Priceline Hotel: 4* San Francisco (USE) Marriott San Francisco

[baldheadcat]

Dear All,

Hi there, it is baldheadcat from Hong Kong.

I'm new to this wonderful forum and it is my first time to US, any input will be appreciated.

I'll attend a medical conference on 14 June to 18 June in Hyatt Regency (USE) and then stay behind for a few days until 21 JUne.

The group discount rate is offer from the conference is $210 per night (compare with the normal rate $250 from Haytt web site) and only valid before 21 May.

I understand that there is no way to bid an specific hotel via PL. I'm not sure how large the USE area is , considered that the conference start at 7:45 am EVERYDAY ! Get up early at 6:00am then take 30 mins on bus/muni/cable to catch the conference sound crazy !

My Lord, let me get the Haytt !!

With limited training allowane from my hospital, my target room rate is $US80 per night (average) before tax and any 4* hotel will do.

Here are my questions:

1. Should I wait until 21 May so that Haytt may release some room hold for this conference (provided that they are not all sold out !) or should I bid now ?

2. should I split my stay ? if yes, should I split according to the conference date

i.e 14 June to 18 June, which include a Saturday then 19-20 June.

or

14 June to 17 June (weekdays), 18-20 June (Sat to Mon)

I just think that the room rate may be higher on Sat and Sun, so I can bid a lower price for the weekdays.

3. For my last 2 days, which zone (USE, USW, SW..) will be better for a solo tourist like me ? I will do some shopping, walk around, visit the pub for a drink....

Thanks in advance for all your help !

Regards

[thereuare]

A well constructed post... you included all the information about your stay we needed in order to formulate a strategy.

When bidding 4* in San Francisco you have 5 re-bid zones, if you're not sure which they are please feel free to ask and/or confirm the zones before bidding (re-bidding is explained in more detail here: PRICELINE RE-BIDDING EXPLAINED).

Select 4* USE....

Bid $70, if rejected add re-bid zone and....

Bid $72, if rejected add re-bid zone and....

Bid $74, if rejected add re-bid zone and....

Bid $76, if rejected add re-bid zone and....

Bid $78, if rejected add re-bid zone and....

Bid $80.

If the above fails we'll then discuss if you'd like to try raising your bid or trying other nearby zones.

Any questions feel free to ask.

Good Luck and let us know how it goes.

[baldheadcat]

Hi thereuare,

thanks so much for your quick respond!

I will check out the free re-bid zone right before my bid.

However, do you have any advice about the split stay issue ?

Thanks again

[thereuare]

Your $80 limit is often do-able in this area, but far from a a sure thing... it often takes a higher bid than that. Given your bidding limit i wouldn't wait to bid for this and would try sooner rather than later (although i don't think the odds favor you landing the Hyatt). I haven't been to the San Francisco area in numerous years (and was just a kid at the time), but i believe this zone is fairly condensed and the USE and USW zones are the most frequently bid for the average tourist... but somebody more familiar than i am may want to confirm or add additional info.

I would try for your complete stay at first before resorting to splitting your bid. If you need to start increasing your bidding limit then you can start to consider splitting your bid.

[baldheadcat]

Hi there,

Just want to report my first attempt result.

The acutal stay should be 13 June in and 21 June out , total 8 days

Using the a, a+b, a+c, a+b+c ....., USE 4* have 5 free re-bid zone which end up with more than 20 rebids.

I start at 62 :) , 64, 66..to 70 and then adding $1 for each re-bid , end at $85.

I understand that 8 nights may be too long for PL, will seriously consider splitting up my stay.

Regards

[baldheadcat]

Dear all,

Just want to report the progress of my bid.

I' ve decided to split my trip into 2 parts.

To my suprise, I supposed hotel rate will be higher for Sat-Sun than for weekday

However, I've check out hotwire, Marriott and Hyatt website and all confirm room rate is lower from 18 June to 21 June (Sat to Tue) than 13 to 18 June (Mon to Fri) , I'm not sure why it is, may be due to big conference held in these hotels.

So I start a new bid for the 2nd part of my trip , 18 June to 21 June.

Target at $80 and aim at lower room rate, I start my bid at $65 again :) then $68, $72

I got counter offer at $75 by adding extra $22.

Thansk to the users in this forum, their bid history showed that I should add around 1/3 of the counter offer , i.e 1/3 x$22 =$7 to win my room Of course , some lucky guy can even get thier room by adding just $1 !

I then continue to bid at $1 increment: $76, $77, $78.... finally got my room at $82, confirm the 1/3 thoery again.

Here is what I got :

Marriott San Fancisco Downtown

18 June in , 21 June out

Your offer price : $82

Number of night : 3

Total : $291.82

The room rate from Marriott web site for the above peroid is $189 per night (excluding tax) ,

My friend has stayed in this hotel last year ( to attend the same annual conference ) and have a very good impression about the hotel and service. I'm really happy for this bid and look forward my stay.

Thanks to all who have post in this wonderful forum !

:)

[thereuare]

Nicely done... congratulations on your win.

Glad to see you were successful for this part of yoru stay and got an excellent rate.

If you continue to bid for the first part of your stay please start a NEW THREAD so that we can keep the two stays separate and reflect the winning information of each in the topic title.

Enjoy your stay.