Priceline Hotel: San Francisco - 5/22-5/26 (Memorial Day weekend)

[JamesT]

Hi,

I've tried priceline a few times in the past, but I don't think I've ever successfully won a bid on Priceline. Well, I'm planning on going to the Bay Area 5/22 - 5/26. Since it'll be memorial day weekend, I was wondering if my chances of getting a good price (100/nt or less) on two bedrooms (USE or USW area) will be harder? I guess my question is, will SF be buy with tourists during memorial day weekend? Also, is it too soon to be bidding on those dates?

Thanks,

James

[swiz]

Its too soon to panic, but never too soon to bid. If you are willing to spend 100/nt you should get something nice, start now and bid once or twice a day. Break up your weekend into USE/USW/CH/FH if you have real hard time, but 99 or 109 should get you 4* or 3* at least. I've stayed in all areas even when there for business and needed to be in the financial district, I've stayed in FH. If its a busy weekend you might want to move your price up 30 bucks or so, or lower your * expectations. Most 3* on priceline are still very nice hotels, in fact i prefer several of them over their 4*. What you might not get this far out is a $60 - 4* but I've never been that lucky and when I've tried I always came up empty. I've wasted many days bidding, so now I just spend an extra $20-$30 right off the bat, I might leave a few bucks on the table but I'm done bidding. See my earlier posts I wrapped up 5 days and three hotels (on purpose) in about 1 hour because I wasn't trying to steal a room, and I still got great rates.

[slruud]

Hotwire has a 4* in USE for $109 for your dates. You can check the hotel lists to see which one it is, but it looks like a match for Westin Market Street.

[JamesT]

Thanks for the hints guys. I'll try to be patient (my biggest problem) and bid for the next few weeks. If nothing turns up, then the Hotwire deal doesn't seem too bad at all.

Thanks,

James

[Colfax]

JamesT,

1) It's not too soon to bid for Memorial Day weekend.

2) Yes, there will be a lot of tourists in SF that weekend. There are lots of tourists in SF EVERY weekend, even in the dead of winter.

3) Prices aren't especially high for your dates so I think you have a reasonable chance of winning a 4* on Priceline for $100 or less. Nobody can give exact odds of winning. You find out by bidding. If Priceline doesn't work slruud's $109 Hotwire hotel is a good option too.

Do you have a preference between USE and USW, so that you'd like to bid to your $100 limit in that zone first before trying the other? Or are you looking for the least expensive 4* available in either USE or USW?

[JamesT]

I'm looking for least expensive 4* available in either USE or USW.

Looking at some of the recent winning bids, it seems that a majority of them have been bids on 2 nights. How often do people win bids on 4 nights, further more how will two rooms impact the chance of me winning? Sorry, for all the questions.

Thanks,

James

[Colfax]

1) TWO ROOMS. It shouldn't make any difference at all. Large hotels make rooms available to Priceline in blocs---10, 20, 30 rooms at a time. Wanting two rooms would only be a problem if there's only one hotel available on Priceline and they only have one room left. That's not a likely scenario.

2) FOUR NIGHTS. Short stays are generally easier to win than long stays. But people win four night stays too, and longer. I just looked at BetterBidding's Calendar of Wins and I see that three of your four nights have already been won at $95, at the Marriott.

Let us know when you're actually ready to bid and someone can provide a specific bidding strategy.

[JamesT]

I started bidding yesterday. Made one bid of $85 for two rooms, USE and USW, 4*. About to make another bid of $87 and work my way up everyday in increments of 1 or 2 dollars. Is that the best strategy?

[Colfax]

First check the time of your last rejected bid yesterday and wait 24 hours from that time before you bid again. That will wipe the slate clean and make things simpler. Don't fudge the 24 hours by even one minute as it may cause Priceline to reject your bid as a duplicate.

When bidding for a 4* in SF you have four free rebid zones--Lombard, Cathedral Hill, Civic Center, and South San Francisco. None of those zones has 4* hotels and you can add them to your bids for a 4* in Union Square without risk of winning a hotel in those zones.

After your 24 hours are up I suggest this:

Bid $80 for 4* in USE.

Add USW at $86.

Add your four free rebid zones, one at a time, upping your bid a few dollars with each addition. $90, $95, $98, $100, for example. Using your free rebid zones you can place multiple bids in one bidding session, rather than waiting 24 hours again to bid a couple dollars higher.

With permutational bidding you can up your bid in $1 increments but it's much more complicated and it takes longer than the strategy I posted above.

Please start your bids at BetterBidding's PRICELINE link. That helps support this free bidding advice service.

Good luck and please let us know how it goes.

[JamesT]

Cool, I didn't know about the free bids by adding regions with no 4*. I'm trying to figure out weather priceline is better than hotwire. As mentioned above hotwire has 4* in USE for $109/nt. Priceline's previous winning bid was $95 (winning bid calendar). My last losing bid was $92/nt and after tax and service charge it was up to $107.45/nt. I'm assuming hotwire's $109/nt is before tax and service charge is that correct?

[Colfax]

Priceline and Hotwire rates are before taxes and transaction fees. With both you can view the grand totals including tax and fees before you purchase.

Priceline generally charges higher service fees than Hotwire.

The Hotwire 4* at $109 will come to $496.49, including tax/fee.

You can bid up to $105 on Priceline and still save a couple bucks over Hotwire. A $106 bid on Priceline will cost more than the $109 purchase on Hotwire.

$105 bid--->$492.55 total

$106 bid--->$497.18 total

If you purchase the Hotwire 4* please use BetterBidding's HOTWIRE link. Also keep in mind that Hotwire inventory changes all the time and the $109 deal could disappear at any time.

edited to add: I did the above calculations based on one room and you're bidding for two rooms. The principle is the same though.

[Colfax]

Just to complicate things a bit more....

I'm not so sure the 4* hotel on Hotwire is the Westin Market Street.

Hotwire says the hotel has a 3.5* rating on TripAdvisor, and the Westin is rated 4* on TripAdvisor. It's possible Hotwire offered one 4* hotel this morning when slruud posted and they're offering a different 4* hotel this evening. Inventory changes all the time.

Whether it turns out to be the Westin or not $109 is a good price for a four night stay at a 4*. I just don't want you to think that the Westin identity is a sure thing.

[slruud]

The 4* offered on Hotwire, which ever hotel it is, is now going for $103.

[JamesT]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I think I missed the $103 deal on hotwire since it's gone, but I'll keep trying through PRICELINE and HOTWIRE.

James

[thereuare]

Don't know your maximum budget, but there is a 4* hotel in the USE zone currently offered on HOTWIRE for $109/nite (i believe the same hotel discussed above?)

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