Priceline Hotel: 3* San Francisco (Fishermans Wharf) Holiday Inn Fishermans Wharf

[sarahba]

Hi!I am new to this and have never tried Priceline/Hotwire bidding. My husband and I are looking for a SF location Embarcadero/Union Square, general location in the city June 17-20. If you do a simple search on Priceline (from your site, of course!), the prices look outrageous, but it seems like people are doing much better with bidding (e.g. $138 for NIKKO - wow!). Also it appears that once people put a bid in, they get a price and then check it here to determine the hotel. Is that correct? That would seem to mean that they can refuse to book - and then what happens? I looked for a single resource on this process, but couldn't find it in the forums. Thanks for any help you can provide!

[AaronJB]

Welcome to Betterbidding. :)

If you have never used either service, I would recommend reading this summary of both: I've Never Used Priceline or Hotwire.

Rates can vary significantly from day-to-day on PRICELINE, and what other users may get for particular dates are not necessarily an indicator of what it will take to win a hotel on your dates.

With PRICELINE, you select the star rating and zone/s, then go through the check-out process and click to finalize. At that point, the service searches to see if any hotels at the star rating chosen in the zone/s will accept. If one does, then you are locked in at that hotel at that rate for those dates. There is no way to refuse the hotel or determine which potential hotel with PRICELINE.

With HOTWIRE, one can make an "educated guess" based upon the information given in each hotel listing.

Let us know how you'd like to proceed.

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

[sarahba]

So, then I don't understand then why people are posting "Help ID hotel." Could you please enlighten me?

[Romelle]

So, then I don't understand then why people are posting "Help ID hotel." Could you please enlighten me?

They are posting "Help ID hotel" for help with a Hotwire possibility. It is not unusual for people to post a Hotwire request in the Priceline areas. Sort of an "oops", but not of any consequence. When everything is done, the administrators move the final post to the correct area.

People often check out HOTWIRE at the same time they are exploring PRICELINE bidding. A Hotwire offering can serve as an approximate max bid for Priceline, although other things need taken into account. Hotwire can be more generous with stars than Priceline, so a 4* Hotwire might be more like a 3.5* Priceline. On the other hand, lots of people are willing to pay a little premium on Hotwire just to have some odds of knowing what they will be getting, and to be able to select for particular amenities.

I personally like the randomness of what PRICELINE might give me when I'm traveling by myself, but when I'm traveling with grandkids a pool is a priority so I often go with HOTWIRE then. You may have very different logic to your choices.

Romelle

PS - and for that matter, sometimes people want a particular hotel. Period. When that is the case, there are lots of links to hotel and more general web sites under the Support Page tab above.

[sarahba]

Thank you!

[thereuare]

So how do you want to proceed?

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

[sarahba]

I tried the bidding strategy you suggested for the poster who is visiting SF the week prior. I got as high as 140 using rebidding zones and no success for a 4 or a 3.5 star. We're going to try again tonight for 3 stars in Embarcadero, USE, USW, and see what happens. I welcome any other suggestions - we cannot exceed $150. Thanks for your help

[AaronJB]

Rates can vary significantly from day-to-day so what one poster may have been successful at may not be what is required for your dates.

If you were unsuccessful at 3.5*/4* up to $140, did you want to try up to your $150 max?

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

[sarahba]

Feeling pretty good about this one given the prices I've seen!

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success!

Glad to see you're pleased with the results given the higher than usual demand for these dates.

Thank you for sharing your win with the board (please keep all posts for the same stay in the same thread).

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

Enjoy your stay.