Priceline Hotel: Sarasota tips

[hhanse57]

New here but I've done alot of reading. Hope you can offer a tip. I'm trying to help out my brother who is in Sarasota, FL and needs a hotel on Wed night only for the next few weeks. I thought about trying Priceline name your own price for a 1 star which are reg priced at $48-50. I offered $27 for check in on 10/22 and check out on 10/23 and was refused. I'm wondering if either this is a busy time for hotels in Sarasota or being a 1 star they just don't go down that low since they are cheaper anyway. With Pricelines fee I'll be adding another $10 average to whatever I offer. Are the 1* prices not as flexible?

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Which zone(s) of Sarasota are you bidding?

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

[hhanse57]

1, 2 or 3 as it has to be something on a bus route. 2 hotels show up in Bradenton and those won't work. Another interesting thing is that the 1*s show up at $48-50 but I tried name your own price at $30 and then get a message 'to remember that a 1* hotel in that area normally runs $71 a night'. OK where's that coming from since the reg prices are in the higher $40 range. Wonder if I'd get about the same price as a 1* if I tried a 2*.

[thereuare]

What are the names of Zones 1, 2 and 3 (please use names on the board instead of zone numbers as if a zone is added between the time you post and the time we look it can cause for a lot of confusion and misinformation)

Generally speaking, as you point out above, there isn't as much margin in a $50 hotel rooms as there is in a $100+ hotel room, and the booking fee is just about the same for each (so the booking fee is a higher percentage of a $25 bid than it is of a $50 bid), so the value is usually found in the higher star rated hotels.

This isn't to say that you can't get a good deal on a lower rated hotel, but the better deals are often (not always) found in the higher rated hotels. Also, i'd question if you really want an opaque 1* rated hotel... while some 1* properties may be fine for your needs, some may not, and with the opaque suppliers you can't choose which type you will get.

You can continue to try to get a 1* hotel at the lowest price possible, but i think that a better approach would be to find the best deal you could for an acceptable hotel, and then try to do better by getting a higher rated property for the same amount (or lower)

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

Let us know your thoughts and how you'd like to proceed and we'll advise accordingly.

[Travlin1]

Winter in Sarasota is peak season, so I would expect the hotel rates to be more expensive across the board.