Priceline Hotel: 4* London (Kensington-Earls Court-Knightsbridge) Holiday Inn Kgn Forum

[Jen Urbano]

Greetings! My husband and I have recently decided to go on vacation to London. Having never bid on Priceline before, I've been doing some research on bidding strategies, and think I've got a better handle on it after reviewing the information here. However, since we are under a bit of a time crunch, I wondered if you guys might be willing to assist with a bidding strategy...

We're interested in 4* hotels, in all Priceline areas except for Hammersmith and Regents Park - Baker Street. We'd like to stay around $100/night (preferably less). We will arrive on 9/21 and depart 9/29.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

To avoid confusion, please list the hotels you are willing to accept rather than the zones you won't accept... we'll then advise accordingly.

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

[Jen Urbano]

Thanks!

We aren't really vested in any one hotel, just want to be central. We'd be perfectly happy with just about anything 4* in the following zones (in rank order):

1. Bloomsbury-Marble Arch

2. Mayfair-Soho

3. Westminser

4. Kensington-Earls Court-Knightsbridge

5. Notting Hill-Bayswater

6. The City & London Bridge

7. Finsbury & Islington

8. London Docklands

I've seen previous winning bids at various Hiltons, Copthorne Tara, etc - those would be great. I'm happy to go through and specify individual hotels that I've seen on the lists, if that's what you meant...

[thereuare]

One more question since you posted "(in rank order)"... i assume price is more important than zone? In other words, are you willing to pay more for a hotel near the top of your zone ranking or is price ultimately more imporant, and your goal is the least expensive hotel in any of the acceptable zones above?

Let us know and we'll be able to suggest a strategy for you to follow.

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

[Jen Urbano]

Price is definitely the motivator - we're aiming for the least expensive hotel in any of the listed zones. Many thanks for the help!

[thereuare]

There are no re-bid zones at the 4* level in London but with so many zones you'll be fine without them.

Select 4* Bloomsbury and Mayfair...

Bid $65, if rejected close browser and use our link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 4* Westminster and Kensington...

Bid $65, if rejected close browser and use our link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 4* Notthing Hill and The City...

Bid $65, if rejected close browser and use our link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 4* Finsbury and Docklands...

Bid $65, if rejected close browser and use our link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 4* Bloomsbury and Kensington...

Bid $70, if rejected close browser and use our link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 4* Westminster and Mayfair...

Bid $70, if rejected close browser and use our link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 4* Notthing Hill and Docklands...

Bid $70, if rejected close browser and use our link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 4* Finsbury and The City...

Bid $70, if rejected close browser and use our link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 4* Bloomsbury and Westminster...

Bid $75, if rejected close browser and use our link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 4* Mayfair and Kensington...

Bid $75, if rejected close browser and use our link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 4* Notthing Hill and Finsbury...

Bid $75, if rejected close browser and use our link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 4* The City and Docklands...

Bid $75, if rejected close browser and use our link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 4* Bloomsbury and Mayfair and Westinster...

Bid $80, if rejected close browser and use our link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 4* Kensington and Notting Hill and The City...

Bid $85, if rejected close browser and use our link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 4* Finsbury and Docklands and Bloomsbury...

Bid $85, if rejected close browser and use our link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 4* Bloomsbury and Mayfair and Westminster and Kensington...

Bid $90, if rejected close browser and use our link to re-access priceline

Select 4* Notting Hill and The City and Finsbury and Docklands...

Bid $90, if rejected close browser and use our link to re-access priceline

Select 4* Bloomsbury and Mayfair and Westminster and Notting Hill...

Bid $95, if rejected close browser and use our link to re-access priceline

Select 4* Kensington and The City and Finsbury and Docklands...

Bid $95, if rejected close browser and use our link to re-access priceline

Select 4* Bloomsbury and Mayfair and Westminster and Notting Hill and Kensington and The City and Finsbury and Docklands......

Bid $100

Any questions feel free to ask.

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

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[Jen Urbano]

No luck. At $95 (Kensington, City, Finsbury, Docklands) we were counter-offered $117 but I did not take the offer.

Every time the Kensington zone was included in the bid, we were offered a $113 deal - but we did not take it.

I think we'll wait a couple of days and try again - what do you think?

[thereuare]

You can usually undercut the counter-offers a bit, do you have a back-up plan/reservation that is anywhere near $105-$110? Is SPLITTING YOUR PRICELINE BID an option?

If the answer to both is "no" then i would consider stretching your budget a little if possible... this is an 8 nite stay and if the hotel in question sees higher demand for just one of those nites it could negatively effect your chances of success for the entire stay.

If this was a one or two nite stay i might think differently, but not for an 8 nite stay (again, assuming you don't have back-up which is close to this offer). If you're willing to SPLITTING YOUR PRICELINE BID then i would consider trying that as well.

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

[Jen Urbano]

I think we're going to try splitting the bid first, before upping the budget. This may give us an opportunity to over-nite in Paris, as we had before considered doing a long day trip... I'll shoot for splitting and let you know how it goes. Thanks for all the great advice...

[Jen Urbano]

Just got the Holiday Inn Kensington Forum for $90 for last half of the stay: 9/25-9/29. I'll shoot for the first half again tomorrow - may have to bump up the budget for that one. Thanks again!

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your <partial> success!

Glad to see you got a win for at least part of your stay taken care of and within your budget.

If you'd like help with the balance of your stay, or to report your success for the remainder of this trip, please start a NEW TOPIC.

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

Enjoy this leg of your stay.

[leslogs]

Just got back from a 2 night stay at the 4* Hilton Islington which we got via Priceline for $86 per night. Nice quiet hotel, not in the centre, but just a bus ride away (across road from hotel) and the buses from there to and from the centre of london ran all through the night. If price is the main criterion, I'd suggest including Islington in your bid.

[thereuare]

Second purchase, first leg of the stay, can be found in this Priceline London Hotel thread.