Priceline Hotel: Help to find 4* hotel in San Francisco (Embarcadero)

[strawb]

I'm a newbie to PRICELINE and was hoping for a bit of help to find a 4* hotel in San Francisco (ideally Embarcadero area or nearby), 21st to 24th May.

I tried bidding yesterday but was rejected on all offers below $105, which is near the top of what I was hoping to spend - but is this unrealistic during May?

If anyone has any advice that would be appreciated. Am I perhaps bidding too early for May?

Thanks

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Did you bid only the Embarcadero zone when you bid yesterday or did you include any other nearby zones? (USE, USW, Soma, etc?)

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

[strawb]

Hi, I included all nearby zones (Fishermans Wharf, Union Sq East and West, Soma) one zone at a time so that I could slowly increase my best offer. Thanks.

[BEAV]

There are 4 known 4-star Priceline hotels within the Embarcadero zone. Their rack rates for your dates are as follows:

Hilton Financial District:

$269 Thurs night and $159 Fri/Sat

Le Meridien:

$389 Thursday and $209 Fri/Sat

Hyatt Regency Embarcadero:

$199 each night Thurs/Fri/Sat

Omni

$269 Thurs and $229 Fri/Sat

With the exception of Thursday night, your dates fall over Memorial Day weekend. The Embarcadero zone encompasses the Financial District, where weekend/holiday rates are typically low and often easy to target on Priceline (and often under $100 as well).

I think your rejection up to $105 may be for two reasons (or a combination of both):

1. Booking too early -- hotels haven't yet released inventory to Priceline.

2. Thursday May 21, being a regular business day may command a higher Priceline rate (at this time) than Friday & Saturday nights.

If you need to get this done now, you may have to bid higher in order to hit the target price for Thursday night. But doing so will require overbidding for Fri/Sat nights (in my opinion). If you can, I'd sit back and wait awhile. Perhaps try bidding once every 10 days or so.

Good luck!

[thereuare]

2. Thursday May 21, being a regular business day may command a higher Priceline rate (at this time) than Friday & Saturday nights.

Another option is to SPLITTING YOUR PRICELINE BID... if you're willing to change hotels during the course of your stay. Would this be an option? (if you'd rather not you don't have to, or you can continue to bid for the complete stay and use splitting as an option if you're still unsuccessful as you get closer to your dates of travel)

I included all nearby zones (Fishermans Wharf, Union Sq East and West, Soma) one zone at a time so that I could slowly increase my best offer

Also, you can bid better than you have been if you used these zones in order to continue to increase your bid. If you added zones in the order that you posted them, you could easily overbid for the Soma zone. Are you familiar with Priceline Re-Bidding Explained (you do have four "true" re-bid zones available when bidding 4* in San Francisco). If you're new to re-bidding your strong encouraged to confirm your re-bid zones with the board before proceeding.

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