Priceline Hotel: Hotel in San Francisco

[priyanka]

Hello 

 

I am looking for a 3 night stay in San Francisco , from 4th May onwards.....I am unsure how priceline/hotwire bidding works....or even their express deals...

We are 4 adults & 2 children (ages 4 & 1) & looking for a family friendly hotel & from what i have been reading, Union square East is a favorable location.

 

Do help me understand the express deals & if you have come across a good deal we can book right away.

We are looking for the best deal possible & not a overly expensive hotel.

 

 Please help !!!!

 

 

-

priyanka

 

 

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

 

To get started, i assume you're looking for 2 rooms?

 

What is your desired star rating and maximum budget (per room per nite before fees/taxes)

 

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.

[AaronJB]

PRICELINE bidding ("Name Your Own Price"):  You choose a star rating and zone (or zones) and enter a bid price; the service will search and tell you whether the bid is accepted or not. If not, you can make the same bid (in terms of star rating and zone) again in a couple of hours.

 

HOTWIRE and PRICELINE EXPRESS: Both services offer fixed listings that tell you amenities, star rating, zone and price. The hotel is not revealed until after purchase.

 

In both cases, after the purchase is finalized, it cannot be changed or refunded. Bidding is generally slightly/mildly cheaper than PRICELINE EXPRESS or HOTWIRE, but there is value in HOTWIRE and PRICELINE EXPRESS in that the information given allows one to make an educated guess as to which hotel is showing. WIth bidding, you have to be willing to accept any hotel at the star rating chosen in the zone/s picked.

 

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.

 

[priyanka]

so then....the express deals are better since we can take an educated guess....

 

my budget is $120 per night.....i do see a PRICELINE EXPRESS deal on priceline for $128....for a union square east.....but not sure of this area or hotel...would u be aware of what this hotel might be ??

 

i dont think i am going to get anything cheaper than that........any thoughts??

[AaronJB]

When searching for 2 rooms on PRICELINE EXPRESS for these dates (please confirm the correct # of rooms and dates are showing after clicking the links below) I'm seeing:

 

4* Union Square East - Nob Hill for $128
Restaurant
No Smoking Rooms/Facilities
>>>Best guess would be the Villa Florence. If this is the Villa Florence, there is an additional resort fee.

 

4* Union Square East - Nob Hill for $156
Pets Allowed
Fitness Center
Business Center
Restaurant
No Smoking Rooms/Facilities
>>>Best guess here would be the Westin St Francis

 

Let us know what you decide or if we can be of any further assistance. Definitely let us know if you have any questions before booking.

 

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.

 

[priyanka]

there is no mention of a resort fee for the $128 hotel.....so maybe its not villa florence.....or do they charge us once we get there, since priceline does not reflect any resort fee charges?? any ideas?

[priyanka]

i guess the $156 deal is over.....dont see it anymore! :(

[priyanka]

i am thinking maybe the $128 deal is a good one....considering there is a 5% discount going on too.....

 

 

[thereuare]

For this PRICELINE EXPRESS offer:

4* Union Square East - Nob Hill (confirm your dates on the landing page) for $128/nite with:
Restaurant
No Smoking Rooms/Facilities
==> i agree that the Villa Florence is the best guess for this one.  PRICELINE is usually pretty good about showing the resort fee for hotels that do charge one, but sometimes a handful can slip thru the cracks and not show a resort fee, this may be one of those instances

 

The other issue you need to contend with that was not mentioned above is that PRICELINE only guarantees double occupancy, after that it's at the discretion of the hotel. With this PRICELINE EXPRESS offer there is a 'Bed Choice' shown and one of those choices is for rooms with 2 beds, which is beneficial to your needs.  Although technically your reservation is still only for double occupancy, i don't know of anyone who has yet had an issue showing up with triple/quad occupancy when a specific room type was booked and that room is designed to accommodate the number of guests in the group (it's also usually less of an issue when the children are very young like in this situation vs. if the 'child' is 16 years old, 6' 2" tall and 225 lbs of muscle).

 

The other option would be HOTWIRE you can search for up to quad occupancy and searching for your dates for 2rooms/4adults/2children i see the following;

 

3.5* HOTWIRE Union Square East for $133.00
Boutique
Smoke Free
Fitness
Business
Hi-Speed Internet
Room Accessible
==> this too i believe to be the Villa Florence

 

or you could consider this one:

4* HOTWIRE Union Square East for $142.00
Pet Friendly
Smoke Free
Fitness
Restaurant
Business
Hi-Speed Internet
Golf
Blind Accessible
Deaf Accessible
Travel Accessible
Room Accessible
Bathroom Accessible
Roll-in Shower
==> from the Hotwire Hotel List this matches previous reports for the Parc 55 San Francisco - a Hilton Hotel and would be my best guess here, which would be about the same price as the guessed Villa Florence when looking at an all-in price since afaik this one does not charge any resort fee

 

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.

 

Let us know what you decide and how it goes or how we can be of further help.

[priyanka]

im really thankful for all your help here.......appreciate it !!

 

since these are non refundable....i want to make sure i make a low risk decision!

 

the priceline hotel deal mentions that kids under 17 years stay free if using existing beds......since the double beds option is available (same price as single beds) -- i was looking to book this option...

 

Can they add additional fees later ?? i have seen pricing where they specify the resort fees additionally to be paid online/in hotel.....

 

the online reviews of villa florence are a little scary......& hence i am wondering if this will be a good pick !!!

 

Parc 55 shows its on union square west ......& i was reading it may not be a great neighborhood...so i am really confused now!!!

[priyanka]

the $128 PRICELINE deal is under $1000 which i feel is a good deal.....

 

HOTWIRE & everywhere else its over $1000 which is a lil more than what i estimated.....

 

San Francisco hotels are soo expensive !!! i wonder why !!  

[thereuare]

9 minutes ago, priyanka said:

San Francisco hotels are soo expensive !!! i wonder why !!  

It's a large city with expensive real estate prices and the employees need to be paid a wage comparable for the area (ie- labor costs are higher in large cities than in rural areas)... not to mention demand from business travelers, tourists, and conferences/conventions.

 

16 minutes ago, priyanka said:

the $128 PRICELINE deal is under $1000 which i feel is a good deal.....

HOTWIRE & everywhere else its over $1000 which is a lil more than what i estimated.....

Assuming we are correct on the guess of the Villa Florence then the two offers will be very similar after taking into account the additional fee at the Villa Florence.

 

13 minutes ago, priyanka said:

Can they add additional fees later ??

There can be... but usually not.  Years ago neither PRICELINE not HOTWIRE ever showed resort fees, but they have each gotten better at disclosing these before purchase.  However, as per the comments in my previous reply there are sometimes a few hotels that have fallen thru the cracks (or only recently started to charge a resort fee) and have not been updated.

 

15 minutes ago, priyanka said:

Parc 55 shows its on union square west

PRICELINE and HOTWIRE each use different names and/or boundaries for their hotel maps... with PRICELINE the Parc 55 is in the Union Square West zone; on HOTWIRE this same property is in the Union Square East zone.  Assuming you have faith in our guess for this HOTWIRE offer why not instead focus on the location of this specific hotel rather than the zone as a whole? (and if you look at the details of the HOTWIRE offer the underlying property gets a 4.5/5.0 rating across the board from previous guests, and one of the categories is 'Location' so for this specific property i wouldn't expect location to be too much of a concern, imo)

 

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.

 

Let us know what you decide and how it goes or how we can be of further help.

[priyanka]

i will check out HOTWIRE now......the links you are adding for them do not lead me to the hotel....but the hotwire site....

 

will check their PRICELINE EXPRESS deals on their page....

 

i am very confused now !! 

[thereuare]

16 minutes ago, priyanka said:

i am very confused now !! 

About what exactly??

 

If there is a specific hotel above you want and are ready to purchase we can provide you a link directly to the hotel, but as HOTWIRE links expire in about 30 minutes we don't usually post them directly until ready for purchase since it otherwise creates lots of broken links on the board which is of no use to anyone.

 

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.

[priyanka]

i think the whole uncertainty of a PRICELINE EXPRESS deal frazzled me ....but yeah ....it seems villa florence is the more likely hotel in that $128 & i was checking ....they have a hotel fee (if i go by normal booking) of nearly $200 which i might have to pay during check in .....so it all adds up & as said by u earlier.....adds up to the other hotel deals..like Parc 55

 

now i am def looking at other options....this $128 doesnt seem like a great idea after all !!

 

in your opinion...is there any SF hotel deal trending right now....which is not overly expensive... & in the location i mentioned......

 

i do appreciate ur time & help in this !!

[AaronJB]

Some of the other things I'm seeing on PRICELINE EXPRESS (please confirm the correct dates of travel are showing on the detail page after clicking the links below.)

 

4* Union Square East - Nob Hill for $168
Restaurant
No Smoking Rooms/Facilities
>>>Best guess would be the Orchard

 

4* Union Square East - Nob Hill for $145
Pets Allowed
Business Center
Restaurant
No Smoking Rooms/Facilities
Free Internet
>>>Best guess would be the Sir Francis Drake. There is a resort fee here, as well, but keep in mind that you're still getting a deal as regular rate has to pay the same resort fee.

 

4.5* Financial District - Embarcadero for $165
Pets Allowed
Business Center
Restaurant
Free Internet
Fitness Center
>>>Best guess would be the Le Meridien

 

4* Union Square West for $101
Fitness Center
Business Center
Restaurant
No Smoking Rooms/Facilities
>>>This would be a possible match for the Serrano, which is about 2.5 blocks from the Villa Florence mentioned earlier. There is also a resort fee, but the per room cost is cheaper than any other 4* options in core areas.

 

Would any of these options be of interest?

 

Let us know what you decide or if we can be of any further assistance.

 

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.

[thereuare]

17 minutes ago, priyanka said:

this $128 doesnt seem like a great idea after all !!

Just because a hotel is all-in more than you want to spend doesn't make it not a good deal... you may need to be more realistic as to what hotels in this area cost (and adjust your expectations accordingly... either increasing your budget, lowering your star rating, or staying in a different zone)

 

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.

 

 

 

 

[priyanka]

the thing is i dont mind paying a bit more.....but the online review of say....villa florence scare me...lots of issues were mentioned ....& since im travelling with kids & senior people i need to be a little more careful....

 

i was going by a basic 3-4 star hotel... with positive responses..... but yeah...im checking other options too.....

[thereuare]

... which is why i highlighted the guessed Parc 55 above which all-in would be about the same price and has better reviews.  

4 hours ago, thereuare said:

4* HOTWIRE Union Square East for $142.00
Pet Friendly
Smoke Free
Fitness
Restaurant
Business
Hi-Speed Internet
Golf
Blind Accessible
Deaf Accessible
Travel Accessible
Room Accessible
Bathroom Accessible
Roll-in Shower
==> from the Hotwire Hotel List this matches previous reports for the Parc 55 San Francisco - a Hilton Hotel and would be my best guess here, which would be about the same price as the guessed Villa Florence when looking at an all-in price since afaik this one does not charge any resort fee

 

Also, when 'declaring' the 2rooms/4adults/2children in your search you don't need to worry about the bed choice options since HOTWIRE guarantees there will be sleeping accommodations for everyone that you include in your search.

 

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.

[priyanka]

yup...looking into parc55 now