Priceline Hotel: San Francisco 9/19 - 9/21

[Travelingal]

Long time lurker, first time poster! I've used Priceline for YEARS and happily booked the Serrano in USW for anywhere from $75 to $90 many a weekend. I'm coming to SF for a wedding and need a hotel from 9/19 - 9/21. I'd LOVE the Serrano, if possible, but I've bid up to $130 for USW Botique and got nothing (most recently bid today). I hesitate to go into USE because I don't want the Financial district or some ghetto hotel below Market. I do love the Palomar, but seems like people are also getting the Hyatt over in Financial when bidding in USE. What do you suggest I do?

Thanks for your help! I love this site and tell all my friends!

[slick_gd]

Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do to guarantee which hotel you are going to get. The Serrano hotel website indicates there is no availability for the dates you requested, so you are probably not getting that hotel in any case. There may be an event going on in SF at that time that is limiting the amount of hotel room available. From here it's a matter of what risk you are willing to take.

Please post your past winning bids so that others on the site can benefit from your experience.

Use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to start your purchase.

[Travelingal]

What I'm wondering is if anyone has booked a hotel room that weekend, in either USW or USE and if so what they have and for what price. I'm so surprised that PRICELINE has come through for nothing so far, as usually it works great for me.

[BEAV]

A did a quick check of retail prices on Expedia and most all of the usual USW/USE 4 star hotels are going for $300 and up on your travel dates. These prices indicate high occupancy, and my guess would be they aren't releasing inventory to Priceline. At least not yet. Either that, or their Priceline rates are much higher than you've bid thus far. While I know you're bidding boutique category, I mention the pricing on the 4 star hotels merely as a gauge to try to determine if the city is "busy" that weekend (which it appears to be). Prices on Hotwire for 4 star hotels are $200 and above, which is another indication it will be difficult to "score" on Priceline in the low $100s.

Hotwire is not selling any of the 3-star and above boutique hotels that weekend, another indication occupancy levels are high.

The only exception to any of this is the Hilton in USW. They are going for $187 for Sept 19-21. Priceline wlll not upgrade a boutique bid to a 4 star hotel, so even if their Priceline rate is lower than $130, they will not assign and upgrade you to the Hilton. You'd have to book 4 star USW outright. Despite the Hilton's low rate in comparison with all the other hotels, Hotwire isn't selling anything in the 4 star category in USW.

I think it's just going to take some patience on this one!

Good luck and keep us posted.

[Travelingal]

Wow, thank you SO much for the above info! Of COURSE my friends would plan their wedding on the most expensive weekend in town! Well, I'll keep trying for $150 and see what turns up. If not that Hilton price you referenced is not bad. I didn't realize Priceline doesn't automatically upgrade to the 4 star, so I will try that too. I also found the Priceline and Hotwire Calendar of Wins (duh!) which is great. There's only one win on there, and checking the site for that hotel shows it sold out that weekend, so inventory might be gone. Oh well, I'll keep trying!

[thereuare]

Priceline wlll not upgrade a boutique bid to a 4 star hotel

There are a few reports of Boutique hotel bids being upgraded to 4 star properties... not sure if this is 'user error' or if the Boutique bid was actually upgraded, but for me the 'jury is still out' as to whether a Boutique bid can be upgraded or not. (perhaps it can happen in some areas but not in others? :) ... just one theory i just thought of but haven't researched)

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

[BEAV]

There are a few reports of Boutique hotel bids being upgraded to 4 star properties... not sure if this is 'user error' or if the Boutique bid was actually upgraded, but for me the 'jury is still out' as to whether a Boutique bid can be upgraded or not. (perhaps it can happen in some areas but not in others? :) ... just one theory i just thought of but haven't researched)

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

Very interesting development. An interesting "test" would be for Travelingal to bid 4* USW at $130. If accepted, I would tend to think her previous $130 boutique bid would have been accepted/upgraded to 4 star. Of course her previous bid was yesterday, and we all know what a difference a day can make in the life of PRICELINE bidding!

[Travelingal]

You know, I did try the 4 star as well (by adding in an area that doesn't have 4 star and rebidding) and tried it again today. No luck.

[thereuare]

Is there a hotel that everyone associated with the wedding will be staying at? If so, which one, what is the rate, and up until when is it cancellable?

[Travelingal]

Nope, they did not set up a specific hotel or a special rate or anything for guests. My boyfriend, who I'm bringing as my guest, does have Starwood points he can use to book a hotel room, but they're so expensive that it will pretty much wipe out all his points. I'm trying to find another option, but hey, since I'm paying for his plane ticket if I won't feel too bad if he has to get the room. :)

[BEAV]

You know, I did try the 4 star as well (by adding in an area that doesn't have 4 star and rebidding).

If you added non-4 star zones to your USW boutique bid, then you really weren't bidding 4 stars. The non-4 star zones were simply free rebid zones on your boutique bids.

When you bid today, did you independantly bid 4 stars USW at $130 (without selecting boutique)?

[Travelingal]

I'm never sure how long I have to wait for rebid, so today, to be safe, I bid $130 on USW and an area that doesn't have 4 star, which I hadn't touched yesterday, like Civic Center. I did not get a 'win.' Adding an area without a 4 star won't mess it up - will it? Am I doing this wrong?

[BEAV]

You are correct. If you're trying to bid 4* USW, you can add any zone that doesn't have 4 star bidding as your "free" rebid(s). Once you place a bid, you cannot repeat the same exact bid (same zone, same star level) for 24 hours. And Priceline means 24 hours, not the next calendar day. For example, you can't bid at 10:00pm Tuesday and then repeat the exact same bid at 6:00am Wednesday, but rather wait until 10:00pm.

If you're trying to bid 4 star in USW, you can bid the following combinations once every 24 hours:

Bid 1 - USW

Bid 2 - USW + Civic Center

Bid 3 - USW + Lombard

Bid 4 - USW + Cathedral Hill

Bid 5 - USW + South SF

Bid 6 - USW + Civic Center + Lombard

Bid 7 - USW + Civic Center + Cathedral Hill

Bid 8 - USW + Civic Center + South SF

Bid 9 - USW + Civic Center + Lombard + Cathedral Hill

Bid 10 - USW + Civic Center + Lombard + South SF

Bid 11 - USW + Civic Center + Lombard + Cathedral Hill + South SF

Bid 12 - USW + Lombard + Cathedral Hill

Bid 13 - USW + Lombard + South SF

Bid 14 - USW + Lombard + Cathedral Hill + South SF

Bid 15 - USW + Cathedral Hill + South SF

In order to have as many bidding opportunities as listed above, you have to go the PRICELINE home page and start your bidding from scratch after Bid #2. That is the only way to allow for bidding different combinations of zones without duplicating previous bids.

Continued good luck!

[BEAV]

Note to thereuare:

The title of this thread isn't doesn't reflect the winning bid data of the OP (travelingal), but rather poster basic was posting information about his/her win since the dates are similar (although not exact) to the OP's. As info, basic already posted his/her winning bid info in a separate thread earlier this month.

I assume travelingal is still attempting to bid these dates, but hasn't had success.....yet!

[thereuare]

Thanks... think i got it straight now. :)

Basic's thread can be seen in this Priceline Win thread.

[Travelingal]

So, I just bid today for a 4 star hotel in USW for $150, and got nothing. I've seen two wins for the Parc 55 for this same price, but I can't seem to get it. Is there a better time of day or day of the week to try?

[Travelingal]

And just did a rebid for $150, adding on Civic Center and Botique. Again nothing.

[thereuare]

There's no better/worse time of day to bid... as BEAV indicated above, these happen to be expensive dates in San Francisco.

The two $150 wins for the Parc 55 were for dates slightly different than your own... is SPLITTING YOUR PRICELINE BID an option?

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

[Travelingal]

Not sure what you mean by splitting, but if you're asking me if I wouldn't mind staying at a different hotel each of the two nights I'm staying there then yes, I do not want to split.

[thereuare]

If you continue to be rejected for these dates what is your back-up plan?

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

[Colfax]

What about 3* in USW, Travelingal? You said you like Boutique hotels (you like the Serrano anyhow) and the reported 3* hotels in USW---the Rex and Maxwell--are very much like Boutiques.

[Travelingal]

Okay, I saw someone got the Hotel Nikko for the exact dates I'm looking for, in the exact area, for $120. I bid $120 for a 4 star on the same dates, in USW and got nothing. I added Civic Center, and bumped my bid up to $150, nothing. Then I added botique along with 4 star, and still nothing for $150. Guess I missed the window for the Hotel Nikko rooms.

I'm not sure about 3 stars, as I really would like to stay in Botique or above. Back up plan is to use my boyfriend's Starwood points at the W, but that will pretty much wipe out all his points so I'm trying to avoid that. I looked at Hotline, and haven't seen any new wins there for the dates I'm looking at. Guess I'll try again tomorrow - let me know if there are more suggestions, and thanks for all your help. Tough weekend!

[thereuare]

Are you bidding the USE zone? How about the Westin St Francis for $149/nite?

Will this work for your needs? Please use our Westin St Francis link if you go this route.

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

[BEAV]

If Priceline's new Embarcadero zone is acceptable, you might be successful on Priceline for $150 or less. At the moment, Hotwire is selling what I suspect is the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero for $159. In many cases, PRICELINE will beat HOTWIRE.

[Travelingal]

I'm bidding the USW zone. I tried that Westin link in the post above, but it said they're sold out for those nights. So, based on your comments above I checked out the zone for USE and it looks like they removed the scary stuff below Market, and the stuff out in the financial district - YAY! Okay, I'm going to do some research and bid again. Wish me luck!