noipr0cs Posted May 30, 2012 Report Posted May 30, 2012 I'm planning a solo trip to London for 6/10 to 6/13 (Sun to Wed). I probably could have split this stay up but didn't want to have to move hotels and was looking for something reasonably close to the action. Here's the summary of failed bids over the last four days:5/26/2012Regents Park $87Regents Park + Mayfair $90Regents Park + Mayfair + Kensington $955/27/2012Regents Park $105Regents Park + Kensington $105Regents Park + Kensington + Mayfair $1105/28/2012Kensington $112Kensington + Mayfair $116Kensington + Mayfair + Regents $120Kensington + Mayfair + Regents + Bloomsbury $124Kensington + Mayfair + Regents + Bloomsbury + Westminster $1305/29/2012Chelsea - $100Chelsea + Nottingham $110Chelsea + Nottingham + Kensington $120Chelsea + Nottingham + Kensington + Westminster $130Chelsea + Nottingham + Kensington + Westminster + Mayfair $135Chelsea + Nottingham + Kensington + Westminster + Mayfair + Bloomsbury $140 ===> Holiday Inn Kensington won for $140/night.It's getting to be busy season: retail on Priceline is $254/night, so I'm happy with the $342 net savings over the three days. Stay tuned for my priceline success/failure in Switzerland...As usual, I used the PRICELINE link. Thanks betterbidding!
AaronJB Posted May 30, 2012 Report Posted May 30, 2012 Congrats on your success. :)Definitely a nice win for this property during a busy period.Thank you for sharing your win and using the site's PRICELINE or HOTWIRE links to start your purchases and searches.Enjoy your stay.
vanpoodle Posted May 30, 2012 Report Posted May 30, 2012 wow, it must be a busy time because generally one of those zones will have something closer to the $100 range, though I have found that weeknights are more expensive than weekends. I am also very surprised that with your bidding Chelsea that you didn't end up with the Copthorne at the Football Club for less, which I think is a good thing! (Chelsea for me is the desperation zone as that's the hotel they give for that zone which is so-so, but not terrible if the other zones are more expensive at the time) Also surprised that the Hilton Kensington Olympia didn't come through because that seems to be the go-to for Kensington. The hotel you got has a better location than that one, so I think you've done quite well.
noipr0cs Posted May 30, 2012 Author Report Posted May 30, 2012 Yeah, once I got up to $130 for Kensington/Mayfair/Regents/Bloomsbury/Westminster, I figured it was time to drop the bid back to $100 and throw in Chelsea. I saw the $87 6/7-6/9 win for Marriot Hotel Regents Park and the $120 6/8-6/9 win for Copthorne, so I was thinking I'd be able to get something comparable, but as you say, weekend vs weeknight likely is playing a role...Priceline Maps doesn't make the distinction between Kensington/Chelsea yet either -- is this a recent split?
vanpoodle Posted May 30, 2012 Report Posted May 30, 2012 I think that Priceline maps uses those zones for the retail side. For Name Your Own Price they like to keep us guessing so they make the zones that little bit different to make it harder for us!Location-wise I think you did great, better than had you got the Football Club or the Olympia. I don't know much about that Holiday Inn. My guess is that it will be acceptable, not luxurious, possibly worn here and there! It gets middling reviews on TripAdvisor, much like the other Holiday Inns I've stayed at in England. I see people griping there that it's not a true 4*, same as they do for the Hilton Olympia which is what most people win for the Kensington zone -- so you've probably got something comparable to that but in a better location.There are a ton of places to eat closeby, so you should be able to get a much cheaper breakfast than what the hotel will have, and if you walk almost across the street (if the hotel is where I think it is), the Starbucks and the Pret a Manger will have free wifi. There's also an internet cafe in a basement store across and to the right from the SB/PaM that is much cheaper than computer access at the hotel.You did a great job bidding, but there are also two free re-bid zones in London which maximize the number of bids you can do in a day -- plus you can bid on zones you haven't bid on before as fresh bids with the rejected zones as re-bids if you close out of the browser and log back in (might also work by just pressing the hotels tab and starting over). Take a look at the re-bidding explained part of this forum which should put you in good stead for bidding in Switzerland with some helpful hints. Once I got that sorted I did much better with PL -- they make it seem like you can only add additional zones to what you've already bid, but it's not the case.
thereuare Posted May 31, 2012 Report Posted May 31, 2012 Priceline Maps doesn't make the distinction between Kensington/Chelsea yet either -- is this a recent split?Thanks for letting us know, I'll add it to the list of zones that need to be updated (may take a little while as there a few zones on the update list and i have some other projects/commitments over the course of the next week or so) Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases
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