for iPhone
How To Get the Best Hotels at the Cheapest Rates in the Disneyland Area
Everyone’s heard of Priceline.com and their ‘Name Your Own Price’ option. I’ve used it successfully for the past 2 years after hearing about it from a close friend of mine who has been a DL AP for over 20 years. Every time I use it I get either the Marriott Anaheim Suites (and yes you get a 2 room suite) or the Crowne Plaza. There is 1 catch with these 2 hotels – a $12 per day resort fee. The Crowne Plaza automatically charges it to everyone but you get free internet/wifi in your room and a free shuttle to and from Disneyland. The Marriott Suites only charges the fee if you tell them you are parking your car on property. If you stay at the Marriott, you will be charged for internet/wifi access if you use is and you can take the Anaheim Resort Transit to and from Disneyland for a few dollars.
Other hotels that have come up for my friends have been the Doubletree, the Anaheim Marriott, the Anaheim Hilton, and the Sheraton. I haven’t had that happen to me yet so I can’t say what additional fees they might charge.
Now here’s a step-by-step on how to use the Priceline feature so you don’t mess up.
1. Go to Priceline.com. On the main page click ‘Hotel’
2. Scroll down to where it says ‘Name Your Own Price for Hotels’
3. In the ‘City’ bar enter ‘Disneyland’
4. Select your check in and check out dates and how many rooms you want
5. Click ‘Bid Now’
6. It will open a new screen that says ‘Please Help Us With a Little More Information’
7. Under ‘Select a City’ choose ‘Disney Land – Anaheim, California, United States’
8. Click ‘Next’
9. Now you’re at a screen that says ‘Step 1: Choose Where You Want To Stay’
10. Select option 5 ‘Disneyland – Anaheim’. This area is the Good Neighbor Hotel Area of the Disneyland Resort
11. Scroll down and you will see ‘Step 2: Choose the Star Level for your hotel’
12. Select ‘3 ½ Star – Upscale Plus’
13. Now comes ‘Step 3: Name Your Own Price’
14. Here’s the trick. Just enter ‘50’. That’s it – 50 bucks a night is all I ever pay for top notch hotels Disneyland.
15. Now scroll down and enter your First and Last name and click ‘Next’
16. The next screen shows a review of your request. It shows how much you ‘bid’ per night plus the taxes and fees (roughly $13 a day) and a total for your stay. It gives you the option of buying Cancellation Insurance for $5 per night of your stay in case you can’t make it or need to leave during your stay. Keep in mind, once you book a hotel room this way, IT IS NON-REFUNDABLE and the dates can’t be changed. There are some other terms and conditions to review.
17. If you are sure you can make these dates and want to book a room, initial in the box and click ‘Next’
18. The next screen is the billing screen. Enter your billing information as it appears on your credit card statement. Enter and re-enter your email address and then Uncheck the box underneath your email address that says ‘Yes Send me updates’. I recommend this because we all hate spam email.
19. Now enter your credit card info. Don’t worry, the info is safe (we are talking about Priceline and not some hack site). Your card is not charged, authorized, or placed on hold. The only way the card gets charged is if your bid is accepted.
***** Ok now here’s where everybody freaks out. “What if my bid isn’t accepted? I thought you said I could get a room for $50 a night?” I never said you would be guaranteed a room at $50 a night I just said I’ve never paid more than $50 a night. My friend that uses this option about 6 times a year has never paid more than $60 a night and that was in July of 2005 DURING the 50th Anniversary week. Depending on the time of year and what is going on, the acceptable pricing fluctuates a little.*****
20. You DO NOT have to register with Priceline or create an account that is OPTIONAL.
21. Now is the moment of truth. If you click ‘Buy My Hotel Room Now’ and your bid is accepted, your card is immediately charged and your room is booked. It states both HERE and ON THE PAGE – PLEASE REMEMBER, ONCE YOU CLICK “Buy My Hotel Room” YOUR REQUEST CANNOT BE CHANGED, CANCELLED, OR TRANSFERRED AND REFUNDS ARE NOT ALLOWED. Don’t say you weren’t informed in advance.
22. If you click to buy the room, Priceline will take you to a wait screen while it ‘processes’ your request.
23. If your bid is successful, you will see a screen congratulating you on a successful bid and it will have the details of which hotel you will be staying at – Name, etc. Congratulations to you on saving some serious money and getting to stay at a really nice hotel. I hope you enjoy it.
24. If your bid is NOT successful you have 2 options:
a. Option 1 – Wait 24 to 48 hours (I believe it’s only 24 but I haven’t had a bid fail in a while so I’ve forgotten) and use the same email address and credit card to bid again.
b. Option 2 – Use a DIFFERENT email address AND a different credit card and bid again right now.
25. If your bid has failed (and sometimes they do) increase it by $5 a night. So a $50 bid becomes $55.
There you guys go. That’s the best tip I can give on how to save money and get a good room at a good hotel. At the time I wrote this, my last stay was at the Marriott Suites from December 18th to December 21st 2009. I paid $45 a night plus fees. I also included a copy of my receipt for that stay to MW so you guys know I’m not just blowing smoke.
OK Admin. That’s my tip/secret on how I can be an AP living in Phoenix, AZ and make several trips a year to Disneyland affordable. If you want me to re-write anything or if I can give this to you in another format, please let me know. I’m attaching my last trip receipt/itinerary so you can confirm that I really did only pay $45 a night at the Marriott Suites. I am also including a direct link to the receipt on Priceline so you can see I didn’t fake anything either.
https://www.priceline.com/hotels/Lang/en-us/status/accepted.asp?session_key=5C0011AC5D0011AC20100222233325149661023910&plf=pcln
Thanks,
James Mennes aka ‘Jaimz’
| Print article | This entry was posted by MouseWait on March 2, 2010 at 10:17 pm, and is filed under Travel, hotels. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
about 6 months ago
I stayed at The Disneyland Hotel one Tuesday night with my Annual Passholder discount was $159 plus all this tax totaling about $183. They offered me the next night for $129.00 plus tax and stuff. But I had to book it then after I was already there. The trick is to book one night and wait for their offer the next morning in an envelope in front of your door with the newspaper.
about 5 months ago
The best strategy for bidding on a hotel near Disneyland or anywhere, after you enter your dates, is to chart the maximum star-level of each zone. Priceline will never downgrade a requested star-level, but they will upgrade. So, it is important when you re-bid that you DO NOT choose a zone of equal or higher star-level.
To start your research of the area, you start by checking the maximum star-level, you check the first box and note the star-level, then uncheck the box and select the next zone, until you noted all the levels for each zone. For the Disneyland area, it should look like this:
Stars Zones
3 Anaheim Hills
3.5 Buena Park – Cerritos – Cypress
4 Costa Mesa – Irvine
4 Dana Point – San Clemente
3.5 Disneyland – Anaheim
3.5 Disneyland – Orange – Garden Grove
3.5 Fullerton – Brea
3 Laguna Beach
3 Laguna Hills – Mission Viejo
4 Newport – Huntington Beach
3 Seal Beach- North Huntington- Ftn Valley
Since the two Disneyland zones are 3.5-stars, your re-bid zones are:
Anaheim Hills
Laguna Beach
Laguna Hills – Mission Viejo
Seal Beach- North Huntington- Ftn Valley
So, when you start bidding, your plan should be something like this for a 3.5-star hotel:
42 Disneyland – Orange – Garden Grove
44 Anaheim Hills
46 Laguna Beach
48 Laguna Hills – Mission Viejo
50 Seal Beach- North Huntington- Ftn Valley
If you notice, Disneyland – Orange – Garden Grove is the only zone that is 3.5 stars. The other 4 zones are 3 stars. So, I start by bidding $42 on Disneyland – Orange – Garden Grove. If the bid is rejected, then bid again by keeping 3.5 stars and adding Anaheim Hills and upping the bid to $44. You keep bidding until you’ve exhausted all your free re-bid zones. If you want, you could try (2nd round):
42 Disneyland – Anaheim
44 Anaheim Hills
46 Laguna Beach
48 Laguna Hills – Mission Viejo
50 Seal Beach- North Huntington- Ftn Valley
If you’re still unsuccessful, then you can combine both Disneyland areas for the first bid of the 3rd round of bidding, so that it looks like this:
52 Disneyland – Anaheim/Disneyland – Orange – Garden Grove
54 Anaheim Hills
56 Laguna Beach
58 Laguna Hills – Mission Viejo
60 Seal Beach- North Huntington- Ftn Valley
If still unsuccessful, you can re-bid 24 hours later.
This system works for any area in the US and/or the world. Just remember, do not re-bid on an area that has the same or higher star level than the zone you’re targeting because Priceline will upgrade. For example, if you’re bidding on a 3-star hotel in Disneyland area, you do not have a free re-bid zone because they all have 3-star hotels or higher.
about 5 months ago
I just used this method yesterday and got a room at the Holiday Inn for $50 for
next Monday night. I did start my bidding a little lower at $40 for 3 1/2 stars and when it wasn’t accepted I dropped it to 3 stars and increased the price. I am pretty excited considering we usually spend about $200 for a hotel on site and rarely use all of the amenities. We really just need a nice, safe place to sleep.
about 4 months ago
This is fantastic! Thanks Jaimz!
about 4 months ago
Thank u for the info. My girlfriend and I just got two nights at holiday inn for $40 a night! Last time we stayed at this hotel I paid $117 for one night thank u once again
about 3 months ago
Just booked another night for $50 at the Anaheim Hilton – checked their website and the cheapest room available is $232. I am amazed!
about 3 months ago
Beware of chain’s loyalty programs – they won’t allow you to use room rates on web sites such as priceline.com. Instead, if you plan on racking up points, use it if using hotel’s additional services like room service, laundry, movies, etc.
Also, if you have a room type preference or need items like a crib, wait a few hours after booking and call the hotel’s local number and request these items. Make sure you get that person’s name! I always notice that they tend to forget because they see how you’ve booked your room.
about 2 months ago
I have used this 3 times now. Each hotel has been a 31/2 star hotel. We have not paid over $64.00 a night. Thanks for the great tip!
about 2 months ago
Does that only work with a regular 2 adult stay? What if you have kids? Is there anyway to make it so you can choose how many guests? That’s what scares me about the process. What if I do this and then get down there and they charge me more for the kids?