Priceline Hotel: 4* Boston (Revere - Logan Airport BOS) Hilton Boston Logan Airport

I'll be staying for 1 night (5/26) and hope to stay somewhere centralized or at least nearer to most sights. I'm not driving so parking fee is not a concern. Is there any possibility to get a 3* or 4* with that pricing? Sorry if my pricing sounds unrealistic but pls let me know whether I should up my budget. Otherwise, I've also considered the Charlestown area.

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Based upon current prices, to stay in the 'central' areas i do think you're going to need to raise your maximum bid... you'll likely need to be in the $130-$160 area for a 3* or better n the main areas of Boston.

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

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

Hmm im not exactly sure cos I've never done bidding before. I would like my cost to stay as low as possible. Maybe I could up it to $150 including tax. Is that possible? Any suggestions?

Is PL or hotwire better than getting better prices for hotels in general? I'm wondering if their prices differ by a lot?

I think I may have to settle for the East Cambridge-Charleston area. The median pricing for 3.5* is $199. After looking through the hotels, I'm inclined to think that it is the Marriot Cambridge. At what amount should I start bidding? The 3* in the same area has a median pricing of $198 but there are almost 4 or 5 3* and some of them are rather far from city center. So I might not want to risk bidding that. What do you guys think?

Otherwise, I could do the Boston Common-Theater District. Median price for 3.5* is also $199. And I realised there's only 1 3.5* hotel in that area (Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers).

All the others in downtown Boston seem priced too high. =(

Few points...

You can't use the 'retail' side of PRICELINE to determine what you will get when using the 'bidding' side of PRICELINE... each side of their service uses a different universe of hotels so you can't assume that what shows on the retail side for your dates is a finite list of possibilities when bidding.

Ignore the median price shown by PRICELINE, it's often not accurate and is mostly meaningless in developing bidding strategy.

Since your budget is on the low end for these dates, why not bid all acceptable zones and then let PRICELINE award the one with the lowest rate? The more zones you're willing to accept the more likely you are to land a deal (as there are more possible hotels available to accept your bid price) and you can also get more creative in your bidding strategy, giving you more bidding opportunities.

Let us know how you'd like to proceed, as well as your maximum bid before fees and taxes, and we'll suggest a strategy for you to follow.

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

Oh I was looking at the no. of stars on the 'retail' side to determine. Didn't know I was doing it wrongly.

Ignore the median price shown by PRICELINE, it's often not accurate and is mostly meaningless in developing bidding strategy.

What do you mean by all acceptable zones? I am actually willing to stay anywhere that is safe and relatively not too expensive and near a public transport. I'm thinking:

Beacon hill

boston COmmon-Theater district

boston harbor front-aquarium

cambridge east-charlestown

copley square-backbay

quincy market-financial district.

Hmm of course as low as possible. Maybe not more than $130-140 if possible?? Sorry if i'm being unrealistic here.

Yep, will do so.

The problem is that once you start to get outside of the 'core' downtown areas the T stops can become further away and not always walkable from all hotels in the zone. Have you researched the zones above and are comfortable with a hotel anywhere within the shaded boundaries? Please confirm and we'll suggest a strategy for a 3* or better in any of the zones above.

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

Thanks.

I'm ok with all the above, cept' the cambridge and charlestown. Unless I absolutely can't get anything within the budget for the above-mentioned places, then i'll consider bidding for cambridge and charlestown. Thanks!

I think you're okay with the Cambridge area hotels. I mean, almost all of them are in the Kendall Sq area or the Harvard Sq area, which are both very T-accessible. You could jump on the Red Line and be at Park St (and the Boston Common) or Downtown Crossing in ten minutes. And the Tudor Wharf Residence Inn, which is not in Cambridge, is actually walking distance to downtown -- not a short walk, but a cool one.

So, in short, if I were you I'd include both Cambridge regions too.

So unless crito's post (thanks for the additional thoughts based upon your knowledge of the area) changes your thoughts, you want to try for a 3* hotel with a maximum bid of $130 in the following zones:

Beacon hill

boston Common-Theater district

boston harbor front-aquarium

copley square-backbay

quincy market-financial district

If this is correct, when bidding 3* in Boston you have ONE re-bid zone. If you're not familiar with re-bidding please read Priceline Re-Bidding Explained and feel free to ask questions and/or confirm your re-bid zones with the board before proceeding.

Select 3* Beacon Hill, Boston Common, Boston Harbor...

Bid $85, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $90, if rejected close browser and use this link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 3* Copley, Quincy Market...

Bid $85, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $90, if rejected close browser and use this link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 3* Beacon Hill, Copely, Boston Harbor...

Bid $95, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $100, if rejected close browser and use this link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 3* Boston Common, Quincy Market...

Bid $95, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $100, if rejected close browser and use this link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 3* Beacon Hill, Boston Common, Copley...

Bid $105, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $110, if rejected close browser and use this link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 3* Boston Harbor, Quincy Market...

Bid $105, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $110, if rejected close browser and use this link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 3* Beacon Hill, Boston Common, Boston Harbor, Copley...

Bid $115, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $120, if rejected close browser and use this link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 3* Beacon Hill, Boston Common, Boston Harbor, Quincy Market...

Bid $115, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $120, if rejected close browser and use this link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 3* Beacon Hill, Boston Common, Boston Harbor, Copley, Quincy Market...

Bid $125, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $130

Any questions feel free to ask. (if you instead decided to include the other zone(s) just let us know and we'll revise accordingly)

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

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Select 3* Beacon Hill, Boston Common, Boston Harbor...

Bid $85, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $90, if rejected close browser and use this link to re-access PRICELINE

Select 3* Copley, Quincy Market...

Bid $85, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $90, if rejected close browser and use this link to re-access PRICELINE

To confirm, I'll select Beacon hill, boston common, boston harbor and bid $85. If rejected, add Fenway Park (re-bid zone) and bid $90. If rejected, I'll close the browser and use the betterbidding PRICELINE link to try again. That means I'll be able to select 3* Copley and Quincy, bid $85. If rejected, add Fenway Park again and bid $90?

Does it go something like this?

Yes, you have it correct.

Thanks for using the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board.

Good luck!

Thanks! Still trying but no luck yet. Will update once I get the hotel.

Thanks for using the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board.

Please remember to use the requested links each time you access the respective sites (and not the links in any emails reminding you that you're eligible to bid again)

Thanks.

I ended up only trying till $120 based on the strategy given. rejected each time. I'm thinking if I'll actually get a better deal nearer the date?

Nobody can say if rates will come down between now and your stay, or continue even higher, but for a further discussion on this subject see the related 'Bid Early or Late' link in our PRICELINE FAQ.

However, i will say that to rates are somewhat higher for these dates that i wouldn't expect $130 to current be successful... you would be fairly lucky to get a $130 win at this point in time. You'd actually looking for a fairly significant rate drop closer to your check-in date to be successful. If it were me i'd lean towards bidding the extra $10/nite because if successful, i think in the end odds favor $130 being a 'good' price as opposed to a dramatic overbid.

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

Keep us updated on your progress.

If I go down to a 2.5*, what are the possibilities I may get?

You can see all hotels reported to the boardin each zone in the Priceline Hotel List (but be sure to read the comments at the top of the board regarding the lists should never be considered complete due to star rating changes, new hotels, etc)

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

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

I think I'll try for 2.5* now. Can't seem to get the 3* ones. I almost wanted to take the hotwire 2* Charlestown-bunkerhill which would be the constitution inn but there's mixed reviews about that and location isn't great? So hoping to get a 2.5* within Boston itself.

Hotwire sometimes is a little more generous with their stars than Priceline is. Maybe 1/2 a star. So that 2* on Hotwire might be a 1 1/2* on Priceline.

Would you consider the Boston airport zone (Logan)? There is good metro transport from there to central Boston, and the airport hotels generally are a little less expensive. Right now Hotwire is showing a 3* for $106. You might even do a little better than that via Priceline bidding.

Romelle

Is it far from Boston airport zone to central? Because I only have technically 1.5 days to spend in Boston. So wondering if that would take up a lot of travelling time if I choose a hotel at the Boston airport zone.

The Boston Airport is not that far from the 'core' Downtown... but as in any city, it does take some time to get the hotel shuttle to the airport, then get to the T to head downtown... it's not travel time so much that is the main issue, but waiting for the shuttles/train each step of the way, as it's not as if each is there waiting for you and leaves when you arrive.

You might be able to get something directly in the city for $145-$165 which would obviously be much more convenient and make better use of your time, but if budget is a concern you might also want to consider Cambridge... HOTWIRE has what i'm guessing to be the Best Western Tria for $135/nite which might be a more interesting area to stay (vs. the Airport) since it's near many parks/colleges/universities (but the zone is QUITE LARGE so no assurances exactly where within the zone you'll end up)... but geographically is further from Downtown than the Airport. Assuming we're correct on this property they do offer a shuttle to nearby Harvard Square and Alewife train stations, but you then have the same issue of waiting time for the shuttles.

Let us know your thoughts as to how you'd like to proceed and we'll take it from there.

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

I think i'll prefer to stay at the airport rather than cambridge. Cambridge seems too far away to stay at. Otherwise, I'll try for a 2.5* dwntown.

Just to get some opinions. I still see the $98 for Charlestown-Bunkerhill on hotwire and this would be the constitution inn. With tax, it comes up to $108.

There's a 3* hotel at logan airport-saugus area and with tax, it comes up to $130.

Do you think it's worth it to get the charlestown-bunkerhill on HOTWIRE? I believe I'm not going to get anything below $130 (excluding tax) for any boston downtown hotels so I will branch out to those nearby areas like charlestown and airport.

Will I be able to bid for the airport hotels at less than $110 (with tax) or less than $108 for the charlestown hotel on priceline?

Sorry for the numerous questions. Thanks for the help.