Priceline Hotel: 4* San Francisco (USW) Hilton

[acchang4]

First time user.

Was hoping for a 4* hotel near the water in SF with my girlfriend. Used other posts as a helpful guide.

Started with the Embarcadero with 4* for $75

Added Civic center (tops at 3*) ... $80

Fisherman's wharf (tops at 3.5*) ... $85

Marina (tops at 2*) ... $90

Then ran out of lower-star places, decided to try adding USW. Hoped to get at the top of Nob Hill, like the Hopkins or something.

Got the Hilton in USW. $100. Overpaid by $8. Noticed Hotwire probably running same hotel for $92.

D'oh!

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Congratulations on your win and thank you for sharing it with the board.

Glad to see the previous posts on the board were helpful in your bidding.

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

Enjoy your stay.

[BEAV]

Let me add my welcome to Better Bidding as well!

With regard to your $8 overbid compared to Hotwire's $92 rate, you could have started a fresh bid from scratch in the USW zone rather than continuing to "build" on your Embarcadero zone bids. Adding zones (USW) with the same quality level as your original $75 bid in the Embarcadero zone combined with increasing your bid amount can lead to an overbid situation. If Hotwire's rate was $92, chances are you could have been successful with Priceline in USW for $75-$85. I hope that is helpful for your future bidding adventures, assuming you're a newbie.

As to your hoping for the Mark Hopkins in USW, another great tool is looking at Priceline's vacation package. If you do a package search (air + hotel) from LAX to SFO for Nov 14-16, you will see the per person price at the USW Hilton is $277 while it is $384 for the Mark Hopkins. This is a pretty clear indication that the Hilton has a lower Priceline rate than the Mark Hopkins. If I'm trying to avoid a certain hotel in a certain zone, I often use the vacation package search to see what price it's coming in at compared to other hotels in the same zone.

I hope some of this can be helpful for your future bidding adventures, assuming you're a newbie. At any rate, you came out with a great deal and congratulations for that! :)

[acchang4]

I won my bid for a hotel stay at the Hilton (USW) in San Francisco. I overpaid by a bit, so I'd like to make the most of my reservation.

The hotel has good rooms and bad rooms, generally in different towers. Would it be wise for me to call ahead to see if I can get one of the better rooms, or would it be better to wait until I check in?

And when I check in, would it be better if I did it just with credit card and ID, rather than the priceline printout?

Thanks!

[thereuare]

You can call the hotel now and make your request (remember, this is a request, so be as nice as you can on the phone) and i would phrase it something like:

"Hi, this is acchang4 and i have an upcoming stay at your property on 11/14 and i wanted to put in a request for a non-smoking room with a King bed (or whatever type of room you desire). This is a special occaision for me/us (if traveling with somebody mention that maybe it's your anniversary or a celebration of some sort) so i was also hoping i could put in a request for the "X Tower" since i've done a lot of reading on your property, and all my friends who have stayed there, tell me that those are the nicest".

At check-in do bring your PRICELINE printout (if there is any problem it's easier to solve if you have the confirmation with you) but keep it to yourself and only give them your ID and credit card at check-in. You can also re-iterate your request for the room type and tower desired.

Good luck.