Priceline Hotel: 4* San Francisco (Financial District-Embarcadero) Hyatt

[yuki05]

Hi all,

I'm traveling to SF 9/29 to 10/2 and am interested in the Union Square area with a limit of ~150/night. Any recommendations on a bidding strategy? Is a 4* realistic?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

[Gallus50]

Yuki - Please read the many threads pertaining to this general time period, be sure you have read the FAQs and are familiar with rebidding, and check the rack rates of hotels you might be interested in. You will then have a base of knowledge to ask informed questions. If rack rates are high, you can't expect to spend any less than about 60% of the rate, but usually more than that.

I'm sorry if I sound a bit grumpy, but there are oodles of posts recently asking the same sort of questions and there is no singular, simple answer. You also need to be ready to do some of the research and groundwork yourself.

And to anyone else who's planning to ask, I'll say it again: September and October are tough times to bid in SF! Even when rates and the economy are down, deals can be elusive. Hard to come by. They'll take a lot of work.

OK, off my soapbox now. Thanks for listening.

[Colfax]

Welcome to the board, yuki05!

I second everything that Gallus said. A lot of bidders are having trouble with Sept/Oct dates in SF.

I don't know if $150 will be enough for a 4* or not. Maybe yes, maybe no. If you'd like to try let us know which zones are acceptable and someone will offer a strategy. The more zones you include the better your chances of success. If $150's not enough for 4* it might be enough for 3.5* in USE.

Please use these HOTWIRE and PRICELINE links for your puchases.

[yuki05]

Thanks for the responses.

I think the zones that would most suit our needs is USE, USW, and Financial District. It's 2 girls traveling so

safety is somewhat a concern. It's our first time in SF and we will not have a car. I was hoping for a 4*, but with a max budget of $150 a night -

it sounds like 3 1/2 or 3* might be our best bet. It's my first time using priceline to bid, and any bidding strategies

would be greatly appreciated.

I apologize for my earlier post, I've been reading the posts - but I wasn't sure if there was anything else I could be doing. So just wanted to ask for suggestions.

[Colfax]

Let's try for 4* first and if that dosn't work, then try 3.5* and maybe 3*.

When bidding for a 4* in SF you have SIX rebid zones. Those are zones that only have hotels less than 4* quality. If you need help determining your six rebid zones please ask. If you want confirmation that you've got them right you can post the six zone names here.

Once you've figured out your rebid zones...

1) Click this PRICELINE link

2) Select USE, USW, and Financial-Embarcadero, and bid $120 for 4*.

3) Add your six rebids, one at a time, and raise your bid $5 with each, up to $150.

Good luck and please let us know how it goes.

[yuki05]

Thanks for clarifying rebid zones! I've been bidding wrong.

Are these the right rebidding zones?

Civic Center South

Fisherman's Wharf

Japan Town

Marina-Lombard Street

SFO North

South SF

I wasn't sure how that worked. Thank you so much! I will try this and let you know.

[Colfax]

You've got your six rebids correct. Good luck with your bidding!

[MarcP]

Hi all,

I'm traveling to SF 9/29 to 10/2 and am interested in the Union Square area with a limit of ~150/night. Any recommendations on a bidding strategy? Is a 4* realistic?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

I have been looking in SF for 9/30- 10/2 myself. The pricing is definitely higher than what I have seen other people posting for other dates. I have bid up to $175/night for 3.5* starting in Fisherman's wharf (1st choice), doing my rebid zones, then even including USE and USW and Soma (all good areas) but no luck.

From my experience,

1) it may be timing, believe it or not, I could be bidding too early, so I stick to my pricing and just redo every day. Worst case, a week out, I'll grab a Hotwire deal.

2) I have had luck before investigating which is the busy booked night and then I divide up my stay (risk is you have to change hotels during your stay). This has worked for me before and I still ended up with the same hotel, just different pricing. So if I have to pay 200/night for Saturday and 120 for Friday, the average is still a good deal.

Just my thoughts.

Marc

And I always use the links above. This is a great website.

[slruud]

Looks like things are quite expensive for the OP's dates, however Lastminutetravel.com has the 3* Holiday Inn Golden Gateway for $116/nite. A little off the beaten path, but right next to a cable car terminus and near a number of bus lines, specifically the number 1 Van Ness bus that goes up and back on Sacramento/Clay for easy access to China town and Embarcadero. Don't remember the number, but there is a bus that heads down Van Ness and hits Fisherman's wharf, so transportation won't be a problem.

Whole Foods is nearby, and restaurants in the area include Tommy's Joynt, House of Prime Rib, Ruth's Chris, Swan Oyster Depot.

[Colfax]

MarcP,

Thanks for your 3.5* bidding history. Please keep us posted if/when you have some luck.

I have bid up to $175/night for 3.5* starting in Fisherman's wharf (1st choice),

To my knowledge this board hasn't had a single 3.5* Priceline win reported in Fisherman's Wharf zone for the months of June, July, August, and September. I guess the FW 3.5* are doing so well this summer that they don't need Priceline. The few FW wins we've seen for those months have been at 3* level.

yuki05,

How did your bidding go? The Holiday Inn that slruud mentioned could be a good backup for you. It's slightly off the path, but not in a bad neighborhood, and $116 is a good rate for these dates.

[yuki05]

My bids got rejected. Bid up to $150 with the rebidding zones added. I will have to wait 24 hours to rebid. i kept it at 4* will keep trying since I still have time. I checked out LMT and hotel names aren't listed. I see the $116 rate, but hotel name isn't listed. Is it pretty safe to assume that it's The Holiday Inn?

[Colfax]

You can bid every 24 hours but unless you want to raise your limit or add another zone, like Embarcadero-Financial, I doubt much will change in one day. With almost two months before your trip you've got some time to wait and see if others start reporting wins for your dates. On the other hand, with availability looking tight for your dates there's something to be said for locking in a deal now if you can find it.

If your 4* bids continue to reject $150 might be enough for a 3.5* in USE or USW, and those are considered good hotels too. If you'd like to try 3.5* I'd start at $120 and bid up to $150 with your rebid zones. When bidding for 3.5* you only have five rebids, not six. (Fisherman's Wharf has 3.5* hotels so it's a rebid zone for 4* but not for 3.5*.)

As for the Holiday Inn Golden Gateway....LastMinuteTravel hotels can be identified with a high degree of confidence. There's a long thread on how to ID LMT hotels in the "Run of the House" forum on this board. The HI-GG is about a half mile from Union Square with good bus and cable connections to Downtown/Embarcadero. But it's not right in Union Square, so if Union Square is your first choice I think I'd bid for 3.5* USE/USW first, then 3* USE/USW---before taking a 3* in a more outlying zone. At $116 Holiday Inn would be a good backup though.

Please keep us posted on your thoughts and progress.

[yuki05]

I went ahead and added Embarcadero/Financial District to my list of possibilities and got the Hyatt Regency for $150. It's at the higher end of what I wanted, but glad it's one less thing to worry about. I was getting worried since it looked like availability was getting limited. Thanks for everyone's help!

[AaronJB]

Congrats on your success. :)

Sorry to hear that the result was more than you'd hoped, but definitely not a bad result for this Hyatt property for a busy period.

Thank you for sharing your win and please use the site's PRICELINE or HOTWIRE links to start your purchases and searches.

Enjoy your stay.