Priceline Hotel: Please Help - San Diego 10/20-10/28

[tzvi]

Hi - I just found your site and I've been trying to put your bidding strategies to good use. I'm going to San Diego between 10/20 and 10/28 and need to stay near the convention center downtown.

I saw that others had got 4* Downtown for $85 this summer, and I figured staying with 4* would give me the most rebid attempts.

I bid $86, rejected and then rebid:

$96, $106, $116, $126, $136, and $146, all rejected.

I have one rebid left, or can wait three days and try again.

Any ideas why I'm having so much trouble?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Are you actually attending a convention? If so, which one and how big is it? (as this would explain the difficulty you are experiencing).

Another problem may be your length of stay. Priceline could have inventory at your price for every nite of your stay expect for one nite... and your entire bid will be rejected (even if the average cost of the stay is lower than your bid amount... your bid must be high enough to win each nite of your stay independently of the other nites).

Would you consider SPLITTING YOUR PRICELINE BID?

Do you have a back-up reservation (if so, where and how much?)

[tzvi]

Thanks for the response.

Yes, I'm heading down there for the Society for Neuroscience convention which has a whopping 30,000 attendees. So I figured it might be difficult to get a very sheap room. I think splitting the bid would be difficult, since the convention takes up most of the days and coordinating checking out and in would be difficult for a long move. I don't have a back-up reservation yet, but it looks like I'm going to need one.

I have a few more questions:

Do you think it's likely, given that priceline doesn't have anything for me now, that something might open up between now and the 20th? Do you have any experience with this?

If I wait 3 days and try to bid on a lower star value accomodation (say 2.5* or higher), what bid would you recommend making, seeing as I would only have 1 rebid attempt.

Thanks for your help! Go Blue!

[thereuare]

I would think that any 'unsold convention rooms' would hav already been released back into the system... it's not as if this convention is months away. Often rooms reserved for a convention are released back into the system once the convention deadline has passed... but it is usually a 3-6 weeks before the convention, not 10 days.

If you split the bid you could pack your bags and leave that at hotel 1 in the morning, then at the end of the day pick your bags up and check-in to hotel 2. I understand this is not the most convenient plan, if price wins out over convenience than that is how the 'switch' would take place... it's not as if you will have to drag your bags to the convention center. As well, with such a large convention, there is no certainty that splitting your bid will help matters.

Is the convention really 8 days long? That sounds like a long time for a convention.

Before suggesting a bidding strategy for lower star rated hotels, i would recommend finding out where and at what price your back-up reservation will be... then we can formulate educated bids based upon the alternative of your back-up plan.

[WillTravel]

I think an 8-night bid is going to be really difficult at almost any reasonable price or star level. I would get your backup reservation and post the cost here, and then someone can work from there.

Would you consider staying in the Old Town zone? That could be more convenient than winning a hotel by the airport, which is a strong possibility in the San Diego downtown-Harbor Island zone.

[tzvi]

Thanks for the advice so far!

Here's an update on my status. I tried breaking up the stays to different lengths on Hotwire, and found that 10/20-10/24 stays were cheap as were 10/25-10/28 stays, but anything including the night of the 24th was $300 up.

So I decided to get the Hotwire offer from 10/20-10/24. Details follow:

Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina

1 room(s) @ $128.00 per night x 4 night(s)

Hotel rating 4/5 stars

So now I need a second hotel from 10/24-10/28. I am looking for a backup now and I'm thinking about trying priceline again with the new dates. Would you suggest going for 4* with seven rebids again or with going with a lower star level? What bid levels would you suggest? Any experience with commuting from old town to the convention center? If it were convenient then Old Town would certainly be a possibility, though I think I would need to be more careful with my starting bid. Any other suggestions?

One more piece of info, in case it helps:

A 10/25-10/28 search through hotwire gives a 2/5 star bid for $68/night

Thanks again for all your help and for this excellent site!

[tzvi]

I've found a backup!

It is the Sommerset Suites in the uptown district for $141/night from 10/24-10/28

They have shuttle service to the convention center, so it seems like a viable option, altough something closer or nicer would be preferred.

Once again, any bidding suggestions you could make would be appreciated.

[thereuare]

Would you consider a hotel for the nite of the 24th and then another hotel for the 25th-28th?

I haven't looked at it yet, but if the 24th is the trouble nite, you will need a bid at least high enough to win the nite of the 24th. If rates are indeed lower for the 25th-28th than the 24th, and you bid them together, you will be overpaying for the 25th-28th. (did you follow that?)

[tzvi]

I think splittiing twice will be too big a hassle.

I tried bidding downtown SD 4* at $146 for 10/24-10/28, rejected.

Tried going down to 2.5* at $126, rejected.

At this point, I think I'm going to stay with my backup.

Even though priceline didn't work out for me this time, I'm really glad I found this site.

Thanks a lot for all your help. I'll be sure to come back and post any future deals I get.

[cheezhead]

I've stayed at the Sommerset Suites and although it considers itself a 3*, the priceline 3*'s are much better and the downtown zone is closer to the CC. You might think about bidding higher for a 3* on priceline before going to your back up. Good luck.