Priceline Hotel: Rome bidding help

[Iluvadeal]

I will be in Rome 10/24-28/2008. I want to stay in Central Rome. So far none of my bid have been accepted, obviously. I have gone as far as $169. I'm not panicked because time is still on my side but by end of June I will start to sweat. The Vatican zone was not really on my radar. Should this be an option for me? Thanks :)

[WillTravel]

I would start by booking a backup.

Personally I wouldn't want the Vatican area, because some hotels could be quite far out. But it's a lot better than the West area, for convenience.

[thereuare]

What star rating are you bidding?

[Iluvadeal]

I have to correct myself. I bid up to $199 with no success. I did get an offer (not counter) just a you can book a room now for $286. I was bidding on a 4* with this last rejection. I can't remember if I ever tried a 3* in that area because I did trying bidding a couple of months ago. I don't want the Vatican but will look at that option as a laaaaast resort. I looked at Hotels.com, Expedia... and those rates for anything central were crazy. Does anyone know of a good site to book a cancelable reservation. I even emailed a small hotel I found in R. Steves book but no reply, rates were 120euro pn. The book stated if you don't get a response it means no rooms, I would still like to read SORRY NO AVAILABILITY but I digress. Thanks for the help!

[thereuare]

Does GTA Hotels offer anything affordable for your dates and location?

[misconduct]

Do a search on www.kayak.com. It'll search all the major hotel chains plus the booking services like GTA hotels and skoosh. There are plenty of reasonable rates when I tried a search with your dates.

After getting an idea of hotels and star level on kayak, try googling the hotels for a direct website and then booking a cancellable reservation. Then play with bidding on PRICELINE.

[thereuare]

try googling the hotels for a direct website

Preferably check our support page for a direct link to the hotel website... we have links to almost all the major chains.

[Iluvadeal]

I will do that now and report what I find. Thanks for the help and I will use the links.

[WillTravel]

Two sites that I find very helpful are www.hotelscombined.com and www.hrs.de .

[tenerifesharon]

For Rome also try www.venere.com

[Iluvadeal]

Thank you for all of the recommendations. I was able to book a room at the Hotel Panda or Pensione Panda. It's very close to the Spanish Steps. The rate is 108 euro per night for a double room with private bath.

[thereuare]

Thanks for 'closing' this thread with what you decided to do for this stay.

Enjoy your trip.