Priceline Hotel: 3* Los Angeles (Culver City) Radisson Westside

[Annabella]

:) Hello

I

[AaronJB]

Good afternoon. :)

There is no strategy to get a particular property on PRICELINE or improve one's chances of getting a particular hotel - it is a "roll of the dice" and one has to be willing to accept any of the potential hotels when making a bid. There is no way to guarantee free parking, but in terms of a kitchenette, I would suggest looking on HOTWIRE to see if any hotels in the desired area are showing a kitchenette icon.

While this would be a longer stay, a longer stay is not as much an issue in this area as it may be in a place like NYC.

If you are willing to accept a different hotel and do not mind possibly not getting free parking or a kitchen, let us know and we will be happy to suggest a PRICELINE strategy. Otherwise, I would suggest looking on HOTWIRE, and we would be happy to help with trying to ID a HOTWIRE listing if one matches your needs.

Please use the site's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links.

[Annabella]

Thanks AaronJB.

yeah, I'd like a Priceline strategy, I have looked already on HOTWIRE, and no, haven't found hotels with kitchenette on HOTWIRE. My best bet is Residence Inn now.

I tried this today:

$42 Redondo Manhattan Beaches

$43 + Lawdale

$44 + Beverly Hills West Hollywood

$46 + Hollywood

3* and above

I also tried changing my dates (I don't know if it works as free rebid, I don't think so), from Jan 25 to Jan 31, to Jan 29, 28, and Jan 27, I mean I tried bidding 7 to 2 days.

I always get the message: " We're sorry, but we can't accept your offer of $46 for a hotel room in the Los Angeles - Central L.A. area. Your credit card has not been charged for Request Number"

and well, I don't want to increase my offer way too much for Manhattan Beach, otherwise I'll try other areas.

What other areas could be "safe" for bids under $50? If none, when can I start again? 24hs from now or tomorrow morning?

Many thanks in advance.

[Colfax]

If free parking and breakfast are important, Annabella, how about trying for 2.5*? The higher you bid for 3* the more you risk upgrade to 3.5*.

The reported 2.5*'s have free parking and breakfast: Best Western Sunrise, Hawthorn Suites, Springhill Suites. I don't know about kitchens.

If you bid 2.5* Lawndale is your only free rebid zone. Adding Hollywood or BH/WH there's some risk you could win a hotel there.

It's also possible the ResInn doesn't give PRICELINE inventory four weeks in advance and you're bidding too early.

[Annabella]

Thanks for your reply, Colfax.

I'm coming back to report the results.

Well, I'm not happy at all. Yeah, you are correct, I think that the Marriott Residence Inn doesn't give Priceline inventory four weeks in advance, I didn't get this hotel for my desired dates, rebidding and increasing the offer didn't work at all. Changing the lenght of my stay didn't change that either.

I was quite anxious, I should have waited.

My bidding zones were the aforementioned. Finally I added "Culver City" (to the previous zones), thinking it was going to work as a free rebid zone, and instantly "won" the...Radisson Westside for $52/night plus taxes. :)

This is really an unwanted hotel, I've got to read mixed reviews, I don't care about amenities such as shuttle from/to LAX, the pool, the pet friendly hotel (I'm not travelling with pets) and other amenities. Even worse, this hotel charges for parking ($14 to $19 for what I read), it's a non smoke free hotel and noisy hotel (close to the highway). Not my type of hotel at all. I got it for the whole week, my fault. Yeah, I know, it is a "roll of the dice", but some hotels and bids are better than others. I'm still happy with Priceline and betterbiding.com is a helpful site, all in all you save money.

And about the hotel, I really wish I am mistaken, and hopefully it is better than what it looks like. I'm writing a review after my 7 days stay at the Radisson Westside! So wish me luck!

Best wishes.

Anabella.

[thereuare]

Sorry to hear you're not happy with the results... but PRICELINE bidding can often require a bit of discipline.

For future reference here is the correct way to determine your re-bid zones: Priceline Re-Bidding Explained. Feel free to ask any questions you may have and/or confirm your re-bid zones with the board in the future before bidding.

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

Hope your stay goes better than you expect.

[Annabella]

Thanks. I forgot to mention I used this very useful link PRICELINE

[Colfax]

Ouch, Annabella.

I don't know how bad you want to stay in Manhattan/Redondo but sometimes Priceline allows a "one time exception" for bidding mistakes and lets you bid again in your desired zone, for a $25/day change fee. You'll be paying about $25/day for parking and breakfast at the Radisson, so it would be a fair trade IF you win another hotel in MB with free parking and breakfast. But an upgrade to 3.5* is always possible.

Otherwise I hope the Radisson's better than you're expecting and I look forward to seeing your review.

[Colfax]

I just read your detailed review comments, Annabella, in the Hotel Review section about your Radisson stay and I thought they deserved a link here so people could see how this story ended. Better than you expected, it sounds.

Radisson Westside review