Priceline Hotel: 4* Austin (Downtown) 10/23/09-10/25/09

[markobarkowitz]

I am trying to get a four star in downtown Austin for the weekend of Oct 23-25, but bid up to $90 and can't get a room. I see that a lot of other people have been able to get rooms for $60-70 on weekends. Any ideas anyone....? I looked to see if there happens to be a big convention or anything in town and don't see that there is. Should I wait until the last minute to bid?

[thereuare]

Rates are date specific and very high for your datese...

Taking this Priceline Win at random for the InternContinental which was won for $75/nite, hotel direct rates are $156/nite. Checking for your dates rates start at $325/nite, and checking anohter hotel in the area for your dates, they Hyatt, is priced at $339/nite... making your $90 bids less than 1/3 of a conventionally booked room for these nites, which would have a low probability of success.

What is your maximum bid for this zone? Are you dates in this area flexible at all or can you stay in a nearby zone?

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

[markobarkowitz]

Thanks for the response. I'm not really flexible on dates or location (going to a wedding), but I could always go down on star rating. I'm pretty new to this, is 1/2 of the listed price a pretty good guideline when bidding on priceline?

Whatever I end up doing, I'll use the PRICELINE or HOTWIRE link to do it.

Thanks again.

marko b

[thereuare]

Half off is always a good deal in my book... but in some areas trying for half off can result in an overbid while in other areas it could be a wasted bid. The best approach is to find your best deal that you can thru conventional booking channels, then determine how much of a discount you need from that to make an 'opaque' (ie- unknown) hotel purchase worthwhile... it may be a 50% discount, 30% discount 20% discount, etc. The 'right' number is different for everyone.

As well, you don't want to pick one number and try it, you want to utulize a bidding strategy, gradually increasing your bid by using re-bid zones (see Priceline Re-Bidding Explained).

Is your current thought to bid high for a 4* or to lower your star rating to a 3.5*? Is there a block rate available anywhere thru the wedding party?

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

[markobarkowitz]

There's no block rate available. I'm not sure what I'll do....but I'll certainly post the details of whatever room I get (and link from here to get it).

Do you think there is an advantage to waiting until the last minute to bid? If the purpose of priceline really is to fill up rooms that would have otherwise gone empty then that would make sense, but I haven't really seen people pressing that point here on this site.

[thereuare]

I don't recommend waiting until the last minute since if rejected on their bids users begin to make panic decisions and often results in a bidding error or an overbid. As well, if you're unsuccessful at the last minute, then you have to scramble to find a good deal, and when there is a nearterm deadline you don't really have the time to do the proper research to find the best deal possible.

If a hotel is only half filled 2 weeks before arrival they will do whatever they can to attract customers. At this point they know that they won't be selling all their rooms themselves and some will sit vacant, so they'll start discounting heavily in an attempt to fill them... not wait until the day before to lower the price, as that is unlikely to attract the greatest number of guests (who often need some time to plan a get-a-way) Also, there is a floor to how low a hotel will discount their room and still have it be worthwhile to them.

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

[slruud]

The Austin Film Festival covers the OP's dates and most 4*s downtown are booked, with the exception of the Hilton for $289/nite. Lastminutetravel.com has a 4* downtown for $123...not sure which one it is, and another which I booked today for the 24th for $156, which I deduced was the Omni. The cheapest rate on the Omni website is $560/nite. Good luck.

[slruud]

It also appears Lastminutetravel.com has the Hyatt for $207. Hyatt website shows no availability.