Hotwire Hotel: San Diego Hotels

[Hillier]

Hi,

We are travelling to San Diego for our Honeymoon September 20 - 25/07 from Canada. We have never been there before. We want to stay at a beachfront property. We are planning to vist Seaworld and the Zoo and also get in a little shopping while we are there. Just by searching the internet the options seem endless. From some research we are interested in the Coranodo Beach and the Mission Valley areas. We are looking to stay 4*. What kind of price should I be bidding on priceline and what hotel should I expect to get.

Also we are planning to rent a car during our stay, How difficult is it to get around San Diego?

Any help would be good

PH

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

We want to stay at a beachfront property.... What kind of price should I be bidding on priceline

With priceline you can't guarantee a beachfront property. If this is a 'must have' then you may be better searching HOTWIRE since the amenity icons will enable you to know whether the proerty being offered is Beachfront or not... or are you willing to forego the beachfront requirement?

[Colfax]

Priceline's Coastal zone has several beachfront properties but not EVERY 4* hotel in that zone is beachfront.

For your dates HOTWIRE has a 4* with a Beachfront icon in their SeaWorld-Mission Bay-Shelter Island zone for $195. I didn't check conventional rates to see if that's any kind of a deal.

Usually you can win a 4* in Priceline's Coastal zone for much less than $195, often something like $90-120/night. Anything you win on Priceline would be within a mile of a beach, but maybe not beachfront.

The 4* Marriott in Priceline's Coronado zone would be another suitable place to honeymoon on Priceline. The Marriott has three pools but again, it's about a mile from the hotel to Coronado Beach.

You can also compromise between "budget" and "beachfront" if you're willing to split your bid and possibly stay at two different hotels, as follows:

Bid to $120 or $130 for your first three nights on Priceline. If you win a beachfront property you can use Priceline's Add a Night feature to try and get the same beachfront property for your last two nights. If you don't win a beachfront property you could book something with a beachfront icon on HOTWIRE for the other two nights, or book a beachfront hotel conventionally.

Regarding your traffic question: Like all big cities San Diego has bad traffic at rush hour. The tourist attractions are somewhat spread out and pulic transit doesn't serve them all well. Most tourists will rent a car and deal with the traffic.

[Hillier]

Thanks for the response and all the information. After a little more internet surfing and talking with friends the Mission Bay area is probably the best fit for us. It is not real important that we are beachfront but walking distance would be nice. If I search for a 4* in the Mission Bay area what hotels would I likely get and what amount should I bid? We have decided to extend our stay for 7 days from September 12 - 19/07

[thereuare]

....but walking distance would be nice

Are you able to accept a hotel anywhere within the shaded boundary which priceline uses to define this zone?

what hotels would I likely get

You can see the hotels previously reported in this zone by looking in the Priceline Hotel List

what amount should I bid?

If you're ready to bid (your dates are now firm and are willing to accept a hotel anywhere within the zone) let us know and we'll suggest a strategy to follow. Also, what is your maximum bid... this will ensure we don't suggest a strategy that goes higher than you're willing to bid.

[Colfax]

For a longer 7 day stay HOTWIRE has a 4* Mission Bay for $224 which appears to be the Paradise Point Resort. Booked directly through the hotel's website Paradise Point is $260.43 for those dates; so not much savings. It is a waterfront property though.

I expect you could do much better than $224 on Priceline, although Priceline's Coastal zone also includes La Jolla hotels. (Not just the Mission Bay area.)

Are you wanting to stay in one hotel all seven nights?

HOTWIRE has some good deals for 4* in Coronado (appears to be Loew's Resort) for portions of your seven night stay, but not for all seven nights. For example, they've got Loew's (or what appears to be Loew's) for $129 for 9/12-9/16.