HELP! I didn' want downtown LA!!!
 

I bid on Priceline--made a mistake and ended up with 3 days in downtown LA at the Millenium Biltmore!!! Can anyone help me feel better about this? (Like "its really a lovely hotel","lots to do around there") Or else, how to make the best of this??? Thank you!

It is a 4 star hotel and has a gorgeous lobby and the rooms look pretty nice too.

I am sorry that I have no personal experience, but as for what I have seen and read, it does not sound bad at all.
I hope this makes you feel a wee bit better :)

It is the <i>Grande Dame</i> of LA hotels. Frankly I would consider myself lucky.

How did you end up downtown when you didn't want to be there?

There's plenty to do in downtown LA - arts, restaurants, all that. What are you looking for?

Thank you, Scarlett. I does make me feel a &quot;wee bit better&quot; !! I was really looking for another area (Beverly Hills/West Hollywood) and in trying to &quot;play the game&quot; with Priceline I ended up getting a room where I really didn't want to! But I guess we will try to make the best of it! (what other choice do we have?) Any other encouraging information will be appreciated!

What do you mean you &quot;played the game&quot;? You added another zone and rebid in hopes that you wouldn't get a hotel in the new zone? Not a recommended approach - is there a reason you did so?

Andrew

Thanks, Gardyloo. I was posting to Scarlett when you responded. I was trying for a 4* in Beverly Hills/West Hollywood. One of the &quot;strategies&quot; suggested by many people for Priceline bidding is to add a zone wher there isn't a * of the level you desire. I inadvertently bid on &quot;Downtown LA&quot;, not realizing there were also 4 * there!

Don't know if you care but the Pershing Square subway station is right near by and that can take you to hollywood or universal city. If you have a car you are about 20-30 minutes for beverly hills, mabye a little further to santa monica.

sounds like a nice hotel.

I've stayed in downtown LA many times. It isn't so bad as long as you have a car and can get out when you want to. I used to go to the jazz clubs in Century City and go to Santa Monica and even Pasadena from there to dine, shop, and stroll and do other things. There have been posts on here about things to do in downtown LA. I never seemed to find them while I was staying there. But then I was usually working during the day and having free time at night and on weekends.

Stayed at the Biltmore a few weeks ago in order to go to a concert at Disney Hall. It is a lovely hotel. The lobby is gorgeous and my room was quiet nice. Request a room that overlooks Pershing Square on one of the upper floors. They serve a great high tea in one of the lobbies. Service in the hotel was great. I won't tell you that there is lot to do around the hotel because it was fairly dead on the weekend, but you are in walking distance of the Disney Hall which as far as I'm concerned is a must see in LA (take the self guided tour), Also walking distance to the new Cathedral which is also well worth seeing.

It's a really lovely hotel and there is a lot to do around there. Really. If you need some ideas of things to see and places to eat in downtown I posted an incomplete list a while ago here.
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34498033

The downtown area is hoot if you want cross culture and lots of museum/architecure/traditional foods-yum. China town, Japan town, Mexican town (the Grand Central Market is an experience (mostly Mexican) and a great tour for lunch and a good look around), the jewelry market-that can cost you_ and the Union Station-trains that can get you to San Diego and the zoo in an hour or so, not to mention Disneyland and Knotts Berry Farm -Anaheim- (grab a cab at the station). Check out what is happening at the Music Center (theater) the new cathedral and Disney Hall are our new architectural wonders. The Museum of Modern Art kills lots of time.
Check out the train schedules. A day at the beach at San Clemente (South about 1 hour) is time well spent as is lunch at the pier. Check out your previous threads for other ideas. And then there is Pasadena, by cab to the Huntington Museum. Don't rent a car. Parking costs more!!!Use the train and cabs-shuttles.
Dare you to get bored!!! Ask the concierge at your hotel to make arrangements. That is why they are there-for YOU. By the way, the restaurant in the Biltmore has been legindary-not cheap - but by reputation over the years, very good. If you don't like your order, send it back and ENJOY!!! BON VOYAGE!!

Relax, you did fine! The Biltmore is a grand dame. For dinner downtown, try Traxx at Union Station (for Continental and outdoor dining) and Water Grill (best seafood in town). Get a good tour book, use your concierge, day trip to the outlying areas, and enjoy your good deal!

By the way, what was your good deal on Priceline?

Thanks, all for your help and encouragement! It does sound like a nice hotel, though not in the area that I wanted. I'm sure we'll cope! :) Iregeo, the other thing that makes me feel foolish about the whole thing is that it really wasn't such a good price-- not a bad price-- not a good price -- $100 per night. I'm fairly certain that I could have gotten that area quite a bit cheaper with a different strategy. I let myself get a little carried away with bidding -- $100 was going to be my last bid. But, live and learn! I'm fairly new to online travel bidding, and I'm learning! And just paying a bit of a price for my lessons! :)

It's easy to get carried away wtih bidding. It's especially hard to resist re-bidding after being turned down -- suddenly you're anxious that you'll never win anything at all! Patience comes with experience.

When preparing to bid on PL, you should check the * ratings of any area you might bid on, by selecting only that area, going to the next page, and seeing what levels are offered for you to bid on. This would have shown that PL was offering one or more 4* hotels in downtown.

I am new to bidding also, but I had one experience that opened my eyes. I bid on a 4 star hotel in downtown Houston (there are only two) and couldn't get it at the price everyone else seems to get it at (on BiddingForTravel). So I added the many surrounding zones (there arae 10) that don't haev 4 star hotels, and I just kept rebidding adn rebidding, finally up to $100. When I typed in $100, I thought, &quot;this is downtown Houston, what am I doing?!&quot;, and got out of Priceline. I checked Expedia and the hotel I originally wanted to stay in (not listed on Priceline) had gone down to $79! So I learned that sometimes it is better to exit the bidding and go recheck the hotel webpages before going that much higher over my original bid...so what if it means waiting 3 days to rebid.
Have fun in LA. Southern CA is so fun and you can't beat that weather.

Emd, the same thing happened to me in a differant city! You have to be &quot;pretty twicky&quot; with PL :-D

EMD, Judy, thank you so much for making me feel better for not using PL :) Now I don't feel like a money-wasting fool.
(not saying that PL is bad)

It's obvious that people get great deals that can't be beat (I watch biddingfortrvel and betterbidding.com) but certainly not always, and it's like poker- you gotta know when to fold 'em.

You CAN get great deals on Priceline. In this case, it was my own stupid fault that I ended up in the wrong place. I was trying to be very careful, but I made a mistake. I was double-checking everything I was doing, but I put a notation in the wrong place. And it just takes a second to press SEND!

Kathy, I worked for two years (many years ago) within a a couple of blocks of the Biltmore. I second the comments you've received about it. As well as being a beautiful old place, it is also historic--as well as being connected to a lot of Hollywood history (can't give you details off the top of my head) it's the hotel where JFK picked LBJ as his Vice Presidential running mate.

I agree that the Grand Central Market nearby (which runs from Broadway to Hill street, in the block between 2nd and 3rd streets) is pretty amazing. You can buy just about anything edible there. Broadway, 2 blocks from the hotel, is, I think I've heard, the busiest retail street in California. About 10 blocks of feeling you have been transported to downtown Mexico City--absolutely teeming and very interesting, I think. It's lined with great old buildings from earlier in the century when it was the heart of Anglo downtown--including some old movie houses with incredibly ornate facades (check out the Los Angeles Theatre in particular.) But its star is the Bradbury building, which I think is at Broadway and Third. Doesn't look like anything from the outside, but inside is the most amazing atrium from the 1890's, really beautiful, don't miss it. There's even an old iron open-sided elevator. I used to like to go there to eat my lunch just to enjoy its beauty. It's been used as a setting in many movies and TV shows (as has the Grand Central Market, for that matter.)

Hollywood and Pasadena are very quick drives from downtown on the freeways named for them (if it isn't rush hour.) There's lots of interest in Old Town Pasadena, right at the end of the freeway, and the Norton Simon and Huntington museums in Pasadena are outstanding.

If you'll be there during the week, the Jewelry Mart, off Pershing Square is a large collection of &quot;wholesale&quot; jewelers in back-to-back shops, with some of the most eye-popping rocks imaginable. We do business there occasionally and it's always fascinating. Some (not all) sell to the public. Closed on week-ends, though.

The hotel's beautiful lobby exudes 1920's Hollywood glamour--you actually feel the history. Have had good lunches a few times in their restaurant, but what I remember most is that gorgeous dark wood ceiling--more detailed than any I've seen before. I think you'll love it!

Thank you all. Perhaps this little blunder will allow us to experience parts of LA that we otherwise would have missed. :)

How can you go wrong when within a few short miles you can enjoy Phillipe's hot dipped sandwiches. A local hang out with paper plates and the most excellent food for its location. Comme on Guys isn't it the best? Took my old father on Father's day. He loved it reminiscing about past Dodger games.

This is why I save my gambling for a casino.

I do think you'll have an awesome time though. Consider it an adventure. Personally, I love grand old hotels, and this one (though I've never been there) sounds pretty amazing with all the history.

Just tweak your plans a bit and go with it. Sometimes, little surprises (consider it just that, not a mistake) can be a blessing in disguise.

Have a wonderful time and do a report when you get back.

Happy travels!

I once co-hosted a conference at the Biltmore, and out-of-town attendees stayed there. Beautiful public areas-- it's truly a grand old place. The attendees were very pleased with the accommodations as well. You now have a list of great things to see while you're in that area too. You'll be fine!

If you do your research ahead of time, Priceline bidding is not so much &quot;gambling.&quot; You'll know before you bid what the going rates are, so you won't bid too high. If you know you can get a 3-star hotel (one of the ones on BiddingForTravel's hotel list) for your dates for $79/night on your own, you'll have a bidding limit already well below that. Being locked into a non-refundable Priceline reservation isn't worth saving only a few bucks, so for me if I can't save a lot of money, I wouldn't bid anywhere near $79/night in this example.

Sounds like KathyM did her research but simply made a mistake which can certainly happen when making any online travel arrangements.

Andrew

Andrew, I beleive you misread my post. Before I bid on Priceline, the cost of the hotel I wanted (which WASN'T listed on Priceline) was $169 a night. I had planned to start at $40 and go up to $90 for a 4 star hotel (bids were being won for btwn. $40 and $90 for those hotels, depending on timing of the stays). After I got up to my $90 limit, I logged off and checked the hotel I wanted originally that WASN'T on Priceline. On Expedia, it had gone down from $169 to $79 (within 24 hrs). So I was bidding in the cost range for what the 4 star hotels were being won at-- it just turned out that the hotel I wanted, which isn't ever an option on Priceline, had gone down on Expedia (and only Expedia- in fact the hotel website was still $179)
So I did not know that the hotel was going for $79 on priceline- it was not even available on Priceline- and the hotels on Priceline in the 4 star range were going for the range I was bidding; it was just when I got to the upper minit of the bidding range that I stopped and rechecked expedia.
I still think you need to know when to fold re what your upper limit is and get off at that point, and recheck your other options.

Well, emd, if the hotel you were checking on Expedia wasn't listed on BiddingForTravel, how would you know Priceline would even rate it at the same star level? Many times I've seen hotels that get rated higher on travel web sites like Expedia than Priceline rates them. The point is, you might not necessarily be getting the same level of hotel - &quot;star ratings&quot; are not uniform. You need to compare apples to apples.

When doing Priceline research, best to price the hotels on BFT's hotel list, because (unless Priceline re-rates them) you are fairly sure these are the hotels you are likely to get. On the other hand, if the 4-star hotel you see on Expedia is at the price you want, maybe you should grab it. Sometimes you can get great hotel deals without Priceline - something else Priceline bidders should keep in mind.

Andrew

Andrew, that's a very good question about the star ratings. I did not mention any ratings at all for the hotel I originally wanted, and which I ended up getting for $79 a night; didn't say it was 4 stars. I would rather do my own research and decide if a hotel is 4 star or not. Even if it is rated 4 star on Priceline, I still check it out myself to see if I want to stay in those 4 star hotels that fall into 4 star on Priceline. I find it much better to assess a hotel by the listing of it's amenities from several places (the hotel website, other sites like expedia, etc.) and reviews on here and on tripadvisor. In this case, a I had posted on this forum asking for help in deciding on a nice downtown Houston hotel, and several people mentioned this hotel as a new hotel, close to the attraction I would be attending, and with good reviews and amenities. I looked it up, and saw that the amenities are good and what I woula consider 4 star by my own standards: 24 hr room service, 2 restaurants and a lounge, 3 phones in each room, hi speed internet in each room, 27 inch TV (premium channels) w/DVD player and CD player in each room, premium bedding, separate bath and shower, in room safe, valet parking, concierge, limosine and town car service provided to downtown areas by the hotel at no charge (within 3 miles, charge for over that), newstand, shoe shine, plush robes, hairdryer, makeup mirror and scale in the bathrooms etc.
By my standards, and from the reviews I found on the hotel (Inn on the Ballpark) I thought it was a 4 star to me, and likely as nice if not nicer than the older Hyatt or the Hilton Americas (new, but getting some bad reviews for service and other things) that are 4 star on Priceline. It just happened that Expedia did rate the Inn on the Ballpark as 4 stars, but I didn't rely on that.
For me, it is important not to get too reliant on any rating system for the stars, but rather to know my own citeria and do the research, even on hotels on Priceline.