Priceline Hotel: Venice Hotel

[Laukland]

I am trying to get a 4* Hotel in Venice Metsre region. My research shows four of these hotels in the shaded region on Priceline. The prices varied between US$140.00 to $190.00 for the 4 hotels.

First Bid.

4* Hotel

Mestre Region

Sept. 16 & 17 2004

Price Bid $70.00

REJECTED

2nd Bid

added Venice Island

Bid $80.00

Still rejected

I do not want to drop down to 3* as yet so I guess I wait and bid again in 3 days?

This is a very helpful site. Thanks Thereuare. I saw your posts on cruisecritic.

This is my maiden post on this site. Hope I am following protocol.

Thanks.

[WillTravel]

I can't say for sure, but this might be way too early to try to get a hotel in Mestre for September 2004. Many hotels do not put out inventory this far in advance.

I would suggest booking a cancellable backup and then just bidding every few weeks until nearer the end when you can ramp up your bidding. Also, Priceline is often not as great a deal for most European cities as it is for many US cities and London, so you might have to raise your limit. What's the cheapest cancellable rate you can find for a hotel that you would be okay with?

I notice you are bidding for Mestre, even though it's outside Venice. I presume you are choosing ths because Venice itself is usually more expensive, although nicer. Did you include Venice itself as your second bid (not sure if you chose that or Lido de Venice)?

Also, are you bidding just for the night of September 16, or for the nights of September 16 and 17?

This might be a difficult city to start out with on Priceline, but best of luck getting a great deal.

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Nice job on doing your homework and finding the possible hotels within the shaded region!

I agree that it's too early to be willing to drop to 3* in quality, and it's probably too early to have success on this bid. There's certainly no harm in trying, but i think you will drive yourself crazy :) trying this every 72 hours. I'd suggest trying this every 2-3 weeks to keep your sanity, and then get a little more 'serious' around the March/April timeframe.

Also, if you really want the Mestre region, i wouldn't be adding Venice Island at this point (unless you'd be equally happy staying there). I'm assuming this is just a pleasure trip (and not for a convention or some other big event in town which would cause unusually high demand and low vacancy), and if that's the case there is not need to compromise your first-choice selections at this point.

I'd also recommend booking some sort of fully cancellable and refundable back-up reservation in the meantime. This takes some of the pressure off when bidding (you'd be surprised how easy it is to get wrapped up in the process) and will at least give you the peace of mind knowing that even if Priceline doesn't eventually come thru for you (although i think it will) that you will have a bed to sleep on and a roof over your head.

Lastly, i'm assuming you don't need more than 2 people in the room? Priceline only guarantees sleeping accomodations for 2 people per room, and while it's usually not a problem in the U.S. (except in some major metro areas, like NYC for example), most European hotels have different standards than their US counterparts and i wouldn't recommend one room for more than two people in Europe.

Thanks for posting, and feel free to ask any additional questions you have along the way or that the above may have sparked.

[Laukland]

The cheapest rate so far is 184.00 per night at Bestwestern Hotel Bologna. I added venice the second time just to get a second bid and to increase bid price did not expect that price to get 4* in Venice. Choice of mestre due more to Logistics than ambience of area. Understand it is easy to get to Venice proper by train from there.

I need two nights 16th and 17th.

Thanks Will Travel.

[WillTravel]

I presume you would be happy ending up in Venice if you got it, though. (Most people would prefer Venice to Mestre.) I have suggested TravelAxe on other threads for help in finding the cheapest rates - you might take a look at that also, but like thereuare said just make sure that anything you book is indeed cancellable and refundable. Also, if you find a cheap price there that is not totally cancellable and refundable, you can often go directly to the hotel web site and find the same thing that *is* cancellable and refundable.

[Laukland]

Third Bid.

4* Hotel

Mestre Region

Sept. 16 & 17 2004

Price Bid $90.00

Bid rejected. Priceline advisory states that the lowest price their partners in this area are accepting is $117.00

Will keep trying without jumping to 117.00 just yet.

[WillTravel]

What was the exact wording from Priceline? They do always try to encourage you to bid too much.

[Laukland]

The exact wording:

Retail Price $117.00

The retail rate displayed is the median of the lowest rates our participating hotels are offering to the general public for the travel dates you selected. These rates are based on the quality level you chose, the city, and the area you selected. These rates are recorded at the time of booking and do not include rates that are restricted to membership programs (such as AAA, AARP), Government rates, negotiated corporate rates, etc.

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[WillTravel]

That doesn't have anything to do with the bid price. It's just like it says - the median of the retail rates. It does suggest you can probably find something cheaper than $117 if you look through other channels and look for discounts.

But back to Priceline, lots of people on this board have gotten bids (although maybe not in Venice) for rates that are about 1/3 of that listed price. Priceline displays that price to try to encourage people to bid high, but it won't help you in the slightest in determining what a good bid price is nor will it tell you if Priceline has any cheap inventory for your dates.

[thereuare]

I wouldn't try to over-analyze this at this point.... chances are there is no priceline inventory due to the date being over 10 months away.

Hotel managers have <almost> no idea what demand will be like 10 months from now (for example, maybe a wedding party will need a block of rooms) and therefore has no desire to release 'distressed priced inventory' at this point in time.