Priceline Hotel: 3* Orange County (Dana Point) Marriott Laguna Clif

[dancemom]

I have been bidding unsuccesfully for the last few weeks on 4* Coronado and DT. Not sure what I am doing wrong, especially since others are winning bids on the same hotels - in one case on the same date (Omni, 7/13, $98.00/other website post). I am trying for July 12-15th. Is anyone aware of major stuff going on in San Diego during that time period?

I have been following the guidleines for using free re-bids, and have gone up to $130, when someone else won the Marriot Coronado for $15.00 less! Any suggestions? Is it time to make other plans?

[Guest aldo]

Here's why you are having problems: http://www.comic-con.org/index.shtml

San Diego Comic-Con International- The LARGEST Comics and Pop Culture Event in North America. PERIOD. July 14-17, 2005. Preview night July 13. At the San Diego Convention Center...

[thereuare]

aldo, nice work on the comic convention.

dancemom, would you consider SPLITTING THE BID?

[dancemom]

Thanks for getting back to me so soon - you guys are great!! I was actually thinking of doing just that- (splitting my bid- although I did not know what it was called!) I don't mind splitting into 2 different stays, just not three motels in 3 nights! Do you have any suggenstions on strategies? Also, if Downtown is full with comedians would I be better off with the costal zone for the first 2 nights? We really want to be Downtown for the Padres game on the 14th.

[Guest aldo]

I'd say you'd have better luck the other way around- Downtown the first two nights, and somewhere else the last. It's the 14th that's the problem. Maybe you can try for the Omni like the other poster, since he was successful for the 13th, and see if you can get a late check out. If you leave your car and/or luggage, you can go to dinner, then walk to Petco and back. After the game, you can go check in for your last night wherever.

[dancemom]

Thanks for all your help, I just tryed again up to $120. with re-bids for DT and Coronado for the first 2 nights with no luck. Maybe I need to try the 3* before too long? Can I open a new request if I change the star level but keep the same dates? :)

[thereuare]

Yes, you can start a new bid with a lower star quality. However, when you do so, it will re-set the clock on your 4 star bidding as well.

If you eventually try for 3* and fail or don't want to try for 3* because if a hotel you may not want, HOTWIRE has a 3.5* for $135/nite which you can bring down to $125 by using 'GIFTCARD06', which i believe is probably the Sheraton Suites.

[dancemom]

Thanks for all the good and friendly advice! I cannot locate the 3 1/2* downtown for $135.00 that you mentioned, but did see a 2* in the Gaslamp for $130.00 and a 3 star in Shelter-Mission Valley-Seaworld for $110.00 Any ideas what those might be?

Also, since we are talking Hotwire now should I be posting in a different strand? I haven't totally given up on Priceline, but I'm getting close.

[thereuare]

It was only for the dates 12th-14th... and it is now coming in at $165/nite (in the Downtown zone). But at $165 there is now a 4* offered at $155.

[dancemom]

Is there anyway I could figure out which hotel it is, and would that same $10.00 discount apply?

[Guest aldo]

As a back-up, you might want to consider the Holiday Inn Express Old Town. AAA rate for all 3 nights is $129/night, and you can cancel up until 6pm date of arrival. Good reviews, free breakfast, walking distance to lots of shops and restaurants, and only 4 blocks from the trolley station. The trolley can take you to Petco Park.

[thereuare]

It's a 4* in the Downtown zone with Restaurant, Pool, Fitness, and Business icons... this matches both the Hilton and the Westin Horton so those would be our best guesses.

Let us know if we can help further and/or what you decide to do. Please use our HOTWIRE link if you move forward.

[bbbb]

You can also add two children to the hotwire page and sometimes it will show you different hotels that might have a lower rate.

Also don't forget to clean out your cookies each time you check rates on hotwire. If you don't it will remember you and jack the rates up.

[dancemom]

Do you know anything about Hotwire's new Gaslamp zone? Does it really only include hotels right in the Gaslamp? I am thinking that a 2* Gaslamp is the Ramada? That one has availablility for July 12-15 for $130.00 and it would put us where we want to be during that convention. I have seen different star ratings on different sites. Where is the best place to find this info?

Again, if I should be posting these questions under the Hotwire strand, please let me know. I really appreciate all this advice.

[Guest aldo]

If the 2* you see shows an icon for comp breakfast, then it's not the Ramada St. James Hotel. On their website, it shows the breakfast buffet is $5.99.

[thereuare]

Does it really only include hotels right in the Gaslamp?

Don't go by a zone's name... look at the boundaries as shown on the HOTWIRE map.

Keep this thread active for your stay and we'll move it if you ultimately use HOTWIRE for this stay.

[dancemom]

Hi, I just thought I should update you on how it has been going...not so well. I tried the 2* in the "Gaslamp", thinking that it would be better to get all 3 nights in the same place, and in the location I wanted (even if it was a slightly seedy place!!) . Well...it would appear that Hotwire does not have this new zone sorted out yet, because the hotel I got was the Quality Inn an Suites Harborview, which is not located inside the zone boundry on the website for the Gaslamp District at all. I called Hotwire, and a "zone analyst" will be contacting me in the next few days to let me know if I can contest this. Has anyone else had this experience? The website does not say anything about this situation. I am pretty upset, and propably will not be using Hotwire again. Especially since all the rooms downtown are going fast as I wait for them to call me back!

On a much better note, I won a PL bid for the first 3 nights of our stay in Cali. I started the bid at $85.00 for Dana Point (Orange County), re-bid up to $90.00, using the Fountain Valley zone. Won the Laguna Cliffs Marriot for $90.00- happy about that!

Niether of these posts are in the right strand, let me know if I need to move them to the proper place. :)

[thereuare]

You're right, the Quality Inn Harborview is clearly out of the Gaslamp zone. This does happen occaisionally and usually Hotwire offers the option of cancelling the reservation or keeping the reservation along with some sort of compensation.

Can you please include the amenties that Hotwire showed before purchase of the Quality Inn... you can still view these by going to Hotwire and clicking the MY ACCOUNT link near the top right of their home page.

[dancemom]

The amenities are: restaurants, breakfast and pool. Since the are only 2-2*star hotels in the Gaslamp, (and it wasn't the Ramada/St. James) I figured it was the Comfort Inn. I did notice a posting from April 26th, where someone won the Westin Horton Plaza and it was considered in the Downtown zone - and it is in the Gaslamp! Maybe they are just a bit confused at this point, or maybe I know this section of the city too well?! How long has the Gaslamp been separated from the DT zone? That is the feature that pursuaded me to try Hotwire instead of Priceline.

[thereuare]

No, the Gaslamp section is new and we haven't had time to separate the hotels in the Gaslamp zone from those in the Downtown zone yet... was hoping that somebody who knew the area well could help but so far nobody that was certain of the location of the hotel's has come forward.

[dancemom]

Oops - my mistake. After reviewing your Hotwire hotel list, and all of the strands on star ratings, I see that perhaps there are no 2* hotels in the Gaslamp (for Hotwire) It's hard to belive that given that Hotwire's rates can be substantially higher than Priceline, their star ratings would be lower!

What does it mean when there are no amenities listed, exept for "hotel" ? The only other hotel coming up for my dates and zone does not list any amenitites - 3* for $217.00. How accurate are the amenitites lists?

I guess I really needed to do some "Hotwire homework" before attempting to bid.

Again, thanks for sharing your expertise!

[dancemom]

We stayed last year (Manchester Grand Hyatt) so I know a bit. Hotwire's map shows 4th Street to 7th Street, and Broadway to Harbor Ave. That's pretty close to the map on Gaslamp.org There is a hotel list on that site, don't know if it is comprehensive.

[WillTravel]

I had the experience with getting a hotel out of the zone map. I was given the option of getting a full refund, or of keeping the reservation and getting $50 hot-Dollars. I chose the latter. They did take too long to respond, in my opinion, given there was a very short timeline before my stay.

[Guest aldo]

dancemom, what are your dates for Laguna Cliffs? Aren't these dates (7/12-15) for your San Diego Hotwire purchase?

Sorry about what happened with Hotwire. Maybe you should book a back-up you can cancel in the meantime. Hotwire will probably offer the same choice as what WillTravel was given, and at least with a back-up, you won't feel as pressured.

Good luck!

[dancemom]

The dates for the Dana Point stay are 7/9-7-12. I didn't think I would get a Saturday check-in, so I'm happy.

Still waiting to hear from Hotwire, I agree I need to find a back-up really soon! I will let you you know what happens when they (finally) contact me.