Priceline Hotel: Copley Square Nov. 4-6, need some help bidding

[JojoJams]

Would love some help with my bidding in Boston. I bid last night with no luck. What would you recommend I do now? Also, I read about someone who got upgraded to a 4* on a 3.5* bid. How do you do that?

I want to stay in Copley Square only, so I used rebid zones with no 3.5/4* hotels

Here is what I've done so far......

4* Copley Square Back Bay

bid $100, rejected

Rebid

4* Copley Square/Fenway Park

bid $110, rejected

Rebid

4* Copley Square/Fenway/Brighton-Brookline

bid $115, rejected

Rebid added 3.5*

4* and 3.5* Copley Square/Fenway/Brighton-Brookline

bid $110, rejected

[JojoJams]

Tried again tonight. Here's what I did.

4* Copley Square

Bid $110

4* Copley Square/Fenway Park

Rebid $120

4* Copley Square/Fenway Park/Brighton

Rebid $125

All were rejected.

I'll probably keep trying each night until I hit on something. I don't want to pay over $125 and it seems like others are getting it for $110 to $120. Perhaps when it gets closer toward the actual date we will be there, I will be able to get something.

[thereuare]

Rates are date specific, so you can't always replicate another user's win if their dates are different then your own.

Is Copley the only zone that would work for your needs or are other centrally located zones, such as Beacon Hill, Boston Common, and/or Quincy Market acceptable as well? The more zones that are acceptable that you include in your bidding the more hotels you give the ability to accept your bid (which in turn translates to a better deal)

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

[JojoJams]

At this point Copley is the only zone. I am taking my 17 year old daughter up there to look at colleges, SMFA, Northeastern and Endicott in Beverly, MA. She has a friend that goes to Northeastern and for convenience and safety i would prefer to be very near there so she doesn't have to take the train by herself to come back to the hotel if they go out in the evening. Can you recommend another zone that might work?

[crito]

Northeastern is really in the Fenway district (it's just off Kenmore Square), but that's not a good zone for hotels. It's at least a half mile from the Copley/Back Bay hotels, and up to a mile. I would add the Commons zone and her friend can put her on the Green Line, which really doesn't feel like a subway and would get her to the Commons area in just a few minutes.

But really what I'd do is bid on 3.5* hotels in Copley/Back Bay. Most of them are 4* quality, and as you hinted you might get an upgrade. (The Back Bay Hilton, the Sheraton, and I think the Marriott is a 3.5 on PRICELINE, although it's 4* on HOTWIRE -- those are the hotels I have in mind and I think you'd be quite happy with any of them even if you've been thinking 4*.)

[JojoJams]

Thank you for this information. I took my bidding all the way to $140 last night and still got no where. I've seen comments about the 3.5*s being as good as the 4*s made on the various MA threads in the past few days. I will add The Commons and see where that gets me. By the way how do you get an upgrade? I am not familiar with that. Does it just happen that a 4* accepts the price? Or is there some official way to do it?

[crito]

Right, it's not something you do, really -- PRICELINE will sometimes give you a hotel at a higher rating than what you bid -- as you say, a 4* hotel has sold their rooms to PRICELINE for less than any 3.5 in that zone for those dates. Apparently the Copley Sq. Westin did that for other dates.

I'm not sure I would bid on a 3.5 in the Commons area, though -- take a look at what's been won there recently at the 3.5 level, to make sure.

I see what is likely to be either the Hilton or the Sheraton in Copley Sq for your dates on HOTWIRE for $140, by the way, which suggests you should be able to win a 3.5* on PRICELINE for somewhat lower (and if not, you can just grab the HOTWIRE deal).