Priceline Hotel: 4* St. Louis (Downtown) Doubletree St. Louis Union Station

[tamatem]

Hello BetterBidding team :)

I am looking to bid on/book a 4* hotel in downtown St.Louis for seven nights. If I can get a better price for a 4* downtown, I don't mind changing hotel rooms, preferably only once.

My questions are the following:

Are hotels likely to cost more on the weekends or during the week? ie. when is the price jump, if any?

Am I better off bidding for the full seven days together? or would I get a better price bidding piecemeal?

Please advise,

As always I begin my search and bids on hotwire and PRICELINE links here.

Thanks.

[AaronJB]

It really all depends on your date/s - one weekend may be much more expensive than the next due to a convention or other event. What are your date/s of travel and desired budget per night? Splitting your stay between two hotels is optimal only if part of your stay is significantly different price-wise than the other portion. If the entire week is similar, then splitting the stay isn't a benefit.

Thank you for using the board's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchases and searches.

[tamatem]

Thanks for your note, Aaron.

I intend to check in on August 26th and check out on September 2nd. Hopefully, I will be spending $60 or less per night on a downtown hotel.

How would you proceed?

As always, I begin my search using both HOTWIRE and PRICELINE links found on this page.

[AaronJB]

I'm seeing a 4* on HOTWIRE in the Downtown area for these date/s for $69 (the price you see may vary slightly.) I'd bid on PRICELINE for a 4* in Downtown St Louis starting at $45 a night and working up by $3 at a time using re-bidding.

Please let us know if you have any questions before bidding.

Thank you for using the board's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchases and searches.

[Romelle]

To get a general idea as to the rate pattern you can check your days one at a time with HOTWIRE. Or sites like Expedia have rates listed by individual days. Or you can look on the hotel web sites. None of these necessarily transfer directly to PL availability, but they are at least indicative.

There isn't any price break for bidding all seven days at once. However, if you bid in more than one set of nights, you will pay the basic PL fee for each set.

Romelle

[tamatem]

Thank you, Aaron and Romelle.

I am on it. I'll let you know how it goes.

[AaronJB]

Thank you for keeping us updated and please let us know if you have any questions. Good luck on bidding.

Thank you for using the board's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchases and searches.

[tamatem]

Aaron, what are the rebidding zones if ultimately I want a 4* hotel Downtown for those dates?

As always, I start my search and bid process on HOTWIRE and PRICELINE using links found on this page.

[tamatem]

And another question, if I bid on divided clusters of dates, ie. divide my stay in half and bid each clump separately, what is the PL charge? Am I also charged for two PL charges when I extend my stay, if possible, after a winning bid?

Always a pleasure to start my search and bids from HOTWIRE and PRICELINE links found on this page. B)

[yellowdog]

tamatem

Aaron, what are the rebidding zones if ultimately I want a 4* hotel Downtown for those dates?

I'm not AaronJB but I will try to help you. Please start with reading this link: Priceline Re-Bidding Explained And feel free to post with any question you have regarding this process.

And another question, if I bid on divided clusters of dates, ie. divide my stay in half and bid each clump separately, what is the PL charge?

I belive it's around $7-$8/stay.

Am I also charged for two PL charges when I extend my stay, if possible, after a winning bid?

Yes, PRICELINE will charge you twice. But have in mind that you can't always extend your stay.

I hope this answer your questions?

Let us know how we can help you further with your stay.

Thanx for using boards PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links

Yellowdog.

[tamatem]

Thank you, YellowDog! Much appreciated.

[AaronJB]

Please let us know if you have any questions before bidding and thank you for keeping us updated with what you decide.

Thank you for using the board's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchases and searches.

[tamatem]

Thanks, Aaron.

I am making my way through the rebidding explained thread with a bit of trepidation as I am unfamiliar with St.Louis and dread landing somewhere remote without a car.

And yes, I begin all my searches at HOTWIRE and PRICELINE with links found here.

[Romelle]

At the 4* level, there are 9 zones one can use for free rebidding St. Louis Downtown. You can post your assumptions back here for somebody to double check. If you don't feel like typing the whole list, you can just type the one you can't use. :P

Romelle

PS - If you decide to bid at the 3.5* level, the list is different. So do get your assumptions checked again for that.

[tamatem]

Thank you, Romelle. I am on it. :)

[tamatem]

Thank you, again, Romelle. I may have just needed a wee nudge. :)

Ok, so here are my assumptions regarding rebids when Downtown solo at 4 star level fails. Please confirm.

The following do not contain 4 star hotels:

Airport STL

Fenton-Kirkwood

Ofallon

St Charles/St. Peter

South STL

West Chesterfield

Westport

Please let me know.

I always start my search and my bidding with HOTWIRE and PRICELINE links found on this page.

[Romelle]

The seven you listed are correct, but you missed two of the nine free rebid zones (at the 4* level)? Maybe you missed typing the other two, but I'm worried you might have been using an incorrect technique?? The instructions in the FAQs are the only way to safely do it.

And it needs freshly done each time before you start bidding - there can be changes.

Still, I'm glad you have dipped your toe in, and it sounds like you will soon be successful.

Counter-offers simply mean there really is something somewhere between your last bid and the offer. Generally one is successful about 1/2 way up, but there are plenty of instances of only a dollar or two more doing the job.

And one time I worked my way up one dollar a day clear to the counter-offer, only to find there was no longer something available at the counter-offer level.

Romelle

[tamatem]

Thank you again, Romelle, for your concern and attention to my babysteppingness. You'd think I'd know better after my history here.

And yes, I had been following the hotel lists as opposed to going through the box. Now I've got the nine rebids.

Currently going through FAQs again in case I have blundered some more in other ways. :)

And yes, I start my search and bids through the HOTWIRE and PRICELINE links found here on this page.

[tamatem]

Rebid in one dollar increments. Landed two nights at this price. Was offered to tack on a 3rd or 4th night. I agreed. The counteroffer came back saying that an extra night or two would be 71. So no.

As always, I begin my search and bidding with Hotwire and PRICELINE links found here.

*note--please change the heading. My winning bid is meant to say 8/26/13 not 8/24.

Thanks.

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your <partial> success!

For help with the remaining nites of this stay please start a NEW TOPIC.

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

[tamatem]

Thanks, thereuare!

Where is the note that you had typed out re rebidding? I was responding to it and then it was gone. Perhaps it is moved somewhere else? My question re rebidding is do you constantly stack new rebids on or do you close down and start a new one with just two or three? Your suggestion appeared to stack one on the other etc etc through the nine possible rebids.

Also, due to unexpected cc complications, I could only bid for three days at this moment. The rest of my trip I will bid on within the next couple of days.

[Romelle]

Nice going so far.

When you are ready to bid for the remainder of your nights, using the nine free-rebid zones (at the 4* level) you do just continue "stacking" them one on the other.

The idea is to always have a new combination. By adding a zone you've not yet used, the latest combination is unique and different from all those before it.

But do recheck those nine zones just before you bid to make sure some 4* (or higher) hasn't popped into one of them.

You are fortunate to have the nine zones. Some cities just have one, and you can only make one bid a day.

Romelle

[thereuare]

When you report a win please use the EDIT TO REPORT WIN button on the lower right corner of the page (it's no longer there since it can only be used once and then disappears, and we have already used it to edit your current topic title to reflect your purchase)... this saves us typing out a bidding strategy for a hotel stay that has already been won.

After i made the previous post with the bidding strategy i saw that you had already purchased a hotel so i merged the threads and deleted the post (since it didn't make much sense continuity-wise) given that bidding had already been done and a purchase made. However, to answer your question, when you have plenty of re-bid zones (as you did in this example) we just stack the re-bid zones as you can easily get to your target bid amount with small enough increments... it's only when there are few re-bid zones and/or multiple acceptable zones to bid that we go thru various combinations.

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

[AaronJB]

This property has been under a few different names in recent years (it was a Hyatt, then a Marriott, now a Doubletree - at least as a Doubletree you get Doubletree cookies), but it's a very unique, historic property that was at one time the largest and busiest train station in the world. When it reopened in 1985, it was one of the largest adaptive re-use projects in US history. Hopefully you'll be able to get the same hotel or something else nice nearby for the additional nights.

Thank you for using the board's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchases and searches.

[tamatem]

Thank you, Romelle, Thereuare, and Aaron. It's becoming far clearer thanks to all of you.

I will make every effort to maintain the integrity of the thread. I was unaware of that button to report a win within the thread. Thanks for pointing it out, Thereuare.

Aaron, I always welcome your background info on places I land when applicable. It makes the anticipation that much sweeter and highlights things that may not emerge through the journey itself.

And Thereuare, I perhaps forgot to mention the fantabulous lunch, with a queue to match the fantabulousness, I had in NYC when you had directed me there.

So once again, thank you to the betterbidding team. You guys rock!

For this among countless other reasons, I begin my search and my bidding with the HOTWIRE and PRICELINE links found here on this page.