Priceline Hotel: Bidding Help please, Mt Laurel/Cherry Hill

[ufauxreal]

I made this same trip at the same time last yr., got the Amerisuites for all 3 nites @ $33 per nite. This yr. no luck so far. I've bid 4 times... $33, 38, 33 & 38. I repeated the bids because I saw on TOBB people had been successful on 2 different weekends at $33. I'm beginning to think the Sun. nite may be the problem??? On the Amerisuites website, Fri & Sat are at $89, Sun is at $119.

I checked Hotwire, got 6 hotels, star value and prices all over the place. A 1* @ $48, 3* @ 51, then 2*, $73 & 2.5*@ 71.

Any suggestions???

On related note, where can you find refundable reservations? All the sites I've looked at (Orbitz, cheaptickets, etc.) charge the card right away and have hefty cancellation policies... or totally non-refundable.

Thanks for any suggestions!

JB

[thereuare]

How willing/opposed are you to splitting the stay? Based upon the rate jump i would think that there is a good chance that Sunday is 'holding you up'.

The other question is if this is how close to this area do you really need to be? Sometimes great hotels in downtown philly can be had on the cheap (Hyatt Penn's Landing comes to mind) but then you may also have the added expense of parking charges (don't know if you'll have a car or not).

For a cancellable reservation i think the hotel's website may be the most hassle-free solution. Looks like the COURTYARD MARRIOTT in Mt. Laurel has a $79/nite rate that is cancellable up until day of the arrival.

Another hotel at the 3* level that comes up often in this area is the RADISSON and they too have a rate change during your stay (the Sunday nite is slightly more expensive).

[ufauxreal]

Thanks for your reply, thereuare. Downtown Philly is definitely out... I need to be in NJ. Actually, Cherry Hill is closer than Mt. Laurel, but I've stayed in Mt. Laurel the last few years.

One thought I had was bidding $33 for the Fri and Sat., and then just going directly to the hotel and pay the $119 for the Sun. nite. It still averages out to $61/nite, which isn't great but doable. The odd thing about all this is that when we stayed at the Amerisuites for the 3 nights last year, Sun. nite was by far the least occupied. I think I heard them say that Sat. nite was sold out. Go figure! Do business travellers really get to their hotel on a Sunday night??? If I had to travel for work, I sure wouldn't want to spend my Sunday travelling.

I could just grab the 3* in Cherry Hill for $58. I'm not going to worry about the cancellable reservation. This area is totally over run with hotels, and it's not a 'resort' area.

JB