Priceline Hotel: Washington - June 1 to June 7

[Bernard]

I've been trying bids from $80 - $90 in the closer areas over the past couple of weeks: Convention Center, White House, and so on.

I see a win just got posted for $85 for two days in July. I can't seem to get a winning bid in and the problem is probably the longer stay of 1 week. Should I leave it until closer to the day or there a strategy I should adopt? For a longer stay will the winning bid price be substantially higher than a 1-3 day stay?

[AaronJB]

Rates do vary from day-to-day, sometimes significantly - a rate in July does not reflect what may be required for dates in June. The Friday and Saturday nights of this stay are somewhat-moderately cheaper at many properties, but the other dates in this period are otherwise fairly expensive, and most HOTWIRE prices are on the higher side. What would be your desired budget per night, and what star rating have you bid for?

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

[Romelle]

Have you looked on some site that shows rates day-by-day to see which ones are higher? Expedia is a good one for that. If you would consider moving, you could split your bid into the higher and lower days and do them separately. Doing the low ones first.

Out of curiosity, I did look at the rate pattern, and it seems the Friday and Saturday night are the low dates for Washington, DC just then. Right in the middle of your stay, so if you did split your bid, it could involve two moves. Not a huge help, but would lower your average a bit.

Romelle

[Bernard]

Thanks for your help folks. I've been studying winning bids for a while and it seems $80-$90 should be ample for a 2.5 to 3 star property in the areas closer to National Mall so I've been bidding at that level. I appreciate that for a longer June booking this is probably too far out.

It will be my first visit to DC and although I'm not on a really tight budget I'd like to pay a lot less than rack rates. I don't want to split the booking either as I'd lose the best part of a day of sightseeing. Before I got on to betterbidding and priceline I was looking at a hotel in Gaithersburg MD within walking distance of a metro station. I can get that for $89 a night including breakfast via priceline (not name-your-own-price). It's 30 minutes each way into downtown Washington.

[Romelle]

Thanks for your help folks. I've been studying winning bids for a while and it seems $80-$90 should be ample for a 2.5 to 3 star property in the areas closer to National Mall so I've been bidding at that level. I appreciate that for a longer June booking this is probably too far out.

It will be my first visit to DC and although I'm not on a really tight budget I'd like to pay a lot less than rack rates. I don't want to split the booking either as I'd lose the best part of a day of sightseeing. Before I got on to betterbidding and priceline I was looking at a hotel in Gaithersburg MD within walking distance of a metro station. I can get that for $89 a night including breakfast via priceline (not name-your-own-price). It's 30 minutes each way into downtown Washington.

It is worth a check on your Gaithersburg hotel web site to see if they offer even lower rates than PL. It doesn't happen very often, but a good precaution.

That breakfast and closeness to a metro station are definitely benefits.

R.

[Bernard]

It is worth a check on your Gaithersburg hotel web site to see if they offer even lower rates than PL. It doesn't happen very often, but a good precaution.

That breakfast and closeness to a metro station are definitely benefits.

R.

Goods points. The Gaithersburg property is a Comfort Inn. I can get a AAA discount which should get the price around $85. Breakfast is a good benefit but offset by $9 a day in Metro fares. I'll keep trying for a Priceline deal in the inner area (using the link of course) as there's no urgency yet.