Priceline Hotel: 4* London (Mayfair-Soho) Holiday Inn Mayfair

[kay8nyc]

mid july 7 ngts. Thanks!! Sorry for the short notice!!

Do people posts asap when they win?

[thereuare]

What are the actual dates of your stay?

What is your maximum bid? Are you willing to pay more for a 5* vs. a 4* or is your goal the least expensive 4* or better?

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

Let us know the above and we'll take it from there.

[kay8nyc]

july 12-19, 2009 7 nites..

up to 100 for 4* (how low do I start?)

less than 150 for 5*

what do you think? thanks

[thereuare]

What do you want to try first...

Up to $150 for a 5*, then if rejected try for a 4* up to $100... OR try for a 4* up to $100, then if rejected, increase your star rating to 5* and continue onward to $150?

Let us know and we'll suggest a strategy for you to follow.

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

[kay8nyc]

What do you want to try first...

Up to $150 for a 5*, then if rejected try for a 4* up to $100... OR try for a 4* up to $100, then if rejected, increase your star rating to 5* and continue onward to $150?

Let us know and we'll suggest a strategy for you to follow.

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

the 2nd option. also is Hilton metropole in bayswater zone or regent park ?

[kay8nyc]

thereuare:

up to 100$ for 4* for kensington area, then mayfair /

is there a zone for mayfair? I don't 'see' it. thanks.

from ur knowledge...do prices on PL stay the same for this kind of last minute bids/

thanks

[kay8nyc]

thereuare:

waiting for u to rsvp

more questions:

does the bloomsbury zone include mayfair? can i hope NOT to get hotels neat the train stations(saftey concern for mom and teen girl?)

will a 4* in bayswater likely be a hilton, and (unfortunately the metropole?)

what has ben poppig up lately for Kensington? I can't find ANY postings for winnng bids in july, or anyone bidding last minute like I am!!

really anxious, but really to bid

[kay8nyc]

thereuare:

but WHERERU?

sORRY BUT PLS rsvp asap!!THANKS.

eXACTLY WHAT ZONE/WHERE IS HILTON mETROPOLE LISTED UNDER? pl HAS IT IN BOTh bayswater and regent park.

* Do I stay away from regents park so as not to get anything near the train syations?

* If I bid 4* in Bayswater... would I get a hilton as those are the only 4* hotels in that nabe?

Maybe I am doing too much reserach!!!

thanks again

REPLIES FROM ANYONE ALSO APPRECIATED!!

[Romelle]

You are in good hands with thereuare, but I'll jump in until he gets back.

For starters, the biddable zones in London (copied from Priceline bidding page):

1 Bloomsbury - Marble Arch

2 Finsbury and Islington

3 Hammersmith

4 Kensington - Earls Court - Knightsbridge

5 London Docklands

6 Mayfair - Soho

7 Notting Hill - Bayswater

8 Regents Park - Baker Street

9 The City and London Bridge

10 Westminster

Note # 6 includes MAYFAIR, and # 7 includes Bayswater.

Can't answer your question about where the Hilton Metro is.

If you bid 4* in Bayswater, you won't necessarily get a Hilton. Priceline can add new hotels at any time. The lists of reported hotels here are history, useful but definitely not definitive. I speak from experience here, having several times gotten hotels never reported before.

Generally speaking, the 4* hotels in London are in OK to good areas. I don't think the train station proximity is an issue, but on the other hand I don't wander about after dark by myself when in London - in any area. I'm a grandmother, so have concerns similar to yours regarding safety.

The most common hotel in Kensington tends to be the Copthorne Tara. You might want to read the reviews on this site and make your own decision as to whether you bid the area or not. I've been happy with it (last time I had it was this past June), and so reviewed it, but others haven't.

Other cities sometimes have rates that vary at the last minute, but I don't think London does. Don't count on it. This is a good time for you to be bidding.

Regarding research, the best kind you could do right now would be to look up rates at the hotels in the zones in which you are interested (for your dates). Then line the zones up roughly from least expensive to most expensive and start your bidding with the least expensive one. As you increase your bid, add zones in order of cost.

Romelle

[Romelle]

PS With a 7 day span, when you are researching hotel rates, watch to see if any of the dates seem much higher than the others. If you are willing to move hotels, that could indicate "splitting" your bid to the lower and higher priced days.

An easy way to do this is to look at Expedia where the rates are listed by individual days.

Sometimes a holiday or event will send a few days way up.

Romelle

And please start your PRICELINE bidding linking through from this site. Helps support it.

[thereuare]

As per the Priceline Hotel List the Hilton Metropole was last won in the Regents Park zone. If you're seeing threads with it listed in the "Notting Hill-Bayswater" zone, those were purched thru HOTWIRE, as HOTWIRE defines their zones and boundaries differently than PRICELINE.

If you want to see recent winning bids in each area you can enter the "London" in the QUICK SEARCH box at the top of the board and see recent wins for that area. You can further filter by adding a zone, so you could enter "London Mayfair" and see all wins pertinent to this zone.

It seems as if you have done more zone research for your stay, which zones do you want to bid to proceed?

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

[kay8nyc]

Thank you both ever so much!!! Now I will start..I am so nervous. I think from all the 'hits' on this post, there are many people looking to see the advice and strategy that I'm getting from you. I think being a mom +teen daughter, safety at night is a concern, as well as accessibilty to transport, and a bit of streetlife(like in greenwich village, nyc) in the eves for dinner. I don't want to split the days up. Our desired zones will be Kens. and Mayfair.

I haven't seen the Coptara listed anywhere yesterday and today. I have only seen a few win-bids for this week of July...and then end of August. Strange?for Nh kens., for Novotel St Pancras.

*So I see 2 hiltons as the only 4* listed on PL..for Bayswater .what else do they have? should I assume I'll get one of those?

* Can I bid 4* in Mayfair? Does anyone ever get one for below 150? (in july)Let's see how it goes.

* When you say start at the lowest (cheapest?) zone for me would that mean:

- Bayswater @80, (get reject)

-rebid add Kens. 4* (same or add $5)? rejected then-

-rebid by adding mayfair? (same price or add more $)

-can I add zone but not price? or up the price but keep same 2 or 3 zones?

I don't think I want to expand to Westm./regents pk, should I?

-DOES A FREE REBID ONLY COME WITH ADDING MORE ZONES? HOW ABOUT UPPING THE PRICES IN THE SAME 3 DESIRED ZONES?

So is that good? give us a thumbs up!! So nerve wracking. Want this to be good location/experience for daughter!!

Thank you both for your advice!! I'll let you know!

PS silly question: Is a 5* at around $150 'worth more' than a 4* at $100 (in terms of location/quality../safety)

any chance of an answer tonight??

[thereuare]

Our desired zones will be Kens. and Mayfair...

* When you say start at the lowest (cheapest?) zone for me would that mean:

- Bayswater @80, (get reject)

Please clarify... you mention that your desired zones are Kensington and Mayfair, but then you list Bayswater as the first zone you would be bidding?? :)

Re-bidding is explained here: Priceline Re-Bidding Explained. At the 5* level you have FIVE re-bid zones... none at the 4* level.

Please see if you can determine your re-bid zones using the information in the previous link and confirm them iwth the board, or if you're confused, post back and we'll break it down further for you.

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

[Romelle]

Reviews of the Copthorne Tara. If you bid Kensington, this is a highly likely win. People have very different values and expectations, but you probably can tell from reading the reviews if the negatives will bug you. They didn't me, but I'm pretty low maintenance, (well, and low budget). For the record, European hotel rooms tend to be smaller then US hotel rooms just generally.

NH hotels are also have been popping up a lot all over. Now that you've found the review area, you can smoke them out.

Look at the posted list of hotels at the very top of the Other Countries area (this section we are in right now). It is wins people have reported here.

Free rebidding is a really worthwhile concept to have totally straight in your head, if you want to bid the 5*s. The basic idea is you can't just increase your bid, YOU HAVE TO CHANGE SOMETHING OTHER THAN PRICE- ADDED ZONES and/or CHANGED DATES. Do read the text thereuare pointed out. You can leave the price the same as you add other zones (or change dates).

$100 for 4* and $150 for 5*?? Depends upon how much you value a little more amenities and pampering. Do you pay to fly 1st class? Go camping?

Have you ever bid before? You might want to just do a dry run by bidding something so low it couldn't possibly win - $50 in a 5* zone. Just to get the feel of things. But be careful. I once did what I thought was a throw-away bid, and it worked. Fortunately it was something I could use.

Romelle

[kay8nyc]

thank you everyone. So, I stated bidding last night

1) started at 80, bid Kens.

rejected

2)add mayfair/(I did not add 5*, it came up automatically)/ up bid to 85

was countered offered 105 (can't remember if the counter offer ws for 1st bid?)maybe should have taken it or can i counter that offer with only a $ increase, like 95$(+tax around $115 total/ngt. say for Coptara..?)

3) I up bid to 90 at some point, and then i couldn't go in again..

NOW I KNOW TO PUT IN A LOW STAR ZONE...LIKE U SAID IT'S DANGEROUS...BUT IS THERE A DEFINITE 3* ZONE YOU KNOW ABOUT?

so I am waiting my 24 hrs to bid again.

**JUST A THOUGHT, can't 2 people travelling together w/ 2 different named c/c make 2 separate bids?

So, the Hol.Inn4* in mayfair is listed on PL $188. The HI kens.4* is listed $198. would I want one over the other?(location/quality wise)

the COPtara listed for $186 on PL($166 0n kayak) so why did PL not take my 90$?

So: why would I not start in Mayfair at 5* lowball and add kens. 5*, then mayfair 4* then add Kens. 4*...would I then not get 3 rebids?then if you can define a zone that DEFINITELY does not have above 3* I can throw that in...

So, what is my next step??

thanks again everyone.

[Romelle]

The counter offer means there actually is something available somewhere between your bid and the amount of the counter offer. Might take one more dollar, might be 1/2 way, might take all the way to the counter offer. One just never knows. It is information though. And good news.

You can't "counter a counter-offer" with a different $ amount bid. You can either accept the counter, or go back and bid some more while changing something (adding other acceptible zones).

When you say the 5* "came up automatically", it always fills in your star level of bidding AND the higher levels above it. If you actually want a 5*, you have to bid JUST 5*. Priceline reserves the right to "upgrade".

Regarding 3* - you don't want to bid that unless you actually want to get a 3*. I don't know what you mean by "a low star zone"??

Your $90 bid is not yet 50% of the Copthorne rate. Sometimes people get rooms at less than 50%, but it is unusual.

London public transportation is really very good, and there are interesting things all over London. You might want to consider more zones. When you are only considering 2 zones, and can't make changes on dates, you only will have 2 bids every 24 hours.

Along those same lines, you might assign that teen-aged daughter to figure out the Underground system, and the better rates for using it. There is something called an "Oyster Card" that people seem to really like but it is complicated and I've never used it. There are simple "all you can ride" passes for one day and other lengths of time. It would be good for her to help sort this out, and I think the more one invests in studying for a trip, the more one can get out of it. Besides, those quick teenaged minds will be really good at it.

Romelle

[thereuare]

It may be my lack of sleep, but i'm having a difficult time following your post(s), so let's backtrack and take it one step at a time, please indicate the answer(s) to our previous question(s) above:

you mention that your desired zones are Kensington and Mayfair, but then you list Bayswater as the first zone you would be bidding??

In other words: For 4* bidding, which zones are acceptable to you? Do you still want to keep your maximum bid for a 4* at $100 (knowing that $105 may likely be enough)

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

[kay8nyc]

thank you for ue speedy reply. every little bit of info help all of us newbies!! willl log on afte tonight's bid.

Romelle.

thank you for ALL your advice. HAPPY JULY 4TH!! will let you know on my 2nd set of bid tonight!!

[Romelle]

I hope you answer thereuare's question "you mention that your desired zones are Kensington and Mayfair, but then you list Bayswater as the first zone you would be bidding??"

The answer will help him better to give you a bidding strategy. Another zone would allow a little more sophisticated technique he hasn't covered yet for you. Alternatively, if you don't want Bayswater, but actually bid it and happen to win something, PRICELINE is VERY unforgiving. Almost nobody gets refunds.

Romelle

[kay8nyc]

Just to let everyone know I bid PL this a.m.

***** for mayfair 4* started at $95, they countered $128 and i TOOK it, becos I am travelling in 5 days!!! I knew it was the H.I. Mayfair. It was also listed on HW for $139.

The last set of bid that I made (see above), for 4* Kensington, they countered with $105 on my $85 bid, I didn't know I could not counter their counterbid!! AS you can see in hindsight, I SHOULD HAVE TAKEN IT!! (that would prob. have been the Coptara or Hilton Olympia, and I didn't want to take that chance!!) but would have saved $23/ per day.

So all you folks out there...you can bid and win!!

Thanks esp. to ROMELLE, without whom I would not have continued to bid, and to THEREUARE, where-ever-u-are!!

PS, 10 mins. B4 this winning bid, I bid 5* Mayfair, starting at 100, was able to rebid 7 more times..up to $135, there were no counter offers. If I had the extra budget, I certainly would go for the difference to get a 5* vs 4* is probably 20-30$ a day.

NB:Also I wanted 7 days at one hotel...and I am travelling in 5 days.

[Romelle]

I'm happy it worked out for you, and am sure you will have a wonderful adventure with your daughter.

Romelle

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success and thank you for sharing your results with the board.

Please remember to use the requested PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

Enjoy your stay.

[GM Mike]

I've stayed at this hotel before. It's fine... Nothing especially elegant but clean and "safe". There's a sizable convenience store next door and quite a few food options in the area. Good location for the tube; about 2 blocks away.

[kay8nyc]

I've stayed at this hotel before. It's fine... Nothing especially elegant but clean and "safe". There's a sizable convenience store next door and quite a few food options in the area. Good location for the tube; about 2 blocks away.

thank you so much for the extra tidbit..it really helps.

*Is there internet cafe nearby?

*I hear there'a a train from LHR T3 straight to Green park stn. (confirm?)

*I am hoping they will honor special request,(non-smoking/ quiet/working a/c) and esp. EARLY CHECK-IN as we arrive 7.30 am...even though we book thru PRICELINE. I am trying to email them directly..and get through via Holiday Inn U.S.A.

[GM Mike]

*Is there internet cafe nearby?

Not sure. There was a pay-per-minute computer available in the lobby. It was not cheap. The in-room Internet was something like 15 GBP per day.

*I hear there'a a train from LHR T3 straight to Green park stn. (confirm?)

The Tube (Underground) goes directly from a combined station for Terminals 1-3. Take the Piccadilly Line toward Cockfosters to the Green Park station and it's a very short walk from there. There is a trip planner at http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk/user/XSLT...ST2?language=en that will give you step by step directions, including a PDF walking map from the station to the hotel. Just make sure you pick a trip with one tube segment - it'll also return trips that involve changing trains or using buses. You're better off to wait a little while for a single train trip. It's about a 45 minute ride.

*I am hoping they will honor special request,(non-smoking/ quiet/working a/c) and esp. EARLY CHECK-IN as we arrive 7.30 am...even though we book thru PL. I am trying to email them directly..and get through via Holiday Inn U.S.A.

We stayed on a direct reservation (on points) and could not get early check-in. They said they had nothing available yet but I'm not sure I believe it. The concierge stored our bags and recommended a hop on-hop off bus tour that picks up a block away. It was ok and definitely an effective way to kill time. Not really an in-depth tour but a convenient way to at least see many places we didn't have time to visit.