Priceline Hotel: comparing USE vs. USW, help 9/15-917

[rflanner]

We hope to stay downtown San Francisco 9/15-9/17. (We originally planned for staying through 9/18, but some convention apparently sucked up all the rooms for the evening of 9/17.) I am VERY new to Priceline and while I think I understand the strategies, it's clear that I have a long way to go. Here are a couple of questions:

1) I reviewed the last few month's of bidding on 4* in USE and USW. It seems they're about even with wins, though USE might have a few more. I'm quite interested in being in an area that offers more restaurants, night life, and safe night walking. Can someone familiar with the area tell me if Union STreet East or West better fits that bill? (I think USW.)

2) Any tips on 9/15-17? I checked some hotel sites and the rates seem a bit high for the evening of 9/16 -- $200 and up. I'm thinking I start out at about $90 so I can win the Friday..

3) Are Fridays generally tougher to win?

Thank you!

Ron

[headtrip]

Ok, there's alot of information you are asking about, but I'll just summerize to be a bit more succinct.

USE between Union Square and the Ferry Terminal is mostly devoid of restaurants after working hours because it is primarily in a business district, but it has the advantage of being only a few blocks south of Chinatown, if that is a place you'd like to visit.

USW and immediately around Union Square has many more hotels and restaurants and standard tourist fare, althrough that tends to attract the most homeless and beggers as well. I think either area (north of Market St.) is fairly safe to walk in, but it's best to take normal precautions.

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I think convention booking now is going to be tighter than ever because New Orleans, a major convention destination is now unavailable. Fridays and Sundays would normally be better than other nights because business traffic is lower and not every SF weekend getaway would include an extra day. On my business stays, my company normally pays around $200 a night. On personal trips, I usually like to stay under $100 a night, but that's not always possible if a major convention is in town.

I'm not the expert on bidding zones, but I know if you'd like to try for a 4 star hotel, you can bid USW and then rebid by adding up to 5 zones like CH and FW which do not have a 4 in those zones. Keep reading and you'll see the bidding strategies you can use...there are plenty of choices (and some trade offs).

Good luck!

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Based upon the above info let us know if one zone is better/worse for you than the other. From what i have witnessed over the years, i think users often have a preference of one over the other, but bid them both in order to get the best price, given that the zones are fairly small and adjacent to one another.