Priceline Hotel: Venice-Florence-Rome 10/10/09 - 10/18/09

[soup]

Hi. I'm new to PRICELINE and am hoping for some help on booking hotels. I'm looking for hotels close to the downtown sections of the cities, preferably at least 4 star for around $100 to $150 a night. Is that doable?

Here's my itinerary.

Venice: 10/10-10/12

Florence: 10/12-10/15

Rome: 10/15-10/18

All help is much appreciated. Thank you.

[thereuare]

Welcome (back) to BetterBidding!

Please use a separate thread for each leg of your stay... we'll use the thread for your Venice stay, feel free to start NEW TOPICS for each of your others stays.

I'm looking for hotels close to the downtown sections of the cities...

I'd start by going to PRICELINE and looking at the zones of this area... are you comfortable receiving a hotel anywhere within the shaded boundaries of the Venice zone?

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

PS- please be sure to follow-up your upcoming stays/threads with whatever you end up doing fore each stay, unlike your previous Priceline Boston thread :)

[soup]

Please use a separate thread for each leg of your stay... we'll use the thread for your Venice stay, feel free to start NEW TOPICS for each of your others stays.

Cool, I'll start the other cities after I settle Venice.

I'd start by going to PRICELINE and looking at the zones of this area... are you comfortable receiving a hotel anywhere within the shaded boundaries of the Venice zone?

I've checked that map and it is very broad, perhaps b/c Venice is so small. But I prefer to be on the main 2 islands. For instance, a lot of people have been getting the Hilton Molinno Stucky which is on the southern island which isn't near the attractions. Ideaaly I would be in the old ghetto area or near San Marco.

PS- please be sure to follow-up your upcoming stays/threads with whatever you end up doing fore each stay, unlike your previous Priceline Boston thread :)

I probably just registered and posted without much thought. In fact, I didn't even go on that trip. Sorry.

[thereuare]

I've checked that map and it is very broad, perhaps b/c Venice is so small. But I prefer to be on the main 2 islands. For instance, a lot of people have been getting the Hilton Molinno Stucky which is on the southern island which isn't near the attractions.

If you're going to use PRICELINE you need to be willing to accept a hotel anywhere in the shaded boundaries of the zone. If there are parts of the zone, or hotels, that you're not willing to accept then HOTWIRE may be a better option as 1) they may divide the zone different and have smaller zone boundaries, or 2) you may be able to take an educated guess as to the property you may receive based upon the amenities HOTWIRE associates with the proerty.

Of course when considering PRICELINE / HOTWIRE use, some of the options may not be your first choice, but perfectly acceptable when considering the the savings and price paid.

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.

[soup]

The HOTWIRE price for 4* is $181/night which is above my budget, so I'll have to go the PRICELINE route. I would love to keep the price around $130 at the highest, lower is even better. Zone 3, Venice Center, is where I would like to stay.

[thereuare]

With no re-bid zones, but time on your side, i'd start at $90 and increase your bid $5 every 24 hours... you should read your maximum bid in less than a week and if unsuccesful we can re-evaluate.

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

Let us know how it goes and keep us updated or let us know if we can be of further help.

[soup]

If I bid for 5* then I can add Mestre as a free rebid zone, right? But for 4* there is no rebidding.

[thereuare]

If I bid for 5* then I can add Mestre as a free rebid zone, right? But for 4* there is no rebidding.

At the moment there are no 5* hotels in Mestre so you can use that as a re-bid zone if you're bidding at the 5* level... i suggested the above as i thought you were bidding at the 4* level.

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

[soup]

I'm gunning for a 4* but am trying to see if I can get 5* at a reasonable price. Splurging on 1 leg of my trip would be nice I think.

[thereuare]

Let us know once you decide how you'd like to proceed and we'll try to help.

Keep in mind that if your bid the 5* level the Hilton is probably a real possibility (might even be a good possibility at the 4* level too if your bid woudl be upgraded to a higher rated hotel)

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

[soup]

Keep in mind that if your bid the 5* level the Hilton is probably a real possibility (might even be a good possibility at the 4* level too if your bid woudl be upgraded to a higher rated hotel)

Trying for that 5* first. I have put some thought into the Hilton and how it is on the southern island, but they run a free shuttle. If it is truly 5 star (not just by Priceline standards, but like the Four Seasons) it might be worth the extra boat ride. Do you know if it is indeed that nice?

And thank you again for all the help.

[MadFlyer]

I have been looking at various weekends in Venice for last few weeks.

Just thought I would comment that occupancy seems high that weekend in Venice and five star options look especially high with one Spanish discount site that normally has rooms for 150 euros is showing 450 up. Could be a luxury cruise ship turnaround or something.

Just thought I would save you wasted time at the low end and this date looks like 5 * would come in at least over $150.

[Chamorro]

That's funny, my vacation is the exact same as yours but in reverse and ends when yours begins. I'm going to Rome (3 nights) from Oct. 5-8, Florence (3 nights) from Oct. 8-11, and Venice (2 nights) from Oct. 11-13. We'll cross paths for one day on October 11 in Venice with you guys! We've been trying for 5* Molino in Venice for a couple of weeks and have bid as high as $170 with no luck. We've settled on just finding a good deal at the regular rate through Venere.com for Hotel Villa Del Palme, which has a very good rating on tripadvisor.

If you plan on booking any leg of your vacation at a regular rate, I would recommend finding the hotel on tripadvisor so you make sure you get a good place at a reasonable rate. Then, use Venere.com to book and enter the code 9MCETU3 to save 4% off your rate. If you book more than one hotel, use a different email address to book so you can use the discount code again. The other nice thing about making a regular booking is that you know you're getting a good place and you can cancel the reservation if you end up finding something else. You can use it as a plan B in case priceline.com falls through or you don't like the hotels people tend to be getting with priceline.

I only used priceline.com for Florence and got stuck with the 4* NH Firenze (aka NH Florence) like everyone else. I ended up getting it at $90 bid but others have gotten it as low as $70 I believe. It's not that bad from what I hear but I think I could have found an equally nice 3* hotel or B&B near the center of Florence at the same rate by booking at a regular rate.

Anyway, I'm curious to find out what you end up getting through priceline if you go that route. Please share with us!

[thereuare]

If it is truly 5 star (not just by Priceline standards, but like the Four Seasons) it might be worth the extra boat ride. Do you know if it is indeed that nice?

Currently the only 'known' hotels in this zone at the 5* level are the Boscolo Grand Dei Dogi Hotel and the Hilton Molino Stucky.

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

I only used priceline.com for Florence and got stuck with the 4* NH Firenze (aka NH Florence) like everyone else.

Can you please add your win to the board as a NEW TOPIC so that others will be aware of it when scanning the topic titles and when using the Priceline and Hotwire Calendar of Wins.

Thanks.

[soup]

Currently the only 'known' hotels in this zone at the 5* level are the Boscolo Grand Dei Dogi Hotel and the Hilton Molino Stucky.

For Venice and Florence I am not going the Priceline route. I found a couple B&B's for around $120/night. I have a feeling that might be a little high (what is the going rate?) but the one in Venice is 10 meters from St. Mark's Square and the one in Florence is near the Duomo. Does anyone have any thoughts on that? I'm still up in the air about Rome but will use another post for that if needed, though I am likely to book a B&B there too.

I only used priceline.com for Florence and got stuck with the 4* NH Firenze (aka NH Florence) like everyone else. I ended up getting it at $90 bid but others have gotten it as low as $70 I believe. It's not that bad from what I hear but I think I could have found an equally nice 3* hotel or B&B near the center of Florence at the same rate by booking at a regular rate.

I thought about the NH Firenze when deciding against Priceline b/c it's about a 20 min walk from the center of town and I just didn't want that. I'm a New Yorker and can handle the walk, but I wanted to be more central.

It's pretty awesome we have almost an identical trip. We should share some pointers.

This might be the wrong place to ask this, but maybe someone will have the answer. I'm trying to decipher the whole Venice Card vs. Venice Connect issue. The best I can figure out is that I should buy a Venice Rolling Card (http://www.hellovenezia.com/jsp/en/venicecardrolling/index.jsp) for 4 Euros which will allow me to buy an ACTV 72 Hour pass for 18 Euros. Then through Venice Connect (http://www.veniceconnected.com/ecommerce/carrello.php?lang=2&g=20091010) I'll buy the museum pass for 16 Euros and the 72 Hour WiFi for 8 Euros bringing my total to 46 Euros. Does this plan sound right to anybody?

Thanks again for everything.