Priceline Hotel: New to the forum - need some advice

[slcreads]

I am looking for 4* Seattle Pike Place area for 5/14 - 5/16/2010. I have a couple of questions.

When I go into Hotwire Seattle Downtown Park Place for 4* I get the following amenities - Fitness Center, Restaurants, Business Center, High Speed Internet Access for $146/night. When I look at the 4* list of possibles in this forum it looks to me like it could be the Westin or the Sheraton. Does that sound about right?

And I want to make sure I understand the advantages/disadvantages of Hotwire over Priceline. In Hotwire I am accepting the price for the 4* with the amenities offered. On Priceline I am bidding for a 4* in the zone at my named price. Is that really the difference between the two sites? The participating 4* hotels seem to be the same between the two sites and the lists on this forum.

Another question, I was looking at the Calendar of wins for Seattle so I could figure out if the Hotwire price was in the ball park and the price I was thinking of bidding on Priceline was appropriate. There don't appear to be any wins for 2010 posted. Am I bidding to early?

[AaronJB]

Welcome to the site. :)

PRICELINE is a service where you bid for a hotel in a certain area at a certain star rating. For example, if you want to bid for a 4* in a zone in Seattle, you could possibly get any of the 4*s in the zone and have to be willing to accept any of the 4*'s in the zone.

HOTWIRE, on the other hand, shows some information about the hotel - zone, star rating, amenities (and in some cases, tripadvisor rating.) HOTWIRE is generally more expensive than priceline (although by how much varies by situation), but one can - in many cases - make an "educated guess" as to which hotel is possibly showing.

While hotels in some areas do not adjust their rates too far in advance, this is not the case in other areas. It's a case-by-case basis, really.

What would be your budget per night for hotel?

Please use the site's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchase.

[slcreads]

I would like to stay under $150 per night for a 4* in the Seattle Downtown Pike Place area. But just like everyone else, I'm seriously interested in saving money. The current Hotwire quote of $146 for a 4* seems reasonable compared to the direct website reservations from $179 and up for both the Westin and the Sheraton.

I am thinking that I should go ahead and place a bid on Priceline for around $100/night for a 4* in Seattle Pike Place area and see if it hits. If it does - great! If not I can retry the bid adding in Space Needle and keep the 4*. Space Needle has no 4*s. Raise the bid by $10 a night and see if it hits. If that doesn't work I may decide to go directly to Hotwire and be done or continue checking Hotwire daily and wait the 72 hours and try again on Priceline.

Does that sound reasonable? As a novice to both Hotwire and Priceline I want to employ a good strategy but not let a reasonable 4* price on Hotwire pass me by. All hints and tips are welcome!

[Romelle]

AaronJB gave you a good list of the differences between HW and PL. I'd just like to add a couple:

1 - I think it is sort of fun to bid and be surprised by what you get. I've sometimes been very pleasantly surprised, but always have been at least satisfied with the value for the money spent. This one is strictly personal. I enjoy surprises and am pretty flexible and adaptable. Low maintenance. If you need to know ahead of time just what you are likely to get (no 100% guarantees, but the guesses here are pretty good), or are looking for a room to accommodate more than two people, you are better off with HW.

2 - It varies by area, but there are documented cases where HW rates hotels higher than PL. Loosely a 1/2 *. Thus, a HW 4* might be a PL 3 1/2*.

Seattle is a particularly good area in which to bid, because there are many areas and lots of them only have the lower star levels. You need to read up on "free rebidding" and understand it. A formidable weapon.

Yes, you are early in your bidding, but I've seen people get hotels even 7 and 8 months out. I personally once thought I was just "low-balling" and experimenting, and landed a hotel in London some 5 months out for 9 nights. Of course my credit card was charged immediately, and I had to do a bit of scrambling. I was happy with the hotel, just not quite ready to finance it. Do keep that in mind if you choose to bid this early. I personally don't think it is ever too early, as long as one is just exploring the lower $ amounts. Don't get competitive though, as many hotels simply don't give rooms to the PL inventory this early. I usually actually write down my plan, make a little spreadsheet on my computer and keep tabs of results as I bid. It is surprisingly easy to not quite remember what you did last time.

Once a week can be a good interval this far out, as it keeps the frustration down.

Are you wanting 2 or 3 nights?

Romelle

[slcreads]

I am looking for two night, Friday and Saturday 5/14/10 & 5/15/10.

[thereuare]

In addition to the above info, this thread explains the differences, and similarities, between PRICELINE and HOTWIRE: I've Never Used Priceline or Hotwire

Besides the Space Needle zone, which currently doesn't have 4* hotels (always doublecheck before each bidding cycle to make sure nothing has changed), there are actually TEN of the Seattle zones that don't contain 4* rated hotels and can be used are re-bid zones. For info on how to determine your re-bid zones see this thread: Priceline Re-Bidding Explained (and feel free to confirm your re-bid zones with the board before proceeding) So you could easily start below the $100 you are currently intending and work your way to whatever figure you're currently comfortable with.

Lastly, as far as "when to bid" you can read my thoughts in the related link in our PRICELINE FAQ.

If you're ready to bid now, let us know if you understand your re-bid zones (or want to confirm them with the board) and your maximum bid and we'll suggest a strategy for you to follow.

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