arbitrageur Posted January 31, 2006 Report Share Posted January 31, 2006 Hi,I'm trying to bid on a 3* in the Downtown White House or Covention Center area for 3/20 to 3/25. I'd like to try a max limit of $85. I'm willing to split my stay if necessary, but would prefer not to. 4 days ago, I tried low balling with the following unsucessful bids:1. Convention Center - $652. Downtown + Convention Center - $75Thanks Link to comment
TravelGuy Posted February 1, 2006 Report Share Posted February 1, 2006 Hotwire has what is almost surely the 2* Captol Hill Suites for $55 with 1 person selected, $75 for 2. Gets pretty good reviews overall on TripAdvisor and Frommers recommends - the location is quite good. Perhaps a little less than what you had in mind, but at $55 I think this is an excellent deal and would book it if it were my trip. May very well be available on Priceline for even less.BTW if you have a tip or two on what is selling for high after buying it for low these days please PM me. :) Link to comment
arbitrageur Posted February 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2006 Thanks for the advice. I'll definitely keep this in mind. Link to comment
arbitrageur Posted February 5, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2006 Hi all,I've decided to try to bid for the 3* with a max of $85 for either DT or CC. There's 2 people total in my group, so I figure I'll try for the 3* first and use TravelGuy's plan for backup in case I'm unsuccessful close to my travel date. Can someone please post a bidding strategy for me? I'm still uncertain about how to figure out the maximum number of rebid combos.Thanks. Link to comment
thereuare Posted February 5, 2006 Report Share Posted February 5, 2006 There is only one re-bid zone when bidding 3* in DC. 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 3* White House...Bid $60, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $65, if rejected close browser and re-access priceline however you did previously.Select 3* Convention Center...Bid $60, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $65, if rejected close browser and re-access priceline however you did previously.Select 3* White House and Convention Center...Bid $70, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $75.You can try the above and then, if rejected, try again in 72 hours raising each bid by $10 (or you can just start $10 higher or increase by more than $5 each bid if you don't want to wait the 72 hours).Any questions feel free to ask. Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases Link to comment
arbitrageur Posted February 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 I saw that someone snagged a 2.5* Residence Inn in April on the TOBB site for $55. I made the tyro mistake of trying a low ball bid on the 2.5* without bidding on the the 3* strategy first so I'm locked out for 72 h. Question: If I wanted to try for a 2.5* in Downtown or CC with a max of $65, are there any free rebidding zones? Link to comment
TravelGuy Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 No free rebids at 2.5* unfortunately.You could start with 3/21 and then rebid or try add a night if successful.You could also try to use Dupont/Woodley at 2.5*. The only 2.5* that's ever come up there is a Courtyard by Marriott, which is not bad. I think you're going to have a tougher time than the winning bid you're referring to though because the Residence Inn rates for your dates are $329 vs. $299 and you're asking for two more weekday nights than they were. No harm in trying though. If were to split your bid, bidding 2.5* DT/WH for 3/23-25 @$55 (or less), I think you'd have a high chance of success. Link to comment
arbitrageur Posted February 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2006 Hi,I was unsucessful bidding 4* max $90, 3* max $75, and 2.5* max $63. On my next attempt in 72h, I was going to raise my max limit on the 3* to $85 following thereuare's strategy. I think I will also keep my 2.5* max at $65 and 4* max at $90. Any other suggestions here?At what time frame do you think I should start considering splitting my bid dates? I'll post my exact bid history below:Select 4* Downtown...Bid $60, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $64, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $68, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $71, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $74, if rejected close browser and re-access priceline however you did previously.Select 4* Convention Center...Bid $60, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $64, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $68, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $71, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $74, if rejected close browser and re-access priceline however you did previously.Select 4* Downtown and Convention Center...Bid $77, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $80, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $83, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $86, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $90.____Select 3* White House...Bid $60, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $65, if rejected close browser and re-access priceline however you did previously.Select 3* Convention Center...Bid $60, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $65, if rejected close browser and re-access priceline however you did previously.Select 3* White House and Convention Center...Bid $70, if rejected add re-bid zone...Bid $75.____Select 2.5* Convention CenterBid $55, rejected and added DowntownBid $63Thanks in advance for any helpful suggestions. Link to comment
thereuare Posted February 10, 2006 Report Share Posted February 10, 2006 Your maximum bid is at the low end of the range of typically accepted bids... so getting 5 nites in a row of low occupancy at the same hotel is not likely going to be an easy task.How much do you like/dislike the idea of changing hotels? What about the Capital Hill Suites previously mentioned above? Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases Link to comment
arbitrageur Posted February 11, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2006 Hi,I wouldn't mind splitting my stay at 2 different hotels, although I'd prefer not to. I'm not too sure about the mixed reviews I've read about the Capitol Hill Suites and that's why I'm hesitant to book it. I'd be comfortable bottom fishing on priceline until March 3, but for a stay as long as mine, what do you think a realistic max should be for a 3*?Thanks. Link to comment
thereuare Posted February 11, 2006 Report Share Posted February 11, 2006 If you supply nitely rates (ie-look at each hotel for each individual nite, not for the complete stay) for various 3* hotels in these zones i'll try to take a guess. Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases Link to comment
arbitrageur Posted February 12, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2006 Okay, I took a peek at the individual dates, and its looking pretty ugly. Even L'Enfant, which I saw had several posted wins in my price range looks to have no vacancy on some of the dates. It looks like I might have to settle for the 2* on Hotwire. Any special events taking place in DC on these dates?Downtown 3*Rouge3/20 = $3393/21 = $3393/22 = $3393/23 = $3093/24 = $249Washington Plaza3/20 = $2993/21 = $2993/22 = $2993/23 = $2993/24 = $169Topaz3/20 = $3093/21 = $3093/22 = $3093/23 = $3093/24 = $169______CCL'Enfant3/20 = $2193/21 = no vacancy3/22 = no vacancy3/23 = $2293/24 = $169Hyatt3/20 = $4493/21 = $449I stopped here to end the pain. Link to comment
thereuare Posted February 12, 2006 Report Share Posted February 12, 2006 So you now have an updated plan of action? Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases Link to comment
arbitrageur Posted February 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 Thanks for the advice.I think I'll give priceline a whirl this 2 more times up through this coming weekend raising all max bids by $10. If unsuccessful, I'll book through hotwire. If anyone thinks I should consider making an earlier decision, let me know. I also noticed that someone snagged the 2* Capitol Hill Suites via hotwire on February 9 for my first date of 3/20 at $109. Since my posted hotwire rates are much lower, is it safe to assume that right now, most available room inventory hasn't been released yet since I'm not even within 6 weeks of my desired date? Link to comment
thereuare Posted February 13, 2006 Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 I don't understand your last question. Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases Link to comment
TravelGuy Posted February 13, 2006 Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 The Capital Hill Suites is coming up for $83 (w/2 people selected) now for 3/20. If you end up wanting to stay there I would bid on Priceline first, as they may very well have availability and for less than $55 for double occupancy. Better to try that before giving in to Hotwire's petty $20 increase for the second person. Link to comment
arbitrageur Posted February 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 Hi Thereuare,I think in a different post we talked about supply and demand effecting the price of a hotel. If someone purchased the 2* Capitol Hill Suites via hotwire 4 days ago for $109, yet I am now showing a quoted hotwire price of about $80 for the same hotel, is it safe to assume that there has been an increase in hotel inventory for 3/20 causing the hotwire price to drop nearly $30 for that one night? Link to comment
thereuare Posted February 13, 2006 Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 I'm currently showing a rate of $83 for the hotel you are refering to, the $26 difference could be attributed to...1) the high end and low end of Hotwire range mark-up. Hotwure uses a variable mark-up in order to increase opacity... $83 could be their low end of the range and $109 could be the high-end2) the hotel has lowered their opaque rate due to excess inventoryCan't know for certain which one applies to this situation, but my guess is number two is more likley (as searching for your complete set of dates i see the rate at $76/nite which would make the range extremely large). However, i wouldn't try to draw a conclusion based upon the occupancy levels of this one property; as my statistics professor would say, "You don't have a large enough sample".I would think that 6 weeks is close enough that hotels would have a very good idea of occupancy levels and wouldn't be changing hotel prices too much in the coming weeks. To reinforce the idea of the above not being a large enough sample to draw any conclusions, look at the very high prices of the 3* hotels you previoulsy listed... that is not indicative of too much excess inventory. Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases Link to comment
arbitrageur Posted February 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 OK, this is the only leg of my east coast trip that is not set. I plan on bidding tomorrow morning using the bid strategy above, increasing my bid limits by $10 for each star level. I've seen people snag a 4* for less than $100/night, which looks promising.Any last minute words of advice from the board? Link to comment
arbitrageur Posted February 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 OK... I appear to be a little bit screwed at this point. I raised my max bids for a 4* to $100, 3* to $95, and 2.5* to 75. All bids failed. Luckily I have about a month to solve this.I went to book the 2* on Hotwire, still showing for $77, and after I entered my credit card info, the booking failed. I called the customer help line, and the rep believes that someone must have bid my stay dates moments before I did.I think I need to split my bid dates now. I was thinking of doing 3/20-3/23 and 3/23-3/25. Is this a good combo? Should I use the same bid strategy with the split dates? Link to comment
GM Mike Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 Based on the rates you researched earlier, that seems a reasonable split.Do you have any sort of cancelable backup reservation at this point? Link to comment
arbitrageur Posted February 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 Cancellable backup is in Arlington. Not my first choice, but there just in case. Link to comment
arbitrageur Posted February 22, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2006 Strangest thing just happened. I went to the Hotwire site and saw the 2* South of the Mall for $77 for the entire length of my stay. I again tried to book it, but after entering my credit card info, the booking failed. I called the Hotwire customer service rep, and they said it was a computer glitch and that there was no 2* South of the Mall availability. If I hit the "search again" button, the listing would vanish. Anyone else ever run into this "glitch?" Link to comment
arbitrageur Posted February 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 Can anyone tell me the name of the 3.5* hotel listed below on Hotwire for $129/night?Thanks.Details for your 3.5-star hotel in The White House - Capitol Hill Hotel Details Check in:silkCheckInDate:Mon, Mar 20, 2006Check out:silkCheckOutnDate:Sat, Mar 25, 2006Hotel name:Hotwire Hotel Supplier Our 3.5-star hotel suppliers include:Hilton, Millennium, Crowne Plaza, plus other top brands and quality hotels.When do I learn the hotel's name?Ratings Guide59%savingssilkPricePerRoomPerson:$129per roomper nightRetail: $317.60You save: $188.60 < Back About This DealWhat you'll get:A room in a quality name-brand or trusted independent hotel A location that works for you Star ratings you can trust The lowest price anywhere, guaranteed Why you'll save:Top hotels use Hotwire to fill their unsold rooms. By allowing our hotel suppliers to remain anonymous, we negotiate rates significantly lower than what you'll find on other travel sites! Once you book your room, we immediately confirm your reservation and show you the hotel's complete information, including its name and exact location. You can't get a refund or change this reservation once your purchase is complete. Hotel Amenities Boutique HotelProperty offers a distinctive, unique or eclectic atmosphere. Many boutique hotels are smaller, hip properties in an urban setting, or renovated hotels with historical flair.Fitness CenterGuests have access to exercise equipment; an additional charge may apply. High-speed Internet AccessGuestrooms are equipped with high-speed Internet access; an extra charge may apply.Golf NearbyProperty is located within walking distance or a short drive of at least one golf course; an extra charge typically applies. Tennis NearbyProperty is located within walking distance or a short drive of at least one tennis court; an extra charge typically applies.Business CenterGuests have access to business equipment and services; an additional charge may apply. Link to comment
blindman Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 Have you seen the successful win on PL for a 3* for 19-24th at $105? Link to comment
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