plafield

We are trying to get a hotel room on priceline for a Thursday through Sunday stay, September 14-17 in Chicago. It seems that in Chicago, weeknights are quite a bit more expensive than weekends at many of the hotels and I'm wondering if the Thursday is hurting our chances of getting a decent price on Priceline for a room. I've read the bidding for travel site over and over and it is one of the most confusing sites I've ever seen and I can't seem to get this question answered. I'm hoping someone here will have something intellegent to say about this.

Should we try to do 2 separate bids and maybe switch hotels? We've looked for a backup to book so we can just keep trying and hope something opens as we get closer to the date but even the 2-3 stars downtown are close to 200 a night. We've been bidding for 4 star hotels on Priceline and have gone up to $150 for the 3 nights with no luck.

fishee

have you looked at betterbidding.com?

fishee

Also, i wouldn't change hotels if it can be helped -- it's a major pain to pack up and check out/check in to another place when you'r only staying for a short weekend. Have you looked at bed and breakfast options?

microdol

$150 for all 3 nights at a 4 star IN Chicago ? or $150 A night ??

my friend just booked via PL a place in like LaGrange for 50 a night, and I'm not sure it even HAS a star.

One reason weeknights are more expensive in a lot of towns is because they know businesses that send folks for business will pay 'whatever it takes', they don't seem to care as much.
Also take into effect if a pro sports team is playing that weekend, like the Bears, Cubs or White Sox.

rkkwan

I did a search on Expedia, and hotels are indeed quite expensive for those dates. I also noticed that rates for the Friday and Saturday nights are as high, if not higher, than Thursday. So, even if you just bid for Fri-Sat, it may not help you on Priceline.

Anyways, there are couple of 3* or 3.5* on Expedia for about $200 a night - The Radisson for $228 and Best Western Inn for $190. Hyatt Regency McCormick is $219. Book one of those as your backup and then keep working Priceline. There's little secret if you know the basics about "free" rebids.

Or you can lock in a 4* for $209 on Hotwire. Based on info on betterbidding.com, it may be the Hotel 71.

plafield

question about the free rebids. I do understand the strategies explained on biddingfor travel but when I tried to use the "free zones" priceline doesn't let me de-select a zone, they only allow me to add new choices to what I've already selected for a zone. Any tips?

Slw

There is an off "off the record" hotel with a less than $150/nt rate on easyclicktravel.com. If you check out the process at betterbidding.com you can do the reverse click and find out which hotel it is. It is not guaranteed that you will get it but it is likely.

jlm_mi

You can't deselect zones on priceline when bidding. But you can close your browser window, open a new one, and start a new priceline bid with different zones.

As rkkwan pointed out, the best way to understand what might work on priceline bidding (such as whether splitting the bid into two parts could help) is to look at rates for each of the nights of your stay at more conventional sites. If all the nights are the same price elsewhere, splitting the bid on priceline probably won't help.

If there's something happening during that time to make hotels believe they will be near full occupancy, they simply won't release inventory to priceline at any price. If that's the case, you might find bidding last minute will work, as they may realize that they aren't as full as they thought they'd be and release inventory then. No guarantees, which is why it's critical to have a cancellable backup, but if nothing works early, it still might work later.

As far as I've seen, no regular sporting event in Chicago (simple home games for their local teams) has any appreciable effect on hotel prices. Other special events can have an impact, and particularly large conventions will increase occupancy.

Also, I agree that www.betterbidding.com may be less confusing than www.biddingfortravel.com and you may be more likely to have a question like yours answered there if you ask.

JJ5

I do the Chicago market on Priceline every year at least once.

This is late to do Sept. 14-17 on Priceline. You may have more luck on Hotwire. You are already almost rack rate or special discount level.

And don't forget that a 3 star in Chicago isn't chopped liver either.

I find that I can guess which hotel it is on Hotwire much of the time from its amenities list.

I get 4 star hotel rooms for about $65 to $75 per night routinely but I always Priceline about 4 months ahead, sometimes even more. Than Hotwire is my second choice.

rkkwan

Don't bother asking questions on biddingfortravel.com. I've used it to research for dozens of bids, I contribute money to them, I report every winning bid, but I don't ask questions.

Anyways, here's how "free rebids" work. You go to Priceline, type in Chicago and date. You'll be presented with a map with 6 zones. When you check on the box of the zone you want, you'll see the class of hotels available in the bottom. [They actually just changed this; before you have to click "next" and then "back" to see. They've made it easier for us "free rebidders".]

You will find that the Midway zone has only up to 3* and Skokie only up to 2.5*. These are your free rebid zones for 4* bids.

Say you only want 4* Millenium/Loop/Grant park. After your failed $xxx bid, you can then add Midway, add some dollar amounts and bid again. If still no go, add Skokie and some more dollars. The idea is that you can start a little lower and get to rebid for the same dates, same zone, same star level without having to wait 24 hours.

plafield

Thanks for the info. I started bidding on Priceline almost a month ago and have gone up to $155 for a 4 star with no luck. I've checked what's going on in town that weekend and there are 2 conventions (furniture) that report expecting 15,000 delegates each and a few much smaller ones. Is that enough to really book up every 4 star in town?

JJ5

September is often the most beautiful weather month in Chicago and there are still lots of tourists as well.

I myself, would try going for a 3 star in the exact designated area I prefer. They are often nicer boutique hotels that just don't have the immense desk amenities and options of a 4 star. I got Hotel Allegro at 3 or 3.5 star last time and it was great.

rkkwan

It's up to the individual hotel whether they want to give inventory to Priceline. If they're selling lots of room at $200+ and are projecting to sell them out, there's no incentive for them to give rooms to Priceline. And as you probably know that only a small percentage of hotels sell rooms to Priceline.

FainaAgain

I am going Sept 12-16, and somebody on Fodor's said why the prices are that high, only I forgot probably a major convention.

I'm doing a Comfort Inn through Quikbook.

djkbooks

You can tell that Priceline has inventory for many downtown hotels those dates by shopping for a package, so it must be a matter of rates.

In your case, paying up to $200 for a 2 or 3* but only wanting to bid up to $150 for a 4* may need a bit of adjustment if you want to use Priceline successfully.

You really have to do your homework and clearly understand the concept of free re-bid zones so that you do not make a mistake.

I would disagree that it's too late for a successful Priceline bid, given the obvious inventory when you shop their packages for those dates.

Besides, plenty of "blocked rooms" may be released a few days or a week prior to that weekend.

I, personally, would not break up a three-night stay.

Best advice, as always, is to book the best back-up you can find but can cancel, and continue bidding on Priceline.

We stayed at The Drake 9/20 - 9/25/2005 for $140/night with Priceline. So, you could get lucky if you do your homework and you're persistent.

jlm_mi

I actually really doubt that priceline's inventory for package deals and their inventory for blind bidding are related at all. When selling package deals, they are really just a travel agent, so they ought to be able to sell whatever rooms the hotel has available. In blind bidding, they are allotted a particular number of rooms at a particular price.

Also, room prices vary quite a bit from day to day in Chicago, so a winning bid like that from a year ago doesn't necessarily indicate that any good deals will be had on plafield's particuar dates this year.

If your dates are fixed and you cannot change to another time, then definitely book one of those 2-3* hotels for $200 now, as long as the booking is cancellable. If you wait to make that cancellable booking, you could end up paying a lot more for the same hotel closer to your trip.

Are you bidding for both the loop and NMA zones? Both are perfectly fine for a tourism trip to the city.

JJ5

I personally have never had any luck getting good Priceline rooms in Chicago within the last 3 weeks before a date. I try all the time, as I live close (can get there in 50 minutes on the train) and so just try again for a new date, if I fail.

I read here and other sites that rooms are released at late times; I have doubts that this is happening often or at all in the current tourism Chicago picture.

I routinely get 4 star rooms Michigan Ave or Loop for $65 to $75 a night on weekends from October to May. I prefer not going downtown in summer myself.

Compumom

I skipped Priceline because I don't like the uncertainty. I just booked the Wyndham at their Internet rate of $152 for a Sunday night. I'm only there for one night so it was about location and convenience.

plafield

The Wyndham is $289 a night for a cancellable room for September 14-17. I booked the Radisson, the cheapest 3 star hotel I could find anywhere for $229, cancellable up to 2 days before with no penalty.

There are mixed comments about late bidding, but I started bidding 10 weeks before the trip and had no luck with a 4 star in either the loop or N. Michegan area and I bid up to $165.

It does make sense to me that if hotels think they'll fill at over $200 a room they wont release to Priceline but if they find that a few weeks or days before a date they do have open rooms, they will try to fill them. I'm going to keep trying. Unfortunately, I'll be on vacation, camping in the woods for the last 2 weeks of August and won't have internet access. I'll start bidding daily when I get back and may try for a cheap 3 star as well.

Does anyone know if you can double bid by having a spouse bidding too using a different credit card or do they track your address?

jlm_mi

I think I tried that, and once it worked, and once it didn't. Not sure about the details, but no harm in trying.

That said, I'm really thinking it's not necessary. Have you read and understood about the "permutation bidding" concept at www.betterbidding.com It's free rebidding, but with a great combo to get the maximum number of bids possible.

Since you have two reasonable zones to bid in Chicago (NMA/RN and Loop/MP), plus I believe a couple of free rebid zones at 4*, you should be able to put together a very long list of options, so that you can start at a relatively low bid and work your way up. Combine that with the fact that you can bid every 24 hours (and that your stay is still more than a month away), and it seems that being able to bid twice in one day wouldn't be necessary.

If you've exhausted your 4* bidding permutations with no luck and want to try a 3* bid, you can just go ahead and do that. They will allow that bid after all the others, because it's seen as a new bid (new star level).