Hi There
My husband & I are travelling from Australia & will be in Vancouver for a few nights prior to our cruise departure in early Sept. I have been reading different posts regarding Priceline & thought we might 'give it a go' as the deals do sound pretty good.
On Priceline - Vancouver is split into sections.....I have no idea what would be the best one to choose! Obviously not the airport section.........any ideas?
Thanks for your help :0)

I'm not familiar with Vancouver, but I do use Priceline and I'm happy with it. I'd reccomend going to biddingfortravel.com. You can even post questions for advice.
Here's the list of Priceline hotels for Vancouver.

http://p070.ezboard.com/fpricelinean...picID=98.topic

And here are some of the succesful and unsuccesful bids.

http://p070.ezboard.com/fpricelinean...abiddingfrm210

Hello there, firstly, if using Priceline.com for hotels, be sure to peruse the website at www.biddingfortravel.com.

That will give you a sense of what bids are being accepted in your area of interest.

Vancouver is a good destination for Priceline bidding as they have a number of "free rebid zones" (see biddingfortravel for greater understanding).

You should surely limit your search for a hotel to the "downtown" area... and you may as well just "go for it" where it concerns a 4-star hotel.

If you are strategic in your bidding you can land a great spot at a reasonable price.

Will you rent a car while you're in this area?

Vancouver is surrounded on most sides by water, and so the mid-town area is relatively small when compared with other cities of that size.

The daily PARKING CHARGE at many of these hotels can really add a pain of $20 per day if you have a rental car.

My vibe about your trip is that you should opt not to rent a car for your entire stay, but you might want to get one for a day or so, just to cover points of interest that are away from the central core.

At any rate, go to www.biddingfortravel.com and just READ the strategies to use when bidding for hotels at Priceline.

Look back at past bids, from past Septembers, and see what prices were had by others then. Get some sense of what you should bid, and of what you can afford... and then maybe start a bit BELOW what you think would be a "good bargain", and then inch your bid amount upward slightly with each "free rebid".

You will be able to make 5 different bids during each 72-hour period... so no reason to bid a high price immediately. For the first few weeks of your bidding, just stick to the 4-star places, because you can afford the time 7 months in advance. Later, if you want to, you could add the 3-star locations to your bidding.

IF your trip will have you here AFTER the first MONDAY in Sept. then prices and demand for hotel rooms should slack-off considerably, and you can really hope for a great deal.

I go to Vancouver 12-20 times a year, and I know the area well, and have some sense of the hotel prices that can be scored at Priceline.

I expect that you could hope to land a 4-star hotel in downtown Vancouver for a "BASE BID" of $75 U.S. funds per night (be aware, the numbers you read at Priceline and at biddingfortravel.com are in U.S. dollars).

IF you were staying for 4 nights, and scored a winning base bid of $75 per... the total bill would likely be somewhere near to $350 U.S. (the potentially large PARKING FEES and very small incidental fees would be extra)

I hope this helps and inspires you!!

For those intimated by the process of asking questions on biddingfortravel, I've written a step-by-step instruction of how to do Pricline in general. It's a post a few months old on this particular board, but about Toronto. The process is the same, just the name of the zones are different.

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34707601

Like NorthwestMale says, only go for a hotel in the "Vancouver" zone, 4*. There are three "free rebid zones" you can use - Delta, Langley, Surrey - so you have lots of "free rebids" to use. Hard to overpay.

Also, if you HAVE to bid again with 72 hours, you can have someone bid for you with their own Priceline account and credit card. As long as you and your husbands are listed as the travelers' names, that's okay.

Good luck.

rkkwan
Thanks for the BforT posting! I printed it out and bid on Priceline for the first time.
I got the Westin Bayshore Memorial Day weekend for $77 a night.
My question: I put in $60 and they came back with can you raise it another $17. I did and got the Westin (about which I am thrilled).
Did I do the right thing, or should I have technically gone back with something inbetween?
The Westin AAA rate is over $200 US a night on the website, so I am happy whatever. Just planning strategy for if I do this again!

Also, any comments about renting a car? We will want to go to Vandusen Gardens, Museum of Anthropology etc..

The web site says the hotel has a very local comp. shuttle that will even pick you up Any info on this?

Thanks again!!

Phil - In your scenario, you shouldn't accept the $77 bid. Getting a counter offer is a good thing, as it means you're close to their price and they have inventories.

If you still have "free rebids" left after your $60 bid, you should reject the counter offer, and then try continue to use "free rebids" to get up to around $68. I'm pretty certain you can get it by then.

If you've already used up all your "free rebids", then it's up to you. Since you still have that much time before travel, you can come back in 72 hours and bid up to around $68.

I say you overpay by $8-9, but as long as you're happy, it's not a bad deal. It's a learning process, and next time you can do better.

[I've taken up on counteroffers too, as in some case you just have to. For example, that time I bid on a city with no "free rebid" zones, and I'm leaving the next day. So, I accepted that offer.]

Thanks! I guess I just got a little nervous especially as $77 was less than some 2 stars and also Memorial Day!! It's all about learning for the next time, so thanks for giving me feedback.
I now have to search for the top sights in Vancouver!!

Philbil
You did better then I did. I bid $100 for a 4 star in Vancouver, was turned down so chose a 3 star and got the Holiday Inn (Heather) I probably will not try Priceline again....I feel really stupid.

This was my first Priceline and I guess it depends on the dates and availability. Possibly a lot of the 4 stars are convention hotels and when I think of it Memorial Day weekend is not a business travel time.
Interestingly, I phoned the Westin to ask for one room with twins and one I didn't care but preferred King. They responded that the cheap prices on Priceline meant that I could not request ahead but would have to do so at check-in. I felt like the country bumpkin coming to town!!
At any rate, I am thrilled, as I said, with the outcome.

Phil - Did you call Westin's central reservations or the Vancouver hotel specifically? It's useless to call the central reservations, but it may help to call the hotel closer to your arrival.

I've had good luck requesting room types at hotels I won on Priceline or Hotwire. They will always say nothing's guaranteed, which is true, but you can tell them to put a note as just a request.

I called the hotel in Canada! She was a little snippy!!

I'd suggest calling the hotel again about a week before your arrival.

rkkwan
I used priceline for a few days visit before our May Cruise and did it wrong, wrong, wrong. Now, I'm thinking of bidding again for one night in Vancouver. After our cruise we are staying in Victoria for two nights so we will be coming back to Vancouver from the ferry. What zone do I want to bid on? We would like a hotel that has shuttle pick up and one that is pretty central to leaving the next morning for the airport. Thanks!

cd - There's a Priceline zone that's called "Vancouver Int'l Airport". That should be the only one zone you want to get. It has up to 4*, and the 4* is definitely the Fairmont YVR, which is attached to the terminal.

There are multple 3*s, as listed on biddingfortravel.com. To make sure they have airport shuttle, you should visit the website of each of those hotels listed and check. But my guess is that they all do.

Recently, people have been getting the 3* Holiday Inn for about $46-48. Make sure you check the hotel's own website to see what there rates are, before bidding. Another winning bid is $56 for the Sandman.

If you bid 2.5* or 3* YVR, you only have 2 "free rebid" zones - Delta & Langley. You can do YVR, YVR + Delta, YVR + Langley, YVR + Delta + Langley. That is 4 bids total. So, do it carefully.

Oh, cd - I guess you mean you want something with a pickup from the cruise port? In that case, you should ignore my previous post and just bid in the downtown "Vancouver" zone. I don't know how far is the cruise terminal to downtown, you should check. YVR isn't that far from downtown, but there's no freeway. There are hotel shuttles, taxis, etc; doesn't take that long.

But stick with the "Vancouver" zone.

rkkwan
I did not make myself clear at all, sorry. We will be coming from Victoria via the Ferry, not the cruise port (we will have completed our cruise before going to Victoria for a few days) So, we will arrive in Vancouver on the 29th via the ferry and depart Vancouver on the 30th of May. Thus, my question, where to bid on for the 29th? What hotel zone should I bid on? Do most downtown hotels pick up from the ferry? Not the cruise port. And what hotels are downtown but closer to the airport as we will be taking a taxi the next morning and trying to keep the cost down. Thanks and I'm sorry if I am unclear.

cd - The ferry from Victoria comes to Tsawwassen, which is south of both downtown and the airport. Hotels will not come pick you up at the ferry.

But most people actually takes the <b>BUS</b> from downtown Victoria to downtown Vancouver. [Yes, the bus gets on the ferry.] Where the actual ferry terminal is is not important.

Distance from any hotel in the downtown zone to the airport will be similar.

So, again, I'd suggest bidding in the downtown &quot;Vancouver&quot; zone.

Information about schedule and drop off points of the bus coming into Vancouver is at: pacificcoach.com

Some buses do stop at YVR on its way from Victoria to Vancouver. If you manage to get the Fairmont at the airport, then that's another possibility. Coming into Vancouver, you get off at airport, check-in at Fairmont, and then spend the afternoon/evening in Vancouver (you can take public bus or airport coach or taxi). Next morning, just walk down to the terminal and fly home.

But I wouldn't bother with any of the other airport hotels at YVR where you need to get on a shuttle to/from the airport.

The Westin told me the airport shuttle from their hotel to the airport is $10CAD per person if that helps.........got to be cheaper than a taxi! I don't think the airport is too far.

YVR isn't far from Vancouver. It's just that it's via local streets with quite a number of traffic lights.

YVR's official site has info about how to get to airport. www.yvr.ca Taxi fares is estimated to be C$23-26, including tax. Limo is about C$42. Airporter bus is $12 one-way, $18 r/t. Local bus (with a change from #424 to #98B or #496) is even cheaper.

Wow!!!.......... I've been offline for a few days &amp; you have supplied so much info my head is spinning!
Thanks so much all of you for your help &amp; looks like others benefited from it too.
I'll sit down &amp; have a good look at all your information.
Thanks again!