Priceline Hotel: 3* Toronto (Downtown) Courtyard

[PPhloyd]

Hello everyone,

I need some help figuring out bidding strategy for a hotel in Toronto between September 3/4 thru September 7/8 (Labor day weekend in the USA).

Since this is for my wife (I won't be traveling) - I need to ensure that the hotel we get is convenient to travel to the Toronto Metro Convention Center, and in a safe location.

She won't be having a car, and will be relying on public transport and walking around.

3* and up would be preferable, and I'm hoping to keep costs under $80 (US) incl taxes per night.

I'd appreciate any help frequent Toronto travelers and bidders may have for us. Neither of us have ever been to Toronto before.

Thanks in advance - and thanks to this forum for great info in the past.

Cheers!

PPhloyd

[PPhloyd]

Looks like this Delta Chelsea post is for the exact same date range as what I'm looking for.

Any thoughts on this hotel in terms of location/quality?

Thanks!

[yellowdog]

PRICELINE is not the way to go if you have specific needs. Using PRICELINE for a zone means that you have to accept ANY hotel in the zone you're bidding on.

If you're trying to target 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.

Let us know your thoughts and we'll go from there.

Yellowdog.

[thereuare]

I need to ensure that the hotel we get is convenient to travel to the Toronto Metro Convention Center, and in a safe location.

If you go to MAPS and HOTELS.com and enter Toronto, zoom in one level, you'll see the hotels in the area plotted and also be able to see the mass transit stops. Then compare the PRICELINE zones and determine if you can accept a hotel anywhere within the shaded boundary of the Downtown zone. If so then you can proceed with bidding on PRICELINE; if not, then you may want to consider where you might have a bit more control at taking a guess as to the actual hotel you may receive.

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

Let us know how you'd like to proceed and we'll advise accordingly.

[PPhloyd]

Thanks for the info so far - and apologies for the delay in responding.

We need visas to travel to Canada, and we're still waiting on those to come back before we can make any bookings. It should be in the next ten days or so, we didn't think it would take this long, honestly.

PPhloyd

[thestugots]

Delta Chelsea is not that close to the Metro Convention Center and it is hit or miss on the quality IMO. (Delta Chelsea is at Yonge and Gerrard West). A lot people mention booking Delta Chelsea on HOTWIRE or PRICELINE and then talking/bribing their way into an upgraded room. Isn't worth the quality questions or location to try the Delta Chelsea if she is going to be at the Metro Convention Center on Front Street.

In my opinion your missus would be better off targetting the Intercontinental Toronto Centre, Westin Harbour Castle, Fairmont Royal York, Hilton Toronto or Renaissance Skydome, or even the Sheraton Center on Queen (marginally further from Front Street but a solid Toronto hotel). These places are handy to the Convention Center and seem to be regularly available.

The PRICELINE downtown Toronto zone extends a ways up Yonge Street but if you stick to the 4* you should land a spot near Front Street.

[PPhloyd]

I'm not sure how to change the thread title, but we had to adjust our dates to 9/3/09 to 9/5/09 (two nights). Seems to be really busy - either that or I waited too long.

I went up to $85 on bidding for 4* and 3.5* (several rebid zones) with no luck (multiple days with two different accounts).

Finally, today, I slid down to 3* (only 1 extra rebid zone) and got the Courtyard By Marriott Toronto Downtown (475 Yonge St.) for $65 - which may have been a little more than what it should have been, but we're ok with it.

Details:

Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: US$65.00

Subtotal: US$130.00

Taxes & Fees: US$25.96

Total Charges: US$155.96

Thanks again for all the great information, and of course I used the PRICELINE link from this site.

Please edit title (or should I start a new thread?) to reflect the updated info.

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success!

Glad to see you ultimately found something which will work for your needs and budget.

No need to start a new topic as we've edited the topic title of this one to reflect the details of your win... this way everyone can see the 'storyline' that led to this win including the attempts made and other options tried.

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

Enjoy your stay.