Priceline Hotel: Bidding on multiple rooms

[travelpjean]

Hi,

I need to get a San Antonio hotel on the riverwalk in Feb. This is for a group of teachers that would like their own room but, would like to stay in the same hotel. The number of rooms would be eight. I noticed that you can bid for more than one room at a time but, would they be all in the same hotel?

Thanks :)

[thereuare]

You can bid on up to 4 rooms at a time, and they will all be at the same hotel.

You can split this into two separate bids, 4 rooms each, but no guarantee that the first set of rooms will be at the same hotel as the second set of rooms.

If the above is sufficient for you let us know the details of your trip (dates, star rating, budget, etc) and we'll suggest a bidding strategy if you'd like. If not, let us know the information anyway and we'll try to find other sources where you can book that many rooms.

[travelpjean]

Well you are just wonderful! :) We are going to a conference there at the convention center.

The dates will be Feb.23rd checking out the 26th. We want a four star hotel , on the riverwalk and the budget would be around $70.00 a night , maybe start at $ 65.00 and could possibly go as high as $80.00. Since, there is a conference I hope there won't be problems with availabilty. Thank you so much.

[thereuare]

Just to confirm:

Anywhere within Priceline's Downtown/Riverwalk is fine?

You'll be bidding twice, four rooms each time, and understand that you may get two different hotels.

Just want to make sure we're on the same page.

[travelpjean]

As far as I know it's okay with my supervisor. She currently has back up reservations at the Drury Inn for $139.00 a night which is the reason we have to double up. I mentioned Priceline and she said for me to go for it . She does hesitate when I mentioned to her that we take a chance of splitting up the group but, I don't see what difference that would make as long as we are at the conference together. I assume the convention center is close by the hotels on the Riverwalk .

[thereuare]

I don't know the area, but i would first look at Priceline's map of the Riverwalk area and see how far they are from the Conference Center to make sure you could accept a property anywhere in the shaded region.

You may end up being the hero on this one...but i also want to make sure you don't end up being the goat either! :)

[Keoni]

CAREFULL, CAREFULL, CAREFULL!!!

Only been to San Antone a couple of times but I want to shore

up THEREUARE's concern about being a goat versus a hero...

Please note the title of this zone, based upon the priceline map,

is Downtown AND Riverwalk, NOT DOWNTOWN (slash) RIVERWALK.

Rough measurements indicate this zone covers several miles and

so one group could be walking to the convention and the other group

having a significant commute... According to the Drury Inn Website, this hotel not only overlooks the RiverWalk, but is six blocks from the convention center. I understand not wanting to share your personal space with someone else but based upon location, the amenities, such as free breakfast and free gettin liquored up at nite, etc... will you find a place equivalent for $70 per night, per room,

and ON THE RIVERWALK? (my two cents worth but this is a gamble you

may not want to take with your supervisor)

[travelpjean]

Thank you for your concern. I did talk to my supervisor again of which she was favorable to using Priceline. We looked at the list of four star hotels that Priceline has and they are all near the Convention Center. Emily Morgan is 3lbks, Marriott Rivercenter is real close, so would be the other Marriot. The Hyatt and the Hilton are within walking distance. Every 4 star hotel listed on the Downtown - Rivercenter is located close to the Convention Center.

[WillTravel]

travelpjean, I have no idea if this is possible for San Antonio, but I'd suggest doing a bit more research just in case there might be other hotels that have not yet shown up on Priceline that aren't near the convention center. No list of Priceline hotels is complete, because new hotels pop up, hotels are rerated, not everyone posts their wins, etc. You don't want to be the first to discover this new hotel if there is one. Of course, it may indeed be the case that it's impossible for there to be 4* hotels outside the convention center area.

[thereuare]

OK, with the above warnings duly noted, the following is how i would proceed.

You have 5 re-bid zones when bidding the 4* in this zone (note: the West zone is NOT a re-bid area, although it has no 4* hotels, it does have Resort properties which negates it being a re-bid zone since you could always be upgraded on your 4* bid)

Select 4* Downtown-Riverwalk

Bid $60, if rejected add re-bid zone and...

Bid $65, if rejected add re-bid zone and...

Bid $68, if rejected add re-bid zone and...

Bid $70, if rejected add re-bid zone and...

Bid $75, if rejected add re-bid zone and...

Bid $80

Good Luck and let us know how it goes.

[Keoni]

February may be more open but I tried the above bidding strategy,

with the exception of ending at $80, because of financial issues I had

to curtail my bidding at $78 to make sure with taxes and fees my total

per night was approx $93 or less, and I was not successful for the

period 24 - 28 January for a 4 star on the Riverwalk.

I will try again in the next couple of days by changing my dates for the

stay. If you are successful in your bid for February, please post the win

so others may benefit from your experience.

Regards, Keoni :)

[travelpjean]

Absolutely, I will post my results. I probably won't do this until next week. I need to be sure of all the rebid zones. Good point about the taxes and fees. I hadn't thought of that. Thanks, for all your help !This may be a bit stressful. :)

[Keoni]

Travelpjean,

No reason to "stress out" :) here at Better Bidding, we have so many folks

watching out for each other, just follow the bidding advice from Thereuare

up to the maximum level of your comfort zone and have patience. You already

have a backup hotel so the worst that can happen is you have to use it...

I tried the bidding strategy again tonight by adding the night of the 28th

but still no luck. I'm not ready to drop to a 3 star so I will wait out the 72

hours and try one last time.

Regards, Keoni :)

[travelpjean]

My supervisor told me today that our school district won't allow us to use Priceline . :) She told me the reason but, I don't recall it for some reason . I think I was real busy when she told me. It had something to do with taxes. Anyway, I wanted to follow up and let you know that I won't be bidding on those rooms after all. Thanks, though for helping me.

[thereuare]

Hate to see the taxpayers money get wasted due to bureaucracy... then they wonder why there's no money in the budget for necessities. :)

Thank you for the follow-up and letting us know.