Priceline Hotel: help please for hotel 9/7/11-9/11/11 santa monica, hollywood?

[karfypie]

Hi there,

I've been looking through the forum and reading about the hotels listed under the star ratings in different areas and on trip advisor but feel I need a bit of help/advice.

Me and my friend will be in LA from the 9/7 to 9/11 so 4 nights. We are thinking maybe it could be a good idea to stay either one or two nights around hollywood area as we want to see kodak theatre and universal studios etc and then stay the other nights near the beach, so santa monica, venice or MDR. This is just an idea, so can change this depending on suggestions/advice.

We really have quite a limited budget. At most we can spend $100 per night for 2 nights and then the other 2 need to be $80 per night or less so a total of $360 (with this including tax) being absolute maximum. It doesn't matter how the $$ are spread over the nights just cant go over that amount. We also will have a car so would be good to have free parking or to not have to pay a high fee for parking.

Does this seem like a realistic figure to do this with?

I was looking at the 2* hollywood, and the two hotels that have come up on priceline, the Super 8 and Ramada widely differ in how much they cost. The Ramada is coming up at about twice the cost of the Super 8, about $170 to $81, would that just mean you would be much less likely to get the Ramada than Super 8 with a lower bid? The Super 8 didn't seem to have that good reviews however on tripadvisor.

Could anyone help with a strategy with suggesting how/where to bid? I'm a bit confused by all the different districts listed in LA even though I've looked at the map, so if there is a district nearby to the ones I've suggested that could work please suggest it especially as we have a car. As it seems santa monica is an expensive area so maybe we could stay somewhere else but we could reach it easily in that car. We just dont want to spend masses of time in the car however, that was why we were thinking stay in hollywood for a night or two and then near the beaches.

Thanks for any help, let me know if there is any other info you need!

Katharine

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Please use separate threads for each leg of your stay, we'll use this thread for your 9/7-9/9 stay, feel free to start a NEW TOPIC for your 9/9-9/11 stay.

Note that the 'retail' and 'bidding' sides of PRICELINE each use a different universe of hotels (and the zone boundaries are different) so you can't use the retail side to determine what you will get thru bidding. There is also a low correlation between the hotel with the lowest retail rate being the one which you will win when bidding. Parking will be an 'unknown' factor which you can't determine before your purchase.

For 9/7-9/9 HOTWIRE has a 2* hotel with Complimentary Breakfast, Pool, Laundry, Internet icons for $63/nite.. and a very good 4.0/5.0 Tripadvisor rating. This is a match for the Travelodge Vermont-Sunset which for the star rating gets good reviews, and accordingly to Expedia, offers free parking.

Would this work for this leg of your stay?

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

[karfypie]

Hi thereuare,

Thanks very much for your reply, it was very helpful. Sorry for the delay, I've taken the last fews off of doing anything as got tonsilitis.

The Travelodge hotel you said that you think is the one listed on Hotwire looks good. After reading some of the other recent threads, the one about bidding in west hollywood-bev hills and hollywood I decided to have a bash at the same strategy. I guess to see if it would be possible to get something a bit nicer than the Travelodge, even though this is a good backup.

So I just tried bidding for 3* West Hollywood-Bev Hills for 7th-9th sept:

1st- $65 (reject)

2nd -$75 after adding inglewood (reject)

3rd - $85 after adding lawnsdale (reject)

Then I tried the same with same prices for 3* Westwood-Century City, rejected. Then tried Hollywood 3* up to $75.

Just wondering what you think would be accepted for these areas for a 3*? Maybe it is just way out of my range. Or do you think I might have better luck closer to the dates? Or should I try a different zone?

For those two dates looking to see Hollywood sights and Universal Studios, we will have a car.

Thanks again!

Katharine

[thereuare]

I can't comment too much on other acceptable zones, but if you're looking to stay in Hollywood, West Hollywood or Beverly Hills, rates are quite high and i don't see anything within your price range at the moment... i'm guessing a 3* hotel will likely cost at least $100+ before fees and taxes.

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

Let us know how you'd like to proceed and we'll advise further.

[Colfax]

We really have quite a limited budget. At most we can spend $100 per night for 2 nights and then the other 2 need to be $80 per night or less so a total of $360 (with this including tax) being absolute maximum.

We also will have a car so would be good to have free parking or to not have to pay a high fee for parking.

The parameters you've been bidding (3* in Hollywood, BH-WH, and WW-CC) will all have extra parking charges, probably in the $20-40/night range; so you're already over your stated budget of $90/night.

The best thing I'm seeing within your $90 budget, parking included, is the Hollywood 2* on HOTWIRE that thereuare mentioned above. It's $63 now and still looks like Travelodge Vermont-Sunset. Reviews are good for a 2*. Parking and breakfast included, and it's walking distance to Metro. You might win a Hollywood 2* for less than $63 bidding on PRICELINE ($50-55 I'm guessing) but it could be a 2* that's not as well reviewed as Travelodge or a 2* that charges for parking.

If you want a hotel rated higher than 2* for under $90 including parking you'll probably need to bid some suburban zones or near LAX and commute in every day. I'll suggest some zones if you prefer that, but I think a well-reviewed 2* right in Hollywood would be simpler and more convenient for you. (If you stay in suburbs and drive to Hollywood every day you'll still have to pay for parking in Hollywood.)

If you purchase the Hollywood 2* please use this HOTWIRE link and let us know what you get.

[karfypie]

Thanks very much for your replies.

I had a look on the hotwire website through your link and thought that was a great option. I was going to book that one but then got an email from last minute.com giving a voucher for 15% off a hotel booking so used that to book the Travelodge at vermont sunset. Compared to the hotwire rate it gave a saving of $28 so did that.

Sorry to not book through your links but I do all my searching through them and will also post a new thread about santa monica and have bid through your links.

Thanks! Katharine

[thereuare]

Glad you found something that worked for both your needs and budget.

Enjoy this leg of your trip.