Priceline Hotel: Strategy for 4* downtown - when to bid?

[mr snrub]

Hi everyone, I'm currently in Hyde Park, studying at the University of Chicago for a few months (I'm from Australia). My fiance will be meeting me in mid-October and we'll be staying in a hotel downtown after my sub-lease near campus runs out. We want to stay downtown, somewhere nice along the Magnificent Mile (we'd really like the Intercontinental). I was just wondering when you guys think I should put my bid in, and what strategy I should use? We're worried that all the rooms will be booked out if we leave it too late (say for example, if it's a traditionally busy time of the year or there's a huge convention or other event on).

The priceline areas I like are:

(4) Millennium Park, Loop and Grant Park Area

(5) North Michigan Avenue - River North Area

We'd like a 4* hotel, and the dates of our stay will be checking in on 12th October and leaving on 15th October.

We'll also have a stay in New York for 5 days after Chicago (October 15th - 20th), but I'll post about that in the New York forum.

I'd really appreciate any advice! :)

[AaronJB]

The Chicago Marathon is the 12th, and while that is a massive event that takes up a lot of hotel rooms, since the Marathon happens that day, traffic will be clearing out on the night of the 12th. You should bid as soon as you are ready; there is no "exact science" to when to bid in terms of bidding in larger cities - you have to try to bid early and often, as well as take into account the regular rates, traffic for the date (while the Marathon will be over on your first night, there may be conventions or other events) and your own budget max.

Personally, based upon the 4* regular rates of approximately $225-250+, what I would recommend is to bid $85 for a 4* in each area. If not accepted, you could increase your bid by $5 each day. I'm guessing that, in all likelyhood, a winning bid will require somewhat more than $100, but given your time frame, it wouldn't hurt to try as low as $85 and work up to see if you get a surprise win under $100. Additionally, given how ridiculous NYC's hotels are, I'd try to spend less on a Chicago hotel and apply whatever you can save towards your NYC dates.

Please use the site's link to PRICELINE (click the PRICELINE) to start your bidding, as it supports the site.

[slick_gd]

I would recommend starting at a lower bid and working your way up in $2-$3 increments. Chicago is a city with many many rebid zones and if you are looking at staying in either the Loop or NMA, you have up to 21 possible bids in one try! I recently went through a bid process of 11 tries before I got the Hyatt Regency in the Loop.

This was my process: To get the 21 bids, replace NMA with LOOP for bids 8-14, and then for bids 15-21 or so have NMA and LOOP together. It might take a little while, but you could save yourself a few bucks.

1: New bid: NMA - $60 - Rejected

2: Re-bid: NMA LINC - $63 - Rejected

3: New bid: NMA MID - $65 - Rejected

4: Re-bid: NMA MID LINC - $68 - Rejected

5: New bid: NMA SKO - $71 - Rejected

6: Re-bid: NMA SKO LINC - $76 - Rejected

7: Re-bid: NMA SKO LINC MID - $81 - Rejected

8: New bid: LOOP - $62 - Rejected

9: Re-bid: LOOP NMA - $65 - Rejected

10: New bid: LOOP MID - $68 - Rejected

11: Re-bid: LOOP MID NMA - $71 - ACCEPTED

[mr snrub]

wow...$71, that's a great deal!

Thanks for the advice guys. I'll be sure to report back if I have any success :)

[AaronJB]

As I've mentioned many times before, one person's success on PRICELINE does NOT mean that the same strategy will work on different dates, especially if the different dates are busier, which the dates in October are.