Priceline Hotel: Help for Downtown Miami bidding (Miami Marathon)

[qwerty_dh]

Hello,

I'll be running the Miami marathon next February. I'll be flying to Miami on Friday January 31, and flying back on Monday February 03.

I always stay on a decent hotel near the airport, because I don't care for the location if I'm going to drive anyways. But this time, I want to stay as close as possible to the start line (The American Airlines Arena), because I don't want to drive to the start line so early with closed streets That's a stress that I don't need that day. So, I want to stay at one of the hotels near the start line and walk there Sunday morning.

I've checking the prices, and they are out of my budget. So I think for now my only choice is priceline. I've seen really good prices for the Hilton and others.

So I need your help with this. I'm fine paying $110-120 per night (cheaper is better), BUT I need a hotel close to the start line. A $60 per night Springhill Suites isn't going to work for me if I'm going to need to drive anyways.

I don't know if the prices for that weekend are going to be affected by the marathon, but I think most of the participants are going to be locals. Also, I can manage a Sunday checkout if that is going to improve my chances.

So, any tips for this bidding? Should ai start now or wait? That price range is realistic?

Thanks in advance and sorry for my English.

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

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

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

Thanks.

[qwerty_dh]

Cool. I've clicked both links

[thereuare]

You can't bid on a specific location within the zone when using PRICELINE, you have to be able to accept any hotel in the zone at the star level (or higher) that you choose.

With HOTWIRE you can often take an educated guess as to what is being offered based upon the amenities associated with the property, but it's still a 'best guess' and no guarantees you will receive the hotel you're hoping for.

What appears to be the b2 Miami Downtown (146 Biscayne Boulevard) is offered on HOTWIRE for $154/nite... that's the best deal i'm able to find given your parameters above and staying as close as possible to your budget.

If you enter the address of the starting line into the search box of our sister site MAPS and HOTELS.com you can search within a 1 mile radius and easily see hotel rates around the arena for your dates and weigh the costs of going up/down in star rating or staying closer/further to your ideal location. You can zoom in on the map to make it easier to see, as well as eliminate any hotels from the map that you're not interested in by UNcheckking the star ratings that are below your minimum as well as using the price slider to only show hotels within a certain price range. (yeah, i know, it's very powerful and pretty cool B) )

Let us know your thoughts and how you'd like to proceed and we'll take it from there.

[qwerty_dh]

Yeah, I knew that this wasn't going to be easy. But I'm going to follow your tips and see what I can do. Thanks!

[thereuare]

After seeing rates for these dates that $154 HOTWIRE property may become more appealing especially since it seems like it is close the start of the race.

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

Let us know whatever you decide to do for this stay or if we can be of further help... and good luck with your training. ;)