Priceline Hotel: Bidding assistance - Barcelona New Years

[chen]

I'm looking for bidding assistance for Barcelona, Espana for dates:

12/29/04 - 01/05/05

I need one room for my wife and me. Location is somewhat important to the extent that I want to be near a metro. I am familiar with Barcelona (lived there for 10 months) so I know how to get around.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Also, any recommended websites other than priceline would be great too, as I heard priceline is not great for Spain.

Thanks in advance.

[thereuare]

Do you have a budget and star rating goal?

[WillTravel]

Venere is a good place to start (is there a BetterBidding affiliate link?) :)

I've also read the SolMelia chain has good deals sometimes: http://www.solmelia.com

Bancotel can have great deals, particularly if you book exactly five nights at a time: http://www.bancotel.com

I don't know how these sites are for Spain but I'd try anyway: http://www.hrs.de and http://www.hotels.de and http://www.bookings.nl

[chen]

Thereuare:

I'd like to keep it 3* or better but I'm not picky if the price/location is right.

Willtravel:

Thanks for the sites. Venere was great. Below is a hotel that I have tentatively booked. Unlike other sites, I can cancel up until 12/27 so now I'm free to look elsewhere in the meantime. I checked tripadviser and my hotel got good reviews and I think the price is okay given the time (new years). Do you know if this price includes taxes/IVA? The FAQ on venere doesn't specify.

Thanks!

INFO:

Hotel H10 Itaca (4 star)

Address : Avda. Roma, 22

08015 - Barcelona

Rooms requested :

>1 Double 711.00 EUR

>Total price : 711.00 EUR

>

>Reservation:

>

>Arriving date : 29 December 2004

>Departure date : 05 January 2005

>Number of nights : 7

>

>---------------------------------------------------------------------

>CANCELLATION POLICY

>Timeline for cancellation without penalties:

>Monday 27 Dec 2004 23:59 (local time)

[WillTravel]

I'm almost certain the tax is included. I've never seen it otherwise for European hotels on Venere. But you could check if you wanted to make sure.

Did you check the zone maps for Barcelona? I think some people have been very unhappy with remote, suburban hotels not near transit in the past, but I don't know what zones they used or when.

[chen]

I checked the map/metro map and it looks like it's in a good location. About 1km from las ramblas/placa catalunya and a 5 minute walk to the metro. Not in suburbs. As I mentioned, trip adviser seems to have good reviews:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g1..._Catalonia.html

I noticed a lot of people complaining about the distant locations of the Priceline hotels in Barcelona on other websites. Apparently, some of the 4*s are down near the water but a good 15-20 minute walk to the metro. No good.

There another website, http://www.ratestogo.com , which has hotels offering cheap deals for booking 20 days prior to arrival. I'm going to hold out and see what they have too.

Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[chen]

I know that we're in the priceline section, but I just wanted to mention that I found this website helpful and cheaper than most others for Spain.

https://www.hotelclub.net/