Priceline Hotel: 4* Amsterdam (Museum Quarter) Nh Musica

[afa20000]

Can anyone help me to identify the following hotels?

1 room

Check-in 5/14/14, check-out 5/18/14

3* hotel in Museum Quarter-Vondelpark area:

80% recommended

From $181 to $100

Hotel Amenities: Free Internet / Smoke Free Rooms / Restaurant(s) / Self service laundry / Accessibility / In-room accessibility / Wheelchair accessible

4* hotel in Amsterdam South - Amstel Business Park area (I suspect it is the NH Musica):

100% recommended

From $163 to $64

Hotel Amenities: Free Internet / Smoke Free Rooms / Fitness Center / Restaurant(s)/ Business Center / Self service laundry

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

If you haven't yet, please read your messages.

Best guess for the 3* property would be the Hotel Central Park.

For the 4* hotel, I believe there are more amenities then what you have posted above as HOTWIRE has a new interface that does not show the complete set of amenities unless you click thru a few extra links.

If you repeat your search using our BiddingHelper.com tool... use the HOTWIRE EASY VIEW tab and then click the GREEN BUTTON next to this listing, do you see more amenities then what you have listed above?

This is what i'm seeing for the 4* hotel in this zone when searching for your dates:

Free Internet

Smoke Free

Fitness

Restaurant

Business

Laundry

Hi-Speed Internet

Travel Accessible

Room Accessible

Wheelchair Accessible

Bathroom Accessible

Roll-in Shower

If this is what you're seeing, I'm not certain of this one, but my best guess here would be the Mercure Amsterdam City.

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

Let us know what you decide and how it goes or if we can be of further help.

[afa20000]

Thank you for your reply.

I'm sorry, did not use the BiddingHelper.com. Now I did and could confirm that we are talking about the same hotel, with the same amenities you have listed.

I believe that this is the same hotel listed at $64 in PRICELINE EXPRESS, so I'm thinking about bidding on "name your own price" at 80% of the Hotwire/PE rates, using the PRICELINE link on the board.

What do you think?

[thereuare]

If you bid on PRICELINE you have to be willing to accept any hotel in the zone at the star rating (or higher) that you select... you may receive the same hotel that is currently offered on HOTWIRE or PRICELINE EXPRESS, or you could receive something different.

If you want to target the hotel guessed above and increasing your chances is of this property is worth $10 more per nite, then i would take one of the offers above... if trying to target this property is not a primary concern, and you're willing to accept a hotel anywhere in the zone in exchange for ~$10/nite savings, then i would try bidding. Really depends upon your needs for this trip and important having a sense of the hotel, location, and amenities offered is.

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

Let us know what you decide and how it goes or if we can be of further help.

[afa20000]

I'm aware of these risks. I"ll try to explain my booking strategy, in order to help those who are in similar situation. Not sure if you'll understand though. Not an english speaker here.

Our budget for both Priceline or Hotwire (both non-refundable) for two persons is no more than USD 430 for 4 nights, taxes and transportation to city centre included. We expect to get at least a 3* hotel.

A 96h public transportation card costs EUR 21,5 per person = 43 for two persons = USD 60. But you lose time and energy, reason that I expect to save at least USD 100 to offset this hassle. That leaves me a budget of 430 - 60 - 100 = USD 270 to spend in that hotel in Museum Quarter area (or any area not so far from city centre), taxes included. Any hotel amenities are ok, we just want a clean room with double bed (or two single bed together) and private bathroom. I was informed that most 3* hotels listed in PL and HW meet these criteria.

We've already booked Hotel Pax, which lies in the heart of Amsterdam, for USD 480, cancellation free under any circunstances. Booking.com says it is 1 star only, but since it meets our criteria and we did not see anything bad in reviews, it is not a big deal. We are looking for a better deal. Since Hotwire and Priceline are both non-refundable (or refundable under some strict circunstances, if you pay more) and we do not know the name of the hotel, we expect to pay much less than what we got in Booking.com.

That USD 64 hotel in Hotwire costs USD 293, taxes included. Not bad at all, but still not as good as we wished it was, as stated before. The USD 100 hotel costs USD 450, only USD 30 less than Hotel Pax.

After reading your last post, we started bidding on PL.

First bets through your PRICELINE link were the following:

$75 for 5*, city centre

$75 for 5*, city centre and canals area

$75 for 5 and 4*, city centre

$75 for 5* and 4*, city centre and canals area

$75 for 5*, 4* and 3*, city centre and canals area

$49 for 5*, 4* and 3*, city centre, canals area and museum quarter area (expecting to get that $64 hotel)

All bids have failed. We are aware that some are low, especially the $75 bids, but we are not in a rush and we may give up if do not get a deal we find acceptable. Tomorrow we'll try it again, rising it a few dollars.

[thereuare]

You know your needs best, but i'd be a bit leery of a 1* hotel in Europe.

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

Keep us updated on your progress and let us know if we can be of further help along the way.

[afa20000]

In our experience, for our needs, stars do not mean much in Europe. There are bad 4 stars hotels and good B&Bs and Guest Houses. Actually we never care about stars since we do not use most hotel amenities. Reviews are our main source and almost never get disappointed, since we know what to expect. 1 star Hotel Pax has 8.1 in Booking and 81% in Tripadvisor, while 4 stars Mercury has 7.9 and 75%.

However, in PRICELINE and HOTWIRE stars are all we have and I see people getting really good deals in Amsterdam. Here we go again:

$110 5* canal, central

$85 4* canal, central

$55 4* canal, central, museum-rai

All bids failed. I noticed two weeks ago a few people getting 4* hotels such as NH Amsterdam Centre in mid-may for $65. However, now it seems that prices have increased. Right now, after some research, I see that the price target for 4* in central areas (2 and 3 in PL) lies between $100-105. Not sure about Museum-Rai, though.

HOTWIRE price for that Amsterdam South/Amstel area has dropped from $64 to $62. If it drops below $60, I may get it in HOTWIRE.

[thereuare]

While i don't soley go by star ratings, and do also rely on reviews, i usually put each in context and account for the limitations of each. Reviews are usually written with expectations in mind... when users pay a lot to stay at a Ritz Carlton (or any other 5* hotel) they may have lofty expectations and it's easy to be disappointed (based upon the price paid)... where as expectations at 1*/2* hotel may be greatly diminished and the result is better than expected. In this scenario the higher rated hotel can have more negative reviews than the lower rated hotel (which more positive reviews), but so far i have had more enjoyable stays at higher rated hotels with so-so ratings than i have had at lower rated hotels with very good ratings.

Regardless, note that the $2 change in price of the 3* HOTWIRE property above does not likely reflect a change in underlying supply/demand, but is more likely simply due to normal pricing fluctuations by HOTWIRE.

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

Keep us updated on your progress and let us know if/how we can be of further help along the way.

[afa20000]

You are correct. That's all about expectations.

Today we tried the following bids:

$87 4* city centre, canals - failed

$56 4* city centre, canals, museum quarter - accepted

Got NH Musica through PRICELINE, a great deal! Thank you for your assistance.

[yellowdog]

Thank you for sharing your result with the board!

Enjoy your stay.

Please use the board's PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your purchases and searches

Yellowdog.