Priceline Hotel: 4* San Francisco (USE) Westin St Francis

[Kozachka]

Trying to get a room at 4* hotel in San Francisco around Union Square for May 10-12.

So far I've bid:

$70 for USE zone - rejected;

$75 for USE + Cathedral Hill - rejected;

$80 for USE+ Cathedral Hill + Lombard Street - rejected;

$85 for USE+ Cathedral Hill + Lombard Street + South San Francisco - rejected;

$90 for USE+ Cathedral Hill + Lombard Street + South San Francisco + USW- rejected.

I will re-bid in 24 hours. What strategy should I follow? PL lists Hilton San Francisco for $159 for these dates. I can book it at for $135.15 plus taxes (Net Direct rate) at www.hilton.com for the total of $308.36. Hilton San Francisco Financial District is even cheaper at $129 Net Direct rate. I might be able to get a further discount as AAA memeber so can't see why I should pay much more than $100 through PL. Maybe $110.

[thereuare]

Few comments...

Nice job researching rates before you bid to make sure that you don't overbid.

Is the USW zone acceptable? This is a 'live' zone so you should not add it to the end of your bidding as you did as this can result in an overbid for this zone. If you want to continue bidding on PRICELINE let us know if you want to include the USW zone in your bidding or not and we'll suggest a strategy for you to follow.

As an alternative to booking the Hilton (for which we're an affiliate so please use our link in the support page if you go this route), HOTWIRE has a 4.5* hotel in the USE zone for $112/nite for which our best guess would be the Palace Hotel, which gets some pretty good reviews. Might we worth the few extra dollars to try something new/different if that works well for your plans.

As you point out rates are not high for these dates, so you may also want to book a refundable rate and continue to try PRICELINE in hopes that lower priced inventory will become available in the coming weeks.

Let us know your thoughts and/or the info as to whether you want to include the USW zone and we'll advise accordingly.

[Kozachka]

USW is acceptable albeit not a first choice. Thank you for pointing out that BetterBidding is an affiliate of Hilton. I will be sure to link to its site from the support page. And I like your suggestion of booking a refundable rate while searching for the best deal.

Palace Hotel sounds interesting. I just wonder why it was not listed when I checked out HOTWIRE last night.

[thereuare]

Inventory changes all the time, which is why the 4.5* on HOTWIRE may not have appeared last nite. Likewise, that's not a "safe" back-up since it can disappear at anytime too. :)

When bidding 4* in San Francisco you have four re-bid zones avialable (it appears you're only using two above). How to determine your re-bid zones is detailed here: Priceline Re-Bidding Explained and feel free to confirm your re-bid zones with the board before bidding again.

If you wanted to bid USE up to your maximum bid before trying USW you should bid as follows: (of course you could stop at whatever maximum bid you choose, but i went up to $120 above to show how you can maximize your bidding)

Select 4* USE...

Bid $65, if rejected add re-bid zone1...

Bid $70, if rejected add re-bid zone2...

Bid $75, if rejected close browser and use our link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 4* USE and re-bid zone3...

Bid $80, if rejected add re-bid zone1...

Bid $85, if rejected add re-bid zone2...

Bid $90, if rejected close browser and use our link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 4* USE and re-bid zone4...

Bid $95, if rejected add re-bid zone1...

Bid $100, if rejected add re-bid zone2...

Bid $105, if rejected close browser and use our link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 4* USE and re-bid zone3 and re-bid zone4...

Bid $110, if rejected add re-bid zone1...

Bid $115, if rejected add re-bid zone2...

Bid $120, if rejected close browser and use our link to re-access PRICELINE

If the above is rejected you coudl then close the browser (as you have done previosly above) and repeat all of the above using USW instead of USE... this gives you the opportunity to win the USW zone at lower prices.

Any questions feel free to ask.

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

Good luck and keep us updated on your progress.

[Kozachka]

Interesting, it appears that I have more re-bid options than I though :) . So I did as I was told, including linking through the PRICELINE link - selected 4* USE

bid $65, got rejected,

added Cathedral Hill, bid $70, got rejected,

added South San Francisco, bid $75, got rejected. Closed browser and started again.

Selected USE and Civic Center, bid $80, got rejected,

added Cathedral Hill, bid $85, got rejected,

added South San Francisco, bid $90, got rejected.

Selected USE and Lombard Street area bid $95, got rejected. Was offered to raise my offer by $22. Ignored it and proceeded with the suggested strategy.

added Cathedral Hill are bid $100, got rejected,

added Civic Center bid $105 - offer accepted by Westin Saint Francis. Total cost $249.34.

I am very pleased with hotel and price. The lowest I could have booked it for would have been $149. Just hope they won't put us up in a standard room as those are for maximum 2 people and we are travelling with our son. Will have to check it with hotel directly in couple days.

Thank you very much for your bidding strategy, it worked like a charm :).

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success!

Glad to hear the information was helpful and that you're happy with the results.

Thank you for posting your outcome to the board and for using our PRICELINE link to begin your bidding.

Enjoy your stay.