Priceline Hotel: Philadephia

[mommados]

We will be in Philadelphia Saturday and want to stay in historic area.  I have recently had good luck waiting until the day or night before to book for a 3.5-4 star in other cities. Would you recommend waiting for a Philadephia weekend day? I think we want Penns Landing or Rittenwhatever Square area.  THanks.

[thereuare]

8 minutes ago, mommados said:

I have recently had good luck waiting until the day or night before to book for a 3.5-4 star in other cities.

Given that your last win reported to the board was back in 2010 it would be appreciated if you started to share all your wins with the board so that others can benefit from the information, just as you are hoping to gain insight from those who have posted before you.

 

I never recommend waiting until the day of arrival as too many hotels pull their inventory, or if demand is high and many hotels are sold-out or have very high occupancy, it will ultimately cost you substantially more.  Waiting may have been an 'ok' strategy 10+ years ago when the hotel industry was in a recession and typically had low occupancy and plenty of empty rooms to fill, but with the industry having rebounded since then we're not seeing last minute rate drops like we did 10+ years ago.

 

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.

[mommados]

Sorry. New Orleans Marriott 4/15-17, 2017 $80. 

[thereuare]

If you're looking to report a win to the board please post in the Priceline Louisiana (or Hotwire Lousiana if that is the service that was used) forum so that others will be aware of your win when searching the topic titles on the board, the Priceline and Hotwire Calendar of Wins, and our Priceline Maps (by posting in the appropriate forum category links will automatically be provided in the Priceline and Hotwire Calendar of Wins and Priceline Maps)

 

Do you have any other wins that you successfully waited until the last minute or are you basing your comments on this one-time experience?  Did you see rates drop significantly from the days/weeks prior OR were you 'successful' waiting because you were so happy with the price?

[mommados]

I did not want to enter an argument or annoy you. I have had several wins in Dallas, Oxford, Houston, Jackson, Memphis and Indianapolis in the last couple of days. I saved $100+ dollars because our plans flip-flopped over Easter with NOLA compared to the inventory a few days and weeks before. I just didn't know about Philadelphia. Again, I apologize. 

[thereuare]

I'm not annoyed (well, maybe about not sharing your wins)... i am/was asking a legitimate question:

 

21 minutes ago, mommados said:

I saved $100+ dollars because our plans flip-flopped over Easter with NOLA compared to the inventory a few days and weeks before.

If i'm understanding your post correctly your dates changed at the last minute and you ended up spending time in New Orleans over Easter, which if correct, it sounds like hotel rates were cheaper (vs. your previous dates) due to it being Easter... not necessarily because you purchased at the last minute.

 

21 minutes ago, mommados said:

I have had several wins in Dallas, Oxford, Houston, Jackson, Memphis and Indianapolis in the last couple of days.

I'm sure your wins could help others who are traveling to these locations in the future, it would be appreciated if you posted your wins in the appropriate section(s) of the board so that others can benefit from the information.

 

EDIT TO ADD:

To bring this full circle i searched for some other major upcoming holidays (since i can't yet search Easter Sunday next year) and found:

4* French Quarter - Canal Street for $77
==> so here is a 4* hotel property in the same zone for almost the same price as you paid (a few dollars cheaper actually) yet this stay is 6+ months in the future; so (assuming i have correctly assessed the situation based upon your post) i'll stick with my premise that the low rate was due to low demand over the holiday rather than necessarily purchasing close to your arrival date.