Priceline Hotel: 4* Boston (Waterfront-Convention Center) Westin Waterfront

[perstephone]

I'm shooting for a 7/8-15 stay in Boston, and a 2* hotel is apparently available in the convention center/waterfront area. I've been looking for a couple of days, though, and can't figure out which one/s it could be. Has anybody picked up a 2* in that area? After extensive searching, the only wins I see recorded are 3 and 4*.

Thanks!

[perstephone]

Well, I've been searching and searching... and the best I can do is this:

There's the Westin and the Seaport Hotel.

There's the Renaissance.

There used to be (?) a Sheraton, but it's outside Priceline's area map- barely. It's on the other side of Summer St, on Congress. It's listed as a Sheraton on Mapquest (I did an area search for 'hotels' there), but not coming up on the Starwood site, and a google search of the address doesn't turn up a hotel.

Now I'm really curious. As far as I can tell, within Priceline's CC/waterfront area, there are no other hotels- yet a 2* option is available.

Does anyone have ANY idea? I assume I couldn't call Priceline and ask... well, I could, but presumably wouldn't get an answer. Right?

[perstephone]

I'm planning a trip to Boston 7/8-15. Have a backup hotel in place, and at the moment I'm bidding for sport... some real lowball bids. Because we're going to be attending a conference, I'm thinking of splitting the trip, staying in a central location for the first bit, then either airport or waterfront for the last bit (conference is at WTC).

In any case, here are the comps for the areas I'm currently trying in, from the hotels websites:

259 Hilton/269 Hyatt (Logan, 4*)

Westin Waterfront 339- Renaissance 329- Seaport 544 (3/4*waterfront)

Hilton Financial District 299/ Hyatt Regency Boston 309/ Omni Parker 249 (4* Quincy Mkt)

Mariott Long Wharf 429/ HI Beacon Hill 229 (3* Quincy Mkt)

I'm ok with actual strategy, rebids and whatnot, but I'm not sure where a good (ie, winnable) pricepoint would be. Where would you start bidding?

[Liset]

If your provide a bit more info I'll try to help.

What is the price of your backup?

What are the exact dates you are willing to split (or would you prefer not to split)?

Are you only looking at Quincy Market/Financial District for the first part of the trip or is Copley Place acceptable? (There have been some winning bids -- including my own -- in the $110-$120 range for midweek stays this summer at the 4* Copley Marriott and Westin.)

Are you only looking at 4* properties (my personal preference in Boston)? There are some nice 3* properties, but some I wouldn't prefer for a week-long stay.

What is your maximum bid?

I often use HOTWIRE for comparison purposes and saw there is a 4* Quincy Market/Financial District for $139 for your entire stay. Based on the amenities, I'd guess it's the Omni Parker House or Hilton Financial District. Usually -- but not alwayS -- when I find something on HOTWIRE I can successfully bid lower on PRICELINE. Given this I'd probably start bidding for a 4* at $90 and work my way up. I think something in the $120 -- maybe a little more or less -- might be winnable for the entire stay.

I stay at Logan frequently, and it's been my experience that "lowball" bids are accepted closer to the date of stay. In my case I've done well within 2 weeks. If you actually want to split your dates and stay at Logan, you might want to keep your back-up for these dates and keep bidding low for awhile.

I don't stay in the Waterfront zone, so can't help you with that. My guess is that availability might be limited during a conference, but that's purely a guess.

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

[perstephone]

The backup is 160, cancelable up to day of arrival. I forgot to mention I'm bidding on 2 rooms. If we do split the dates, it would be 7/8-11 and 7/11-15. For max bid, I' was hoping for 100, but can deal with 120. I checked Hotwire, too, and the split dates were only off by a few bucks- one was 129, one 135 (for that same 4* quincy- I thought Omni Parker, too). Looks like that may have gone up since I looked.

Copley is fine- as long as we (we= me, toddler, baby, gramma) can get around. Basically, as long as we can manage a T stop/subway/ferry whatever, it'll be ok. Pretty flexible, really, but it is a mostly 'vacation' trip with two days of conference, and I've never been to Boston. A fair amount of touristy gawking can be expected.

I've been bidding on both the 3 and 4 stars in Quincy and waterfront, only 4 at the airport. I suspect that the waterfront is an outside shot, but bid on it anyway. No harm in trying. My method of bidding, while time consuming, affords me many tries, so I at least feel like I'm doing something, even if 'something' is just deleting all the 'you didn't win it' emails. Haha.

Thanks for the assistance!

[Liset]

Who knows

[thereuare]

If we do split the dates, it would be 7/8-11 and 7/11-15.

Which part of the stay would be in which zone? (is the conference the first or last leg of the split)

For max bid, I' was hoping for 100, but can deal with 120. I checked Hotwire, too, and the split dates were only off by a few bucks- one was 129, one 135 (for that same 4* quincy- I thought Omni Parker, too). Looks like that may have gone up since I looked.

Since "downtown" seems to be within your budget for the entire stay, i would sooner stay there and then just have you 'commute' to the conference via T. Seems like it would be easier than splitting the stay and changing hotels, as well as leave more options for the rest of your family who (i'm assuming) won't be attending the conference.

I've been bidding on both the 3 and 4 stars in Quincy and waterfront, only 4 at the airport. I suspect that the waterfront is an outside shot, but bid on it anyway. No harm in trying. My method of bidding, while time consuming, affords me many tries, so I at least feel like I'm doing something, even if 'something' is just deleting all the 'you didn't win it' emails.

How high have you already bid at each star level in each zone?

[perstephone]

It's a family-type conference, so actually, we're all going. Unusual, I know, but there it is. The conference is the last leg of the split dates.

As far as my max bids (don't laugh!) I've been REALLY stingy- up to 90. When I bid on the 3* I think I went up to 85, but if some of those are out of the way, I may stop bidding on that quality level. I've been bidding in one dollar increments, just to see if I could catch something, even though I know it's unlikely at the prices I've been throwing out. After a couple of days of my severely low bids, I thought I might hit up somebody who knew the area to tell me what a, uh, more reasonable amount would be.

Like I said, it's been mostly for sport up to now. Now, though, we're inside of 2 weeks until we leave, and I'm getting a smidge more serious about it.

We'll see how it all pans out. I will, of course, give the board a heads up on a winning bid. I thank you both for all the information- I do really appreciate it!

[thereuare]

Is the conference all day and nite or will you be heading out in the evenings?

[perstephone]

We'll be free in the evenings, but with a 4 month old and a 2 year old, I don't think I can call it 'going out'! (man, I used to be more fun...) We will most likely be finishing conference days with dinner, then back to the hotel for the night.

[thereuare]

...but with a 4 month old and a 2 year old, I don't think I can call it 'going out'! (man, I used to be more fun...)

I'm right there with you!

Personally i would go for the complete stay downtown... your choices for "kid friendly" restaurants will be much greater in the 'downtown' area (i think your choices would be very limited in the Waterfront/Convention Center area), and after eating out it would be better to be closer to the hotel, imo.

You're not really looking at saving money by SPLITTING YOUR PRICELINE BID, so i wouldn't change hotels just for having a shorter commute to/from the convention center.

Those are my own thoughts based upon my own kids... but you know your own family best.

Let us know your own thoughts and we'll advise accordingly.

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

[perstephone]

I think you're right- moving hotels in the middle sounds daunting when I actually go through the steps of packing up all our stuff, checking out, moving, checking in, and getting re-settled; all the while keeping the big one entertained and the little one quiet. I believe we will be staying in one hotel, for everyone's sanity.

Quincy/financial dist. has always been our first choice. Here's what I'm wondering now: should I go to the 4* in Copley or drop to the 3* in Quincy Mkt? I'm leaning towards staying in Quincy.

This morning I bid from $85-$99 in $2 increments just in the 4* Quincy zone. Didn't catch anything, though. I'll give 3 and 4* in Quincy a shot at naptime (or maybe 4* in Copley and Quincy...) in any case, it'll have to be in a little while. I'll keep you posted, and I'm using the links to get to PRICELINE.

[thereuare]

I go to the 4* in Copley or drop to the 3* in Quincy Mkt?

It depends whether you favor the higher star rating or your prefered locations.

However, i just did a search on HOTWIRE and dont' see any 3.5* or 4* hotels in the Copley or Quincy Market zones for under $200/nite... are you still seeing the hotw.wire hotels referenced above?

Thank you for using our PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links :)

[perstephone]

Yep, seems that the rates all jumped for Quincy. Best I see is 199 for a 4*. Oh, well.

I tried 3* in Quincy from $80-92 and struck out, unsurprisingly. Tomorrow I'll spread the bids out to $3 apart, and maybe start at $90.

I'll keep at it, and let you guys know if anything exciting happens.

[perstephone]

Well, prices seem to be in flux on HOTWIRE. I'm trying to be patient, and wait until it's actually last minute, so I stopped bidding. The Intercontinental (pretty sure) came up on Hotwire for $149/nt yesterday, which makes me believe that as we get to closer to arrival the prices will continue to go down. The conference we're attending has approximately 2500 attendees, and some of those will be sharing rooms, as that number includes a sibling conference and a separate youth conference, all under the umbrella of the general conference... that sounds confusing. Basically I'm saying that probably 500 of those are younger attendees, and more than likely in their parents room.

Then I checked with the Boston CVB, and found that there are about 21,000 rooms citywide available per night this year. The conference I'm attending won't be eating up a huge amount of that, and there don't seem to be any other major events that week. It's the week after a holiday, too.

Anyway, I said all that for this- looks like if I wait, I suspect there will be some last minute rooms to be had on Priceline. I will use the links for PRICELINE when I get back to it, and will let you know what I come away with.

:)

[perstephone]

I think I might be Priceline'd out! I've been bidding every permutation of waterfront and airport (and rebids), quincy and copley (and rebids)- both for the whole trip straight through, and splitting it. Here's what I ended up with:

07/08-11

Intercontinental- Quincy Market/Financial District, 4*

$126/nt

07/11-15

Westin Waterfront- waterfront/convention center zone, 4*

$119/nt

For both of those, I started at $55 and went up in $3 increments. I was given a counteroffer for the waterfront zone at the $108 point (for $22). Ignored that and used more rebids to get up to 119.

The counteroffer for the Quincy Market zone came at $120, also for $22. Used a rebid to get to $126 and that was accepted.

Thanks for all the help! I didn't get a lowball offer accepted like I was hoping for, but I am pleased with the outcome. Of course, I used the PRICELINE link :)

[thereuare]

Congratualtions on your success!

Glad to see you were flexible and did what it took to get a great deal(s) for this stay.... i imainge that both are substantial discounts to a conventionally booked rate for each set of dates.

We've used this thread to indicate your second purchase in the Waterfront zone, can you please start a NEW TOPIC to reflect your Inter-Continental win so that others will be aware of each win when scanning the topic titles, as well as enable each win to appear in the Priceline and Hotwire Calendar of Wins.

Thanks for sharing your win(s) with the board and for using our PRICELINE link to begin your bidding.

Enjoy your stay(s).