Used Priceline - Got a 3.5 star hotel for $45/night

I just used priceline and got the Crowne Plaza – Irivine for $45. Another $13 in taxes and fees and I might have to pay for parking.. but a decent deal.

There are Priceline tricks to bidding and you don’t know the exact hotel until your bid is accepted, but I was sure that I’d get a hotel in the “Irvine” zone, and nothing lower than a 3.5 star when I was bidding. You might be able to get a 2* for $30 or so, but the bidding is trickier.

Lemme know if you want detailed bidding tips, but here’s what I basically did: First go to Priceline, put in the dates etc and select “Name Your Own Price.” Then check to see what “star” levels are available for the different bidding zones by clicking each zone INDIVIDUALLY (step 1) and noting what star levels are available (look in the step 2 area) – e.g. Anaheim Hills only has up to 3 stars, Dana Point has up to 4 stars, Laguna Beach up to 2 1/2 stars etc etc.

Then bid on the area you want, UC-Irvine is in the “Costa Mesa – Irvine” zone so I started there. I started my bidding for 3.5-star at $35. It was rejected, so I had to “modify” my search in order to bid again. I added the “Anaheim Hills” zone, kept the hotel star level at 3.5-star. Since I already knew that Anaheim Hills only went up to a 3-star hotel I knew I wouldn’t get a hotel there, but it allowed me to up my bid to $38…. I kept doing these “free rebids” until I got up to $45 and my bid was finally accepted.

There are a couple of websites where people post their winning bids, so you can get a sense of what hotels are going for:
http://biddingfortravel.yuku.com/forums/15/t/California-Disneyland-Orang…
http://www.betterbidding.com/index.php?showforum=430&

So, it is sort of a drag that you cannot pick the exact hotel, but at least you can ensure that your hotel will be within a specified zone and a particular star level…

Looking forward to meeting everyone. Thanks organizers and sponsors!!!

-mona