bluesphee Posted May 19, 2012 Report Posted May 19, 2012 Hello,I am wondering what the best bidding strategy is for a stay in San Fran from Monday, 6/11/2012 - Checkout Sunday, 6/17/2012?I am planning to bid on 4 star in: 1) Financial District - Embarcadero2) Union Square EastShould I consider Union Square West? What about SOMA?We don't have kids and we are both 30 if that helps :).I would prefer to spend less than $120 a night. How low should I start with?
thereuare Posted May 19, 2012 Report Posted May 19, 2012 Have you checked rates for these dates, as currently they're very high and at current prices i'm doubtful that $120 will be close to where you'll need to be in one of these zones. Using BiddingHelper.com (the Hotels.com tab) what is the best rate you're able to find at an acceptable hotel in this area?I have looked if it would help, but is SPLITTING YOUR PRICELINE BID an option?Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases. Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases
bluesphee Posted May 19, 2012 Author Report Posted May 19, 2012 The Hilton is $329 and that is somewhat inline with what I was thinking. We are not really hotel people and just want to be in a safe, clean hotel with a comfortable bed. My wife is 5 months pregnant hence the comfortable bed comment :).So if $120 is too low any recommendations on where to start? Also, any idea why that week is so expensive? I'm guessing because it's the start of summer.
bluesphee Posted May 19, 2012 Author Report Posted May 19, 2012 oh and I should also mention, I'm perfectly fine doing 3 star hotels normally, but I've read about how priceline considers some pretty terrible hotels to be 3 stars.
thereuare Posted May 20, 2012 Report Posted May 20, 2012 You can throw in some $120 bids to begin since you have a little time on your side, but i'd be increasing in bigger increments from there as i think at current rates you're more likely looking at ~$275-$300 for a successful bid for this trip.Looks like it's the last 4 nites of your stay are more expensive than the first 2 nites... due to your wife's pregnancy i assume SPLITTING YOUR PRICELINE BID is not an option? I don't know how big it is, but there is an AMA meeting that starts on 6/13 and that would be my guess as to what you're seeing inflated rates for this trip.Given the $329/nite rate at the Hilton, are you willing to bid up to $300 at this time? What is your more important, staying within your first 2 zone choices or keeping this stay as affordable as possible and therefore you want the least expensive 4* hotel in any of the four zones above?Let us know your thoughts as to how you'd like to proceed and we'll take it from there.Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases. Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases
bluesphee Posted May 20, 2012 Author Report Posted May 20, 2012 I guess we would be willing to split the priceline bid. Her pregnacy isn't a reason to not do that, but rather it is just inconvenient if we have to switch hotels in mid stay. If we were to go this route, how do you suggest we proceed?$300 is a really tough pill to swallow! I think the only time we paid that much is for our honeymoon in Aruba! :) It's more important to me that we stay in the zone choices (should we include SOMA to add a 3rd option?) and that we keep the vacation as affordable as possible. I would say $200 a night is really the most I'd like to spend now that I understand how much it costs to stay in SF. Can we afford to go higher? Yes, but I'd really prefer not too. A 4th zone could be Union Square West if we are doing a 4 star hotel bid. I had read to stay away from Union Square West.As I mentioned, we don't *have* to stay in a 4 star rated hotel. 3 star is fine but I am not sure if that is too big of a gamble with these zones? What about 3.5 star? We just want clean and comfortable in a nice location! We don't care about any luxury hotel items. I will go ahead and put in a $150 bid for 4 star in Embarcadero and Union Square East just to start with.
thereuare Posted May 20, 2012 Report Posted May 20, 2012 When bidding 4* in San Francisco you have SEVEN re-bid zones. If you're not familiar with re-bidding please read Priceline Re-Bidding Explained and feel free to ask questions and/or confirm your re-bid zones with the board before proceeding.Select 4* USE...Bid $90, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $100, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $105, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $110, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $115, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $120, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $125, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $130, if rejected close browser and use this link to re-access PRICELINESelect 4* Embarcadero...Bid $90, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $100, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $105, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $110, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $115, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $120, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $125, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $130, if rejected close browser and use this link to re-access PRICELINESelect 4* USE and Embarcadero...Bid $133, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $135, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $138, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $140, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $143, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $145, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $148, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $150If the above is rejected, we can have a look/discussion regarding whether to SPLITTING YOUR PRICELINE BID, lower star rating, or include some of the other nearby zones for the full stay. Others are more local to San Francisco than i am, but i think the general thought about USW is that there are a fair number of homeless/panhandlers... to some it doesn't bother them, for others it makes them feel unsafe (although i don't know of anyone that has actually had a problem/altercation)Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.Good luck and let us know how it goes. Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases
bluesphee Posted May 21, 2012 Author Report Posted May 21, 2012 This is great! Thanks for posting this strategy. We had a slight change of plans that will probably work in our favor. We now only need to book our hotel for Monday through Thursday night (check out on Friday). The reason is we got in contact with a friend that lives in San Jose who is going to show us around on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so no need to book a hotel for Friday and Saturday night any longer!I followed the rebid strategy and my understanding is that the following 7 re-bid zones are the ones to use:1. Civic Center South (3 star or lower)2. Fisherman's Wharf (3.5 star or lower)3. Japan Town (3 star or lower)4. Marina (3 star or lower)5. Richmond (3 star or lower)6. SFO North (3 star or lower)7. South San Fran (3 star or lower).I am confident this is correct, but I'd be interested to hear if you think I should change my bidding strategy based on the date changes. It does seem like the prices have gone down for this new shorter time window!
bluesphee Posted May 21, 2012 Author Report Posted May 21, 2012 One other random thing to mention is I found out that there is an IBM convention going on while we are down there too so that is also probably contributing to lesser availability/higher prices!
bluesphee Posted May 21, 2012 Author Report Posted May 21, 2012 So I did the bidding for just USE up to $210 and no luck!. I went 90, 105, 120, 135, 150, 175, 195 and 210. I was willing to go up in price more significantly since we no longer had to pay for 2 additional hotel nights. My plan is to stick with trying to stay in USE but have my wife try and bid under her account and choose a 3.5 star hotel instead of a 4 star hotel. If that doesn't work then we will expand to Embarcadero and SOMA.
bluesphee Posted May 21, 2012 Author Report Posted May 21, 2012 So after all this I just had an amazing experience...I had no luck going through my wife's account bidding on a 3.5 star hotel in USE either. Then we started to realize just how few hotels were available. Because of this we realized we better at least book something the old fashioned way that we can cancel if need be. I ended up calling the Hilton to reserve it for $279 a night. While I was on the phone with them the guy was done taking my information and when he went to book the room, the last queen room was taken! He wouldn't book the king sized bed room for the same price but it was $40 more a night. I asked to speak to a manager and the manager gave us the ENTIRE STAY FOR FREE!!!! :D That takes the cake for the best customer service I have ever seen in my life. I wasn't angry or yelling or anything...she just did it without "blinking". I am $1,116 richer as a result of her amazing, generous actions! They definitely now have a staunch Hilton fan! B) thereuare: Thank you very much for all of your help with the bidding process! It will definitely come in handy in the future even if I didn't need it this time around.Your assistance plus this person from Hilton has certainly made this a great start to our trip!
thereuare Posted May 21, 2012 Report Posted May 21, 2012 Free is a good price :PGlad to hear it worked out so well and glad to hear Hilton management was feeling so generous. I'm glad to hear you weren't yellling, screaming, etc, as it's a good example of how speaking calmly and rationally is often a better way to get your point across and what you want.Have a great trip! Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases
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