Priceline Hotel: First Time Bidder and Scared To Death

[born2teachga]

I'm planning a 12 day trip to London/Ireland to celebrate our one year anniversary and finally take a real honeymoon because we had a death in the family just before the wedding that prevented us from leaving. Then with work we just never really got around to taking the trip. We're planning on staying for only 2 nights in London. I have all of my accommodations for Ireland taken care of but London has been the only pain in my side. I have been reading about bidding but I'm still scared to death to try it out. We'd like to stay in either of the following zones and are flexible with any star ratings from 3 and up. We'd like to stay for prices between $75-100 a night.

-Regents Park-North London

-Bloomsbury-Marble Arch

-Kensington-Earl's Court

-Nottinghill-Bayswater

What should I do? I really have no clue what I'm doing and I've looked at some of the hotels in the area that are 3 stars and some have real bad reviews and I don't want to get stuck in a hotel that I'm miserable in even though it's only for 2 nights.

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

What are the two nites you need for the London leg of your trip?

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

[born2teachga]

Oh I completely forgot to include that. The dates for London is from 3/8/2014-3/10/2014. Thank you so much for your response.

[thereuare]

If you're not aware, hotel rating in Europe are a bit more generous then their US counterparts, so by bidding 3* you're more likely looking at something at the 2.5*/2* level here in the States (and perhaps that is the reason for some of the negative reviews you're seeing?)

As you're already nervous to begin with, i'd suggest trying for a 4* hotel if you're budget will allow.

PRICELINE EXPRESS has this 4* hotel in the Kensington - Earl's Court zone for $120/nite, but using the code FALL5 gives an extra 5% off bringing the room rate down to $115, just a bit over your $100/nite maximum. While i'm not sure which hotel this may be (as only Free Internet and Business Center are shown amenities) this does have a good 8.0 out of 10.0 user review rating which is pretty good for PRICELINE EXPRESS properties.

If you're willing to go even higher, say to $135, HOTWIRE has some highly reviewed properties to offer as well.

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

Let us know your thoughts, and if you're flexible with your budget, and we'll take it from there.