Originally Posted By TinkerbellPatten Hi all, I am brand new to posting, although I have been reading these boards for about a year and have benefitted from your wisdom...! Have any of you ever gotten a great deal by bidding for rooms via Priceline or other hotel room clearinghouses? A friend of mine goes to DL more often than I (lucky girl) and she loves Priceline, saying she never pays more than $40 a night during the off season for really nice places like Embassy Suites or Marriott in Anaheim. This is a lot cheaper than even the BWPPI, which is my first choice for convenience sake. But if I can take the kids somewhere extra special I think it would be fun, as we are always on a tight budget and they have never experienced a "fancy" hotel before and are plenty old enough now to appreciate it. Any suggestions? BTW, our trip to DL will be Nov. 28-Dec. 1. There are no big conventions then either which should help our bidding situation. We are driving over, no need to rent a car. I don't mind paying the sometimes high parking fees of these hotels if I get a smokin great deal on the nightly rate. Also, I don't mind parking at the DL parking garage because we can always pack a cooler full of food and have tailgate lunches. This saves us enough money in our tight budget to afford us the luxury of a Blue Bayou dinner at least once. But back to the bidding question: I would appreciate any pointers from anyone who has attempted this. Thanks guys, I'm so excited for the trip! DL for the holidays is so extra special! 84 days and counting... TinkerbellPatten
Originally Posted By busycamom Hi! I always use Priceline when you go ti Disneyland and San Diego. Last Thanksgiving we got the Crowne Plaza for $45.00 a night. Before that the Double Tree for $40 and during Spring break the Marriott for $55. One good site to look at is biddingfortravel.com I also used Priceline for the upcoming weekend in Oakland and got the Marriott San Ramon for $45.00 a night when rack rate is $229. That is the only way we can afford to stay in the 3 star hotels. Good luck and have fun!
Originally Posted By TinkerbellPatten THANK YOU busycamom! When my friend told me about this, I thought maybe it was too good to be true. Question: does this bidding only work if you make your bid just before the trip? I would think that bidding early would not work. Saving money makes the trip even more fun. That way we can afford to go to DL maybe more than once a year. Any more advice is always welcomed! Thanks again!
Originally Posted By Misty Don't use hotwire! We had heard good things about priceline. I actually ahve used priceline for San Francisco with great results. We could not get a decent price through priceline for our early August trip, so tried hotwire. Bid on a supposed 3 star, ended up in a Holiday Inn way off the beaten track that stunk!!!
Originally Posted By TinkerbellPatten Thanks Misty... I welcome all advice, I want to hear all the good AND the bad, so as to hopefully make the best decision. Also I read about a service that lets you bid on the particular hotel of your choice: California Reservations or Hotel Reservations Network. I read about these in The Unofficial Guide to DL 2006. Both phone numbers and websites are listed, the sites are: hotellocators.com and hoteldiscounts.com. I tried looking at the websites and got nowhere. Anyone ever try these bidding services? How'd it go? I'm going to take busycamom's tip and look at biddingfortravel.com now. Planning for this vacation is half the fun, makes the wait more bearable too. Thanks all!
Originally Posted By berol <a href="http://betterbidding.com" target="_blank">http://betterbidding.com</a> <a href="http://p070.ezboard.com/bpricelineandexpediabidding" target="_blank">http://p070.ezboard.com/bprice lineandexpediabidding</a>
Originally Posted By crazycroc TBPatten---- 1. How many people are in your party as Priceline will only guarantee one bed in the hotel room? This has never happened to me when I used the service, but it is possible. 2. I am going the week before Christmas, and I used Priceline, bid for 2 and 1/2 stars and got the Ramada Plaza Anaheim Resort for 60 dollars. It looks to be acceptable and has free parking. The Marriot, Hilton, etc...all charge for parking and don't forget to the resort fee in.
Originally Posted By cindyland We tried to use Priceline over Spring Break and I got nervous and o.k.'d a room in Anaheim Hills. We were about 25 minutes out (with no traffic) and the hotel was very loud. We got the room for about $45, but of course I was hoping for something closer. BTW, the SR Marriott is great, but I've always booked it on Priceline and would never pay $200 for a room there. Try the brunch while you're there.
Originally Posted By joeysmommy I have never bid on travel before and was wondering if there is a way to find out the name of the hotel beforehand? I wanted to stay directly across the street at BWPPI or any of teh other nearby places.
Originally Posted By crazycroc @joey's mommy There is no way to tell what hotel you are going to get. www.biddingfortravel.com www.betterbidding.com have lists of hotels that do come up in the Disneyland area. If you have any others questions about how it works you could contact me.
Originally Posted By Dave bid 39.00 and 1 star in the Disneyland resort area or the Anaheim/Anaheim Hills areas and you get something like the Extended Stay by Marriott.
Originally Posted By LuLu joeysmommy, I don't think there are any sites where you can "bid" on hotels where you know the name first, but of course there are discount hotel sites. I've had the best luck with lastminutetravel.com. I used it for a Best Western near Knotts, and have booked that same hotel even for staying at DL, since it always came up in the $40-60 range when everything by DL was over $100! You'll get the best prices on priceline, but you take your chances on exactly what you'll get. And the 3-stars will charge you a resort fee/parking on top of what you pay priceline.
Originally Posted By LuLu For me, tho, if I can get the Entertainment rate at HoJo's now, that's the way to go, as it's a "known" instead of a surprise.
Originally Posted By quincytoo ^^^^^I agree.....Especially after the Desert Inn stay last June. I don't want to be that *surprised* again..
Originally Posted By joeysmommy Thank you everyone- I guess the control freak in me doesn't like not knowing where we'll stay. Once the bid is confirmed, then do you find out which hotel? Then if you cancel is there a cancellation fee? I noticed the Entertainment Book is $40, how much of a discount is Hojo's?
Originally Posted By LuLu If you want to stay at a specific place, or within a specific walking distance, Priceline won't work for you. I used to use it frequently till there was one place on Harbor going in the 3-star category that was dumpy and people were complaining (Ramada or Radisson Maingate - never can remember!). I think they've dropped that one... but in the past, yes I've gotten great deals at Marriott, West Coast Anaheim, or Hyatt for around $35. The Hojo's Entertainment rate in $54 which is about half off.
Originally Posted By LuLu Oh - Once Priceline accepts your price (and bills your credit card), they tell you which hotel you'll be staying at. I don't think you can cancel, if so it's probably hefty.
Originally Posted By LuLu "All hotel reservations are non-cancelable, non-refundable, non-changeable and non-transferable by you. Once you purchase a reservation, your method of payment will be charged for the amount shown - regardless of whether or not the reservation is used. Credit will not be given for any unused reservations and cannot be used toward any future purchases"
Originally Posted By LVCajun I used priceline for my trip starting tommorow I got the Hyatt Regency for $50 a night. We always use it and pay $5 a night for the insurance so if we don't like the choice we can just cancel and lose $5. I have gotten the Hyatt the last three times I used priceline and another friend of mine (who talked me into trying priceline) has always got the Hyatt.
