Priceline Hotel: 4* San Francisco (USE - Embarcadero) Hyatt Regency

[vancouver]

First time user looking for advice on where to start bidding for 4* USE for Sept 1-4. I have reviewed all of the recent posts and identified USE as the desired location as to avoid the chance of being stuck at USW Hilton. I will use the re-zone bidding trick to ensure I maximize the number of bids.

My question is where I should start my bidding for a hotel being booked for stay one-week from today. When bidding on rooms in the week preceeding stay, do the bids normally start higher or lower than normal?

I would be happy paying $80-$90 a night, but of course would never be upset to get a better deal for something like USE-Embarcadero 4* Hyatt Regency.

Does anyone know of any 'bad' 4* hotels in USE? Are there any 4* USE hotels that would be a disappointment?

Any advice would be appreciated.

[WillTravel]

Your main problem with so little time left until the trip is that you don't have that many chances to rebid. So for that reason you might want to start high. However, for a San Francisco 4*, you do have lots of rebid zones, so you could start at a reasonably low rate and work up to a high amount.

Looking at the list of 4* USE hotels here, the only one I recall people not liking so much is the Westin St. Francis. However, I seem to recall that's been renovated lately. Plus, people hardly seem to get it any more on Priceline, if ever. I can't say for sure that there are no dud hotels, but it seems to be fine 99+% of the time.

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

You have five re-bids available when bidding 4* in the USE zone. If you are unsure of which zones qualify feel free to confirm them with the board. This is what i would suggest in order to bring you up to your maximum bid of $90.

Select 4* USE:

Bid $60, if rejected add re-bid zone and...

Bid $68, if rejected add re-bid zone and...

Bid $75, if rejected add re-bid zone and...

Bid $80, if rejected add re-bid zone and...

Bid $85, if rejected add re-bid zone and...

Bid $90.

Good Luck and feel free to ask any questions you may have regarding the above.

[vancouver]

Thanks for the advice, I am just about ready to bid for the first time.

One more question....how do i determine what the re-bid zones are?

I want a 4* USE, so what zone do I add to my re-bid zones to ensure I get a 4* in USE? I see that FW, USW etc. all have 4*, does this mean there are no San Fran re-bid zones to add?

Thanks.

[thereuare]

You actually have 5 re-bid zones when bidding at the 4* level.

From PRICELINE RE-BIDDING EXPLAINED

The way to check what star levels are available in each zone is to open a Priceline page, check ONLY the zone you are inquiring about, and then proceed to the next page (as if you were going to select a zone)... this will give you the available star ratings in that area. You can then hit BACK on your browser, uncheck the current box, check the next box, and repeat the process. It is important to do this before EACH attempt at adding a zone that you really don't want, as new hotels can be added and the star ratings can change at any time.

Feel free to confirm the 5 re-bid zones with the board if you are unsure or have additional questions.

[vancouver]

Thanks, but i just tried this technique for Sept 1-4 and I see that there is a 4* available in every single zone of San Fran. Am i interpreting this correctly.

Your advice is very much appreciated.

[thereuare]

Did you only have one zone checked at a time?

If you have Yahoo messenger... i just logged on, send me an IM by clicking the Yahoo Messenger link under this post and i'll walk u thru it.

[vancouver]

Just booked a 4* USE for Sept 1-4.

First bid USE 4* $60 rejected

Rebid USE 4* with FW add-zone for $68 and accepted at Hyatt Regency.

Great deal! Thanks for all the help of thereuare.