How early should I try booking for London hotel on Priceline?
 

How far in advance should I try to book our hotel in London on Priceline?
We'll be visiting in June. I have looked at betterbidding, but it does not suggest how early or late to start bidding. Thanks!

Don't start until your dates are totally firm. But as long as you stay at the low end of your planned bids it really doen't make that much difference

IMHO, starting early takes the pressure off - you have plenty of time to low ball them before you need to get serious. Besides betterbidding also check out biddingfortravel.com. A bit more activity so more bids to comppare.

I agree that as long as your airfare is already purchased, there's no harm in bidding very low (don't re-bid immediately if you get rejected, wait a day or two) just in case you get lucky.

My experience is that 3-5 weeks out works well but if I could bid earlier I'd definitely try. But secure a good airfare first.

I often see an accepted bid on a hotel I like. I then bid what was accepted, and often get the same hotel if I bid right away. I like to start bidding early at a low bid, and just keep playing around with it, until something gets accepted. As long as you are sure you are going, you can bid anytime.

Forgot to say I get my info from biddingfortravel.

Is there some way to target specific hotels or can you only select by area and hope the hotels in that area respond to your bid?

When I bid, I stayed only with central London (or whatever they call it on Priceline). Lot of people got hotels to the east of Hyde Park, such as Thistle Marble Arch, IIRC.

I ended up getting the Hilton Olympia. Good price and nice area but a long ride in to Tralfalgar and some points east where many of the attractions are.

Priceline has several zones in London. You bid in the Knightsbridge/Kensington/Earls Court zone or you would not have got the Hilton Olympia. It comes up probably 60% of the time in that Zone.

It is REALLY important for one to study and understand the zones on PL, Biddingfortravel and betterbidding before bidding. If you wanted to be more central you needed to bid in a zone that doesn't stretch out to Earls Court.

Agree that it is essential to thoroughly study all the information and tips on Biddingfortravel and Betterbidding. Familiarize yourself with the various areas and the hotels generally available within each area, and read the hotel reviews.

Then, keep an eye on winning bids posted, particularly those approximate to your dates.

It's not too early to start bidding.

I disagree with bidding "very low" (compared to recent winning bids). If you keep bidding unreasonably low, you'll never get anything. We've stayed in London three times with Priceline for rates about 1/3 for the same rooms booked otherwise. You don't want to overbid, but you also don't want to miss out on a ridiculously low rate by $10, $20/night.

Like Pat, I've been able to get the same hotels as recent bids for about the same rate.

Both biddingfortravel and betterbidding have lists of hotels that have had winning bids in each of the priceline zones. Biddingfortravel has a lot more history.

Priceline definitely seems to be more necessary for London than some other cities.

Apartments and hotels are both at least double there than other European cities.

Saladsunshine:Recently bid $175 for July and got a four star hotel in Trafalgar Square. Good Luck!