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Priceline Hotel: San Jose (Palo Alto)? 4.5* and 5*


the_chad
By the_chad,
in

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I will be at Stanford University for an event May 3-5 and always include in my search nearby areas for good deals (see Sofitel in Redwood City). But this time I am looking really hard at staying in Palo Alto.

 

While using the Bidding.Helper tool (or PRICELINE link), choosing my dates, and viewing the star levels for Palo Alto, I see 2 additional levels that I've never seen before, 4.5* and 5*. Previously, I recall the only 4* being the Westin (current hotel list here for PA shows the Westin as the only 4*).

 

Any guesses? Garden Court (definitely on the higher end but I would not have figured they would have become a PL partner)? The Epiphany?

 

Where would you suggest I start my bidding for either star level?

 

Thanks! Glad to be back on here! And traveling ;)

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If there are offers, I kinda' like about 20% below the lower of Priceline Express or Hotwire (same dates, same star level, same zone).  That most likely won't work, but you can work your way up toward PE and HW rates, knowing you won't be leaving money on the table when your bid is successful.  

 

And if you get up too close to either PE or HW, and you like the looks of one of their deals, you can just switch over and accept it.

 

Romelle (IMHO as a member)

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The Four Seasons Hotel Silicon Valley at East Palo Alto would be at least one possibility at the 5* level. The 4.5* may be a 'placeholder' as there is speculation that when 5* and 4* hotels are offered, but no 4.5* hotels, the 4.5* is still shown as 'live'.

While there could be other 5* hotels, the Four Seasons above is $295/nite for your dates... just how high would you be willing to bid for a 5* hotel before lowering to the 4.5* or 4* level?

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

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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Romelle, I like that idea and usually have a similar method. The only problem here is that I haven't seen a 5* listed before and thus it's difficult to really gauge against anything similar on HW or PLE.

 

Thereuare, I'm probably willing to bid less than what would be accepted at the 5* level. If it was estimated that I would need to approach $175+ to win, I would likely try my luck at the 4* level to hopefully stay in the $100-$125 range.

 

What bid would you start with at the 5* level?

 

Lastly, for the placeholder 4.5*, what is thought to happen in a successful bid (assuming it is a real placeholder)? Do you get the 5* or 4* property??

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Lastly, for the placeholder 4.5*, what is thought to happen in a successful bid (assuming it is a real placeholder)? Do you get the 5* or 4* property??

I think what thereuare meant as a "placeholder" was that there isn't currently anything there to win.  Maybe there is going to be.  In any case, one only gets upgraded from bidding, not downgraded.  So when bidding 4.5*s you could get a 5* upgrade, but never a 4* downgrade.

 

Bidding is free, and you've got a full month.  You really can start just about anywhere and work on up to the max of what you are willing to pay.  There are 10 free rebid zones at the 4 and 4.5* levels, so you can run up a range pretty quickly.  Thereuare mentioned the one 5* at $295.  Percentage savings varies all over the mat, but the very best I've seen is about 65%.  For the worst, I personally hadn't checked rack rates in Las Vegas and managed to submit a bid $5 over what was available on a hotel's web site - for a negative 5% savings.  Oops.

 

So - you could start at $100 (34% of $295) and increment by $10s clear up to $200 in one session.  Quitting wherever you chose.  Or if you want to tune it finer, increment by $5s over a couple of days.

 

Romelle

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Thereuare, I'm probably willing to bid less than what would be accepted at the 5* level. If it was estimated that I would need to approach $175+ to win, I would likely try my luck at the 4* level to hopefully stay in the $100-$125 range.

What bid would you start with at the 5* level?

My guess is that it will take more than $175/nite to win a 5* hotel for these dates, but if you want to try bidding up to this amount, you do have TEN re-bid zones at the 5* level, so you can easily give it a try (If you're not familiar with re-bidding please read Priceline Re-Bidding Explained and feel free to ask questions and/or confirm your re-bid zones with the board before proceeding.):

Select 5* Beverly Hills...

Bid $125, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $130, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $135, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $140, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $145, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $150, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $155, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $160, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $165, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $170, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $175

If the above is rejected you can either wait it out and try again in a few days/weeks (but i wouldn't hold my breath) OR start your bidding for a 4* property.

... and Romelle is correct above in my reference to a 'placeholder'; i wouldn't count on there being no 4.5* hotels in the zone, but it think it's plausible, and if this is indeed the case, if you were to bid 4.5* and win, your 4.5* bid would be upgraded to a 5* property.

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

Good luck and let us know how it goes or how we can be of further help.

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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Sounds good. Thank you both. I do have a little time to play with it and will look more into it this weekend. Also, I will probably book a safety hotel in the area that does not charge for a cancellation.

 

(At the moment, I'm working on a stay in LA followed by San Diego. I'll post accordingly)

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  • 1 year later...

I tried getting the 5* yesterday (June 25) in PALO ALTO.

 

Started with $100 until I reached $180. I stopped there. Didn't even get a counter bid.

 

Then today (June 26), I tried 4.5*

 

Started with $100 until I reached $155. And again, no offer, so I quit.

 

So I reset my browser, and started bidding for 4*.

 

And I got Westin Palo Alto for $110. (see my separate winning bid thread)

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