Priceline Hotel: 4* San Francisco (USE) Hyatt Regency

[thomjones]

Does anyone have any suggestions on a bidding strategy for a 4-star hotel in Union Square East. I'm looking at three separate stays from August 23-24, August 26 and August 29-30 (5nights in total).

I'm hoping to start out the bidding at $100 and my max is $125. Others have posted prices in that range, but on Hotwire the lowest price right now is $159.

Any suggestions for bidding on Priceline would be helpful.

[bshaf1]

If you are patient you can definitely get under $125.. My first set (5 straight nights) I wasn't patient and ended up with $125 - though I'm still happy with that as I got a nicer/more expensive hotel than the hyatt.. the last night I did I kept trying for several days and got the hyatt regency in USE for $95 (on a saturday).

Cathedral Hill

South San Francisco

Civic Center Area

Lombard Street Area

all don't have any 4 star hotels at the moment so you can use those areas to bid more than once per day.. I don't know how familiar with Priceline you are but (as I learned from this site) you start out with just USE with your initial bid.. then add Cathedral Hill to get a second.. then South SF to get a third.. etc etc. and since they don't have any 4* hotels the only place you can get a hotel is USE. Just be careful not to add the airport area or any others with 4*'s.. and I would recheck everyday to see if they added 4* hotels to any of the other areas that I mentioned not having 4*

also I added Fisherman's Wharf because there is very little chance you will get a 4* hotel there for under $150 and if you happen to you should be thrilled...

I also used USW as it is so close to USE.. but I guess that depends on your situation (I did like the USE hotels more than the USW ones.. so I was glad I ended up with USE's)

I've found Hotwire to be muchhh more expensive for SF during the times I were looking for.. Couldn't find anything below $149 and that was most likely going to be for the Hyatt Regency (which I got from Priceline for $95 for the same night).

[thomjones]

From looking at winning bids, it looks like I'm most likely to get the Hyatt Regency around the $100 price. If I up my bid a little to say $125, am I more likely to snag hotels like the Meridien or Omni, which others have had success with at that price?

I haven't used PRICELINE before. Do hotels get an equal chance to accept a bid, meaning that if someone puts in a high bid of say $175, it's quite possible that a lower-end 4star like the Hyatt would accept before a higher-end one like the Omni?

[bshaf1]

I would read over this thread: Don't Bid Higher For a Specific Hotel

Seems like it would be a mistake :/

Though paying $125 for the Hyatt wouldn't be a TRAGEDY.. so maybe its worth taking that $30 risk to get a nicer hotel for you.. since bidding higher would probably make more hotels an option (that's what I gather from that thread anyway) but there would still be a better chance that you would get the Hyatt I would think.. Especially as getting the Hyatt for $125 would be a 40% discount.. so bidding $125 would definitely not put you out of the Hyatt range (just possibly open some other options)..

[bshaf1]

one more thing

looking at hyatt's website could be a good indication.. when I got a different hotel for $125 a night the hyatt's cheapest rate was about $300.. but when I got the hyatt it was only $179 that night

for the 23,24.. the 24th's cheapest rate is like $220.. so I would be afraid to bid low if I were trying to avoid the hyatt

but for the 26th the hyatt's lowest rate is $295.. so I doubt they would accept even $125 for that room through PRICELINE (though thats just my guess..)

the 29,30 have low rates too so I wouldn't try that either..

again this is just my best guess......

[Colfax]

For your first two dates, Aug 23 & 24, Gallus50 just won the Hyatt Regency for $93 after $92 was rejected. That's a good place to start.

Le Meridien never seems to come in for less than about $120.

You could bid $120 and maybe get Le Meridien. But you might also get the Hyatt on an overbid, or some other USE hotel. Bidding high doesn't guarantee you'll win Le Meridien. But bidding low guarantees that you won't. It's a crapshoot.

Whatever you decide please let us know what happens.

[thomjones]

I'm so happy with the result - $93 for the Hyatt Regency. I started out at $85 for USE and then added Civic Center, Cathedral Hill, Lombard and South San Francisco only increasing the price slightly each time. I'll report back on my results for Aug.29 and Aug.30.

[BEAV]

Congratulations on your successful bid and thanks for posting.

Note to thereuare: Move to SF Priceline board when you get the chance!

[thereuare]

Moved and merged with previous thread for these dates.

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