Priceline Hotel: 3* Toronto (Downtown) Marriott Bloor Yorkville

[travelAlot]

A bit of a shocker here in a very good way. Arriving on a late-night flight and research showed that a bunch of airport hotels either charge for shuttles or dont run them that late. So Plan B was downtown, despite Hotwire rates (which usually correlate to PL somewhat as far as availability price etc). Challenge is that it's the last business night before the Canada Day Weekend.

On this go-around, did the textbook $45, $48, $50, and then $52 with the 3 rebids -- 2 zones and DT combinations separately and together. The previous day a friend and I bid from $35 to $49 and, based on previous posts on here and TOBB, I knew $45 probably was a good starting point (a few years back I got the DT Courtard Marriott for $32.night so wanted to be sure that I didnt initially start too high). Cheapest rate for this Marriott is $339 Can (aka $287 US) for a discounted concierege room ($399 Can/#337 US for "standard room"), so I'd say it's a great deal (82% savings). Also from what I remember this hotel is very upper 3-star quality (not sure why it's not a 4-star to be honest). Plus it's right on the subway line that the airport bus connects to, as one option. Originally linked via S-B to make my bids.

Other thing that this successful bid proves is that you shouldn't be so sure that existing Toronto hotel rates correlate to PL's specific inventory. I.E. for 3-stars, the Bond Place (bearable for a night as 1 double bed or 2 twins and is really a 2-star but ranked 3-star) and Delta Chelsea were by far the least expensive 3-stars showing at $109 and $149 Can for that night. My winning bid hotel came out of nowhere, just as say the Renaissance (way se downtown by Rogers Centre) could've come up in a similar scenario as T.O. has a huge downtown zone (and PL, unlike Hotwire, doesnt break it up). The other aspect is the Marriott factor -- with about 4-5 successful bids especially in Vegas and Toronto, Marriotts can come upeven though their retail rates are wayyyy higher than competing hotels in the same quality/star category. FYI.

[thereuare]

Nicely done!

Glad to see your plans were flexible enough to switch zones which enabled you to score this great deal.

I've often found very little correlation between the hotel with the lowest rate in the zone being the one to accept the bid... every hotel (manager) has a different philosophy on revenue management, and how to best utilize discounting thru the opaque suppliers.

Thanks for the post and for using the SavingsBarn.com PRICELINE links for your bidding.

Have a great stay!