Priceline Hotel: 4* San Diego (Downtown and Harbor Island) Omni

[ashatara]

PL lumps San Deigo's Harbor Island (HI) and Downtown/Gaslamp (DT) together -and I want to stay in DT, NOT on HI.

One post I read (on here, I believe) said that they didn't go past $85 on a bid for fear of getting the Sheraton on HI. But that doesn't make that much sense to me, especially because the Sheraton has gone for $80 on PL before.

Any advice? I would really love the Omni or the Westin -just a great hotel in the Gaslamp b/c I won't have a car and I don't want to waste money on taxis (struggling student here, and this trip is already looking like a splurge!)

The highest I can go is 100.00. I need it for 4 nights, starting Friday, May 12th and checking out on Tuesday May 16th.

Thanks!!

Oh, and of course I'll be going through SavingsBarn.

[thereuare]

What about searching on Hotwire... you can probably take an educated guess at figuring out the hotel beforehand (we can help) or at the very least figure out how to avoid the Sheraton.

[ashatara]

On Hotwire, the lowest I've managed to come across for a 4 star hotel in Central SD is $123. The Omni is already at $129 on most other travelsites so I decided not to bother with HW, but I am still checking twice a day.

So I guess there are no tips for avoiding Harbor Island if it's lumped with Downtown?

[WillTravel]

Unfortunately no. This is the main issue that makes bidding for downtown San Diego unappealing to me. You could check the Sheraton web site and see if they are sold out, which is unlikely, but even if they were, people fairly often win Priceline bids at sold-out hotels. Maybe you can find a cheaper, non-4* hotel on Hotwire that is definitely downtown?

[ashatara]

Thanks, WillTravel.

I thought as much :-(. I'll have to ponder how badly I want the Omni....

[slruud]

Build an altar...get a chicken and a goat...

Well not really. When I bid for the Downtown/Harbor Island zone for our trip in early March, I noticed that the Sheraton had not been won for some time. That gave me some confidence that these hotels do not always provide inventory to Priceline constantly, and resulted in a win at the Hilton Gaslamp Quarter. Just got to think positive.

Or get the rabbit's foot and go see Madame Zuco down the street.

Good luck.

[ashatara]

YAY! Thanks for the good luck wish and all the advice!

I got the OMNI at $95 for four nights!!!!!

4/12 - 4/16

I called immediately and asked for two beds and an nonsmoking room as high up as possible :-). They were very nice.

:) thru SB link...

[thereuare]

Glad to hear of your success in this great deal and in avoiding the hotel you didn't want.

Thank you for sharing your win and for starting your bids with the PRICELINE links at SavingsBarn.com

Have a great stay.