Priceline Hotel: 3* DC (Dupont Circle) Washington Hilton and Towers

[guest0]

Bid up to $78 a night on all zones, nothing...

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Can i ask where you came up with the $78 figure as your maximum bid? Based upon rates i'm currently seeing for your dates i don't think you're giving yourself a chance.

Do you have a back-up plan if you're not successful on Priceline? If so, where and how much?

[guest0]

I bid up to $85, still nothing. Also tried just the first two days, and I bid 3* up to $65. Maybe Priceline is busy that weekend?

I was judging the bid based on prior successful bids on 4* hotels.

I do have an expensive backup reservation, but I wanted to get the cheapest rate possible under Priceline.

Anyway, failed bids are informative too so people know where to start their bidding. :)

[thereuare]

I think you would have success at 4* for the first nite, but rates jump on the second nite and some hotels are even sold-out for the third nite.

This is an example of other winning bids may not be applicable to your own stay... rates are very much supply/demand driven and differ from stay-to-stay.

What is your back-up and how much?

[guest0]

I eventually got the Washington Hilton and Towers (3* in Dupont Circle) for $78/night.

Bidding history: up to $72 for Georgetown/White House/Dupont, failed.

Started a new bid at $74 for 3* White House, failed.

Added Georgetown, $76, failed.

Added Dupont, $78, got the Hilton.

I thought normally Dupont hotels were more expensive, but oh well. Still not a bad deal. The best possible price was at least $73.

Cheapest I could find was $119 a night, on most travel websites. Priceline works out to $91.50/nt after taxes, so it's not that bad.

I wish I could edit my original post!

[gleff]

Cheapest I could find was $119 a night, on most travel websites. Priceline works out to $91.50/nt after taxes, so it's not that bad.

Check out the room details on that $119 rate, I've seen it before and I'm pretty sure it's for an irregular small room with only a foldout couch or a bed that folds out of the wall rather than for a regular room.

Odds on you actually got a room that was otherwise selling for $199-$249 depending on the night.

[guest0]

The $119/nt was for any type of normal room (1 or 2 beds) on Travelocity/Yahoo.

Going to their web site directly, you can get the "Hilton Guest Room" or "Accessible Room" with 1 or 2 beds for $113 for Sat/Sun and $107 Monday via their (non-refundable) "Net Direct" rates.

Of course there is 14.50% tax, which makes the total $381.29. Compared to my $274.45 total from Priceline, I saved $106.84 = 28%. On the other hand, I can't get HHonors points/miles for my stay, but it's still nice to save over $100.

[gleff]

Sorry abot that :)

I've seen that $119 rate a bunch of times with the irregular room with the pullout bed.

[guest0]

Just got back from the trip. The room and hotel were fine. The lady was nice enough to add my HHonors number, and I got credit for the stay. According to my HHonors statement, Priceline paid $219 for three nights = $73 a night for the room.