I am aware of the biddingfortravel site, but I would like info from Fodorites on their experiences with using Priceline for London hotels. What is you preferred zone to bid? Has anyone called the hotel to change from a double to two twin beds? We would need multiple rooms and some rooms with twins. I have checked with some of the more moderate hotels like Luna & Simone and they have no availability.

different people prefer different zones - all have pluses and minuses. Once you have a winning bid, call the hotel and request non-smoking, twins, handicap accessible - whatever. Most of the time that works just fine - <u>but there are no guarantees</u> it totally depends on availability. All that is guaranteed is a room for two. Heck - the double you win may end up being a twin in the first place.

But since the hotel is obviously not booked up (or you would not have got it) the cahnces for getting the type of room you want are good.

About biddingfortravel - great site - but don't totally rely in its hotels/by zone. PL has re-drawn a few London zones and they don't match up w/ BFT's lists. Double check the zones on PL itself before bidding.

In general the best zones are:

Mayfair - Soho

Kensington - Knightbridge - Earls Court

Westminster

Bloomsbury - Marble Arch

This was our first time using Priceline in London and things worked out fine, no mention of Priceline when checking in. Be aware also, that breakfast is not included with Priceline bids. We were asked at check in which we preferred, twin or double as they had both available. We won the H.I. Kensington Forum for $80/nt. in March.
But as Janis said nothing is guaranteed.
We like S.Kensington for the neighborhood feel and being just slightly away from all the action. We also prefer the Gloucester Rd. stop as it sits on three very useful lines, the District, Circle and Piccadilly.

Travelers have different preference for the PL zones. I personally like the Soho zone, but that's the toughest to get and requires a higher bid.

I have stayed at various zones in the past, including Soho, Westminster, and also Kensington. Kensington zone wins are usually lower than the rest.

On Priceline, last year, over Easter, we got Thistle Charing Cross for under $100 by bidding. Remember though, you don't know what hotel you will get if you bid.

dave

The Thistle Charing Cross is in the Mayfair-Soho zone - which is about the only zone where you can be guaranteed of a super-central hotel. So if you're willing to pay and want that convenience, you can't go wrong with the Mayfair-Soho zone.

But I've had good stays in the Kensington, Westminster, and Bloomsbury zones. The hotel in South Kens by Gloucester Road was very convenient, and so was the Bloomsbury hotel by Russell Square. I've also bid several times for hotels by Heathrow. I think I've had 8 bids altogether or so.

I seem to be one of the few who has done 3* bids, although I was once upgraded to a 4*, and got perfectly acceptable rooms every time in any event (even with a 2* bid, I did, but the odds are worse with that for sure). I've also gotten twin rooms every time, per my request, except once when traveling alone when I was upgraded to an executive room.

Personally, I would take the slight risk of not getting twins, because I would figure the worst that could happen is that I suddenly had to get a sleeping bag, or I had to pay for an upgrade. The price savings would be worth it, from my point of view.

Anyone else have experience using Priceline for London?

We stayed at Thistle Marble Arch, Waldorf Hilton, and Millennium Bailey's with Priceline (at ridiculously low rates).

But, the experience of others may have nothing to do with your bidding results. The hotels come and go and change all the time.

You really have to watch recent winning bids.

<u>Many</u> of us have used PL for London. But what someone successfully bid last Sept, or last Thurs for that matter, will not tell you what hotel you would get for such and such a bid.

I got a hotel in in the Knightsbridge/Kensington/Earls Court zone this Feb for $72, but others bidding at the same time got entirely different properties.

In November 2006, I bid on a 4-star hotel in London, Bloomsbury area.

What I got was the Thistle Bloomsbury, not particularly good, not particularly bad. However, not a hotel I would have chosen on my own.

The room rate per night was $147 without breakfast.