Priceline Hotel: Bidding Strategies - Disneyland (and beyond)

[stuartc88]

G'day thereuare / everyone,

Previous PL user (From Australia) and long time viewer of this amazing board, hoping to get some assistance / advice with some bidding strategies for accomodation in Disneyland and several other areas (San Diego, Las Vegas, San Francico & Los Angeles). (Please note I have posted the entirity here however are happy to move any section to other areas if this is more convenient or break it up). My apologies that it is so long.

OK so the trip details:

Accomodation in all cases will be for 2 adults & 2 children (ages 10 & 11) who are quite capable of sharing a double bed together. (I would appreciate if anyone percieves any problems with this number of people in a single room in any of the cities they post this also).

Also happy to use either PL or Hotwire pending advice from the experts on this board.

9th October - 13th October 2005 (inclusive) - Disneyland. Hoping to budget here on around $40-50per/night for a hotel in the 3/4* range. Optimally would like something "within walking distance" of the Main Entrance but appreciate from these forums the complexities associated with this as well as the inability to choose an exact hotel via PL. "Optimally" or in a perfect world would be ecstatic with something like the Howard Johnson (which seems close and has outstanding reviews) but believe this is a ?? 2* and that bidding on this property via PL is likely not without significant risk. Again as stated earlier, would be happy to recieve any advice on the best way of obtaining a "good" hotel here via either PL or Hotwire.

14th - 15th October (inclusive) - San Diego. Will at this stage have a car and plans for the two days to include a visit to the Zoo (15th) and Sea World (16th) before departing San Diego Airport for Las Vegas the night of the 16th. Not overly familiar with hotels in this area but would assume I would be bidding in the "San Diego Coastal" or "Downtown SD" areas? Once again would like to budget around the $40-50 dollar range for a 3* or higher.

16th - 18th October (inclusive) - Las Vegas. Yet again not overly fussed other than wanting something centrally located and on the strip. Probably most confused about this component of the trip. Would be happy with a 4* property (Luxor, MGM Grand, NYNY, etc, I dont know alot about Treasure Island / Alladin?) at a budget of around ? $80per/night but have read that some advise against using PL for 4* LV Hotels? Would also (of course) be willing to pay the $99 which has occassionally gone off for the Venetian (Although again wondering about any issues associated with the 4per room?). ANY help here greatly appreciated.

19th - 21st October (inclusive) - San Francisco. Again another area which I have not been to in many years and only stayed briefly when I was there. Plan is just to do the "touristy" things - Alcatraz, Fisherman Wharf, city tour, etc. As such would be interested in a centrally located hotel (I assume with in USW USE or Fisherman Wharfs region?). Budget - "hoping" for $60-70 a night.

22nd - 24th October (inclusive) - Los Angeles. Finishing the trip back where it started. Will have a car here and just plan to visit Magic Mountain, Universal Studios, etc. Preferably would like to stay in the Beverly Hills / West Hollywood zone. 3-4* at a budget of around $70per / night.

Many thanks in advance for any advice / suggestion / bidding strategies / etc that you can provide. Effectively Im ready to begin booking immediately or are willing to wait if you all think it is likely to result in a better result.

Cheers

[thereuare]

Please start NEW TOPICS for each of your other stays and we'll use this thread for the first leg of your stay, Disneyland 10/9-10/14.

You may be able to get a 3* within your budget, and i would try for that first. At the 3* level you have four re-bid zones available. 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.

This is how i would bid:

Select 3* Disneyland...

Bid $35, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $38, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $42, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $45, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $48.

Any questions feel free to ask.

[bbbb]

I would advise you to buy your Alcatraz tickets online in advance. A lot of tour groups buy up the tickets and only sell them as packages. I don't know how Oct is but summer months it can be soldout a week in advance.

[stuartc88]

Many thanks thereuare and bbbb.

Will undertake the recommended bidding strategy over the next few days via the savingbarn link and let you know the outcome. Many thanks also on the Alcatraz tip.

[Keoni]

StuartC88,

Here is another tip for saving money in California...

Go Here

This site has combination discount tickets that cover

the 3 cities in California you are going to visit. Note

that the Southern California CityPass bundles;

a 3-Day Disneyland

[Keoni]

StuartC88,

Here is another tip for saving money in California...

Go Here

This site has combination discount tickets that cover

the 3 cities in California you are going to visit. Note

that the Southern California CityPass bundles;

a 3-Day Disneyland

[AztecWolverine]

Re: Alcatraz Tickets: If, as recommended, you order them online you have to do it at least 2 or 3 weeks in advance, even if you live in California. I tried to order them about 1 1/2 weeks in advance once, and they wouldn't sell them to me! (they have to mail them to you) They have lousy customer service by the way, that's what you get with a concession monopoly that doesn't have to compete with anyone else! For those of you who can't order them that far in advance, they do have a stand-by line at the dock, and I noticed a lot of people getting on that way. Go early in the morning though, especially during the summer or during large conventions.

For any of you looking for a cheap harbor excursion -- you can actually ride the commuter ferry from the base of Market St. to Vallejo for a very reasonable price. When you come back they give you the option to be dropped off by Fisherman's wharf if you like. In the evening it is very lovely. We went to the Six Flags Marine World park via the ferry and a public bus to the park.(www.sixflags.com/parks/marineworld/index.asp ) There is also a little island off of Vallejo -- Mare Island -- that is fun to visit. If you sign up for a tour in advance they will even pick you up from the ferry! The town has a great museum and lots of historic homes to visit. Some people take the ferry over, spend one day at Mare Island and the town, spend the night at a hotel next to Marineworld, go there for the day, and return by ferry in the evening (be sure to check the ferry schedule!). Here is a paragraph from the Chamber of Commerce:

"Closed by the military in 1996, the once secret Mare Island Naval Shipyard is now open for formal tours of its unique history. The first military installation on the west coast, Mare Island features almost 150 years of U.S. Navy, California, and Vallejo history. St. Peter

[blindman]

Alcatraz Tickets

You order them on-line

Alcatraz Evening Tours are calendared on a month by month bases in order

to allow for island rentals.

Usually we will not be able to know if it is available on a given day

until the month before. It is only available after we are notified by

the National Park Service that we may know if the tour is running and

sell tickets for a given evening.

and then go to the ferry terminal to pick them up

I found the customer service to be OK by email :)

The night tour is supposed to be the best, it's the one we did and the talks by the guards are intersesting.

[Guest aldo]

stuartc88-

Have you booked any back up reservations for your trip (ones you can cancel if successful on Priceline)? Have you researched through Hotwire/Travelocity/Expedia, etc., to get a feel for the rates in the areas you want for each set of dates? Have you tried bidding on Priceline in any of these areas yet?

Since you've got your dates and plans, you might as well try each at the price range you're looking for, just to give it a spin. You may get lucky. If not, you've got plenty of time. You might find it easier in some areas (such as San Diego) after summer is over, and rates drop. In the meantime, check out: http://www.tripadvisor.com for more info on all these areas. And don't forget to book back-ups, just in case.

Good luck, and let us know.

[stuartc88]

Hey All,

Apologies it has taken so long to get back here and post and again, my thanks to everyone for there advice / suggestions.

So got started last night on the bidding strategy as suggested by thereuare.

Bid 3* Disney area:

Commenced bidding $35, rejected added re-bid zone...

Bid $38, rejected added re-bid zone...

Bid $42, rejected added re-bid zone...

Bid $45, rejected added re-bid zone...

Bid $48, again rejected.

Unfortunately a similar lack of success was encountered with SD. "Hoping" / wondering at this stage if perhaps this is the result of maybe bidding a little early? I note most other successful bids at present are still for late August / early September. May wait a while and try again.

In any case - many thanks for everyones support.

Cheers