Priceline Hotel: 4* London (Bloomsbury-Marble Arch) Novotel St Pancras

[xazp]

My wife and I are flying into London and out of Paris from May 16th through May 26th. So in total we have 11 days and 10 nights, but we can distribute the time between London and Paris. We'd probably like to spend between

3-4 days in London with the balance of time in Paris. I thought the flexibility with dates might allow some interesting bidding strategies.

We are there for sight-seeing and in particular eating at nice restaurants. I think location is important and (hopefully due to this forum) we can probably pay for a 4* hotel. We don't really know either city, so we're looking for advice on a good location, bidding strategies and so forth. I'd say good location for tourists is #1 importance, then having 4* or better hotels (though 3* is OK too). Given those constraints we want a "pretty good price" for the hotel.

Thanks for any advice :)

[Romelle]

I'm sure you will get official bidding advice soon here. I'm just a fellow member, but wanted to chime in a bit.

You sound as if you've already done some bidding in other areas?

Are you planning on the Eurostar between London and Paris? It is sometimes known as the "Chunnel" train.

I think you will find Paris hotels to be more costly than the London ones for comparable quarters, but people have been winning in both at much lower bids lately. The stronger dollar vs both the pound and euro is one factor, and the difficult economy another.

Both cities have well developed public transportation systems, so lots of different zones could be workable for you. This will help your bidding process.

You might want to take a look at the Priceline bidding zones in both cities, and do what you can in terms of ruling them in or out, as that will help with the bidding advice you will get. This is one of those situations where you get more specificity if you supply more specificity.

Sounds like you have the makings of a wonderful trip.

Romelle

[xazp]

Thank you. I did just complete a bid for London via the Priceline link and now I'm starting to look for the Paris leg. We probably

will take the train between the two. It turned out that it was cheaper to fly into London and out of Paris, so it seemed like a good opportunity to visit both.

I bid on London May 16-May 18th. I don't remember the exact steps but something like the following:

5* westminster - $100

5* westminster, city center - $110

4* or 5* westminster, city center, mayfair-soho - $70

4* or 5* westminster, city center, mayfair, bloomsbury - $75 -- accepted. It was a London Novotel.

This is a whole lot cheaper than when I went to London a few years ago. I think I got a much worse hotel for a lot more money. $75 is cheaper than hotels in big cities.

Now on to Paris. Any particular areas to stay or good hotels to target?

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your win!

Within the 4 zones you bid there are multiple Novotel properties, can you please add a reply to this thread with the full name and/or address of the one you received. This informations will be on your winning bid confirmation page.

Glad to see you're hapyp with the deal you received and you've upgraded your accomodations, for less, than your previous visit.

Thank you for sharing your win with the board and using our PRICLINE link to begin your bidding.

For your Paris stay please start a NEW TOPIC.

Enjoy this leg of your stay.

[xazp]

Hi,

Sorry the winning bid was Novotel London St Pancras, for $75 a night.

[thereuare]

Thanks for the follow-up.