Priceline Hotel: How reliable are the hotel listings here?

[dekedekedeke]

I am looking for a hotel in San Diego for a few days after Thanksgiving.  According to the Priceline hotel listing for San Diego, the only 3.5 star hotel in Downtown-Marina is an Embassy Suites.   Great!  Awesome!  Finally some privacy from my kids!  Now I can bid super-intelligently.  But when I poke around the forum and try to see what other successes people have had with this bid, I see no other corresponding hotels (3.5 star hotels in Downtown-Marina). 

 

So my question is - someone, somewhere had a reason for adding Embassy Suites as the 3.5 star hotel in Downtown-Marina.  But if it not based on a report submitted on the form, what is that based on?  I understand that hotels change, that rankings change, that a hotel that once may have been included no longer is, etc - but presumably there is a reason for the hotel to end up this in the first place. 

 

If the answer is proprietary, then I understand.  Just wondering what the rationale is for something making the list to begin with.

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

The hotel lists are a compilation of hotels that have been reported to the board... whenever knew information is received the hotel lists are updated. There could always be new hotels not yet reported to the board, recently added, removed, uprgraded, or downgraded (see the comments at the top of the Hotel List).

The last reported win for this Embassy Suites is HERE. Note that the topic title of thread indicates that the zone is 'Gaslamp Quarter - Convention Center', but this is because new zones have been added to this region since that win (if i recall correctly, PRICELINE made this zone smaller and added new zones around it).

There are two easy ways to find the last reported wins:

1) use our Priceline Maps, enter the region you want and after the search find the hotel from the list in the appropriate area. To the right of the hotel is a link 'VIEW'... clicking this link will show you all reported wins to the board for that hotel.

2) So you could do a search (using the search box on the top right corner of the board)... search for 'Diego Embassy' (without quotes) and you'll see all posts which contain these two terms.

One other options you should be aware of which can be quite handy, is to use our Priceline and Hotwire Calendar of Wins to see hotels reported to the board in any region or zone for up to a 14 days timeframe.

Lastly, keep in mind that with PRICELINE the star rating you choose is the minimum you're willing to accept... even if there is indeed only one hotel in a zone that is 3.5* rated, and there are also 4* rated hotels in the zone, you can't be assured of getting the 3.5* property if you bid since you could be upgraded to a higher rated 4* property.

Usually, if you're looking to target (or avoid) a specific hotel, PRICELINE EXPRESS and/or HOTWIRE are better options, as you can often take an educated guess as to which hotel you may receive based upon the amenities and other information provided... whereas when bidding on PRICELINE you need to be willing to accept any hotel in the zone at the star rating (or higher) that you choose.

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPS and HOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.

Let us know if/when you have firm plans for a given trip and we will try to help you find what it is that you're looking for.

[dekedekedeke]

Thank you - this was very helpful and informative.  I was obviously unaware that the Embassy Suites was in a different zone, which explains why I couldn't find it. 

 

This is a very helpful site. :)

 

I am looking for a room for 11/27-11/28 in San Diego, near the Zoo.  I am looking for a suite for some privacy from my children, which is why I was looking at Embassy Suites.

[AaronJB]

If you are looking for a suite property, I'd look at Hot.wire for a listing with a suite amenity, or sometimes PRICELINE EXPRESS does have listings with bed choice. Usually the PRICELINE EXPRESS listings have basic options for bed choice, but sometimes suite upgrades are listed. Keep in mind that some suite options may be studio suites and not 1BR suites.

 

If you see a listing of interest, please let us know the details (dates, full list of amenities, price per night before taxes/fees, zone and star rating) and we would be happy to take a look and try to ID.

 

Please keep us updated and let us know if you have any questions at all.

 

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPS and HOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.

[dekedekedeke]

Thanks.  I checked out Hotwire, and there is the following hotel listed in the Downton-Little Italy area at $88/night:

 

3.5 stars, free Internet, Suite, Business Center, Indoor Pool for 11/27-11/28.

 

Based on what I can tell, this seems to be the Doubletree.  However, from looking at the Doubletree site, it seems this hotel offers both single and double rooms.  Is there an option in Hotwire to select a suite, or are you at the mercy of whatever you are assigned by the front desk person?

[AaronJB]

If you go to BiddingHelper.com, search for your dates and click "Hotwire Easy View", then click "Full Amenities" next to the listing, do you see:

 

FULL AMENITIES: Free Internet, Pet friendly, Suite, Indoor pool(s), Smoke-free rooms, Fitness center, Pool(s), Restaurant(s), Business center, Self-service laundry, Internet access, Accessible for visually impaired, Accessible for hearing impaired, Accessible path of travel, In-room accessibility, Accessible bathroom, Accessible parking, Roll-in shower

 

If so, this listing has not yet been ID'd/reported. However, I would guess that the Declan Suites would be a possibility in this case. The "suite" amenity on Hot.wire means that it's an all-suite property, which the Doubletree unfortunately is not.

 

Please keep us updated on what you decide and let us know if you have additional questions.

 

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPS and HOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.

[dekedekedeke]

Based on what I see about the Declan online, I don't really want to risk bidding on it.  Are there any alternatives to this that I might be missing?

 

That is useful to know about the "suite" listing meaning that the whole properly is suites.  I guess that does rule out the Doubletree.

[thereuare]

To 'know' what a good deal is you first need to determine rates for the area (and potentially at the hotel you're hoping to target)

Using our sister site MAPS and HOTELS.com i see no availability for 11/27-11/28 at the Embassy Suites (and further confirmed directly at the Embassy Suites website)... so you may need to re-think your goal(s) for this stay since the hotel you're using on a comparison basis appears to not be available for your dates.

I don't think you stated your budget above (nor how many adults/children you will actually be), but getting back to the idea of a 'good deal', i'm see what appears to be the Omni San Diego for $107/nite... it's not a suite, but it gets excellent reviews.

If you need a suite you can see your options by going to our sister site MAPS and HOTELS.com, search for your dates, and then in the 'SEARCH BY HOTEL NAME' box type 'Suite' (without the quotes)... this will filter the results to hotels that have the word 'suite' in their name. You can then zoom in/out on the map to see results by location, or sort the hotel list (left side of the page) by price, star rating, etc... it's really a very powerful site if you use the search/filter/sort functions to their fullest.

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPS and HOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.