Priceline Hotel: Timing of Bids for Hotel Rooms

[trudive]

Travelling from Australia to Seattle for the first time.  Looking for 5-nights accommodation from 5th September (2 adults).  We'd like to stay in Seattle "Area 2" ( viz Downtown - Pike Place - Waterfront - Stadiums).

Your 'best value' appears to be 3.5 star & above so we are happy to start bidding there.

Like everyone else, of course we're hoping for the cheapest price.  

 

Is there an optimum time period during which to lodge a hotel bid??  In your experience, is it better to try and book early, or are we likely to get a better deal with a 'last minute' type of bid on/around 2 or 3 days beforehand when hotels might have some unsold inventory?  We are aware of the risk of a last minute bid, but not particularly concerned about it.

 

Thanks in anticipation.

 

 

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

There is no blanket rule for the 'best' time to bid... sometimes the best rates are seen many months in advance, other times a few weeks beforehand is best.  It's basically a function of supply/demand and how many reservations the hotel already had on the books vs. how many they feel they should have at this point in time, how many new reservations they expect to get, and how many cancellations they expect... then how the actual reservations/cancellations come in relative to expectations.  For more on this subject you can see the related link in our priceline.faq.

 

What is your expected budget (per nite before fees/taxes) for this trip? (i'll have some further comments regarding zone(s) in this area once we know your target budget and what is possible / realistic for your dates)

 

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