Priceline Hotel: 2.5* San Diego (Mission Valley) Handlery Hotel

[tmaok]

My trip to San Diego is from 6/18-6/21/06. Originally I was planning to stay at my friend's place, but it didn't work out, so I started looking for hotels late. I didn't know about priceline and all the bidding tricks until a few days ago. Anyway, I was very disappointed that I didn't get a 3* at $75 bidding price while I was using the bidding tricks. Then, I tried the 2* at the highest bidding price of $60 and still couldn't any. I checked other posts and seemed like people can get 2.5* at $55 couple days ago. Is it too late to bid and that's why I can't get a good deal?

Thank you so much for your help. This site is AWESOME!

[WillTravel]

What zones in San Diego are acceptable?

I wouldn't hold out high hopes of getting a killer deal - saving a moderate amount for a summer San Diego stay seems more likely. You can look at Hotwire and get a sense of whether hotel rates are high for your dates, and look at regular hotel rates too.

[thereuare]

What zones in San Diego are acceptable?

[tmaok]

Thanks for your reply.

My acceptable zones are as followed with preference #:

1) Downtown San Diego and Harbor Island

2) San Diego Coastal

3) Point Loma - Shelter Island - Old Town

4) Mission Valley

5) Coronado

6) Del Mar

7) Sorrento Mesa

I had car rental already, so I don't mind to get around the city a little bit more, but if I can get the hotel in the top 4 zones, that'll be more ideal. I'm hoping to get 3* at around $75 or less. If I end up with 2* hotels, I'd like to pay less than $50, since I can actually book a 2* hotel in Mission Valley at $47.6/night at Expedia. I used other areas without 3* hotels to bid my 3* starting with $50 and after I used up all the areas at $75, I still couldn't get a deal. So, I lowered my rating to 2*, and started bidding at $40. I didn't use the other areas this time, since I don't want to stay with those areas as most of them have 2* , and up to $60, I still couldn't get a deal.

I also looked into Hotwire too, 2* at Mission Valley is $68, 2.5* in Downtown is $86, 3* in Mission Valley is $95. 3* in Seaworld is $118.

Do you guys think I should give up and book the 2* at Expedia since I'm running out of time? I also checked other forum topics and seemed someone was trying to get Omni at SD Downtown with bidding prcie $150 and didn't get it, but got it 2 days later with $95 bidding price. How did that happen? Should I bid again couple days later to try my luck???

Thanks for reading this!

[thereuare]

If i'm understanding your post correctly... you have already bid up to your limit in your top four zones? (which are really the only ones which are currently acceptable)

[tmaok]

at the end, after adding the areas without 3*, yes.

[tmaok]

so, I ended up bidding again tonight and I got a hotel!

Here's the process:

Downtown 3*, $55

Downtown 2.5*, $56

added San Diego Coastal, $58

added Old town, $60

added Mission Vally, $63

added Coronardo, $65 and won a 2.5* hotel (Handlery Hotel And Resort) at Mission Valley

Check-in date: 6/18/06

check-out date: 6/21/06

Total charges: $226.49 for 3 nights

I checked the reviews about this hotel in this site, and they're pretty bad. I checked the reviews and they are extremely mixed. Will post my review here after my trip. Hopefully it's not too bad.