Priceline Hotel: Santa Monica, CA hotels

[mtp116]

We originally booked the Courtyard by Marriott Marina Del Rey through the Marriott website with a AAA price of $166 for 8/16-8/19. We actually want it for 8/15 - 8/18 now but in order to change the reservation, the price will be $184 for all the nights. Even if we just cancel the one night, the other 2 go up (which makes no sense to me). So, I thought of Priceline since it is listed as a 3* hotel. But, I'm not having any luck and don't know how high I should go.

My highest bid so far is $130 for 3* in Santa Monica and Beverly Hills areas. I saw in some posts that people added Lawndale. I don't see any hotels on Priceline for Lawndale, but if I add it to my areas the average nightly rate for 3* in those areas drops a good bit...which makes me think there may be some that I'm missing. How can I be sure? Is it worth attempting to add it and to go higher? My bid is still lower than what we can book it for otherwise, but I don't want to go higher and accidentally end up with something in Lawndale.

Do you have any suggestions? We'd like to be near Santa Monica but don't want to go down to 2.5*.

[Colfax]

Welcome to the board, mtp116.

Before we talk strategy do you understand you're not bidding for the Courtyard specifically, but for any 3* hotel in the zone? Several 3* hotels have come up in the zone, including Hotel Erwin and Marina del Rey Hotel.

Let us know if you still want to use Priceline for this.

[mtp116]

Yes, I do understand. I would be thrilled with any of the 3* hotels, but all the others cost so much more than the Courtyard so I just figured there is no way that I would get any of the others for under $200.

[mtp116]

Also, I see a Beverly Hills - West Hollywood area hotel on Hotwire for $143. From the map it appears to be between N. Oakhurst Dr, Alden Dr, and S. Doheny Dr. but I looked on Google maps street view and don't see a hotel in this area. Do you have any idea which one it might be? It only has a 60% recommended rate so that makes me nervous. Thanks for any help you can provide.

[Colfax]

The Hotwire 3* in Beverly Hills-West Hollywood for $143 is something new and unreported to the board. I'm unable to ID it but with 60% approval it seems a somewhat risky purchase, and I expect you can do better for $143.

For a few dollars more, $149, Hotwire has a 3.5* in Century City-Westwood with 85% approval that appears to be Hotel Angeleno. Boutique, Fitness, Restaurant, Pool, Highspeed. After their parking charge Angeleno will end up costing about the same as your Courtyard Marina Del Rey for $184 because parking is free at that Courtyard.

I think you can probably beat the above rates bidding for a 3.5* or 3* on PRICELINE, in the BH-WH and/or CC-WW zones, maybe in the $80-120ish range. If you're interested let us know which zones/quality levels you want to try and someone can give a strategy.

[mtp116]

Thank you very much for your response. I called to cancel my original reservation and the person I spoke with said she could check with a manager and see if they would be willing to cancel just the last day we no longer wanted (18th) if I wanted to keep the other 2 days. So, that is what I did and they were able to keep them at $166. She couldn't add the other day on though or the price would go up for all 3 days.

I tried bidding again, for just the one day (15th) that I wanted to add on but still couldn't get any 3* for $130. I noticed that a new cheaper hotel ($169 a night) that wasn't listed yesterday is now also available as a 3* and didn't get very good reviews so I decided I didn't want to go higher and risk getting that one. So, we just booked the extra day directly through the Marriott as a separate reservation for $184. Like you said, parking is free so I'm happy with that. I'll try Priceline earlier next time I travel so I might have a better chance of success.

[AaronJB]

Thank you for closing the thread. Enjoy your stay.