Bidding for London Hotel
 

Would like a hotel in the S Kensington area? Has anyone used Priceline or any of the bidding sites? Does one get the exact hotel one bids for? It seems like one must pay
first and then find out if they got the hotel (Holiday Inn Kensington or Park International ) Any help on the process greatly appreciated. Thank you. Johanna

Go to bidding for travel.com for info on bidding. You bid then pay and then find out. We just bid on a hotel in Kensington and got the Hilton Olympia for 97 us per night for 5 nights in May. No you dont get the exact hotel.

Sorry biddingfortravel.com

Priceline rocks (at least in London)!

Last August, I got a $400 room <i>sight unseen</i> at the 4-5* Meli&aacute; White House (adjacent to Regent's Park, not Kensington) for $100.

Learn the ropes at biddingfortravel.com, then go to Priceline, and you'll have a good chance of getting (not exactly) what you want for dirt.

Robes is right, Priceline is the way to go for London as far as price is concerned! Jay is right about biddingfortravel.com. It was very helpful getting our London hotel. Read through the bidding strategies, it is not difficult to bid IMO.

Thank you Jay, Robespierre , and judyrem: I appreciate
your responses and information.

Once one bids, and then pays, is there any way to get out
of the deal if you don't like the area or hotel?

Is there any way to get out of pre-paid in case of illness,
or canceling the trip?

Thanks for all your help. I guess I feel a little fear in pre-paying and not knowing the area I may get since I am traveling alone.

Would one get a good hotel, if one waits until immediately before the trip? Many thanks Johanna

&quot;Once one bids, and then pays, is there any way to get out
of the deal if you don't like the area or hotel?&quot;

No

&quot;Is there any way to get out of pre-paid in case of illness,
or canceling the trip?&quot;

No, unless you have travel insurance that would cover it.

&quot;Thanks for all your help. I guess I feel a little fear in pre-paying and not knowing the area I may get since I am traveling alone.&quot;

If you bid 4 star hotels in an area like South Kensington, you will not get a bad location.

&quot;Would one get a good hotel, if one waits until immediately before the trip.&quot;

Who knows. Priceline is about hotels making rooms available that they feel would not otherwise sell. To have lots of inventory left to sell on Priceline at the last moment seems unlikely, unless there has been some unusual event that greatly reduced tourist or business travel.

priceline uses zones. Knighstbridge, South Kensington and Earls Court are one PL zone. If you bid in that zone, you are MUCH more likely to get Earls Court the other two areas.

&quot;<i>Does one get the exact hotel one bids for?</i>&quot; - You don't bid for a hotel, you bid for a star level in a zone. So don't get your heart set on a specific hotel, or even a general neighborhood. But transport in London is so easy it really doesn't make that much difference - especially w/ such great bargains.