Priceline Hotel: 4* London (Kensington - Earls Court) Hilton London Kensington

[vanpoodle]

This is the Hilton Kensington -- NOT the Olympia. Note that this hotel is now in Kensington and not Notting Hill. (I examined the map carefully before bidding this zone as it was coming up as one of the cheaper hotels on the retail side at $191, the infamous Tara was at $196 and it was a factor in my deciding to stick with working at the Kensington zone rather than trying another zone -- map boundaries have changed). Express Deals had Kensington at $283.

 

I worked Westminster, Bloomsbury, Mayfair, City, Regent's Park, Notting Hill, Chelsea (The Copthorne at the FC shows Hammersmith on retail side now, though the NYOP map still has it in Chelsea, so that was a bit risky, but express in the zone was at $367 so the FC seemed unlikely), and Finsbury. RP had a PRICELINE EXPRESS deal for $188, bid that zone up to $161, but now that the Quality Inn Regent's Park is an option for the zone thought I'd best to be careful and try another zone before returning. Bid Westminster up to $161 as well (had been getting a counteroffer of $185 a few days ago which disappeared in the past 24 hours and the express deal went from $175 to $205). In studying the zone, chances were I'd get the Park Plaza Riverbank which was a 10 minute walk from Vauxhall tube station and not as central as I'd like, calling it Westminster is a bit of a stretch and I'd only have opted for it with significant savings. Kensington had been giving me a counteroffer of $182 once my bidding on that zone got to $138. Bloomsbury gave me a counteroffer of $226 once my bids in that area reached $171 (express deal of $212 for the zone). I worked that zone plus Chelsea, Finsbury, Mayfair, City and Notting Hill up to $180, then went back to work on Kensington. $162 was going to be my last try at Kensington before resuming with Bloomsbury because it was reaching the point where the risk of getting the Tara wasn't giving me a low enough price compared to the other zones.

 

I seem to have turned this into a novel, but just thought other bidders might want to know how things in London are going this days for bidding! I'm not totally thrilled, but it's a very expensive time of year and I suppose it's okay. I think the property is quite nice, but it's actually in Shepherd's Bush and not actually Kensington. And there are no Shepherds and no Bushes there, it's all concrete with a giant mall.

[vanpoodle]

I've not been able to edit the subject line -- I had chosen the zone on this one and then typed in the hotel name (the web page let me), but when it posted, this other Hilton hotel was in the subject line. Is anyone able to fix it? Thanks!

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success!

While not your first pick in the zone, glad to see you're pleased with the outcome and find this to be a good value given the expensive rates you're currently seeing for these dates.

Thank you for sharing your win with the board and letting us know about the new zone boundaries for this area, we have updated the Priceline Hotel List accordingly.

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

Enjoy your stay.