Priceline Hotel: 3* San Diego (Downtown-Harbor Island) Holiday Inn on the Bay

[digizen]

Dates: 7/5 - 7/8 (3 nts)

Needs: Close to tourist attractions (Sea World, Zoo); Safe neighborhood; family friendly (2 adults + 1 child 5yo); free parking

Rating: 2.5 - 3 star

Looking at availability & prices on HOTWIRE and other travel sites, the dates probably demand some higher than usual rates. Is it possible to get the above for $90 (before taxes) or less?

[thereuare]

Few questions...

PRICELINE only guaratnees double occupancy (and you'll be triple)... is this a risk you're willing to take? If not, HOTWIRE enables you to search for up to quad occupancy.

Which zone(s) are you willing to accept?

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

[digizen]

Yes, I can risk double occupancy. Actually a double queen would be preferred.

I think these zones are acceptable:

1 Coronado

2 Del Mar

3 Downtown/Harbor (though it's likely I'll have to pay for parking?)

10 Point Loma

12 SD Coastal

Thanks in advance.

[RedSox87]

About parking; if you get a 3* hotel in one of these zones, it's almost certain you'll have to pay for parking.

(Coronado about $18, Coastal; some are free, rest ranging between $10 and $18, Point Loma, $10-$15, and you already mentioned downtown, but these prices can be as high as $30). Maybe that's something to keep in mind! Good luck!

[thereuare]

Did you want to try for a 3* up to your limit first and then if that is rejected try for a 2.5* OR are you looking for the least expensive 2.5* or better hotel for these dates?

Let us know and we'll suggest a startegy for you to follow.

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

[Colfax]

I just checked your dates at the Holiday Inn Mission Bay/SeaWorld. It's not the best hotel in the area but it's close to SeaWorld, has free parking, and they allow you to reserve one bed or two beds for the same price. The Holiday Inn is $144 for your dates. You're still better off in a $90 PRICELINE hotel that charges $15 or $20 to park than in a full priced hotel with "free parking".

Echoing RedSox87's comments, in the zones you want you can't really bid in a way that insures you'll have free parking. More than likely you'll win a hotel that charges. The highest charges would tend to be in the Downtown/Harbor Island zone. In those areas of San Diego most hotels with free parking will be 1*/2* chains like Days Inn, Rodeway Inn, Travelodge.

To save money some families will bid for a 2.5* in Sorrento Mesa zone. The Country Inn and Suites there is farther from Downtown and SeaWorld but has free parking, free breakfast, and a likelihood (which is not a guarantee) of getting a room with two beds.

[digizen]

Did you want to try for a 3* up to your limit first and then if that is rejected try for a 2.5* OR are you looking for the least expensive 2.5* or better hotel for these dates?

Seeing as how PL only guarantees double occupancy, I think I should try for a 3* first then try for 2.5*.

As Colfax confirmed, the options for those dates in the desired zones are pretty pricey, so paying for parking still should come in under full priced hotels.

Guess I can target zone 12 Coastal first. How long of a drive is it from Country Inn in Sorrento Mesa to downtown?

Please suggest a bidding strategy.

[thereuare]

Guess I can target zone 12 Coastal first

Why wouldn't you target the least expensive 3* hotel in any of the acceptable zones? Doing so will likely help you get a better deal? (ex- why pay $90 in the Coastal zone if the Downtown zone is equally acceptable and can be had for $65)

Including all your acceptable zones not only gives more hotel the opportunity to accept your bid at a lower rate, it also provides more bidding opportunities and the ability to slowly increase your bid, all in one bidding session.

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

[digizen]

After talking to the "boss" and hearing about parking being charged in most of the zones I want, I'd like to include bidding for a 3* in these zones:

1 Coronado

3 Downtown/Harbor

10 Point Loma

12 SD Coastal

Hopefully I can get something under $90... maybe less in downtown.

[thereuare]

At the 3* level you have four re-bid zones. If you're not familiar with re-bidding please read Priceline Re-Bidding Explained and feel free to ask questions and/or confirm your re-bid zones with the board before proceeding.

Select 3* Coronado, Downtown, Point Loma, and Coastal...

Bid $50, if rejected add re-bid zone1...

Bid $55, if rejected add re-bid zone2...

Bid $60, if rejected close browser and use our link to re-access PRICELINE.

Select 3* Coronado, Downtown, Point Loma, and Coastal and re-bid zone3...

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 3* Coronado, Downtown, Point Loma, and Coastal and re-bid zone4...

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

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

Bid $90.

Any questions freel free to ask.

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

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[digizen]

Thanks for the bidding strategy - that helps a lot. Found the re-bid zones.

I tried starting at $60 and went up to $80, no luck. For some reason I couldn't get the last set of bids in - the site kept saying that it was a duplicate. I'll try again tonight, starting at $80.

[thereuare]

Keep us updated.

You may have change what you used for re-bid zone1, re-bid zone2, etc, etc in each strategy and are therefore now getting the duplicate bid message... you need to always assign the same zone as re-bid zone1, the same zone as re-bid zone2, etc, etc.

Any questions/problems let us know.

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

[digizen]

Dates: 7/5 - 7/8

4* Downtown - Harbor Island

Amenities: Airport Shuttle, Fitness Center, Pool, Restaurant, Business Center, High-Speed Internet, Tennis Nearby

[digizen]

Oops the last reply was supposed to be a new topic in the Hotwire forum. Not sure how it got appended to this thread.

[thereuare]

We moved the post to this thread... please keep all posts for the same stay in the same thread. If you ultimately use HOTWIRE we'll move the entire thread to that section of the board at that time.

The HOTWIRE hotel above is a match for the Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina so that would be our best guess.

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

Let us know how it goes or if we can be of further help.

[digizen]

Thanks for the update on Hotwire.

Started bidding again on PRICELINE (using the forum link) last night at $83, got accepted at $95. :)

Holiday Inn On The Bay

Downtown San Diego & Harbor Island

1355 North Harbor Drive

San Diego, California 92101

Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $95.00

Subtotal: $285.00

Taxes & Service Fees: $47.27

Total Charges*: $332.27

Internet pricing for this hotel is $172.33, so ~45% discount.

Overall I'm satisfied - the dates didn't give us a lot of choices, so getting a better hotel in a great central location, despite having to pay for parking, still came out on top using PRICELINE.

Thanks thereuare and everone else for your assistance! :)

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your win!

The savings look pretty good and hopefully this works well for your plans.

This is still 3* rated by PRICELINE, correct?

Thank you for sharing your win with the board and using our PRICELINE links to begin your bidding.

Enjoy your stay.

[digizen]

Yes it's a 3* in PRICELINE. Thanks again!

[Colfax]

Glad you got something, digizen. Have a good trip!

[soccermacmom]

We stayed there about 6 years ago -- it was fine (not memorable), but a fabulous location. Not a bad price at all! Enjoy your trip.