Priceline Hotel: 3.5* Toronto (Downtown East) Delta Chelsea

[oh_bidding]

I'm looking to book a hotel from 9/10 - 9/16. It's during the Toronto Film Festival which I know is a big deal. Looking through the forums, it sounds like people often get the Sheraton, which I would love to get. Unfortunately, when I tried to look for people who reserved hotels around film festival time, it sounds like more likely, people get Westin Harbour Castle, which is the one hotel I do not want to get.

I thought maybe if I lowered my standards to 3*, I would avoid that hotel, but then I noticed 3* Radisson Admiral Harbourfront is in the priceline hotel list, and again, that's a hotel I do not want to get.

Is it most likely, since I want to reserve a room at a peak time, the harbour hotels are the ones I'm going to get? Is there a way to lower my chance of getting those 2 hotels? My other option is to just book a room at this 2.5* hotel that I usually stay at. I know it'll cost about $120-$160/night. So basically my question is, is there a surefire way to book a > 2.5* hotel that's actually in downtown proper (not by the harbour) for 9/10 - 9/16 that's under $100? And if so, how? Otherwise, I'll just go with my usual just to be safe.

Thanks.

[yellowdog]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

The short answer is no. You can't avoid a specific hotel in the zone you're bidding for. And the sad part is that you can get an automatic upgrade to 3* when bidding on 2.5*. But i don't know how likley this is for the zone you would like to stay in. But it can happen.

If you're trying to target/avoid a specific property then HOTWIRE can often be a better option if you're successfully able to identify it based upon the star rating and amenities shown before your purchase... the trade-off is that HOTWIRE usually costs a little more than PRICELINE, so you need to decide what is most important to you for a given stay, the lowest possible price OR the ability to take an educated guess as to the property you may receive.

Just post for further help.

Yellowdog.

[tilepusher]

HOTWIRE currently has a 4* in Downtown Toronto West for $96 with the following amenities: Smoke Free, Fitness, Pool, Restaurant, Business, High-speed Internet. There is also the TripAdvisor information: 4.0 rating, 560+ reviews, last reviewed June 2009. This is a match for the Sheraton.

If you decide to book this hotel, please make your purchase through the HOTWIRE link on this site.

[oh_bidding]

I ended up using Hotwire as suggested as opposed to Priceline to be on the safe side. I'm not sure how I should go about posting what I booked through Hotwire (I made 2 bookings) Should I post them in this thread and edit the title with the hotel info? Or should I start a new thread per reservation? Another complication is that I booked my rooms through Hotwire, not Priceline, which is where this thread is currently located.

I'll just go ahead and list them here to start out with till I get further instructions:

3.5* Toronto (Downtown East) Delta Chelsea

$61 ... 9/10/09-9/11/09

Amenities:

smoke free rooms

fitness center

pool

restaurant

business center

high speed internet

460+ reviews from tripadvisor

-----------------------------------------------------

4* Toronto (Downtown West) Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel

$93 ... 9/11/09 - 9/15/09

Amenities:

smoke free rooms

fitness center

pool

restaurant

business center

high speed internet

600+ reviews from tripadvisor

[yellowdog]

Thank you for sharing your win with the board :)

Can you please post your 4* stay in a separate topic

Enjoy your stay and the festival.

Please use the site's HOTWIRE and PRICELINE links to start future purchases.

Yellowdog.