Priceline & San Francisco hotels
 

OK, this topic has been beaten to death, but I need a little advice. So far, I've had no luck on Priceline, bidding for 4* hotels in the Union Square East area. I'll be in San Francisco 9/11-9/15.

Surfing the Fodor California forums, a lot of people have posted opinions about their favorite hotels. As a result, I checked some of them out and found I could get a room at a few places for a reasonable rate.

For example, The Grand Hyatt has a special until 8/26 for $217. The Hotel 480 and Sir Francis Drake are $209 and $206, respcetively.

I really want my first trip to the city to be memorable and would hate to have it shadowed by a mediocre hotel stay.

My question is this, should I go ahead and book a room directly from the hotel or keep trying on Priceline? On other sites, people have mentioned that because they bid on thier rooms, they were given less desireable room locations.

Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

Thanks.

One would have to ask what price you have been bidding? Did you use the free rebid feature?

Sure, you could go ahead and reserve a room that would be cancellable up to 6pm on the date of arrival. Just remember to cancel when you get a winning bid on Priceline.

Of the hotels you have listed, the 460 and the Drake are both 3* hotels, while the Grand hyatt is a 4* on Priceline, so for that small differential in price, I'd suggest reserving the Grand Hyatt.

The Argonaut is the only 4* listed for Fisherman's Wharf and that's a very nice hotel as well.

So you could bid ONLY the 4* level and add in the other districts while upping your bid price until you are successful. Whatever you do, please don't go down in star level.

Good luck!

I went up to $125. I've seen winning 4* bids in the Union Square area for less. I have been using the free rebid, too. My guess is since I'm bidding for 4 nights, that's what's keeping me from winning. But, I don't want to split my bid and then waste time moving from (possibly) moving from one hotel to another.

I want to stay at a 4*, so I'll try again this evening and go up more in price. Wish me luck and thanks.

I've never felt that I have been given a less desirable room with a PL reservation, more than with other booking methods. If I don't like the room, I ask for a change, and it usually not a problem to do so.

I would keep on trying. I would keep the 4*, but raise by $5 to 140. What is your max?

Did you ask for advice on BFT? ((*))

Blacknight, I feel your pain. I live in the SF Bay area and overnight in SF several times a year. We usually get the Hyatt Regency (Embarcadero) for $75 to $80. I've been bidding without success for any night between September 10 and 15. If you check out recent bids at biddingfortravel.com, you'll see that the bids have to be a lot higher for that time period due to several conventions in SF around that time.

I've quit bidding for a few days, thinking maybe I started too soon. Since we are within a 45-minute drive to SF, getting a room isn't critical as we can always drive in. In your case, I'd reserve a cancellable back up and keep bidding until the last minute.

Let us know how it goes, and I'll do the same.

Oops, to address your second concern, in all the times we've stayed in SF through PL, I've never felt we had a less than desirable room.

You should definitely go ahead and book the best room you can find that you can cancel, as September is a very busy month in San Francisco, and rates will increase as your dates get closer.

Then, check the pinned hotel lists for 4*'s on both BiddingforTravel and BetterBidding. Unless you find objectionable reviews, you may want to include other zones in your Priceline bidding.

San Francisco isn't that big, and you'll want to go all over, so shouldn't restrict hotel location to the Union Square area.

You're probably correct that bidding 4 nights is what is making you fail.

Try bidding 3 nights and if you are successful, then use the "Add a Night" feature.

I'd guess that it would be easier to add a Sunday night rather than a Thursday night, so if you bid for Sept 11-13 and were successful, you could try and add the night of the 14th.

OTOH, Your rates are high because of that Thursday night. If you were to bid three weekend nights Friday to Monday, you could probably get the rooms for less. Would you be willing to pay the going rate for Thursday night?

Here's a convention calendar. Looks pretty busy!

http://www.sfcvb.org/convention/calendar.asp

Yikes! Thanks for the calendar, Betsy. Darn those dentists! Since I'm coming for Chicago, my other option would be to sleep in MacAuthur Park.

I've got a post on BetterBidding, too. Between both posts, I've gathered quite a bit of info. I have found BFT more confusing, though.

Easytraveler, I have given thought to bidding for 3 nights and then booking the last night through the winning hotel. I was unaware of the an "Add a Night" feature. I'll probably use my AAA membership.

At this point, if I can keep it under $200, I'll be happy. I get to rebid at 9pm, so I'll let you know how it goes. Good luck to you, too.

Blacknight: I've been thinking (and this is a dangerous sign! :) ) - if you bid Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights on Priceline, you SHOULD be able to get something for slightly over $100 or even less.

Then, when your bid is successful, the Priceline page that tells you that your bid has been successful will also ask you if you want to "add a night?" You can add a night either before or after your successful bid nights (in your case, either Thursday night or Monday night). You can just specify that you want to add a night at the same rate. Sometimes Priceline will tell you that there is nothing available for that added night or that the rate will be higher.

Good luck tonight! :)

Hi ET! Is the "add a night" option always available? I was under the impression that it's offered sometimes but not others.

Since the other times I bid and won, I never noticed the "add a night" option. At any rate, I got shot down, again! My final bid was $160, even after adding Union Square West.

I plan on charting both Thursday and Sunday night rates for 4* hotels in the Union Square area. Then, based on which night has more reasonable rates, I'll drop that night and bid for 3. If I win, I'll purchase the 4th night directly from the hotel (unless the add a night feature is offered).

Thanks again for your input and I'll let you know if (when) I win.

Hi, Betsy!

Yes, as far as I know. I noticed this option less than a year ago and have used it a few times since.

It's only one night though.

If you wanted to add two nights after a successful bid, you'll have to add one and then bid again on the additional second night.

I've been most successful in winning nights on weekends and then backtracking and picking up the previous Thursday. It's a little trick I learnt when being unsuccessful in getting three or four nights in a row.

Sometimes I've been successful in bidding Sunday and Monday night and then adding Tuesday night.

The rate for my added night has been, about half the time, the same as the other nights and the other half the rates have been a bit higher.

Hope this helps!

Thanks for that strategy, ET.

I'm bidding for any one night, Sept.10 thru Sept. 15, but I prefer Sept. 12. I'd like to get the Grand Hyatt, like we always have, but would accept any USE 4*. I checked the Hyatt rates on each of the dates above, and they're lowest on the 12th and 13th. I just bid, without success, up to $100 for the 12th, using all of the available free rebids.

I'm posting this to let Blacknight know what I'm experiencing. He'll probably have the best luck by bidding for the nights of the 12th and 13th. The rates for the Hyatt have dropped in some of their rate categories since I started bidding a week or so ago, so I'm going to watch their rates and try bidding again in a few days. Hoping they (or someone in USE) give PL some lower priced inventory.

Wow! Besty, you haven't been able to get night at a reasonable rate? I'm doomed.....

Yes, it looks like the likeliest dates would be either the 12th or the 13th, since the tech convention of 13,000 will end on the 12th and the dental convention begins on the 12th.

checking BFT, it looks like 4* USE comes in at $110 on up.

If it were me, I wouldn't wait several days between bids, but would keep trying every day. The conventions make the likelihood of any Priceline rooms opening up between now and your dates pretty slim, so you want to snatch whatever comes along as quickly as possible.

For example, I wanted two rooms for two nights for an event that is booked a year ahead of time. I had to make reservations at a real hole of a hotel because it was the only thing available. However, I kept trying and just last week, something opened up on Priceline, and I was able to snag a 4* - at least for one night. Couldn't add another night, no matter what I tried, so it looks like we'll have to stay in the "hole" one night and in the 4* the other. :)

Blacknight, how about Hotwire? They're offering $185 for a 4.5 in the Embarcadero area for Sept. 12. I think the moderators at Better Bidding will tell you which hotel is making the offer. There may be a specific format for framing your request.

Don't forget that you'll have to add almost 20% to your total bill in taxes. :-(

Last week, I bidded for a SF hotel via PL for the labor day weekend. Since our stay is for 5 nights (including a Thurs), I ended up breaking up my bid to two bids, one for Thurs only and then one for Fri-Mon.

My experience is that the hotels will release more rooms at a lower rate, sometimes for just one day, then take them away again. I find Hotwire useful to judge what hotels are available at what rate. Also, on PL, if you don't use the "Name your own price" feature, it'll give you a list of hotels and their rates. I tend to start bidding about 60% off the published rate and go up using free rebids.

I was successful in getting my rooms at 50-60% off the lowest rate posted on the hotel website.

The "Add a night" feature is only offered after one has successfully win a bid; however, you may or may not be successful in adding a night. In my situation, I won my bid for Fri-Mon; but when I clicked on the "add a night" feature to add on Thurs night, it was rejected.

The add a night feature is not always available and does not always work.

Still recommend that you book the best you can find that you can cancel.

Also agree with bidding every day, as inventory changes constantly. And, it's possible that, at some point, rooms set aside for groups may be released if they're not booked.

I usually start bidding at 40% of the hotels web rates.

During busy times, it's not always possible to score a deal with Priceline, because the hotels just do not release as many, if any, rooms when fill rates are very high due to events and conventions.

I was finally successful. I dropped 9/11 and bid for 9/12 -9/15. I won the Marriott in Union Square for $120 a night. I tried for the "add a night" but couldn't get it. I checked the hotel sight directly and there are no rooms available that night.

I attempted to bid for 9/11, going up to $150, but got shot down.

Due to all of the conventions going on during that time frame, I decided to forgo the bidding and just booked the Grand Hyatt for the one night. That price was $224.25.

According to MapQuest, it's about 5 blocks away. I figure I'll get up in the morning, walk over and have them hold my bags and go about my merry way. I'll come back around 3 to check in.

Now to fine tune my trip. I'll post a report when I get back. Thanks all (especially Betsy and Easytraveller) for all your help.

You might also find that the Marriott might have a room available earier than the check in time Blacknight. Perhaps you could call them the morning of the 12 from the Grand Hyatt and ask if they do, I say that as I have often been able to check in at various SF hotels way before the official check in time.

Wow! This is really super news! Congratulations!

Is this the Marriott on Post and Mason? Believe this used to be the old Pan Pacific. That's a very nice hotel.

If you want to be closer to the Marriott for that first night of the 11th, try the Donatello Hotel which is just across the street. It's a nice boutique hotel.

Have a great stay and welcome to the Bay Area! :)

After trying for many , many nights, I decided to bid on a 3 star. It took a few tries, but I was successful.
WE are staying at Club Quarters.
I've decided that we can make our trip memorable in other ways with the money we saved on a hotel.

We are in the location we wanted, so I'm sure we'll be happy. I've never felt that we've received an inferior room when going through Priceline.

Good Luck.

kodi: glad you got something on Priceline as well!

I don't know much about the Club Quarters except that it's in the Financial District and so is a downtown location. Years ago I had to drop a colleague off there.

Enjoy your visit here! :)

Congrats, Blacknight! Your persistence paid off. Enjoy SF, it's a beautiful city.

kodi, mind telling us what your winning bid was? I had been looking at Club Quarters which looks nice--regular prices seem to be around $250. Did you save a lot?

I guess it isn't important for me. I now see that Club Quarters is totally sold out for my dates in late October, like a lot of places. I really don't think I'm going to get anything on Priceline as Sheryl on BFT told me when I listed the prices I'm finding for my dates. Too many conventions I guess.

Patrick, it looks as if the Am. College of Surgeons needs 6500 rooms, and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society needs 3715 rooms in mid-October. If you check the convention calendar above, you may be able to work around those big meetings.

No, have my air tickets -- nothing I can "work around". I've booked the Columbus Inn which is fine for us-- just thought it might be nice if I could get a more luxurious hotel on Priceline for the same amount of money -- but that isn't going to happen.
Actually it's the Rheumatologists (6000 rooms) during my time plus the "Exotic Erotic Ball" (1000 rooms) (good thing the Rheumatologists are there to take care of anyone who gets into an "awkward position"). Basically all of October is convention after convention almost overlapping.

Patrick, I'm sorry the Club Quarters is sold out for your dates.

We are staying there mid September for a price of $122 a night.. Total charges, taxes and SC included is $570 for 4 nights. SO I am very pleased.

I must say, I've always been happy with Priceline...and I've always been lucky. I guess I'm like a dog with a bone. I just won't give up til I get something. And I usually start bidding very early.

Easytraveler, thank you. This will be my first time in SF and I'm very excited.

LoverItaly, thanks for the tip. I'll give it a try.

Easytraveler, it's the Marriott at 55 Fourth Street, if that helps.

Easytraveller, the Donatello looks nice and the price is right, but I already booked my room (non-refundable due to a 25% off special). Also, there are no rooms available for my entire stay.

Those dentists are really hogging everything up!

Blacknight: That's the "Other" Marriott. I thought you meant this one when you said the Marriott in San Francisco, but then you added "Union Square". The Marriott that you won is on the other side of Market Street. It's a really nice hotel, too. When you have the chance, try going up to the 33rd floor to "The View" Lounge and just have a drink there. And try for a seat by the huge curved window in the center. :)

Neopat: Have you tried bidding Fisherman's Wharf, 3*? You should be able to get something for under $100. Don't try for 4* at Fisherman's Wharf on Priceline because it's the Argonaut Hotel and there's really not that significant a difference between the Argonaut and the 3* hotels except for its unique nautical theme. There are a number of chain hotels at FW: Sheraton, Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton - the best of these is the Tuscan Inn and you'll be a very happy camper if you got the Tuscan.

I know there's a lot of prejudice against Fisherman's Wharf on Fodors, but it is after all the number one tourist destination in San Francisco and there are lots of wonderful gems there besides the tacky T-shirt shops.

The other Priceline option is to bid Union Square West.

Whatever you do, don't bid Cathedral Hill nor the Civic Center areas - use them only on free rebids.

If you don't mind driving a bit, try the 4* hotels at San Francisco Airport. The Hyatt there is really nice and sometimes goes for as little as $70. You can get the 3* hotels for as little as $50.

So, in order of bid preference:

USE
FW
USW
SFO

Kodi: I'm excited for you too! :)

Blacknight, you missed the punchline: The dentists are FILLING the empty rooms.

Should have caught that one. My Dad was a dentist for over 40 years and had a very dry sense of humor....

Maybe I'll get lucky and one will make me a "grill"!

Blacknight, if your Dad was a dentist, then shame on you. You should know the drill. :D

You guys crack me up. :)

It's really bracing to know there are people with such a dam sense of humor.

Yea. There's a lot of WISDOM here, and you can always count on getting good INCISOR information. What you ask for is MOLAR less what you get.