Priceline Hotel: Bidding Help: 4* French Quarter

[NinePoundHammer]

Hey all,

I'm new to the forum and new to the whole bidding process, been reading up a lot the past week and have a decent understanding of everything. Was hoping I could get some bidding help on the follow:

Stars Rating: 4*

Location: New Orleans - French Quarter

Dates: November 23 - 28

Budget: Hoping to keep it around $65-$70

After researching some of the 4* hotels posted prices on their websites vs. Priceline it breaks down to:

Internet Rates

23-Nov 24-Nov 25-Nov 26-Nov 27-Nov

The Saint 229 109 109 109 109

Hotel Monteleone 360 162 162 162 162

Royal Sonesta 319 319 319 319 319

Hyatt French Quarter 199 199 199 199 199

Loews New Orleans 215.2 215.2 215.2 215.2 215.2

Sheraton New Orleans 183 183 183 183 183

Renaissance Arts 179 99 99 99 99

Omni Royal Orleans 199 199 199 199 199

Omni Royal Crescent 159 159 159 159 159

Priceline Rates

The Saint 133 133 133 133 133

Hotel Monteleone 223 223 223 223 223

Royal Sonesta 319 319 319 319 319

Hyatt French Quarter 179 179 179 179 179

Loews New Orleans 215 215 215 215 215

Sheraton New Orleans 162 162 162 162 162

Renaissance Arts 115 115 115 115 115

Omni Royal Orleans 179 179 179 179 179

Omni Royal Crescent 143 143 143 143 143

I know it is a bit far in advanced but figured I'd start trying now. I did some bidding yesterday just to try my hand at it and all offers were rejected with no counters:

1st bid: 60

2nd bid: 65

3rd bid: 68

4th bid: 69

5th bid: 70

Was hoping I could get some help with bidding strategy. Is it too far out? Should I break up the dates into 2 reservations? Is a $70 max budget for those dates/* rating un realisitc? Really trying to stay away from the Shearton New Orleans and the Renaissance Arts. Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Is a $70 max budget for those dates/* rating un realisitc?

It's not terribly out of line, but at current rates, i'd be surprised if you are successful at $70 when including the first (Saturday) nite of your date range, which is more expensive then the other nites. If you only bid 11/24-11/28 i think you could/will be successful at $70 or under, but realize that the first nite will cost you a fair bit more and you'll likely need to change hotels mid-trip. Also, see next comments...

Really trying to stay away from the Shearton New Orleans and the Renaissance Arts.

The Renaissance Arts is in the Convention Center zone, so if you only bid the French Quarter zone, that shouldn't be an issue. However, the Sheraton could be an issue as PRICELINE has recently renamed the French Quarter zone to 'French Quarter - Canal St' and the new zone boundary is right on Canal. Although the Sheraton was last reported to the board in the Downtown zone, it may now be in the French Quarter - Canal St zone, and if so would be a possible outcome if bidding this zone. When bidding on PRICELINE there is no way to target, or avoid, a specific hotel in the zone... you need to be willing to accept any hotel in the zone at the star rating (or higher) that you bid. You could try using HOTWIRE where you can take a guess as to the hotel offered before your purchase, but HOTWIRE usually costs a little more than PRICELINE, so you would need to be willing to pay a little more in order to avoid and the Sheraton (or have a guess as to the hotel before your purchase)

Let us know your thoughts regarding the options above and 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.

[NinePoundHammer]

Thanks for the quick response! Odd when I search for hotels and select 4* French Quarter - Riverwalk it lists the Renaissance New Orleans Arts Hotel as a choice, wouldn't that mean I could get it when bidding. I'm totally aware it's out of my control what hotel I get.

I supppose I could bid from 11/24-11/28 like you suggested and either book the first night separately or wait and see if I can get a last minute deal somehow. Is bidding this far in advanced going to be a problem? I know each hotel can release inventory whenever they want but was just curious what the general consensus is.

Thanks.

[thereuare]

The zone names, and therefore the boundaries, are different on the 'retail' side vs. the 'bidding' side of PRICELINE. Note that the retail side of their site that you're currently looking at references a 'French Quarter - Riverwalk zone' (and incidentally does not list a Convention Center zone)... whereas the 'name your own price' side of PRICELINE has a 'French Quarter - Canal Stree' zone (and a 'Convention Center and Warehouse - Arts District' zone which is absent from the 'retail' side)

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

Let us know how you'd like to proceed and we'll advise accordingly.

[Romelle]

There is a good discussion as to bidding timing in the PRICELINE FAQ. The only drawback I see is your credit card is charged immediately. It does make sense to sort of "troll" for a lower end bargain, but not to bid your absolute max way early. As you have noted, the hotels can release inventory whenever, and it might be lower priced inventory.

Romelle

[swag]

Really trying to stay away from the Shearton New Orleans and the Renaissance Arts.

I'm curious why you're trying to avoid these two properties? In my mind, they are quite different from each other and are at different extremes of the New Orleans upscale hotel experience.

I've stayed at a bunch on 4* hotels in the city, and the Renn Arts may be my favorite. It's on the upper end of the 4* quality range, and has a much more relaxed and quiet feel than many of the bigger properties. The only downside, for me, is that it's a little bit off the beaten path; if you're wanting to hang out on Bourbon (or Frenchmen) St, it's several more blocks to walk home.

The Sheraton is the opposite - it's a big hectic business hotel, but a near-perfect location right on Canal St.

[thereuare]

swag,

Based upon the current zone boundary you think the Sheraton is in the French Quarter-Canal Street zone? (and thus the name change for the zone?)

Thanks.

[swag]

The map seems ambiguous, even if you zoom in all the way. Most of the hotel structure would seem to be in the Downtown zone, but the front door is across the line into the FQ zone. It's hard to see why they wouldn't have drawn the line right down the middle of the street if they were keeping the hotels on the SW side of Canal in the DT zone, though.

It's not just the Sheraton that's "on the line". The same ambiguity also applies to the Doubletree and the JW Marriott.

[thereuare]

Thanks for your thoughts/insight.

Guess we'll have to take a 'wait and see' approach.

[NinePoundHammer]

Hey all,

Thanks for all your help in my previous post. Still trying to figure out what my best options are. I just noticed a PRICELINE EXPRESS Deal that I was hoping I could help to get an ID on:

$70 (savings of $25 percent or more+)

New Orleans - French Quarter/Canal Street

11/24-11/28

4*

Amenities:

Free Internet

Indoor or Outdoor Pool

Retaurant

Fitness Center

Guest Favorite

Also as a side question, seeing the price for this hotel as a PRICELINE EXPRESS deal at only $70, if I were to bid for the same dates as this any chance I could snag it lower than that?

Thanks for all your help.

[thereuare]

Please keep all posts for the same stay in the same thread. If you ultimately use PRICELINE this thread will automatically be moved to that section of the board when you post your win using the EDIT TO REPORT WIN button on the lower right corner of this page.

Please click each of these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links, then reply to this thread and we'll have a look at your most recent post above.

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

Thanks.

[NinePoundHammer]

Hey thereuare,

Sorry about that I thought you prefered ID help to be in it's own new thread. I have done my searches through the PRICELINE link and will for sure use that once I ultimatley purchase. Any help on this ID would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[thereuare]

The Marriott New Orleans has previously been seen with this amenity set so that would be my best guess for this one, although with amenities so common for a 4* hotel, i wouldn't be too surprised if it was a different property.

You could try bidding on PRICELINE for a better price, but the three sides of PRICELINE (NYOP Bidding, PRICELINE EXPRESS, and retail) each use a different universe of hotels, so there is no assurance that you would receive the same hotel as the one above.

Thanks for using the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board.

Let us know how it goes or if we can be of further help with a bidding strategy or any other hotel offers.

[tigersbh]

I usually see a deal on Priceline Express and then bid the Name Your Own Price feature for $10 less per day. It usually works. (I don't know if it's the same hotel as the one on Priceline Express, but I don't care!)