Priceline Hotel: 4* San Francisco / 1st Stay

[Duckapu]

So I'm planning my first trip to San Francisco on 9/15 - 9/18. Looking to get a nice deal on my stay, budget from $0 to $150 / night. Preferrably is a place with free parking (I've been reading it's pretty expensive over there, and I'm traveling by car), don't mind if there's no breakfast included, but looking for a place in or near downtown (don't want to stay in San Mateo or anywhere far from Downtown). Please let me know of your experience visiting SF and must-visit places over there. So I'm looking to bid on PRICELINE, but can do HOTWIRE as well. Also if anyone has a nice strategy to share, please do.

I have my HOTWIRE and PRICELINE links ready for this purchase.

Thanks :)

[hohogap]

My experience is that "free parking" will be hard to find in central San Fran. I parked overnight on the street a block from the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero a couple years ago, trying my best to ensure that it was legal, and still got my car towed. The moderators will be able to help you focus on the best strategy to get the best hotel deal, but I wanted to point out that for your dates you can get the 3* Holiday Inn Golden Gateway for $116.07/night (total with taxes and fees = $412.83) through www.lastminutetravel.com (there's a link on this BB web site). Or a 4* Hyat Regency Embarcadero goes for $144.07/night on the same web site (total with all taxes and fees = $514.33). See how to bid and go behind the "opaque" hotel offer by typing "Turico" in the search box and review the thread started by the BEAV. Hope this helps!

[Colfax]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Like hohogap says free parking just doesn't happen in downtown SF, other than at some 2*/1* motels in Civic Center area.

You're travelling on expensive dates and I'm not confident $150 will be enough for a Priceline 4* Downtown. Hotwire only has one 4* Downtown, in USE, and it's $222.

I'm seeing the Hyatt Regency on lastminutetravel.com for $144.54 (a few cents differerent than the price hohogap saw) but it's "On Request", which means it's possibly available. LMT gets back to you within 24 hours letting you know if Hyatt accepted your request or not. Parking in that part of Downtown will probably be an additional $30-50/night.

LMT rates Hyatt 4.5* and Priceline rates it 4*. I doubt Priceline will beat LMT's $144 rate for this one, but if you'd like to try Priceline bidding first, let us know which Downtown zones are acceptable and someone will offer a strategy.

Please use these HOTWIRE and PRICELINE links for your purchases.

[Duckapu]

Hi and thanks for your help.. Actually I took your advice and tried getting the Hyatt, but as Colfax said, it was "on request" and I got no luck on it (went to Hyatt's webpage, and it shows full). So I guess I'll give they Holiday Inn a try, it's actually better since parking is $12 less on that one (compared to Hyatt). So thanks a lot for the info and that thread by BEAV was really helpful btw.

[Duckapu]

Yep, I just realized parking adds something from the high $30's (if lucky) to low $50's per night.. You were right on the "on request" thing, and Hyatt was actually full. Thanks a lot, I would actually like to stay in the Downtown/Union Square/Nob Hill area so if anyone has a strategy for Priceline please share it..

[Colfax]

That LMT listing that looks like Holiday Inn Golden Gateway for $116.07 is "On Request" too. At least the HI-GG has availability for your dates, at $240, so there's some chance a LMT request will be accepted there.

Holiday Inn is at California and Van Ness, not it the heart of Downtown, but the California cable car stops next to the hotel. On Priceline HI-GG's a 3* in Japantown-Civic Center North zone.

If you first want to try your original plan--a 4* Downtown for $150 or less--and use HI-GG as a backup, you've got six rebid zones for 4* in SF. Those are zones that only have hotels less than 4*. Ask if you need help ID'ing.

You can't be too picky about zones on busy dates like this. If you can win a 4* for $150 in any Downtown zone you're doing great.

I suggest select USE, USW, Embarcadero, and SOMA, and bid $100 for 4*. Add your six rebids at $110, $120, $130, $140, $145, and $150. If there's a downtown zone you don't want you can eliminate that from the strategy of course.

Please use this PRICELINE link to start your bids, or if you try for the Holiday Inn let us know if LMT comes through.

[2_lude]

Right now it will be really difficult to get $150 for dates you want. You still have some time, I would advise you to check hotwire daily as soon as the price on hotwire drops for 4* you can try the bidding strategies listed earlier. From the one bid I won, it appears that once hotwire prices drop, there is a good chance priceline prices will drop too.

[Duckapu]

thank you all for your great help.. because of personals I ended up not doing the trip, but will sure be contacting you guys when I plan my trip to SF!

[AaronJB]

Thank you for closing the thread.