Report your Priceline successes discusion area.

blindman

El_mag wrote: »

Does anyone know the 4* in Nottingham and average successful bids for them. Unable to find anything on betterbidding.
Thanks

From the "normal" Priceline site there are the usual hotel brands that are used on the bidding side:

Hilton
Crown Plaza
+ others that don't often come up on the opaque side of Priceline.

As you say there is no history for this city.

Best bet is to price up the Hilton and CP for your stay (from their web-sites)then to bid at a maximum of 50% of these 'normal' rates.
You have a free rebid as the Southwest zone only has a 3* maximum.

biz

Destination - New York
Type of accomodation - 4*
Going in October 09
Hotel has loads of good reviews on Trip advisor - great location.

Followed the guides on MSE and biddingfortravel and I managed to get 3 nights at the Westin New York Times Square for £416 all in. It might sound expensive, but that's New York for you. The normal rate on all other websites for the same three nights (Expedia etc) are all around the £750 mark, so i'm happy with my work. I took time to learn the ropes about free re-bidding. New York on Priceline has 5 areas that dont have 4* hotels so I had my original + 5 re-bids. I did this over 2 nights, starting from a really low offer to chance my luck, up to my winning bid of £115 per night + taxes.

NB: After my £105 offer I got a message from Priceline saying I had not won but if I upped my offer by £16 I would probably get my bid accepted. As I had some re-bids left I took advice from forums and bid a couple more times (less than the £16 increase) and got a deal at £115, which was a £10 increase, so keep that in mind and try to meet half way if you have enough bids to play with.

blindman

biz wrote: »

Destination - New York
Type of accomodation - 4*
Going in October 09
Hotel has loads of good reviews on Trip advisor - great location.

Followed the guides on MSE and biddingfortravel

I took time to learn the ropes about free re-bidding. New York on Priceline has 5 areas that dont have 4* hotels so I had my original + 5 re-bids.

NB: After my £105 offer I got a message from Priceline saying I had not won but if I , so keep that in mind and try to meet half way if you have enough bids to play with.

Well done on reading the info posted on here and getting a good deal.

The advice about what to do with a counter offer is in my guide, but it's worth repeating.

budgewammer

Destination: London - Kensington
Type of accommodation: 4*
How many extra daily bids did you have available: 3
How much were your 2nd/3rd etc & final bids: 1st £45 2nd £48 3rd £52 Final £54

2 nights (fri and sat) in mid september 2009

I didn't really mind where in London we stayed as we have lots planned all over, just wanted a reasonable quality hotel so went for 4*. I had a quick look at each Zone as I added it to make sure I was happy to stay at any of the 4* hotels. I bid as follows:
1st zone Marble Arch/Bloomsbury £45 counter offer £76
2nd zone Nottinghill/Bayswater £4
3rd zone Mayfair/Soho £50
Finally added The City/London Bridge £54
I got the 4* Copthorne Tara Kensington for £54 a night (£65 with taxes) which i'm more than happy with. Don't think £65 a night is bad for 4* in London!! Looking forward to checking in - thanks for your help everyone!

dmg24

I got the Renaissance Manchester for £41 (£52 including taxes) for a Sunday night in October. I have stayed here a few times and it is a lovely hotel in an excellent location, plus I get free breakfast by virtue of my Marriott Rewards membership!

I may bid for the Monday night as well, depends on my chances of sexing that night. :T

miss_edith

I got the Marriott in Munich for £38 a night for 4 nights in December. Started at £30 and went up £1 at a time to get the lowest rate.

RedBern

dmg24 wrote: »

plus I get free breakfast by virtue of my Marriott Rewards membership!
:T

had a quick look at the Marriott rewards - can you just 'join'? (not being lazy, but it wasn't very clear on the site).....off to Bristol at weekend....so would be worth joining if it's simple.

dmg24

RedBern wrote: »

had a quick look at the Marriott rewards - can you just 'join'? (not being lazy, but it wasn't very clear on the site).....off to Bristol at weekend....so would be worth joining if it's simple.

Yep, anyone can join, but you cannot get free breakfast, upgrades etc without elite status. It is worth joining if you travel a lot, as even without status you get access to special offers that non members do not.

blindman

RedBern wrote: »

had a quick look at the Marriott rewards - can you just 'join'? (not being lazy, but it wasn't very clear on the site).....off to Bristol at weekend....so would be worth joining if it's simple.

Also ,you are not supposed to get any upgrades or free stuff when you win with PL (or Hotwire) and are a member of the hotel loyalty scheme

Not sure how DMg gets away with it :rolleyes:

I have had priority club points ( and Hilton honors) awarded for PL stays in the past but these should not have been given.

No harm in signing up though as the schemes are free and every little bit of status helps:D

GlennTheBaker

blindman wrote: »

Also ,you are not supposed to get any upgrades or free stuff when you win with PL (or Hotwire) and are a member of the hotel loyalty scheme

Not sure how DMg gets away with it :rolleyes:

I have had priority club points ( and Hilton honors) awarded for PL stays in the past but these should not have been given.

No harm in signing up though as the schemes are free and every little bit of status helps:D

dmg24 and myself have Gold Elite status with Marriott and, although they don't give you points or stay credit on a PL stay, they do give you all the other benefits of the Elite status, such as free continental breakfast, access to the Executive Lounge (which in turn provides free snacks, soft drinks and even free booze in some properties) and room upgrades. These benefits are provided regardless of how the stay was booked.

Earlier this year I won the Berlin Marriott on a £55 Priceline bid and was given an upgraded room overlooking the city and Executive Lounge access. The food in the lounge was absolutely superb and all the drinks (inc alcoholic) were free :beer: