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Priceline Hotel: San Francisco 05/16-05/18


shwhattam
By shwhattam,
in

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I'm looking to book in SanFrancisco for 2 nights starting on 05/16th. I'm trying PRICELINE/HOTWIRE and am having no luck. Ideally I'd like to be central as in Union Sq. East/West, North Beach, Fisherman's Wharf, Cathedral Hill. Our budget is such that ideally we could find something at $100/night or less :)

Wondering if anyone has used Hotwire or Priceline to book in SanFran during these dates, and if so what were the results? Basically just trying to get an idea of what hotels are offered and for what rate.

Thanks :)

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Need help to identify the hotel offered on HOTWIRE.

3-star hotel in Japantown - Civic Center North

Hotel Amenities

Fitness Center

Guests have access to exercise equipment; an additional charge may apply.

Pool(s)

Property offers at least one pool area; hours and dates of operation may be seasonal.

Restaurant(s)

Property offers at least one restaurant on the premises; hours and days of operation may vary.

Business Center

Guests have access to business equipment and services; an additional charge may apply.

High-speed Internet Access

Guestrooms are equipped with high-speed Internet access; an extra charge may apply.

Thanks for any help. If there is other info I should be providing, please advise.

Thanks :)

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Please don't double post the same request in each forum... keep all posts for the same stay in the same thread. This thread is currently in the PRICELINE forum, if you ultimatley use HOTWIRE we'll then move the entire thread to that section of the board.

You can see wins for specific dates in our Priceline and Hotwire Calendar of Wins.

The HOTWIRE hotel above is a match for the Holiday Inn Golden Gateway so that would be our best guess... but those amenities are quite common for a 'city hotel' so there could be others with the same description not yet reported to the board.

What amounts have you already bid on PRICELINE and at what star level?

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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  • 2 weeks later...
I am trying to bid a hotel in San Fran from 5/9-5/11 around union square. I put in $80 for a 4 stars and it asked me to raise $22 more. I am still thinking if I should. You could get a 4 star room for 95 which is better deal.

I think that's a great deal. I've gone up to $150 a night for May 16-18 and not even a counter offer was offered to me. My problem seems to be the night of the 16th. Most deals are not being offered on that night :) Where did you find a 4 star for $95?

Here is a great deal I found on Travelzoo. $99/night and a great area.

http://hotels.travelzoo.com/california-hotels/385603

It's available for your week-end :o Not mine :)

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What is the best deal you're able to find thru conventional methods? (use our BetterChecker.com to assist in your search.

What is your maximum bid? What is your minimum star rating?

If you're not necessarily looking for a 4* hotel, what about the Hotel Carlton for $109/nite thru Quickbook? (please use our Quickbook link if you go this route)

I don't know anything about this property other than that the reviews are very good and it seems to be priced right relative to your rejected bid thus far. (EDIT: in looking at the map i see that this is west of the area you want to be, but i'll leae the info up in case it happens to be on a cablecar line or if you could somehow make it work for your needs given the price/value ratio)

If not, is SPLITTING YOUR PRICELINE BID an option?

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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Thank you so much for the suggestion of the Hotel Carlton...it looks to be a good deal. It may have been meant for the original poster, but I'm looking for somewhere 3+ plus (ideally) for around $100/night. Do you know of any other good deals. I'm staying May 16 - 18th, the problem I seem to be having is that all the decent rates I find have May 16th and or 17th blacked out. I found an excellent deal for $100/night at the Meriden, but again my dates were not applicable :)

Sorry...one more thing, I'd love to be in the North Beach/East Union district. Trying to avoid Fisherman's Wharf.

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Sorry...one more thing, I'd love to be in the North Beach/East Union district. Trying to avoid Fisherman's Wharf.

Priceline doesn't have a "North Beach/East Union" zone. Fisherman's Wharf is the nearest zone to North Beach. If you don't want Fisherman's Wharf what Priceline zones are acceptable?

Hotwire has a Lombard Street-Marina zone, but for your dates the cheapest option there is $134 for a 3*, which is over your $100 limit.

The best thing I see near $100 now is a 3* in Civic Center North-Japantown for $102, which appears to be the Holiday Inn Golden Gateway. thereuare identified that hotel for you a couple weeks ago but you haven't responded whether that's a viable option or not.

You also have the option of waiting a couple weeks to see if prices come down. If you do that you should book a cancellable backup now. The Bay to Breakers race is May 18. That will be a very busy weekend for SF hotels and many will sell out.

==================

eggsandham,

If you want assistance with your own bid please start a new thread by clicking "New Topic".

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Thanks for all your advise. I didn't respond on the Civic Center North Japantown, as I made a costly Priceline error. I had been bidding over a few days period and accidently entered in March 16-18th, instead of May. Point being, of course that's the auction I won and now the only way I can even get one night refunded is if I choose exactly the same options, but of course this time with the correct date. That took 3+ hours on the phone to arrange.

My choices were 4* + in the Union Square East - Embarcadero. I've gone up to $150/night and still nothing. At this point I'm going to cut my losses and am open to anything decent for around $100/night. Holiday Inn could be an option.

I was wondering what was going on that w/e as every deal I encounter isn't applicable for the w/e I'm staying. Frustrating!

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Ouch! I've done that myself. It's good Priceline is letting you rebid for your desired dates, as they don't always allow that.

Before I respond further which hotel did you win for the wrong dates and how much was your winning bid? Even though it was a mistake that info will still be useful to others.

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It would have been helpful, but the dates already passed. I bidded on March 16-18th instead of May. Someone on the board had already one a 4* in the UE/Emb area for the same dates and hotel I won, I thought I would bid the same options for May. For some reason after reading the post, March stuck in my head instead of May...and well you know the rest of the story :) It is good of Priceline...but my options must remain the same which are pretty limiting for what I can afford. I've decided to take the loss and try to find something priced lower to compensate.

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It is good of Priceline...but my options must remain the same which are pretty limiting for what I can afford. I've decided to take the loss and try to find something priced lower to compensate.

What did Priceline tell you you need to do to get your money back? Do you have to get a new bid accepted for the exact parameters as in your mistaken bid? For example, if you were accepted for the wrong dates at a 4* in USE will you only get your money back if you win another 4* in USE? Or will Priceline let you rebid for a 2.5* or 3* too?

Also is there a time deadline for getting your new bid accepted? I bid for the wrong dates once, several years ago, and Priceline said they would refund my error if I got another bid accepted within a certain time frame....I think it was 48 or 72 hours at that time.

I'm sure you'd like to get your original money refunded if possible and I'm trying to determine if there's any prospect of that now, before we look at other options like Hotwire and alternative Priceline zones.

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Exactly right. I have to use the same Parameters which are 4* USE/Emb area. The only thing I can change is the date. I've already had one night refunded after MUCH persuading....I'm out the second night. The only reason my paramaters were so defined is that I saw someone had won a Priceline auction with those exact paramaters for $88/night. In all my bidding excitement....my brain failed to recognise that they won it for 03/16-03/18 not 05/16-05/18. So off I went to bid, entering in those exact details, and those exact dates!

I asked about deadline, if any, to re-bid and was told that I have up until 05/16, although I never received my follow up e-mail so that may or may not be the case. I've continued to bid up to $150/night and nada. No option to re-bid (without changing the criteria). I can't go much higher as with the Priceline fees that's getting close to $200/night and I'm still not 100% confident that I'll get the other night refunded. I also found out that a lot of the great deals I'm finding on really nice hotels are 'blacked out' for my w/e because of the 'Bay to Breakers' race in San Fran on Sunday.

Thank you for all your help, any ideas/suggestions will be looked into and greatly appreciated.

Thanks

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I just checked HOTWIRE to see if anything's changed in a couple days. It hasn't. The only 3* or higher for around $100 is still the Holiday Inn Golden Gateway at $102.

I'm not trying to push you into the Holiday Inn or any other hotel, but I don't have enough sense of what you're looking for to offer other suggestions.

If you can't get a 3* or 4* in Union Square for under $100 would you stay near the Airport or in Berkeley or Santa Rosa to beat that price? Or would you rather try for a 3* or 2.5* Downtown?

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We really need to be downtown as we're dropping our car off and will be relying on transit and the heel/toe method to get around. We also are pretty urban as we live downtown Toronto and would probably be completely out of sorts by the airport ;-)

Ideally I would like to get my $$$ refunded by Priceline, so it means a 4* Union East Hotel from May 16-18. Do you think I'll have better luck if I wait until the last minute. I have a back-up reservation at The Carlton Hotel, but again would still like to be closer and not have Priceline keep my money.

Any help/suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated. I've seen the word 'strategy' mentioned on here. I could probably use for one :)

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I don't know if rates will come down or not. Almost always, if you're patient, you can win a 4* in USE for less than the $150 you've bid. Bay to Breakers is popular. I understand you'll only get a refund from PRICELINE if you win another 4* in USE. It's up to you if you want to keep trying, but it sounds like you want to secure something fairly soon. You did get one night refunded, right? Are you willing to bid higher than $150 for a 4* in USE in order to get a refund?

If you become ready to cut your losses and expand your bidding parameters I suggest sticking to USE and USW since you said you want to be near public transportation. Bid for 4* in USW, or Boutique in USE and/or USW. The Boutique will probably cost less than the 4*, maybe $80-100 to start? Or bid from about $80 to $150 for 4* in USW if you prefer.

Good luck!

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Shwhattam...we are looking for the same thing. Been bidding on a 4* and 3* in the USE/USW area and nothing so far. We booked a cancellable backup too. Just riding it out and hopefully something nicer will open up more towards our dates. (5/15-5/19) The reason for our trip is Bay to Breakers so we are adding to the havoc :)

Good luck. Keep checking Quickbook.com too.

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My only disappointment now, other than not getting one of the stellar deals, is that we're leaving on the 18th so we'll be missing out on the Bay to Breakers race! It looks like a hoot :) If we'd have known we would have booked our flight for Monday and stayed an extra night.

Do you mind me asking which back up hotel you booked? I decided to do the same and got a really good deal on Hotel Carlton. It's rated #15 hotel in San Fran on TripAdvisor. Nothing fancy, but I've sent an e-mail to confirm a couple of things and their service already is AMAZING.

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I would keep patiently trying PRICELINE. As far as your bids go, I would only bid USE Four Star 5-16-5-18-08, and remember that you have quite a few free rebid zones that you can add where there are no four stars(Cathedral Hill, Civic Center, Lombard, etc), but always check to see what the star level of a free rebid zone is offered before you at it to the bid. I see rates for htoels offered regularly by Priceline for the 4 Star USE are starting at $269 for the Mark Hopkins and go as high as $369, so I would start bids at $120 4 Star USE.

From my experience, USE is a great area to stay and the hotels there are good. On PRICELINE, I have gotten the Marriott, Omni, Hyatt Embarcadero, and Hyatt Union Square. I do not bid the USW area, as I had a mediocre experience staying at the Hilton USW many years ago. The USE Hilton Financial District looks nice and new.

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