Priceline Hotel: 3* Philadelphia (Downtown) Hilton Garden Inn

[pharmgradstudent]

Hello All!

I have been browsing this forum for a while and saw that I could get some decent 3* hotels in downtown Philadelphia in the $45-55 range. I am a student and of course would prefer to pay in the lower end, so I made my first (unsuccessful :) ) bids last night (using your PRICELINE link, of course). I determined that the only rebid zone I had for this area was Gloucester (only had 2* and down). This is what I did:

First Bid (3* downtown)

$45 - rejected

Second Bid (3* downtown+ rebid zone)

$46 - rejected

Third Bid (3* downtown+ rebid zone, changed to 1/10/10-1/18/10)

$47 - rejected

Although I know I shouldn't expect to have a specific hotel, I would like to have the Hilton Garden Inn because of the price people have received on it ($45) and also the location for me would be ideal (I have business at a nearby school). I have already purchased a flight so the dates will now definitely have to be 1/9/10-1/18/10. I changed the dates originally because I thought that there may be a problem with Saturday check-in, but I've done searches and have seen that people have received accepted bids of $45 for check-in at the Hilton Garden Inn on the same date.

The max I would like to pay is $50/night. So should I approach this differently? Are my dates of stay too long? Should I have started at a lower price or higher star rating? Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Rates are date specific, so just as you can't expect to receive a specific hotel, you may not be able to replicate other successful bids for which dates are different than your own. As well, this is somewhat of an extended stay, and if one nite during your stay is more expensive than the others, it could effect the overall bid needed for success.

As you have a little time, i'd try again in 24 hours:

Select 3* Downtown...

Bid $49, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $50

If the above is rejected, is SPLITTING YOUR PRICELINE BID an option?

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

[pharmgradstudent]

Thanks for replying!

As stated above the first thing I did was use the PRICELINE link here, as I do want to help this forum out :)

Price is more important to me than the actual hotel, I've reviewed all the hotels in the area in that star range and would be fine with any of them. But ideally closer would be best. I'm not used to cold weather so the less time outside, the better! lol

I was wondering too if I should split this into two bids. I will review that link then decide if I should go that route or try again for the full stay with the strategy you suggested.

[thereuare]

Let us know what you decide and how you'd like to proceed and we'll take it from there.

[pharmgradstudent]

Okay so I just tried again using your strategy, to no avail (again using the forum link/search option :) )

BUT after my first bid, I did get a counter offer to increase my price by $14.

So to recap for my second try I did this:

First Bid (3* downtown)

$49 - rejected (with a try again offer to increase price by $14)

Second Bid (3* downtown+ rebid zone)

$50- rejected

I think tomorrow I will try to break this up into separate stays and I guess start at a lower price. The question is how many separate stays I should make it? Hmm...have to think.

To be continued!

[thereuare]

I would use the following dates combinations:

1/9-1/18

1/9-1/17

1/10-1/18

1/9-1/16

1/11-1/18

1/9-1/15

1/12-1/18

1/9-1/14

1/13-1/18

Other than the first date range above (which was the dates of your last bid) you don't even need to wait 24 hours from your previos bid since you've changed the dates.

Any questions feel free to ask.

Thanks for using our PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[pharmgradstudent]

So I'm partially there. Last night I got a bid accepted for 1/9-1/12 for $47 a night at the Hilton Garden Inn Philadelphia Center City. When I tried to make different bids for anything beyond using different dates (in the middle of the week and beyond), I wasn't able to get anything except a counter offer for a stay from the 1/12-1/15 to increase my bid by $13 (which I didn't take). I also tried to extend my stay at that rate to the 15th and I couldn't get anything. (note: when I did rebids on different dates I closed out and restarted by using the search engine here :) )

I guess this means I should go up a little higher than $50. I'm wondering if there may be a rate change because the following weekend is a long one. I think I may increase my max to $55 and start my next bids at $50.

[AaronJB]

Congratulations on your success.

Glad you were able to get a nice deal at this well-reviewed HGI for at least part of your stay. Please start a NEW THREAD for the remainder of your stay, and we will be happy to continue to help. :)

Thank you for sharing your win with the board and please use the site's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links.

Enjoy your stay.