Priceline Hotel: Hong Kong 4* bidding advice & other help needed

[phillai]

Hi there!

I'm going to Hong Kong again in 2009 and I would like some (of your friendly) assistance and a betting strategy for my stay in Hong Kong.

I would like to stay in a 4* (or better) hotel in Hong Kong (Central Kowloon and Tsim Sha Tsui only).

I would like to check in from the 1st April 2009 and I will be checking out on the 19th April.

What I'd also would like to know is...

1. I know 18 days might seem like a long time to book but I'm willing to break it up as I might also be travelling in China during my 18 day stay in Hong Kong.

What's are the maximum (duration) amount of days allowed for me to stay in Hong Kong at reasonalbly cheap rates?

From searching around, I'm getting the impression that the maximum allowed is 4 days.

2. How early should I start looking at bidding in general?

I realise I might be a little early making a bid and that the inventary might not even be released.

By the way, I'm willing to bid (ideally) no more than $150 including taxes.

I can see in the past history of the BetterBidding forums on Hong Kong that the last 4* hotel (Eaton Hotel in Central Kowloon) was won for $90 per day for four days on the 2nd April 2007.

I know this has been long (essay) but I've wrote down as much detail as I could to help you guys aiding me to getting a good deal.

Thank you for taking your time reading this and many thanks in advance to all replies to this.

P.S. If this is in the wrong section, can one of the mods help me move this or can you let me know where I should post this?

[AaronJB]

Disclaimer: I'm not exactly familiar with Hong Kong. :)

Board moderator thereuare can provide a detailed bidding strategy and will be able to help break-up the trip.

In the meantime, I thought I'd offer a few suggestions.

I think Priceline inventory may be limited at this point, but prices are at least pretty low, as Expedia has the Cosmopolitan Hotel for $111.47 per night on sale. Hotel Panorama (which, as the name would suggest, appears to offer great views) is $127 a night via Expedia. There's also the new L Hotel Nina et Convention Center ($132, Expedia), the Metropole ($163 on Orbitz.com, but use coupon code FABSAVE10 for 10% off each night), Hotel Jen (4* on sale for $143 via Travelocity). There are some other options, but I these are a few options I pulled out while searching.

If any of these are of interest, it would be greatly appreciated if you could use the site's links: Travelocity.com, Expedia.com, Orbitz.com.

If any of these options appealed to you, they would allow you to stay at the same place for the whole stay. They would also be refundable (although CHECK THE FINE PRINT TO MAKE SURE!), giving you some flexibility. Given the length of your stay and how far in advance you are booking, having a refundable back-up now (and there are plenty in your price range) and maybe looking into Priceline more towards your trip might be something to consider.

[Chris26WI]

Well, I don't think there's a rule on priceline that say only 4 days of stay.. though of course it's more probable to get something with less days than 18 days, sure. As you have plenty of time, why don't you just go ahead and try your luck, you can start lowballing with rather low bids.. And there's in principle no "too early" for bidding as long as your days of stay are really fixed. While there will be hotels that load more inventory inside priceline with little bit advance, while others might sell a part of their inventory rather early via PRICELINE... depending on what they expect from these periods in terms of guest load. April doesn't seem to me like peak season in HKG, so good luck.

[thereuare]

You can bid for up to 21 continuous nites with PRICELINE.

Are you looking to go to China for part of your stay OR only if you have trouble getting a continous stay in Hong Kong?

What is your maximum bid before taxes and fees?

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

[larrylaffer]

I have stayed at the Cosmopolitan Hotel previously. The rooms are a little small (they tend to be generally in Hong Kong) and it is a 10-15 minute walk to the metro but as a whole it was a decent hotel. Very close to Happy Valley race track for a nice night at the races. It is not in Kowloon (rather Hong Kong Island) but it may be worth considering if you have no luck on priceline. In my last bidding experience using Priceline for Hong Kong (I got the Cosmopolitan) I found it difficult to get any decent prices there but this may have changed.

Good luck. Hong Kong is a great city. One my favourites.

[phillai]

This is my betting history for 4 nights from the 1st April 2009 to no success... Any ideas?

Monday 27th Oct (last bid 19.24)

bid 1 -

[blkjck1]

Rooms in Hong Kong tend to be quite small, and I tried booking 4* properties for May 2007 upwards to $200/night in Kowloon and TST without luck, and trying to book for friends since then have not yielded many results. If I were to book normally, my preference would to be to book somewhere in TST, as you are near the MTR and the KCR mass transportation options. You're also near the waterfront, and I would go back to HK just to stand on the Avenue of Stars at night and see the HK skyline at night. Taxis are cheap, but the HK roads are very crowded, and I found the buses and subways the best way to get around.

You mention the Eaton Hotel, and it isn't a bad hotel to stay at. I can't remember if it is one or two stops on the MTR from TST, but it's about 200m away from the Jordan station. The one caveat I would say about the Eaton is that if you go to their website and look at the pictures of the rooms, they are smaller than they look. I upgraded to one of their Club Rooms based on the pictures, and they are tiny, so you can imagine what the normal rooms look like. The best HK hotel I have been in has been the Renaissance New World, which is in TST. Their Club Level rooms are quite nice and reasonably sized, and that gives you access to their lounge where they serve breakfast, tea, snacks, and drinks. I quite enjoyed being there, and would not hesitate to book there again. The hotel is connected to a huge shopping mall that includes a grocery store and bakery.

If you are traveling to China or other parts of Asia, I would suggest you find a local HK travel agency to book everything ex-HK. The travel business in Asia is highly competitive, with several airlines serving the continent and hotels and resorts offering fantastic deals. For example, we arrived in HK on Thursday, walked into a travel agency the next morning, and were on a flight to Phuket, Thailand on Monday staying at a 5-star resort for a song. The agent told us if we wanted to, we could have gotten to Phuket the next day if we wanted to for the same price. In case you are wondering, we used Westminster Travel, as they have a great website to check things out ahead of time.

If time is not as important to you, staying in Shenzhen across the border in China is a doable option, and there are many benefits to being there, but there is much downside as well. Send me a private message if you would like to know more about Shenzhen option.

[siuju]

i've booked eaton hotel in kowloon for may 2008 in priceline. The price is around US $84 per night for a week. April will cost a bit more i suppose because there is conference happening in HK. Hope this help.

[thereuare]

siuju,

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Can you please add your win to the board as a NEW TOPIC so that the information will help others as they do their own research for this area in the future. Please also include the actual date(s) of your stay so that your win will appear in the Priceline and Hotwire Calendar of Wins.

You can still view all the details of your previous purchase by going to the MY PROFILE>>MY TRIPS section of PRICELINE (link at the top right of the PRICELINE home page)

Thanks!