Priceline Hotel: 4* Lisbon Marriott Lisboa

[bluepig]

Using your PRICELINE link, after about 10 days of bidding (curse you, no free rebid zones) - finally got the 4* Marriott Lisboa for Sept 8-Sept 12, 2011.

Offer Price:

avg. per room, per night US$85.00

Rooms: 1

Nights: 4

Room Subtotal: US$340.00

Taxes & Fees: US$32.56

Total Charged to Card: US$372.56

Pretty good reviews, and nice to have a Marriott property, even if the location doesn't appear to be as centrally located as I might have liked (we won't have a car).

Best available rate at marriott.com is 135 Euros / USD195 per night not including taxes, so I'm very pleased to have gotten this rate. Additionally, no hotwire deals for Lisbon existed below $200 per night (opaque!).

Based on previous wins, thought while bidding on 4* I would get either the Holiday Inn Lisbon or the Holiday Inn Lisbon Continental, both of which seem closer to the city center.

I started bidding at $60 per night, then increased in increments of $4-5 to eventually land at $85. Around $75, I started getting "if you increase your bid by $22" or "if you increase your bid by $13" opportunities to immediately rebid, but declined. Interestingly, the "average price per night for a 4* in this area" shown by Priceline as a reference point for these dates varied GREATLY, from $122 per night up to $243 each day. I guess this reiterates the fact that this is not usually that relevant towards the eventual winning price.

Thanks again to Better Bidding!

[rocc63]

great deal-Lisbon is small and very well connected by public transport.The subway is a little bit of a walk.

Cab from the departure terminal of the airport are better for 2 or more people.

[thereuare]

bluepig,

Congratulations on your success!

Looks like this one took a little while but it appears the savings worth worth the effort... a very nice deal for these dates.

Thank you for sharing your win and using the PRICELINE links on the board to begin your bidding.

Enjoy your stay.

rocc63,

Thanks for the area comments :)

[XT600]

yes location isnot the best but it's a Marriott and by far better than the 2 HIs - we've been there twice (years ago the double was with BF ca. 75-82 EUR)

Taxi is ca. 6-8 EUR depending on a time of arrival - carefully check the meter and insist in the meter - otherwise -esp. the night taxis - are trying to charge you 20-25 EUR :)

Public transport isn't so easy from the Marriott. Taxis are cheap to city (expect same as to airport ca. 5-7 EUR to Pombal)

On tip for the Marriott neighbourhood: if you are looking for a good local restaurant, go out from hotel to left across the highwaybridge, then to the right in the small houses area. There is "Restaurante Palma" which has local price, local food (fish!) and very nice owners (son speak English) - try the arroz marisco!

[hohogap]

Agreed as to the restaurant noted by XT600. We were referred there through the hotel desk clerk and it was fantastic. We also took the subway into and out of the city from the Marriott the first 2 times we stayed, but it's a good 15 minute walk from the hotel (downhill). Returning made the uphill climb to the hotel seem like a bad decision. The third time we also stayed at the Marriott but we rented a car (sans GPS). While it was nice to get to the countryside, it was a bust for getting to/from the City (and even the airport - easy to get lost). Enjoy the trip, Lisbon is wonderful!

[bluepig]

Thanks to rocc64, XT600, and hohogap for your tips on this hotel! We had a great stay. It was definitely a Marriott and I thought lived up to standards, although it could have been in any city in the world for its lack of local character (which is not really the point when staying in a Marriott, after all). We still felt this was a terrific deal at $85 a night given we couldn't have stayed for that price at anything close to this quality elsewhere in town -- particularly as there was a huge diabetes conference in town beginning the weekend we were there and we heard basically all the hotels were booked up.

We didn't get to try the Restaurante Palma but really appreciated the reco as we were going to head over one night but ended up going into town for dinner.

We were fine taking the 10 minute walk (downhill) to the Jardim Zoological metro station to go into town every morning. On the way back, since we usually got back after dark, we'd usually take the metro to Jardim Zoological and then pay 3-4 euros for the short taxi ride back to avoid the uphill walk in the dark.

It was a cheap 8 euro (after tip) taxi ride to the Marriott from the airport -- no issues there.

Thanks again to the betterbidding community!

[thereuare]

Thanks for the recap!

Glad to hear you enjoyed your stay and found the hotel to be a good value for the price paid.

[XT600]

Thanks Bluepig! A pitty you missed the Palma - the Arroz Marisco is hard to get in downtown restaurants (we only know 1 other restaurante in Lisboa-Alcantara which has similar portions and even lower prices)

Yes the Marriott is unique around the world - but if you bid at priceline you shouldn't expect any local nice hotels - 99% the wins are chain hotels - for romantic local hotels I'd use the priceline subsidary from Netherlands "booking.com" which hotels sometimes are also offered on priceline's non-opaque hotel site....

[hohogap]

Glad you enjoyed your trip. Our 3 visits to Lisbon have always been enjoyable, even at the Marriott!