osakaorchid

I would like to solicit the much needed advice for hotel recommendations in San Francisco.

I have a few other threads up regarding my upcoming trip and thanks to all those that have supplied me with beneficial info thus far.

I have no specific dates set yet, but its looking to be tentivately set for may 6th-may 10th (4 nights)

I am more than likely going to use a service such as Priceline, Orbitz, Travelocity, etc to buy my tickets through.

I would like to know not only which online discount hotel website it the best, but also specific hotel recommendations as well.

I dont require fancy or lavish accomdations but on the same token I would like to avoid areas that are decadent or prone to excessive noise, or have a reputation for poor customer service.

I have perused through a myriad of websites that have posted customer feedbacks on various hotels.

Idealistically, I would like to get a 3-star hotel for around $100.00 a night that is either in Union Square East, or somewhat close to it.

Id like to stay as far away from any bad areas of town: Tenderloin, Castro, etc.

I dont mind paying a bit higher to get something that will assure me a clean, quiet room in a decent area, over saving a few bucks a night in bad, noisy area in a room that lacks central A/C.

I will have $150.00 hotel voucher that I can apply towards the overall costs of my hotel, so paying a bit more isnt of too much concern, but even with that said, id like my overall hotel stay for all 4 nights not to exceed $600.00 (before applied voucher)

any advice?

yk

Priceline is a good option, limit yourself to USE and USW and 4* hotel only. I've done that twice and was pleased with what I got.

You need to understand that the best deal you can get is Priceline's "Name your own price" feature, NOT the other hotel-booking feature which you see the hotel name & price.

The Name Your Own Price feature is the actual PL bidding that people talk about. You place a bid for a specific * and specific zone, but you don't get to choose what hotel you actually wiill get.

yk

BTW, once your bid on PL is accepted, there is no cancellation or changes. Your CC is billed immediately. So don't start bidding on PL until you are 100% sure of your travel dates.

If you don't like the uncertainty of not knowing what hotel you might get, then PL Name Your Own Price bidding is not for you.

FWIW, I got the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero for about $100/night including tax. This was Labor day weekend 2008.

sf7307

I strongly recommend you bid on USE only, and NOT USW, which gets a little closer to the Tenderloin than you might like.

Betsy

You got good advice above: Use Priceline's "Name Your Own Price" option, but not until you've thoroughly studied the bidding process at biddingfortravel.com. It's a little overwhelming at first, but well worth learning; give yourself some time. It's especially an advantage to learn the free rebid process. If your trip isn't until May, you don't need to bid until mid-April, IMHO.

I usually bid Embarcadero and get the Hyatt for less than $100/night double, depending on the number of conventions in town at the time. I personally would not bid Union Square West.

If you bid at the 4* level only (recommended) you'd be likely to get one of these hotels:

Union Square East
Westin St. Francis
Grand Hyatt San Francisco

Embarcadero
Omni San Francisco Hotel
Hyatt Regency San Francisco
Hilton Financial District
Le Meridien San Francisco (formerly Park Hyatt)

Union Square West - Nob Hill
Hilton San Francisco
Parc 55 Hotel (formerly Renaissance Parc 55 )
Hotel Nikko San Francisco
Mark Hopkins Inter-continental
JW Marriott Hotel San Francisco (formerly Pan Pacific)
Hotel Monaco
Renaissance Stanford Court Hotel
Prescott Hotel
Clift Hotel

Betsy

Another strategy is to make a cancellable hotel reservation now, then try Priceline closer to your visit. If PL works out for you, then you can cancel your first reservation.

StuDudley

>>Id like to stay as far away from any bad areas of town: Tenderloin, Castro, etc.<<

Castro - bad area of town??? - Where did you get this mis-information.

Stu Dudley

sf7307

Stu - I was wondering who was going to ask that question!

Oh, and if those are the possible hotels in USW, then the area is fine to bid on. I wonder if there are others farther west?

Betsy

sf7307, those listed above are only the 4* hotel probabilities in USW.

easytraveler

Will you have a car?

Parking at a 4* hotel can run upwards of $35 a night.

If the parking fee is a consideration, I'd suggest bidding for a 3* at Fisherman's Wharf (there are only 3*s at the Wharf).

OTOH, you really don't need a car in San Francisco...

mark99

Just to give you the other side of the coin...I have used Priceline, and I would never use it again. Actually paid MORE for the hotel for the same nights, the same room as I would have by booking directly with the hotel. Worse yet is the "crap shoot" of not knowing where you will end up, and what THEY call 4 star is not always a 4 Star by industry standards....so beware. If you are a skitish traveller who is very particular about the hotel they stay in, then I doubt this is for you.

You may save money, and you might get a good choice, or you might not save money or you might end up in a hotel that freaks you out.

But as others above have stated, once you bid YOU OWN THE RESERVATION and no amount of pleading with their customer service located in India will help you out of the reservation short of forfeiting your money.

lvk

I suggest you check the specials running at www.travelzoo.com. The specials for May won't be posted until Feb/Mar., but I have found some good deals there. You don't book through travelzoo. They just find the best deals from several different sources and list them on their site. Sometimes they direct you to the hotel's website and sometimes to Orbitz, Travelocity, etc.

I like the Kimpton properties in SF. www.kimptonhotels.com. They are usually a little over $200/night, but I've seen them on Travelzoo for as little as $99/night.

osakaorchid

Thanks for all the replies thus far.

I will not have a car. I will look into Travelzoo.

I see that many are recommending me to only bid at the 4-star level on Priceline, but from what I am understanding on Priceline is that I can only save "up to 50%". Idealistically, Id like to stay around $100 a night (no more than $120 a night)...is it even possible to get a 4-star on priceline for $100.00?

Before reading many of these responses, I found that the best deal i could get (the highest possible star rating for around $100.00) was a 3.5 star hotel listed at Fisherman's Wharf. It was listed at $89.00 I forget what site, but they featured a similiar practice to Priceline's in that I got to choose the area and star level and they chose the hotel for me.

Many here are saying that once you bid on priceline, that there is no backing out of your bid. However, i noticed that they now feature a $5.00 a night cancellation insurance option, so that you could cancel in the event of an unexpected illenes, or other similiar event.

Will Priceline actually require you to submit documented evidence of such purported illnesses to validate your claim? I suspect that there are many who choose this option then fabricate to Priceline that they have encountered an illness (or other circumstance) so that they can back out of their bid should they not like the results of their bid.

Many are recommending me to stay in USE, which from my research I see it is one of the more convenient areas to lodge in. But aside from USE, are there other areas such as Fisherman's Wharf, Embarcadero, etc that are somewhat easily accessible from BART?

I will be without a car arriving at SFO, and taking BART from SFO into San Francisco, so Im trying to find a good hotel in a nice area all the while not having to walk around town too much with my luggage in hand while on foot to my hotel room.

I will try to bid on Priceline for a 4-star hotel for $100 a night in USE, Embarcadero, and Financial District (any other area recommendations?)

I expect to have my bid declined by Priceline, but Ill give it a shot and hope for the best.

sf7307

Most of the Embarcadero hotels will be closer to BART than will the USE hotels. One of them (Hyatt Regency) is actually AT the BART station.

mztery

I RARELY RARELY ever accuse a poster of being a troll. Even if I have my suspicions I usually keep them to myself. However I have some concerns about the OP based on wanting to buy the insurance on PL and then backing our if she/he doesn't use the hotel. Sounds fairly creepy.

AND - in point of fact, PL DOES require proof and there are just a few specific reasons why you can cancel. SO I wouldn't count on that trick and to my knowledge, it isn't a commonly used way around the service. AND if you use the PL bidding service you can't use a voucher.

I also take offense of calling the Castro a bad area. Why would you say that if you weren't homophobic ? And there aren't really any 4 star hotels there anyway ...people live there, it's not a tourist attraction.

And the other bidding service is hotwire. Although I am hoping you DON'T make it to SF.

easytraveler

Hi, osakaorchid:

I would strongly suggest the following:

1) Look at biddingfortravel.com and see what the latest successful bids have been. Then you will know what to bid for which zone and which star level.

2) Bid USE 4*. At the moment, one can get the Grand Hyatt there for $82-$85, which with added tax and fees will run you around $100. That's a really nice hotel and right in the center of everything.

3) If you don't mind being at Fisherman's Wharf (which is closer to North Beach and all those great Italian restaurants), then bid 3 1/2* at FW, which is now running at $65 a night plus tax and fees which will run you about $80.

4) If you are successful at getting the Grand Hyatt USE, then take BART to the Powell Street station which is a walk of 3 1/2 blocks (Market to Stockton) to get to the Grand Hyatt. Here's a map:

http://maps.google.com/maps?client=f...num=1&ct=image

If I were you, I'd bid $85 USE and my best guesstimate is that you will end up with the Grand Hyatt. Don't start out at $100, it's not necessary.

Good luck! And let us know how you do!

mark99

mztery....good grief....in defense of them, that is QUITE A LEAP you are taking to make such an accusation!

kiwi_rob

Pardon my ignorance (many have to) but, in Fodorite terms, what is a "troll" and how does one qualify?

Ronda

Well, as I understand it, someone who makes a post with bad intentions - doesn't intend to take the trip, stir up trouble, teenager with nothing better to do, etc.

In any event, I have learned a thing or two.

osakaorchid

thanks for the info easytraveler. i did some preliminary bids on priceline for USE, all came back rejected.

im looking into other sites such as hotwire, expedia, etc as well.

ive booked my flight, hopefully if i get a great hotel deal ill continue planning with my sf trip.


other vacation destinations ive considered are: seattle, ft. lauderdale, san diego, and reno/tahoe.