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Priceline Hotel: Sydney 4&5*


vanpoodle
By vanpoodle,
in

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Tried bidding using $7 bonus cash today, with no re-bids for Sydney it's a lot tougher. Went $100+$7 for 5*, $70+$7 for 4*. No luck.

I'll start bidding a bit more aggressively over the next while, the trip is not for another 3 months. There haven't been that many wins posted so it is very hard to know what to expect!

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Still plenty of time and hopefully rates will drop between now and then, but i'm guessing at current levels you may be looking at somewhat more than your current bids... perhaps $150+ for a 5* and/or $125+ for a 4*.

Keep us update on your PRICELINE bids and let us know if we can be of further help along the way.

Good luck!

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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thanks for that -- there haven't been many bids posted so it's very hard to gauge how high to go. I hate overbidding! Also tried for Melbourne Aug 1-4, $75+$7 for 48, $110+$7 for 5*. I don't really have a budget set, I just want to get something as cheaply as possible on PL because I know I won't find it cheaper anywhere else! If it starts getting up there I'll compare with what Hotwire has and see if that makes more sense.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just an update, I've been upping my bid for 5* by $1 a day almost every day. I am at $121 + $5 bonus cash ($126) now for Sydney August 4-8. Still not even a counteroffer. I will keep going. I am very leery about bidding 4* because there is a Mercure with terrible ratings outside the CBD that seems to be where people win for 4*.

Also working on Melbourne Aug 1-4, now up to $122 +$6 ($128) for 5*. Also nervous about going 4* in Melbourne because it, too, has an unloved Mercure that seems to win the bids.

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Thanks for the update... i still think you'll likely need to be closer to $150+ for a 5* property. Using BiddingHelper.com and/or MAPS and HOTELS.com what is the best rate you're able to find a 5* hotel for these dates thru conventional booking channels?

If you'd help with the Melbourne leg of your trip please start a NEW TOPIC.

Thanks for using the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board.

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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I looked on Kayak last night for Sydney and saw a 5* Sofitel for $176, 5* Sheraton $266, 5* Westin $280, 5* Intercontinental $251, and the 5* Marriott Sydney Harbour for $189. On biddinghelper, the Marriott Sydney Harbour is $267, the Westin $311, Intercontinental $276.

For Melbourne, Kayak and biddinghelper had the 5* Hilton South Wharf for $180, Kayak has the 5* Hiton on the Park for $189, 5* Intercontinental for $259, 5* Park Hyatt $167 biddinghelper has the 5* Westin for $283, 5* Park Hyatt $199, 5* Marriott $240.

I generally am okay with 4* that is what I usually bid for London, New York, and other cities. But I am quite put off by the Mercure that PL tends to use in either city for 4*, there have been many unhappy PL bidders due to location and state of the hotel. If 5* bidding starts to get above about $170, I might be better off getting a 4* from a transparent site, unless anything has changed and the Mercure is no longer part of the 4* process.

I really appreciate your help, with only one zone, bidding in Sydney and Melbourne is much more difficult than for London!

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I've looked at those alerts and used to use them -- about a year ago though they seemed to change it and they stopped giving out accurate information. I make two bookings in London last week at $93, and a few others were posted here as well below $100, but they only seem to show that bookings were made for $130 in the last two weeks for 4* hotels in the same area. It just doesn't seem helpful any more. Has anyone else had similar experience or am I being too cynical?

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The alerts are wins at the chosen star level and zone, but not for the same dates (and rates in major cities can vary significantly from day-to-day - bids are really a case-by-case basis and the traffic/conditions of the particular dates should be a primary consideration.)

Thank you for using the site's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchases and searches.

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If you set up your email with your dollar limit, you'll only see when a bid has hit your number. You won't see anything above the price you set. I agree that viewing the Priceline "View Winning Bids" is not very helpful.

When I have a target price in mind, I'll set up an alert to see winning bids $10 higher or so, then I know if there is traffic close to what I'm looking for. I used in on the trip I'm leaving for in just a few minutes for Zurich-Glattbrugg for $85. When I got an alert, I went in and bid $75 or $78 (I don't remember which one exactly) and got it, so the tool worked well for me.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thought I'd give an update. I posted a new topic when I won the Melbourne Marriott alleged 5* for $125 + $7 in bonus cash for a total of $125. (I say alleged because it appears that it was upped from 4* not that long ago and there have been a few gripes in the reviews that it's not really a 5*). But still decent enough hotel for a fair price!

Am still working my Sydney bids, now up to $137 a night ($127 + $10 in bonus cash). Will slowly keep working away at it while also keeping an eye on what's out there for retail hotels. A 5* Swissotel is priced at $139 on Kayak ($195 on the Swissotel site). Crowne Plaza $168, Radisson $175, Holiday Inn Darling Harbour $185, Hilton Sydney $186. So I should be getting close, in fact, I'm a little surprised that the Hilton hasn't come through yet since it seems to be part of Name Your Own Price and I'm not that far off what PL has it listed for on their retail site.

I put an alert on for bidds at less than $150 for 5* in Sydney and haven't seen anything, though an alert I did for less than $102 for 4* in London and less than $150 for 5* in Melbourne have generated emails.

fyi -- got more bonus cash ($10 a night for up to 5 nights) I did a live chat session with PL because I never got an email confirmation of my Melbourne booking, and they gave it to me when I raised the issue with them as an apology for the hassle. Then I emailed them again because the bonus cash wasn't working and then got another. So, if you have any trouble with bookings it seems easy to get. It doesn't appear in the profile, only off the link in the email which is why I'd emailed for help. This means that I cannot use the link on this site to use the bonus cash which I apologize for -- I always make a special point of heading to PL using links on this site.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Am now at $150 ($140 + $10 bonus cash) and still nothing accepted and no counteroffer. It's a little surprising considering that the Hilton is still on the retail site for $191 now, I thought I might be within striking distance. I am starting to get to the point where I won't be saving a considerable sum below retail pricing on a hotel (Kayak has the 5* Grace hotel for $140 on its site) so am considering other options.

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I believe the $191 rate you're seeing is a 25% discount sale currently going on, so that rate is already somewhat discounted from the 'full' $281/nite price.

Let us know whatever you decide or if we can be of help along the way.

Thanks for using the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board. (or our HILTON link should you decide to book direct)

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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Thanks -- if anyone familiar with Sydney can share advice that would be appreciated. Am carrying on bidding every day. Also, it seems that the first night, the Saturday, is the expensive night. I had thought of splitting my stay into two, but since Sydney has only one zone I don't think that will result in savings like it would somewhere like London which has so many more zones to bid on, any one of which could be the cheapest one going.

I am contemplating going for 4* for the first night and chancing that Mercure, then bidding 5* for the balance since those nights are cheaper (or at least they are from what I see on the retail sites).

I still think that PL is the way to go, though the Grace Hotel for $140 a night on Kayak is tempting me. Does better bidding have a link to Kayak? I don't see it on the Support Page. Just checked, Grace Hotel is $136 a night and the Sofitel is $137 a night. I have no idea what these hotels are like (TripAdvisor rates them # 29 and #26 of 209, respectively), so I don't know if I should keep plugging away with PL and hope for something better or grab one of these.

I am now within 60 days and only have so much of increasing by $1 a day ahead of me!

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You might try posting at FT and people can be very helpful. Somebody there just found me the town bus schedule for Antequera, Spain and even posted a picture of it! Well, yeah, they also can be .... um ... a challenge. Not necessarily as well mannered as here. But if you state your case carefully, like a newbie, it is at least possible you'll find some useful advice. In addition to some seriously smart mouthed people, there are lots of extremely well informed and helpful people.

Romelle

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In looking around, I have found that the link above for Hotelscombined is just as good as Kayak. I also did more looking and found that Starwood and Hilton will price match prices found online. Those hotels (Sheraton and Hilton) come in at about $175 and $185 a night respectively on hotelscombined, then Starwood will match less 10% while Hilton will give an extra $50 off the booking. So if something doesn't come through soon I might give that a go. My husband is a Hilton Gold member which would give us free internet, breakfast and an upgrade so that is getting tempting if PL isn't giving me a good deal. I have never tried the pricematching thing, but am not keen on the idea of paying for everything with Hilton and then having to submit a claim form to get the price match.

Normally I do fantastically well on PL (well, other than that time in Arizona when it didn't pull through and I went Hotwire to disastrous effect), so I'm a bit frustrated that the magic just isn't there for Sydney!

This means that if I can't get a PL deal for less than about $155 I'm better off booking directly with Hilton or Starwood and price matching -- unless I just book the even cheaper rooms at the Grace or Sofitel. This is just so un-priceline like!

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Note that while it's never exactly been easy to price match directly with hotel chains, i have found it is becoming more and more difficult to get them to honor a claim and they will look at any excuse possible to not honor a claim (i have even had one chain tell me that they don't price match against sale prices on other sites!) So while worth a shot, i wouldn't exactly count on the deeper discount from price matching as it's getting more and more difficult to get hotels to match competitor prices. If you do go that route, please check for and use the links in our Support Page where we have links to both the Sheraton and Hilton.

Thanks.

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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That's what I was thinking, that there is no guarantee that they will honour the price match so I'm leery about that unless PL just isn't coming through.

I'll still go with PL, though at some point soon I just might go for the Grace at $137 a night (I will endeavour to use a link off the site to do so). It is a well-regarded 5* -- I am hoping that one of my husband's colleagues in Sydney can tell us how it compares to the Hilton or Sheraton, I am still waiting for a reply from there. I bid $152 ($142 + $10 bonus cash) today and had my first counteroffer of $187. I'll see how far I get when I up it by $1 tomorrow! I tried a lower bid of $142 ($132+$10) for the cheaper last 3 nights thinking that I'd then try a 4* for that most expensive night and take my chances there. Nothing doing there, but will keep working that angle too.

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Ugh -- Since I was counteroffered $187 when my bid reached $152, I have re-bid every day $1 more at a time and received the same counteroffer of $187. Today I reached $158 and now they've upped the counteroffer to $198.

Retail PL site is showing the Hilton at $194 and the Grace at $192. Kayak has the Hilton at $189 and the Grace at $144.

I am feeling very frustrated. I have been bidding the final 3 (cheaper) nights as well, up to $145 for those with no luck (then I would chance the 4* for the first night).

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I know PL seems to play a lot of psycho games with that counter-offer. Best just ignored. But the other thing in the equation is the exchange rate between the US dollar and the Australian dollar. I know the US dollar has been getting stronger against the Euro, so a lower US dollar bid will win, but I don't know what has been happening with the US/Australia exchange rate.

It probably feels like your time is just rushing away, but you do still have almost 2 months.

Do you have a back-up cancelable reservation? That might make it easier.

Regarding FT - about 3 years ago I was struggling with reservations for Munich. A major event - the International Fabric/Window Treatment/et al - so everything was sky high. Well, $200+. I got two good clues from FT. One person told me of nearby (short train ride) Mainz where the town ladies run a B&B booking service. It had never come up in any of my web searching. I was mid-correspondence with them, and it looked like it could work. Then a second person told me one could buy Priority Club (Holiday Inn, etc) points. But most importantly, the Munich airport Holiday Inn was currently on "Points Break" - 5,000 points would get a night, and 5,000 points cost about $56! I promptly bought some 40,000 points for myself and booked my 8 nights. It worked quite nicely. I think the B&B would also have worked.

Romelle

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Just a comment...

In my opinion the Sydney Hilton and Sheraton are way better than the Grace. I have never stayed at the Grace though, just seen it from the outside, and I personally wouldn't choose it. Though the Hilton and Sheraton on the Park are both lovely and modern.

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ugh, upped my offer today to $159, and the counteroffer got increased as well, to $201. I was doing a bit of reading that suggested Sydney has high hotel rates because occupancy levels are always high, thus no motivation to have deals in order to increase occupancy. Also offered $145 for the last 3 nights and was rejected. That Grace (now at $137) is looking more tempting. I'm also wondering about aiming for a 3* because the known hotel is the Holiday Inn Darling Harbour. With my luck I'll probably get the "lucky upgrade" and be given the 4* Mercure that I'm trying to avoid!

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Just wanted to update. My bidding got up to $162 for a 5* and I was still being counteroffered $201. The Grace Hotel was available for $125 a night so I booked it for the first two nights -- PL gives it 5*, other sites give it 4*. Maybe I could have done better bidding a 4* but as long as that Mercure was in the zone I didn't want to chance it with PL. Mercure's rate online was about $130.

For the second two nights I found a friends rate at the Radisson Blu Sydney for about $100 a night. That one is cancellable so I'll see what else comes up in the interim.

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