milliondollarbbw

How far in advance would I need to book a hotel room for London and Paris in early December? I am just trying to learn more about what areas of both cities to stay in and which ones would be best for me.

All I want is a central location, private bathroom, and no bugs. Also, it would be great if the owners/concierge knows how to speak english.

rex

Have you studied www.biddingfortravel.com? Attempting to use priceline without it is like trying to drive a car blindfolded. For London, there are already successful bids for Thistle Marble Arch for Jan 06, so I think you could bid now.

For Paris, there isn't so much beyond November, but there are some successful bids fo Paris Hilton Eiffel post-Thanksgiving.

This is way over-generalizing, but for both cities, the areas with the most hotels listed on BFT are the better choices for mainstream "touristing".

I think that any hotel that actually <i>has</i> a concierge, speaking English would be a requirement to have that title. The reviews on BFT are quite consistent on mentioning English speaking staff (which may or may not be 24/7).

Best wishes,

Rex

Andrew

You can book months in advance on Priceline, or you can book only a day or so in advance. In the states you can book up until 6PM the day of checkin at many hotels, but in Europe you generally need to book about a day in advance at latest, probably due to the time change or something.

On a recent trip to Europe I booked Priceline hotels in Prague, Vienna, and London only after I got to Europe, as I traveled. Not to suggest you should use this strategy, just pointing out that you can still get good deals last-minute with Priceline.

The typical strategy with Priceline is to find rooms in a conventional way first, reservations you can cancel, then try Priceline closer to your departure, because you can't cancel or chance Priceline hotel bookings (unless you use the &quot;pick your own hotel&quot; option which is just like booking them at regular prices with any other website). Sometimes hotels don't open up Priceline reservations until a few weeks before check-in. If you win a Priceline bid, then you cancel your other reservations - otherwise, stick with them.

Andrew

Where2Travel

For early Decemeber, I'd definitely start bidding now. You have some good information above and I would second the suggestion to check out www.biddingfortravel.com or www.betterbidding.com for help and information.

You can learn about all the different zones at these sites and also the hotels which typically come up at each star level. I would expect major hotels in London and Paris to have staff that can speak English so that shouldn't be a major issue.

rkkwan

You need to start early with Priceline because you cannot rebid the same zone for the same dates within 72 hours.