Priceline Hotel: help for 4-5* in Hollywood-Bev Hills Aug 5-7

[moneypenny02]

Hi all,

Looking to celebrate our 1 year anniversary in the wknd of Aug 5-7, and we want to try to find a nice hotel in the area to get away to. If we lucked out on the London that would be beyond ideal, since I love that hotel AND it's where we spent our 1st night as hubby and wife. Unfortunately direct from the hotel is about $349 now. :-( WeHo or Hollywood/Sunset area would be ideal, in any really nice hotel. I have checked the various discount sites that I know of, and the best I am seeing is $210 for the Andaz (which is pretty good, I suppose) or around $150 or $170 for the W. Not too bad, but I am hoping we could do better.

I tried the HOTWIRE link, but apparently it is down right now, so I havent been able to check Hotwire. Will consider doing Priceline, since all the 4* and 5* hotels it has listed for Hollywood-BevHills area would be acceptable to us.

I am trying to work out the strategy and figure out what should be our starting price. I would think I would start with:

BevHills 5*

BevHills 5* or 4*

BevHills 5/4 + Culver City

BevHills 5/4 + Culver City + Inglewood

BevHills 5/4 + Culver City + Inglewood + Lawndale

BevHills 5/4 + Culver City + Inglewood + Lawndale + Redondo

I am also considering adding Santa Monica b/c the only reported hotel that is a 4* is the Loews which would also be nice for us.

Any thoughts about this plan? Also any suggestions about reasonable prices? I want to use as many free rebids as possible and try to snag this soon, so that I can get the Andaz @ $210 before that deal is up if nothing else is working. I would think that, not having the certainty of where it would be, the max i would want to pay each night is about $150-$175 if that is reasonable. Preferably less.

As always, will use the PRICELINE links here once I start bidding!

[thereuare]

How high do you want to bid for a 5* before lowering your bid for a 4*... or is the goal the least expensive 4* or better for this stay?

Also, to clarify, your topic title states "Hollywood-Bev Hills" but i assume you're referring to the "West Hollywood-Beverly Hills" zone and you're not interested in bidding the "Hollywood" zone, correct?

Let us know the above, and if you want to include Santa Monica in your bidding or not, and we'll suggest a strategy for you to follow.

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

[moneypenny02]

Hi! Thanks for the response. I didn't see it before I just bid--or you may have been posting as I was bidding. So, in terms of goal, I would prefer to get least expensive 4* or higher. I also decided to include Santa Monica. I just completed all of my free rebids, but I may have my husband try again tonight or tomorrow.

I maxed out at $120--starting at $80. Probably totally unreasonable start, but there wasn't much to go on in the forums, and I already had a deal for Andaz for $200 and W Westwood basic room for $150, Spectacular suite for $170ish. So, I needed it to be lower than those to justify the risk of bidding blind.

I started with BevHills/WeHo (correct--NOT trying to stay in Hollywood) 5*, then added Santa Monica, then added 4* then added Culver, Inglewood, Lawndale and Redondo since none of those areas had 4* or higher.

I ended with a bid for $120 with those areas with no luck and no counteroffers. Not sure how much higher I want to go, b/c I know the W is offering their basic/wonderful rooms at around $150, and if I am going to end up at the W, I would prefer to be in a Spectacular Suite--which I can make sure that I get for $170. I feel like $130 is going to be the max b/c with Priceline fees it would be higher to end up with a W basic room from another site (lastminutetravel.com---which I actually heard about on these boards first!).

Any suggestions???

[Colfax]

The W Westwood is in Westwood-Century City zone and you didn't include WW-CC in your bidding, if you were hoping to win that hotel on Priceline.

If any of the hotels in WW-CC are acceptable you might win a 4* in that zone for less than the $120 you've bid.

Hotwire is no help here. Their 4* in BH-WH and WW-CC cost more than your $170 back up.

[thereuare]

So to summarize, you'd like a 4* or better hotel in the 'Beverly Hills-West Hollywood' or 'Santa Monica' zones with a maximum bid of $130, is that correct? Did you want to consider adding 'Westwood-Century City'?

Let us know the above and we'll suggest a strategy for you to follow.

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

[moneypenny02]

Yes--4* or better in BevHills-WEHO or Santa Monica for $130 or less. I won't add Westwood b/c there are hotels there I would not prefer to have. The W would be fine, but others are more business-y and we aren't really looking for that. Let me know if you think that is a plausible goal!

[thereuare]

At current prices I think your chances are less than 50/50, but hopefully you can prove me wrong. At the 4* level you have FOUR re-bid zones. If you're not familiar with re-bidding please read Priceline Re-Bidding Explained and feel free to ask questions and/or confirm your re-bid zones with the board before proceeding.

Select 4* Beverly Hills...

Bid $80, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $90, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $95, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $100, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $105, if rejected close browser and use this link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 4* Santa Monica...

Bid $80, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $90, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $95, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $100, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $105, if rejected close browser and use this link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 4* Beverly Hills and Santa Monica...

Bid $110, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $115, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $120, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $125, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $130

Any questions feel free to ask.

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

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[MistryMan]

Are the rebid zones:

Lawndale, Culver City, Inglewood and Redondo (my only concern is there is one 4* listed at Redondo and don't want to end up that far from the action.

Thanks for this strategy.

I will always use the PRICELINE links here once I start bidding!

[AaronJB]

Are the rebid zones:

Lawndale, Culver City, Inglewood and Redondo (my only concern is there is one 4* listed at Redondo and don't want to end up that far from the action.

Thanks for this strategy.

I will always use the PRICELINE links here once I start bidding!

Please start a new thread for your stay in this area and reply to your San Francisco Priceline thread.

[stasik]

There currently aren't any 4* Hotels in Redondo Beach so you are safe.

I have been bidding on priceline for a 4* stay in West Hollywood/Beverly Hills for a few weeks with no success thus far. Although our dates are different so your results may vary. Gone up to $147 (when PRICELINE had a few bonus bucks available) and still nothing.

[thereuare]

There currently aren't any 4* Hotels in Redondo Beach so you are safe.

NOTE: there currently are 4* hotels offered in the Redondo-Manhattan Beaches zone... if you're unsure of your re-bid zones see Priceline Re-Bidding Explained, and if you need further discussion of this feel free to post in your Priceline Los Angeles thread and we'll continue the discussion there.

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

Thanks.