Priceline Hotel: Need General Help with LA Hotels

Hi there. My wife and I are heading to LA the first week of November and are seeking general advice on booking a hotel room.

Some information about us...

• We are both in our late 20's
  
• have never been to LA before
  
• are looking to experience the typical LA tourist sites
  
• will have a rental car
  
• not really into nightlife, but enjoy theatre, live music and comedy
  
• very interested in dining out
  
• Looking for a 4* or very nice 3*
  

Where is the best priceline/hotwire zones to stay in according to our information above?

How far of a drive is it to Hollywood and is it reasonable to stay in Santa Monica or Downtown?

I have looked at the pictures of the Roosevelt and Renaissance and wasn't very impressed. I did however see some pictures of the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza and was very impressed yet concerned about the location being inconvenient. Same with the Intercontinental Century City.

Any advice would truly be appreciated.

Thanks!

Welcome to BetterBidding!

What are the actual dates of your stay and maximum expected budget?

We will need 1 room for Nov 3rd and 4th (Sat/Sun) and then again on the 8th and 9th (Thu/Fri). I would like to keep it under $130 a night, but we're flexible.

Thanks!

Please use separate threads for each of your stays... we'll use this thread for your 11/3 stay, please start a NEW TOPIC for your 11/8 stay.

I'm not local to the area so i can't offer too much advice on your specific questions above, but have you thought about staying in different areas for each leg of your stay? You could then experience at nite in two different parts of the city and then make a more educated decision if you ever choose to return to the area.

I would recommend using Google Maps (as well as our own Priceline Maps) to get a feel for distances between the zones and how far it would take to drive from one area to another.

Hopefully somebody who knows the area better will be able to advise on which zone(s) would be best for your needs, but in the meantime i'd begin to do some research as to what you want to go/see/do to help determine which zone(s) you're willing to bid.

Once you determine your zone(s) we'll be in a better position to assist with a bidding strategy to follow.

I'm totally confused and could use some expert advice.

I formulated my plan for booking an LA hotel room by reviewing these boards. It was as follows...

Start: New Bid Screen Beverly Hills - $100.00

Rebid 1 Rebid Screen Beverly Hills + Brentwood - $105.00

Rebid 2 New Bid Beverly Hills & Culver City - $110.00

Rebid 3 Rebid Screen Beverly Hills & Culver City+ Brentwood - $115.00

Rebid 4 New Bid Beverly Hills & Redondo - $120.00

Rebid 5 Rebid Screen Beverly Hills & Redondo +Brentwood - $125.00

Rebid 6 New Bid Beverly Hills, Culver City, Redondo - $130.00

Rebid 7 Rebid Screen Beverly Hills, Culver City, Redondo+ Brentwood - $135.00

Rebid 8 New Bid Beverly Hills & Santa Monica - $140.00

Rebid 9 Rebid Screen Beverly Hills & Santa Monica + Brentwood - $145.00

Rebid 10 New Bid Beverly Hills, Culver City, Santa Monica - $150.00

Rebid 11 Rebid Screen Beverly Hills, Culver City, Santa Monica + Brentwood - $155.00

Rebid 12 New Bid Beverly Hills, Redondo, Santa Monica - $160.00

Rebid 13 Rebid Screen Beverly Hills, Redondo, Santa Monica + Brentwood -$165.00

Rebid 14 New Bid Beverly Hills, Culver City, Redondo, Santa Monica - $170.00

Rebid 15 Rebid Screen Beverly Hills, Culver City, Redondo, Santa Monica + Brentwood -$175.00

$175 (intercontental century city) is the lowest RACK rate (according to their offical website) at the 4* hotels listed on this site for Beverly Hills zone. On their website they are showing availablity for the dates I've requested. Other hotels listed as 4* in the Beverly Hills zone also have availability for the dates I'm traveling.

Bottom line, I don't understand why I had to bid up to $175 and still not have an accepted offer if I can purchase through the hotel's offical site for the same price, and know where I am staying upfront. I could understand if I was submitting ubsurdly low bids, but that was not the case. In most cases I bid up to 70% of rack rate.

I did this whole scenario for Hollywood hotels and didn't get an accepted bid either.

I'm really confused and frustrated, any help would be appreciated.

Please keep all posts for the same stay in the same thread.

For which set of dates did you try the above?

OK...I'll make sure I keep them together, thanks.

For the Beverly Hills zone: check-in Nov 3 check-out Nov 5.

For the Hollywood zone: check-in Nov 8 check-out Nov 10.

Thanks in advance for the help!

For the Beverly Hills zone: check-in Nov 3 check-out Nov 5.

For the Hollywood zone: check-in Nov 8 check-out Nov 10.

Please use separate threads for each of your stays... we'll use this thread for your 11/3 stay, please start a NEW TOPIC for your 11/8 stay.

I'm not following you, so let's backtrack a moment...

Above, you bid from $100-$175, including both Beverly Hills and Hollywood in your bidding... so did you go thru the above twice, one for each set of dates? (going thru the complete bidding for 11/3-11/5 and then going thru the complete bidding again for 11/8-11/10?

First, your general plan of a 4* in BH/WH or Hollywood for $130 or less seems realistic. Sometimes it requires patience though as the hotels don't always give Priceline inventory this far out. You might not win something until October.

Focusing on Nov 3-5 first, where do you find the Intercontinental at $175? On Intercontinental's site I see Sat 11/3 at $225 and Sun 11/4 at $315. The Hyatt is $259 and $289. Since Sunday seems generally more expensive than Saturday it may have a higher Priceline rate as well. Sometimes people will split their bid under those circumstances (bid Saturday and Sunday nights separately), although I think it's way too early to split yet.

What about a 3* in Brentwood-Westwood zone? The Hotel Angeleno there gets good reviews at TripAdvisor (#15 of 228 LA hotels) and it's not far from the dining and arts you want.

I'm not following you, so let's backtrack a moment...

Above, you bid from $100-$175, including both Beverly Hills and Hollywood in your bidding... so did you go thru the above twice, one for each set of dates? (going thru the complete bidding for 11/3-11/5 and then going thru the complete bidding again for 11/8-11/10?

We are sure we want to stay in Beverly Hills Sat and Sun and Holloywood Thu and Fri. So I went through the above secenario for Beverly Hills for Nov 3-5. Then went through the whole secenario again for Hollywood Nov 8-10. So two completely separate bids. Basically, just changing Hollywood out for Beverly Hills and modifying the dates from the first set to the second set.

Please use separate threads for each of your stays... we'll use this thread for your 11/3 stay, please start a NEW TOPIC for your 11/8 stay.

Again, we'll use this thread for your Beverly Hills 11/3-11/5 stay and please start a NEW TOPIC for your other stay.

I don't understand why I had to bid up to $175 and still not have an accepted offer if I can purchase through the hotel's offical site for the same price

Which hotel(s) in the Beverly Hills zone are you seeing for $175 for these dates?

I saw the $175 rate for the intercontinental but I just tried again and I'm getting $270 as the lowest rate for Nov 3-5. I must have made a mistake the first time through. Still, not accepting a bid for $175 seems a bit strange to me, am I correct to assume this? It looks like other users on this forum are getting BH hotels for an average of $120.

Not all hotels average their rates to determine whether a bid should be accepted or not (see SPLITTING YOUR PRICELINE BID for more details) and rates at the InterContinental vary greatly for each nite of your stay... the first nite is $225/nite while the second is $315/nite. As per the previous link, some hotels will require that your bid be high enough for the highest nite of your stay, in this instance... $315/nite.

This would be just one explanation for your rejected bids up to $175... others could be a weddiing or other corporate event taking place during these nites and the hotel is 'holding back' rooms pending a final count from the event guests before offering rooms to discouted suppliers.

Given the time before your stay i wouldn't bid much higher at this point, but i would find a suitable cancellable back-up to reserve just to make sure you have a place to stay. Use our BetterChecker to research rates as well as the hotel direct links in our support page.

If you'd rather just 'get this done' HOTWIRE has a 4* hotel in the Beverly Hills zone (which has slightly different boundaries than priceline's zone, so make sure it works for your needs) at $225/nite.