference as well. The thing is the conference starts at 0730 the day of, so I really wouldn't want to hoof it over from another hotel that early, and so forth.

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success!

Nicely done! Glad to see this worked out well for your needs and that you're quite pleased with the results.

Can you please add a reply to this thread with the date(s) of your stay so we can add this information to the topic title and enable your win to appear in the Priceline and Hotwire Calendar of Wins.

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

Enjoy your stay.

[zzdocxx]

Yes I overlooked that.

My $95 Priceline night is 5/15/11.

:)

Golly doesn't Priceline even send a confirmation email?

[yellowdog]

zzdocxx

Thanx for the follow-up!

Golly doesn't Priceline even send a confirmation email?

Yes they do. It could just be a server delay etc. But you can also find your reservation under "my trips" in your PRICELINE profile.

Yellowdog.

[Colfax]

Also would appreciate any input about trying for that night before. I don't know if I should push my luck and try to get the night before the conference as well. The thing is the conference starts at 0730 the day of, so I really wouldn't want to hoof it over from another hotel that early, and so forth.

As always, there's no guarantee you'll win the Fairmont if you bid again.

Two ways to look at it: 1) Your luck's been good so far so keep riding the wave, OR 2) Your luck's been good so far so quit while you're ahead. Priceline is gambling.

If your conference rate reservation is cancellable you could try Priceline's Add a Night feature and see if you can win 5/14 at $95 too. Then if accepted cancel your $169 conference rate. With Add a Night there's no chance of winning a different hotel.

[zzdocxx]

Thanks for the input.

About the Add a Night feature, I did get a screen that suggested that, I didn't notice it for a while, and when I clicked on it I just got a generic Priceline page. I never saw anything specific I could actually click on to add the night though. :)

[zzdocxx]

Hey thanks for encouraging me on that extra night thing, I logged back in today and when I clicked it, it worked this time.

So now I got one additional night (that's all they would allow me), which was 5/14, and it was at the same $95 rate.

So now I'll book 5/12 and 5/13 at the $169 conference rate, then I'll have 5/14 and 5/15 at the $95 Priceline rate, that does indeed save me some $$.

It says they might require you to change rooms, I'll just hope that doesn't happen. But if they do it won't be a huge big deal anway.

:)

(Edit) PS I'd like to try for the other nights, but as someone pointed out, it would be gambling. I can't at the moment think of another way to approach this. . .

[yellowdog]

zzdocxx

Good to see that it worked! I have edit the topic so it reflects your new dates.

(Edit) PS I'd like to try for the other nights, but as someone pointed out, it would be gambling. I can't at the moment think of another way to approach this. . .

There might be a block reservation made for the conference dates. Do you have any last date to book the hotel for the conference rate? If you look at the hotels site, do you see any diffrence in the rates for 5/12 and 5/13 comparing to the nights you already have booked?

Yellowdog.

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

[Colfax]

You asked how to get the Fairmont for 5/11, the night before your conference starts. The Fairmont is showing sold out on 5/11. :)

[zzdocxx]

I wasn't clear enough, actually the 12th is the night before the conference starts.

I checked the Fairmont website, they say only the night of the 13th is available, the rate is $179.

Hopefully rooms in our block are still available.

Looks like it would be impossible to pick up the night of the 12th, which leaves only the 13th by itself in the middle of my stay.

Guess I'll call to do my resevation for the 12th and 13th through the rate for our block of rooms, and I hope they still have a room! I called just yesterday and there was still availability.

Thanks again everyone for the tips!

[zzdocxx]

Just to follow up, I booked 6/12 and 6/12 through the Fairmont reservations department, no problem getting a room at the group $169 rate. Although I will add that they had other level rooms in our block up to $299 per night.

Thanks everyone for your help. The young woman who helped me over the phone for the Fairmont reservations was really nice, BTW. The first thing she asked was my name, I wonder if she could see my Priceline reservations on there?

[yellowdog]

zzdocxx

Good to see that you have arranged everything for your stay.

They do see the source you have booked trough in the hotels system.

Have a good conference!

Yellowdog.