Priceline Hotel: Best 4* option in the Hollywood/LA area

[jlcclj]

Hi,

I just discovered this forum, and wow! This is great! I just want to say great job to the moderators and admins. Anyways, down to business. Im looking to stay in a 4* hotel in Hollywood General Area (will have rental car so area is flexible) from March 15-22 '08. Im willing to go as High as 130, however would love to find something as cheap as possible. Im a newbie to the priceline and hotwire deal, but I have read your stickies and I am familiar with the process. I do have some questions though. Is March '08 too far out to be using Priceline and HW? Or will I get better results booking this far in advance? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

To the locals and people familiar with the area: We are a couple in Mid-twenties and looking to do some site/seeing a bit of nightlife, and possible a day or 2 at the beach, with a rental car I know all this is possible but what are would be the best hotel area for this? Thanks again for your help. Great Forum! :)

v/r

Joe

[blindman]

Welcome to BetterBidding

but I have read your stickies and I am familiar with the process. I do have some questions though. Is March '08 too far out to be using Priceline and HW? Or will I get better results booking this far in advance? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

You must have missed one thread when looking around :)

I'm not a local to Hollywood :) but one tip is that with 4* hotels you can get stung with the cost of parking, whereas with the 2.5* hotels parking is free.

Look at the map to see locations and get reviews of hotels.

Another tip\warning.

If you bid on 2.5* with Priceline you can (and often will) get 'upgraded' to a 3*. This at times is NOT a good upgrade as you end up paying for parking, there's no free breakfast and you may end up in a different part of town.

[jlcclj]

Well I read that thread, and I understand the prices fluctuate. So I guess there is no general advice on bidding this far out. Thanks for that information. I had noticed that parking was going to be an issue as well. This is really a catch, because I would be willing to pay 130 for a 4 star stay, but if im paying 20-30 dollars a day for parking this throws me out of my budget. I guess there isnt really a good answer as far as the parking situation goes. I might just try going with a 2.5* for the free parking and breakfast, I just hope the quality of the hotel isnt a huge loss.. Guess im kinda stuck with that choice though. Fork out the parking charges, or Take a cut in room quality. Thanks for your help.. I'll keep posting more info.

[blindman]

Another thing to keep in mind is that, generally, long stays (you've put 7 days) tend to be a bit difficult to achieve on PL without having to split the bid or even plan to stay in two hotels.

IMHO the best value hotel is The Residence Inn at Manhattan beach

zbenye is a regular there and his posts are worth reading.

[jlcclj]

Yah, so I guess I should split it up to a 3 day and then a 4 day stay.. Possibly do the 4 day stay at a 3* first and then go out with a bang and stay the final 3 nights at a 4* and just eat the parking fee for the final 3 days. Either way thanks alot for the advice. If I could get the Residence Inn for the price that zbenye was getting for 7 days, I would definately be satisfied staying there all 3 days. Im not sure how I could target that specific hotel though. I'll get w/ zbenye and see if they have any tips. You've been a great help!

[thereuare]

Two other things to consider...

1) Bid for the last leg of your stay first, then once you know if there hotel charges for parking (and how much) you can try the extend your stay option (if offered)

2) Deduct the typical cost for parking from your maximum bid and try for your complete stay, using this 'lower' bid amount as your maximum (so once you add in parking your at your maximum budget)

Let us know once you decide how you'd like to proceed and we'll advise accordingly.

[jlcclj]

Great advice! Quick newbie question. Say I bid for a 4 star hotel in Beverly Hills for 70$ and then 72$ 73$...and dont get it. Since I have already bid on those prices in that area in that class of hotels does that mean I cannot go back a week later and look for the same bid,using the same specs. because I have already tried? Thanks for all the help you guys are awesome.

[thereuare]

You can't make the same exact bid within a 24 hour period... so if your bid(s) are rejected, you have to wait 24 hours to try that same exact bid again. However, as you can see from others posts here on the board, you can often use re-bids (see Priceline Re-Bidding Explained) to bid multiple times for the same stay and (in reality) the same zone, so i'd recommend letting us know the parameters of your stay and maximum budget and we can suggest a strategy for you to follow.

[Colfax]

A number of 2.5* hotels around Hollywood/West Hollywood area charge to park, and even some of the 2* charge. The charge will be less than at a 4* but don't count on free parking in that part of town, whatever quality level you bid.

I agree with blindman that you'll get bids accepted easier if you split this seven night stay into at least two pieces. Plus some variety is good.

Maybe a couple nights at a 3* in Santa Monica to be near the beach? The weekend in Hollywood/WeHo/BevHills?

[jlcclj]

Ok guys, I think im ready to begin the bidding war. Here are the specs my gf and I came up with, We are looking for a 3* hotel in the Beverly Hills/WHollywood/Hollywood/Santa Monica Area. We are looking to spend about 80 dollars a night, If we could get a 4* Hotel for that then it would be even better. Our dates are 03/15-22. We are also going to be getting a rental car for the same time frame, cheapest possible. Thanks again for any strategy advice. :)

[Colfax]

Just to be sure....do you want to bid for all 7 nights at one hotel?

$80 probably won't be enough for a 4* OR 3* in BH/WH or Hollywood. $80 might be enough for a 3* in Santa Monica/MDR, but there's a 3* in that zone that gets mostly bad reviews. Are you okay with the possibility of winning that hotel for your entire 7 night stay? If not either bid for a shorter term in Santa Monica or don't bid the zone.

Some possibilites for $80 or less:

2.5* BH/WH

4* LAX

3* LAX

4* Downtown

3* Redondo

2.5* Redondo

3* Burbank/Universal

You could also shoot for a couple nights at a 4* in BH/WH (prob $100-130 range) and the rest of the nights at a cheaper option in the $60's....averaging out to about $80/night over your 7 nights.

[jlcclj]

Well guys, thanks so much for the advice thus far. However, there has been a change of plans. My GF and I have decided to increase the amount of days, and spend 4 days in San Diego and the remaing 4 days in Beverly Hills/Hollywood area. We have decreased the star rating we are looking for to 2* or 2 1/2*. We are looking to stay in the Gaslamp District preferably however the San Diego downtown area in general will suffice, as I can imagine bidding for only that zone can probably be a bit tricky.

As for the Beverly Hills/Hollywood/Santa Monica area we figured to take your advice with the lower star level based on hopefully getting cheaper parking (the breakfast wouldnt be bad either). We would like to keep the San Diego bidding around 60, and the Beverly Hills Bidding around 70. The dates of our stay in San Diego will be March 14-18 and Beverly Hills March 18-22. And another thing, Im not limited to PL, I would be willing to use Hotwire as long as you guys can keep giving me the GREAT advice you have been so far.

Thanks again for the advice, if you want me to split the thread since some of this will be pertaining to San Diego just let me know!

Cheers

[Colfax]

To keep things straight it will be easier if you keep this thread about LA and start a new thread in the California-Other Cities section for your San Diego dates.

Hotwire has numerous options for your LA dates---four hotels in Hollywood/West Hollywood and four more hotels in Beverly Hills/Westwood/Century City. The only hotel that's under your $80 limit though is a 1* in Hollywood/WeHo for $59....and I do NOT recommend purchasing a 1* hotel in Hollywood.

I think winning a 2.5* under $80 on Priceline is realisitic. If you don't succeed to $80 now then I think you're bidding too early.

Do you prefer trying Priceline for a 2.5* first or do you want the least expensive room available, which is probably a 2*?

Also do you have a preference between Hollywood and WH/BH zones? Or do you want the least expensive option in either zone?

[thereuare]

We are looking to stay in the Gaslamp District preferably however the San Diego downtown area in general will suffice, as I can imagine bidding for only that zone can probably be a bit tricky.

I'll also add (before seeing your answers to the questions posed by Colfax) that HOTWIRE has a "Gaslamp Quarter" zone, so you may also want to do a HOTWIRE search to see if anything is within your price range in just that area, if that is where you really want to be.

[jlcclj]

Well, If I could get a 2.5* in BH/WH for around 80, then any either area would be fine, least expsensive zone preferrably. Like I said I could even do Santa Monica, im not familiar with the area but by looking on the map it looks close enough to BH that it would be ok.

By reading the other threads I gather that the better deals come from PL but its easier to target specific hotels by using Hotwire due to the Hotel Details they give you before buying. Is this an accurate statement?

[thereuare]

By reading the other threads I gather that the better deals come from PL but its easier to target specific hotels by using Hotwire due to the Hotel Details they give you before buying. Is this an accurate statement?

For the most part. Generally speaking, priceline is a little cheaper than HOTWIRE, but with HOTWIRE it's easier to target specific properties. This is very important whent here are hotels in a given area which you're trying to avoid... for if you can save $10 by using Priceline but end up a a hotel you'd rather not stay at, where is the value?

As well, each service defines their zones differently. In regards to your particular stay, as i mentioned previously, HOTWIRE has a zone which consists of just the Gaslamp Quarters... while priceline lumps this together with Downtown and Harbor Island... but this is a discussion for a different thread since this thread should only be used for your Los Angeles stay. Note that HOTWIRE also has the Los Angeles zones different... incluing Hollywood and West Hollywood into the same zone while Beverly Hills is together with Westwood and Century City.

So to confirm, for Los Angeles you're looking for a 2* or 2.5* in the Beverly Hills-West Hollywood for March 18-22 with an $80 limit? Did you also want to include the Santa Monica zone in your bidding? Did you want to try up to your limit first for a 2.5* and then try for a 2*... or is the least expensive 2* or better what you're seeking (NOTE: i'd use caution when using purchasing an opaque 2* property)