Priceline Hotel: 5* London (Westminster) London Marriott Hotel County Hall

[emmalou]

Hello,

I am new to the forum, and I have tried unsuccessfully to place the following bids for London after seeing someone had won the Marriott County Hall for 2 nights within my date range for $90

Nov 14-17 Westminster - $90

Nov 14-17 London Bridge/City - Westminster -$95

Nov 17-20 Westminster - $90

Nov 17-20 Westminster /London bridge $95

Nov 17-20 Westminster/ London Bridge/Mayfair Soho- $99

We are in London for 6 nights, but after reading posts, decided that 6 nts might be a much to ask for, so we'd try for 3 and be happy, and then book it regularly for the other 3 nights (and book a room with a view - who knows - maybe I could get the same room for both bookings! Never hurts to ask!). Also, I changed from the weekend nights thinking I'd have more luck for the Sunday/Monday/Tuesday at a lower rate.

I would go up if required, but have noticed that a lot of winning bids for this hotel have been in th vicinity of $90, which would be grand.

Can you offer any advice or a plan for me to follow please?

Many thanks and kind regards

Emma in Australia

:D :)

[yellowdog]

Welcome to BetterBidding :)

I would go up if required, but have noticed that a lot of winning bids for this hotel have been in th vicinity of $90, which would be grand.

Rates are date specific so you can't really compare them. Everything is about supply and demand.

I'm sorry to say that with current rates isn't $90 going to cut it. My guess is that you're looking at around $200 for 5* in this area.

We are in London for 6 nights, but after reading posts, decided that 6 nights might be a much to ask for

For the moment is there no advantage to split your stay when looking at the rates. So I would try for the complete stay first.

Would you like to increase your budget or bid for a lower rated hotel?

Let us know your thoughts and we'll go from there.

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

Yellowdog.

[vanpoodle]

The deals right now are for 4* in the Regent's Park zone, if that interests you. They have been getting some great prices with 2 different Marriotts there if you wanted to try that, winning bids have landed in the $55-$100 range. It's still only a short tube ride into the very heart of things and they are both pretty good hotels. Westminster and Mayfair are two very expensive zones and those cheap winning bids were complete flukes, someone got VERY lucky!

If getting all 6 nights together doesn't end up working, you might find that you get deals on 3 night blocks but in different zones. In London the cheaper nights seem to be Fri-Mon, and then during the workweek they are a little pricier. BUT, some zones have the deals during the week and other zones have it on weekends. I just posted an overview of the ones on this forum yesterday if you wanted to take a look at that.

[thereuare]

...we'd try for 3 and be happy, and then book it regularly for the other 3 nights

What is the hotel you receive is prohibitively expensive for your additional nites... are you prepared to book a different hotel and change properties mid-trip if booking the additional nites direct is $200+ per nite, $300+ per nite, $400+ per nite? Even if you're willing to pay 'whatever it takes' what is the hotel you receive is sold-out for the additional nites?

How high do you think you would be willing to pay for the additional nites?

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

[brianc_li]

Just as an FYI, I am currently bidding for the same areas of london for 30th Nov - two nights. I am currently up to $115 5* and $95 without any success, not even a counter offer thus far. My guess is that I'll end up around the $130-140 mark for 5* even though it is a weekend stay.

[vanpoodle]

You might be overly optimistic for a 5*. I've tried in the past for them and given up and gone 4* when bidding got to $150 a night. Traditionally I see winning bids over $180. However, it is always worth trying and some other people got VERY lucky recently. I've been going to London and using PL for about 5 years now and those winning bids from a couple months ago were the first I'd ever seen of that kind of deal. Also, for the Westminster and Mayfair zones, I even gave up on 4* there when my bids of $150 were rejected -- this happened to me mid-November one year. Again, these are all very date specific and inventories change constantly. The zones are also varying, and I was able to get something accepted for $120 for 4* in another zone that time. You've got nearly 6 months to work with, so if it doesn't work now, take a break and try again in another few weeks. Sometimes the amazing deals come through much closer to checkin. Revenue Managers are always going over their projections and allocating inventory to Priceline if they reckon that their occupancy is lower than they want.

[vanpoodle]

Heads up on London -- I just noticed that there are NO free re-bid zones for 4*! Things have changed, beware.

[emmalou]

Hi,

I won this room about a month ago - sorry I've been slow to report. I bid as follows:

WESTMINSTER 150

WESTMINSTER, DOCKLANDS 160

WESTMINSTER, DOCKLANDS, HAMMERSMITH 175

I had tried unsuccessfully on other occasions for prices around 90-110 as I saw someone very lucky had won in November at that rate. Also tried two rooms - no luck, but we have decided to share and spend the money on other things! If I have to share a bed with Mum - so be it, but hopefully we can arrange a twin or pay extra for a rollaway.

Cheers, Emma

PS: I am in Australia, using a US city/ state/ zip code (where I used to live) and an Australian Am Ex and is working fine. Hope its all okay when I get there though!

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success!

Glad to see that you were successful and are pleased with the results.

Thank you for sharing your win with the board.

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

Enjoy your stay.