Priceline Hotel: 4* London (Bloomsbury-Marble Arch) Holiday Inn Regents Park

[Benny2]

Hi

I

[AaronJB]

Welcome to Betterbidding. :)

What would be your desired budget per night?

There is no way to know for sure regarding bidding sooner or later (it varies by day, city and other factors) - I generally recommend starting bidding as soon as your dates are confirmed. If something is going on on your dates (convention, etc) prices can suddenly jump higher.

Please use the site's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchases and searches.

[Benny2]

Hi

Thanks for replying, I was thinking of

[Jerry Hung]

Probably, I think 4* is around $100 USD range

Check HOTWIRE for a baseline reference for 4* hotel in the area you want

[Romelle]

benny2,

You might also look at the Priceline and Hotwire Calendar of Wins (above center). Plug in your dates (or a longer range including your dates). Look at both PRICELINE and HOTWIRE "Other Countries" results.

You will see a successful 4* PRICELINE bid for Kensington - Copthorne Tara for $90. The person's prior bid was $80, so a bid might work a little lower than the $90.

A little later in the month someone got a 4* Westminster hotel via HOTWIRE for $95.

Romelle

[Benny2]

Thx Romelle

I'm trying to understand how these sites work :)

If I use PRICELINE via this site I have to make a bid in $$, am I correct? if so, I then have to work out the exchange rate.

[Benny2]

Check HOTWIRE for a baseline reference for 4* hotel in the area you want

Hi Jerry

Am I correct, I can't bid via HOTWIRE, I have to accept the price offered, the lowest 4* price on HOTWIRE is $110.00

[Romelle]

You are correct - no bidding via HOTWIRE. You have to take their number.

Romelle

[wrob]

If you're concerned about exchange rates when bidding just open http://xe.com and have it handy...

[Romelle]

Benny2,

If you are not totally set on the three London areas you mentioned, you might consider a few more of them to improve your chances of success. Kensington often seems to come lower rates, and sometimes Islington. The Underground gets you around quickly enough, that the further out areas are often only maybe 10 or 15 extra minutes of riding time.

Romelle

[Benny2]

If you're concerned about exchange rates when bidding just open http://xe.com and have it handy...

Done it, cheers

Benny2,

If you are not totally set on the three London areas you mentioned, you might consider a few more of them to improve your chances of success. Kensington often seems to come lower rates, and sometimes Islington. The Underground gets you around quickly enough, that the further out areas are often only maybe 10 or 15 extra minutes of riding time.

Romelle

Romelle

Thanks for the advice, I've tried to add area's / up my bid but keep getting rejected as it states "We were not able to process this request since our records indicate you have already made a request for this same trip" I'm sure it's been over 24 hours since my bid, I just don't seem to be making any progress

[Romelle]

Benny2,

That 24 hour rule is tough. I've read of other people feeling sure they were clear but getting that statement from Priceline. Not a lot you can do but wait it out, counting the 24 hours again FROM THE VERY LAST BID YOU MADE, and maybe making it 25 hours just to be sure. The 24 hour clock starts all over ANY TIME you enter a bid, even if it is one you've used before and you are just getting that lecture.

Usually, when I'm in the midst of bidding for something, I set up a little blank sheet on my desktop. Then I post on it each time I make a bid, noting the star level, areas, $ amount, and time.

If there is a zone in London you haven't yet EVER used (AND are OK with), you could start with that now, and then add in the other zones you've previously used. It is OK to do more bidding as long as you are using a new combination, but there has to be something unique about it.

When you are doing a series of bids, you want to first use the least expensive zone, and then add in the other zones one at a time on up to the most expensive one. I'm not sure on Mayfair and Westminster as to their order. They both expensive enough that you most likely won't get them under $100 anyway so their order doesn't make any difference here. You essentially are bidding on the less expensive zones, but their inclusion lets you keep raising your bid within the 24 hour period.

Just an example (you might have decided you like different zones, or want to start lower or higher, or use different $ increments):

Kensington $82

Kensington + Bloomsbury $85

Kensington + Bloomsbury + Mayfair $87

Kensington + Bloomsbury + Mayfair + Westminster $90

If nothing works, the following day (after a FULL 24 hours and a bit have passed), repeat the pattern, but maybe start at $92.

You can work any even dollar increments you like, including just $1 at a time or $10 or ??.

And while I'm at it, if the above range is pushing your budget too much, you might look at the 3 1/2 & 3*s. There are several reports from people getting them in the $60 - $70 range via Hotwire. They tend to be Holiday Inns.

Romelle

[Benny2]

Hi Romelle

Thanks very much for your detailed reply, OK, let me confirm, if I make a bid at say 01:00 and it's rejected, I have to wait 24 hours before making another bid, but say I wait 23 hours and make a bid at 00:01 and receive the "Duplicate" message, now, do I have to wait a further 24 hours before I can bid again, or can I bid at 01:00(being the 24 hour period from my original bid) I trust that's not confused you.

I just tried again at 01:30 and again received that dam message, do I now have to wait unitl 01:30 tomorrow morning before trying again?

I'm not sure which are expensive area's, I selected the area's suitable for us, was afraid of selecting an "Outer area" in case we got "Unlucky" and had a successful bid.

At the moment, the cheapest 4* on Hotwire rates are $104.00 per night, yesterday they were showing the same area for $103.00, I'm wondering whether I'm going to make a huge saving waiting my 24 hour period before being able to use Priceline again.

[Benny2]

I'm a novice although I'm willing to use Priceline once I understand how to use it.

-the zone you add (that you really don't want) must NOT have the star level you are bidding OR HIGHER. If you are bidding 3* and add a zone that does not have 3* but does have 4*, Priceline can upgrade you to the 4*! When you selelct a star level, it is the MINIMUM star level that you are willing to accept

Right, here's where I'm confused, I'll use London as an example, say my 1st bid for 4* Westminster is rejected, do I select Docklands (the area I DON'T want) + Westminster as my 2nd bid? I'm confused because what happens if Docklands becomes a successful bid?

[Popsicle]

Benny 2,

I got the same situation as you did. I don

[Benny2]

Hi Popsicle

I'll try again then, thanks for the tip, just FYI, I went up to $80 when I was rejected.

*Do you know if and where on this site I can ask information about a hotel on HOTWIRE, I'm wondering if anyone knows which hotel this is:

4-star hotel in Bloomsbury - Marble Arch

This hotel features the following amenities:

Hotel amenities

Restaurant(s)

Business Center

High-speed Internet Access

[Popsicle]

Benny 2,

Check the list created by thereuare below

Hotwire Hotel List

I guess this could help

[Benny2]

Thanks Popsicle, I'll work my way round this site, eventually!! :)

[thereuare]

4-star hotel in Bloomsbury - Marble Arch

This hotel features the following amenities:

Hotel amenities

Restaurant(s)

Business Center

High-speed Internet Access

While a hotel at this star level in this zone with these amenities has not yet been reported to the board, it's been speculated that this may be one of the Holiday Inn properties (either the Holiday Inn Bloomsbury or Holiday Inn Regents Park) upgraded to the 4* level. Each has previously been reported with this amenity combination in the past, but at the 3.5* level.

I'll try again then, thanks for the tip, just FYI, I went up to $80 when I was rejected.

Which zone and star rating did you bid?

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

[thereuare]

-the zone you add (that you really don't want) must NOT have the star level you are bidding OR HIGHER. If you are bidding 3* and add a zone that does not have 3* but does have 4*, Priceline can upgrade you to the 4*! When you selelct a star level, it is the MINIMUM star level that you are willing to accept

Right, here's where I'm confused, I'll use London as an example, say my 1st bid for 4* Westminster is rejected, do I select Docklands (the area I DON'T want) + Westminster as my 2nd bid? I'm confused because what happens if Docklands becomes a successful bid?

Docklands has 4* and higher rated hotels so it is NOT a re-bid zone when trying to bid for a 4* hotel in the Westminster zone.

Unfortunately there are no re-bid zones in London when bidding at the 4* level.

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

[Romelle]

Benny2,

With London, as thereuare stated, there are NO "free rebids" at the 4* level since all zones in London have 4* offerings on PRICELINE. What that means is you don't want to have any area selected UNLESS YOU ACTUALLY WANT IT. In your example above, if Docklands becomes a successful bid, you just bought it.

On another post, you were wondering about which were the less expensive areas in London. There are various ways of determining that (and it can be different if there is an event in a particular area). For your purposes though, if you just do a search on "london" in the Quick Search (top center of the screen), and then look at what people are getting, you will get a general idea. The airports are almost always the least expensive. Then Kensington, Regents Park and Islington tend to be next. It isn't real scientific.

The reason for doing it is to avoid large overbids. Say there was a hotel offered in the Kensington area for $85, and a hotel offered in the Mayfair area for $115. If you bid Mayfair first at $90, nothing would happen. If you then added Kensington and raised your bid to $100, you would get the Kensington hotel, but you would have overbid by $15. On the other hand, if you started your bidding with Kensington at $90, you would promptly get the Kensington hotel and only overbid by $5.

If you were incrementing $1 at a time, you wouldn't have any overbid.

Romelle

[Romelle]

Hi Romelle

Thanks very much for your detailed reply, OK, let me confirm, if I make a bid at say 01:00 and it's rejected, I have to wait 24 hours before making another bid, but say I wait 23 hours and make a bid at 00:01 and receive the "Duplicate" message, now, do I have to wait a further 24 hours before I can bid again, or can I bid at 01:00(being the 24 hour period from my original bid) I trust that's not confused you.

I just tried again at 01:30 and again received that dam message, do I now have to wait unitl 01:30 tomorrow morning before trying again?

I'm not sure which are expensive area's, I selected the area's suitable for us, was afraid of selecting an "Outer area" in case we got "Unlucky" and had a successful bid.

At the moment, the cheapest 4* on Hotwire rates are $104.00 per night, yesterday they were showing the same area for $103.00, I'm wondering whether I'm going to make a huge saving waiting my 24 hour period before being able to use Priceline again.

Benny2,

The Hotwire rate most likely went up the $1 because the exchange rate between $s and Pounds got less favorable to the $.

Regarding the savings on Priceline vs Hotwire, maybe 10%? It varies a lot.

Whatever you tried at 1:30 CANNOT be done again for a full 24 hours. There is no getting around that. However, as I mentioned in another post, if there is an area you would consider THAT YOU HAVEN'T YET BID, you can START with that and then add in the other areas you like as you raise your bid.

I think your best course of action would be to not do any bidding for 25 hours to clear the clock. Make a list of all the areas you are considering, and start with the ones that other bidders have been getting at good prices. Add in one area at a time as you increase your bid a little. If you aren't successful, wait another 25 hours and then do the process all over, starting where you left off. If you get outside your budget, you can consider the 3 and 3 1/2* hotels (3 1/2*s are only on Hotwire, not Priceline).

The whole bidding thing seems terribly complicated at first, but there really is logic behind it and will clear up for you. You've got enough time until your trip.

Romelle

[Benny2]

Hi thereuare

Which zone and star rating did you bid?

I "Ticked" the following area's on my 1st bid: 4* Bloomsbury - Marble Arch + Mayfair Soho + Westminster and bid $70.00

[Benny2]

Unfortunately there are no re-bid zones in London when bidding at the 4* level.

That explains my confusion and why I couldn't re bid, thank you.

[Benny2]

What that means is you don't want to have any area selected UNLESS YOU ACTUALLY WANT IT

OK, so just to confirm, I can select 4* add my bid and and press "Find my hotel" I DON'T have to chose an area?

If that's correct, then I'm relying on PL to find me a hotel "anywhere" within the London area, I could end up in an area I don't want ie: Docklands

On another post, you were wondering about which were the less expensive areas in London. There are various ways of determining that (and it can be different if there is an event in a particular area). For your purposes though, if you just do a search on "london" in the Quick Search (top center of the screen), and then look at what people are getting, you will get a general idea. The airports are almost always the least expensive. Then Kensington, Regents Park and Islington tend to be next. It isn't real scientific

OK, I understand that now

The reason for doing it is to avoid large overbids. Say there was a hotel offered in the Kensington area for $85, and a hotel offered in the Mayfair area for $115. If you bid Mayfair first at $90, nothing would happen. If you then added Kensington and raised your bid to $100, you would get the Kensington hotel, but you would have overbid by $15. On the other hand, if you started your bidding with Kensington at $90, you would promptly get the Kensington hotel and only overbid by $5.

If you were incrementing $1 at a time, you wouldn't have any overbid

Ah ha, think I've got it, so I can add an area at a time, and raise my bid by $1.00