Priceline Hotel: 3* San Francisco (South) Radisson at Sierra Point

[Linz9900]

Hi there,

Could you please help me identify this Hotwire hotel in the San Francisco Intl Airport area?

Dates are 6/25/08-6/28/08

Amenities are:

Suite

Airport Shuttle

Complimentary Breakfast

Fitness Center

Business Center

Listed at $102, 103, and 104 (has changed a few times in the last couple minutes!) :)

Thanks!

[BEAV]

My best guess would be the Quality Suites in Millbrae. This property offers all the amenities listed by HOTWIRE. You'll also notice Hotiwre claims this property has a 3.5 customer satisfaction rating on Tripadvisor.com. When you pull up this property on Tripadvisor.com, you will see it's also rated 3.5, so that is a match in addition to the amenities.

Good luck and keep us posted.

[thereuare]

Please also follow-up your previous Hotwire Orlando thread with whatever you ended up doing for that stay.

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

Thank you.

[Linz9900]

Just took care of that Orlando post...

If this is supposedly the Quality Suites, I think we'll probably look into the 4-Star hotels instead. We can't seem to get a good deal for 6/25-7/1 at the airport hotels! (already bid up to $95/night for the 4-stars).

Any suggestions?

We thought about splitting our trip as 6/25-6/28 and 6/28-7/1 (seemed to get decent airport hotels for the 2nd portion), but the weekday nights of Wednesday-Friday were tough, even in the San Mateo area.

[BEAV]

Last night when I posted about the possibility of this being the Quality Suites, I thought about suggesting you bid 4 star hotels on PRICELINE. The $105 HOTWIRE rate isn't all that good give the fact the rate booking direct with Quality Suites is $125. Yes, you can probably do just as well with the 4 star hotels in this zone on Priceline. Just keep in mind those hotels will probably charge for parking, not include complimentary breakfast, etc. But if I were you I would also focus on the 4 star hotels in the airport zone via Priceline.

As to 4 star pricing, it's often typical to have to pay a higher price weekdays vs weekend in this zone. If you split your bid in order to avoid overpaying on the weekend, you just have to keep in mind you might have to switch hotels. Check to see what Hotwire is charging for the 4 star hotels in this zone on the higher-priced weekdays. As a general rule, Priceline will come in a little lower than Hotwire. By looking at the Hotwire price, you can get some sort of idea what PRICELINE might accept and work from that angle.

Continued good luck!

[thereuare]

Any suggestions?

What is your maximum bid and which zone(s) are you willing to accept?

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

[Linz9900]

It depends...if we were to try to stay in only ONE hotel for all 6 nights (in the SFO airport area), we would like to stay around $100. I'm not too familiar with San Francisco, as I've never been there, so I'm not sure of how far away is too far.

I saw last night on Hotwire that there was a 4* (seemingly the Hyatt) from 6/28-7/1 for $79 a night. If we could get that hotel for less on Priceline, we would try for that...which still leaves us with the other 3 nights. Obviously, it'd be nice to stay at the same place all 6 nights, but we wouldn't mind switching halfway through. Since we'll do the city sightseeing during the second half of the trip, I think staying around the airport so that we can get to the subway would be best.

In terms of the areas we'd prefer, the airport would be the first, so that we could get into the city via the subway, but we'll also have a car since we'll be driving to San Jose, Monterey, etc, so we'd also be okay with the San Mateo area as well. I'd be concerned with bidding on the zones within the city and having a car, since I've heard it can be upwards of $40 to park at the hotels! We've called the SFO Airport Hyatt and Sheraton...they're $18/night for parking, and while the Sofitel in San Mateo has free parking, the Marriott in the same area also charges $18/night.

I've probably given you way too much info, but we're on a budget and trying to figure that out with a city like San Fran! :)

Thanks.

[thereuare]

I saw last night on Hotwire that there was a 4* (seemingly the Hyatt) from 6/28-7/1 for $79 a night.

Where... in the SFO zone?

While the SFO zone isn't terrible for getting into Downtown, it is a bit of a hassle... waiting for the shuttke to take you to the airport, waiting for the train to get into downtown, then repeating in reverse. Why not try for a hotel in Downtown itself and leave the car at longterm parking at the airport (since it appears you don't need it during a long stretch of your stay).

[BEAV]

In my opinion, the biggest challenge is going to be getting a winning bid (Priceline) for 6 consecutive nights without going over your $100 per night budget.

If you can get the Sheraton or Hyatt for around $75 for 3 nights out of 6 nights, then that allows you to go higher for the other 3 nights under the "dollar cost average" plan.

As to expensive downtown SF hotel parking fees, most hotels do not have their own parking garages, but rather utilize public garages. If the public garages charge $20 per day (typical SF fee), the hotel is going to charge you $40 to valet park your car in the same garage. Friends of ours stayed at the Palace Hotel a few weeks ago and self-parked in the same public garage the hotel utilized at 2 1/2 times the price. If you can park in public garages for around $20 per night, then I believe you are defeating your purpose by staying out at the airport and paying for BART tickets in/out of town every day. Something to consider!

[Linz9900]

Yes, the 4* Hyatt was in the SFO zone. The 2.5 stars in the South San Fran area don't look too bad either (Hilton Garden Inn, Homewood Suites, Residence Inn, etc). I wouldn't mind staying downtown, but we were planning on going into the city during the second half of our trip, which would take away the need for a car. I guess we could do the city first, then drive elsewhere during the second half of our stay.

In terms of long-term parking at the airport, we'd at least want in and out privileges in case we wanted to drive somewhere for dinner, and that wouldn't be available if we kept the car at the airport.

Is the hassle of taking the subway enough to not stay outside of the city?

[BEAV]

If you're using a rental car, I wouldn't bother renting & parking it during the 3 days you'll be in downtown SF. Stay in a downtown hotel, with no parking charges and no commuting back-and-forth on BART to an airport hotel.

[thereuare]

BEAV knows the area much better than i do, but i'm guessing you could stay at a 3* or 4* hotel in the USE or USW zone for near or under $100/nite for the last 3 nites of your stay... which i believe is part of your current plan, correct?

For the first three nites i'm not really following what your plans are.

[Linz9900]

The first three days/nights, we were planning to drive from SF to San Jose, Napa, Monterey (up the coast, etc), Muir Woods...kind of making day trips, but coming back each night, as to not have to hotel hop throughout the entire trip.

We were thinking if we have a rental car, we might as well stay at a hotel outside the city for those first few nights, so that we wouldn't have to worry about the extra parking charges in town or just getting in and out of the city...and figured the airport/South San Fran/San Mateo hotels would be cheaper as well.

[BEAV]

If you're going to do day trips the first half of your stay, and then concentrate on downtown SF during the last half, I can make this suggestion:

What appears to be the Homewood Suites (3 star SF Airport North) is selling for $94 for check-in Wed 6/25, check out Sat 6/28. This property has free parking and complimentary breakfast. Note: When you add the night of 6/28, this hotel option no longer displays, so it's obviously only available for 3 nights.

As to Sat 6/28 to Tue 7/1, HOTWIRE is showing 4 star SFO Airport South/Burlingame (Hyatt or Sheraton) for $79. If you took this option, you would be at/near $100 a night by the time you pay their parking charge and take BART to/from San Francisco. With that in mind, I would try a $100 bid for 3 or 4 star in downtown San Francisco (USE or USW zones). If successful, turn in your rental car at the airport on 6/28, take BART to downtown SF and spend your remaining 3 nights in San Francisco.

[Linz9900]

Thank you SO much for your suggestions! I'm going to talk through all of this with my boyfriend and plan from there. I'll follow up once we've booked the hotels!

[Linz9900]

Booked our 2 hotels today - should I post them here or create new posts?

[thereuare]

Please post the first stay here (since this thread topic already indicated 625-6/28) and then start a NEW TOPIC for the second purchase. This will enable us to reflect the details of each in the topic title of the corresponding threads and also enable each thread to appear in the Priceline and Hotwire Calendar of Wins.

Looking forward to hearing your success(es) :)

[Linz9900]

6/25/08-6/28/08

Used PRICELINE link...

3* Hotel in South San Francisco Area

$80

Radisson - Accepted with first bid.

I think we probably could've gotten this for less, but the boyfriend was too quick with his bid :)

We're still happy - they have free parking, free airport shuttle, and it'll be a convenient place to stay while we're day-tripping around the area for the first few days of our vacation. We actually stayed at a Radisson in Toronto last year (via Priceline), and the Sleep Number beds are fine...they take a bit of getting used to!

[BEAV]

Congratulations on your success and I'm glad to hear everything worked out well for you, including your downtown SF bids. Have a great trip!

Note to thereuare: Move to Priceline SF forum?

[thereuare]

Linz9900,

Glad to hear it all went well and your win(s) should work out well for your needs.

Thanks for using our PRICELINE links to begin your bid(s).

Have a great trip.

BEAV,

Moved... thanks!

[Colfax]

Linz9900,

Dollar Car Rental has an office in the Radisson's lobby. If you're arriving late on 6/25 and don't plan on driving that night you might find it cheaper and/or easier to take Radisson's shuttle to the hotel and rent your car in the Radisson lobby on 6/26. Just another option to consider.

I'm glad you finally got your hotels worked out. Have a great trip!

[Linz9900]

Colfax,

Thanks for your suggestion. We're actually getting in at noon on the 25th, so I booked a car (got it for $15/day) so that we can drive wherever that day. It was a lot cheaper to get it for the whole week, rather than 3 days, so we'll just probably park it at the airport once we go into the city, like BEAV suggested before.

Thanks!