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Tommymac

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Everything posted by Tommymac

  1. No strategy, very first bid @ $40 was accepted for 2.5* in Raleigh-Durham (Chapel Hill) zone. Needed room @ last minute (well, last 48 hrs lol). Expected this from seeing previous post from this year in forum. Room prices on hotel web site are $89.99 to $109.95 for this night. Not bad.
  2. Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Winchester Price: $122.35 total for 2 weekend nights (F&S)$53 per night; total recovery fees & taxes 16.35 Amenities listed were Complimentary Breakfast, Fitness Center, Pool, Laundry Facilitys, High Speed Internet Access. Knowing that rates in Wincester for this type/level hotel are usually around $70-$85 before taxes, this seems like a good deal. The location is very nice - lived in Winchester for many years, this is on the West side of the city right near the route 37 bypass so it is only minutes away from downtown, with very easy access to Stephens City. Reviews look good - if there is any thing negative will follow it up. Used the bb.com 'BiddingHelper.com' Tool to locate - pretty cool as I could look at Priceline, Hotwire.com and Hotels.com all in one window.
  3. This looks to be a popular weekend in the University area in Saint Louis. We are going out to see my nephews graduation from Saint Louis University Law school and needed a room for 3 nights. Prices in the Forest Park area seemed extra high across all web sites for these dates, our guess is due to graduation. The standard rate for those dates on the hotel's site is $169.00. We feel very good to get a 4* property in the West side of the Downtown zone - not too far from the University area - at a good rate for the dates. :) Bid History: Plan A Wanted Forest Hills 3* - on a long shot looked to try for the Hotel Indigo (other family already booked there - standard rate for dates was over $200.). Had 3 bid chances at that * level in Forest Park zone - bid $55, $60 and $65 - all failed. But we honestly did not expect a win at these low rates due to the generally high prices this weekend in that zone. And I knew I could get a 3* downtown property for ~$65 guaranteed on Hotwire. Plan B Closed all browser windows then re-opened the browser. Re-opened bidding in downtown zone for 4*. Knew I could accept a property in either the Forest Park or Downtown Saint Louis area so I had 11 bid chances. (Plan C was to bid down to 3.5 - 8 chances to bid at that price.) Started bidding at $60 due to a recent good bid reported on the forum for 4* in early May at $56. Set $85 in my mind as my maximum bid for a 4* room (about $20 more than that guaranteed 3* rate on Hotwire). Here is my Bid History, adding a new zone for each bid: 1) Started in Downtown @ 4* => $60 rejected. 2) Added second 4* zone Forest Park => $63 rejected. 3) added zone => $66 rejected 4) added zone => $69 rejected 5) added zone => $72 rejected 6) added zone => $75 rejected 7) added zone => $76 rejected 8) added zone => $77 rejected 9) added zone => $78 rejected (At this point I was feeling I was going to have to close up the browser again and try for a 3.5* property. But I had 2 bids left - so i bumped the ante up by $2) 10) added zone => $80 rejected (Knew I had one more bid chance left - with no confidence went all in to my maximum for the last bid.) 11) added zone => $85 bid ACCEPTED!! YAY! Was I ever surprised!!! Did not really expect to get a 4* property for under $100/night in this area for this weekend. Here are the details: Room Cost (avg. per room, per night): $85.00 (USD) Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 3 Room Subtotal: $255.00 (USD) Taxes and Fees: $51.72 (USD) Total Room Cost: $306.72 (USD) As always - started my journey by clicking on the PRICELINE Banner here on Better Bidding. Thanks once again for the great information here!
  4. Followed Vintage's final bid price for the same weekend in his topic - Priceline Washington DC stay. We had tried multiple bids earlier this evening for a 4 star near the White House but were unwilling to go over $99; closed the browser/reopened (through betterbidding link of coarse!) and got this one on the very first $69 bid for a 3.5 star in Dupont. This worked out perfectly! This is a one night stay on a Saturday night - we feel got a great deal for a quality hotel in DC on a weekend. As a bonus this is great central location for us - we are arriving in the evening and want to tour the Mall at night; we are visiting the German Embassy on Sunday afternoon, and also want to take in the Zoo on Sunday morning - Thanks Vintage! Ooops - forgot the topic description - can a mod add please? $69 .... 4/24/2010
  5. I am not sure where to post this - it is not really a bid win, but it seemed like a pretty good deal for anyone looking for a full package in the Chicago area over the 4th of July Week. Please feel free to move it to a more appropriate forum if misposted. I thought this post would be of interest to others looking for similiar deals in the Chcago area. This is the first time I ever used PRICELINE for a complete package...and I'm excited! I searched for a place for my wife and I to Vacation this year that would cost us less than $400 a person for up front costs - hotel and transportation. I didn't care where we went & searched many many destinations - we waited until the last minute to plan our Vacation this year - and because of the Gas prices we did not want to do our normal driving tour of a large area of the country we have never been too - this package fits our needs - a hopefully unique hotel in a Metro area with lots of things to do. I had almost given up hope - been searching for weeks now. Got a flight, midsize car and 2.5* hotel (3 or 3.5 in Hotwire - can't tell) for 2 people for a total of $768 including all fees and taxes. This is for an 8 day/7 night stay in the Chicago area. Flying from Pittsburgh. Best I can break it down is: Airfare $100 per seat x2 = $200 (Flights for those dates are going for $120 per seat incl fees on most sites) Car for 8 Days - $17/day x 8 = $136 (This was the total credited back if I removed the car from the package options) Hotel - $44 per night x 7 = $312 w/o fees. Fees & Taxes = $120 Total = $768 IMHO, Not Bad for such a unique looking property, on a Holiday Week. Especially considering this is spanning both Weekday and Weeknd, not to mention holiday, rates. This rate seems in line with HOTWIRE and PRICELINE bids I could find for the property - some are much less, but they are form 1/2007 - not during a holiday period. Recent PL bids and HW offers seem to be in the $35-$50 range. I could have gotten a cheaper hotel package with a 1 or 2 star Exteneded Stay - but would have missed out on the character the Hotel Indigo seems to promise. It may be a second 'Honeymoon" for my wife and I! I'm hoping the hotel lives up to it's promise! (And that I can get Cubs tickets if they are in town!) I used the PRICELINE link here on BB to get to the site. (and HOTWIRE, BetterChecker, hotel checker, flight checker links too; many times over the last 3 weeks in my searching for the best vacation). Thanks again for the wonderful site - I'll be back next year for vacation season, if not sooner!
  6. Thanks Thereuare! Hospitable and helpful as always. I love this site.
  7. This is a new one! I did not see it in the forum list for this area of DC. Needed a room downtown for 2 weekend nights - 9/28 through 9/30 - going to a peace march. Stars and comfort were not so important as price. Did not want to spend more than $75/night for a room. Probably did not use the best strategy here, but felt I could get something under $75 if I was not too concerned with the star levels. Started out with White House-Downtown at $60 for a 2.5 star property. (There was one other downtown zone without 2.5 star, so I figured I had one re-bid zone to work with.) The bid was rejected. Decided to go for a quick hit, and rather than add a zone, I added 2 star properties, and increased my bid to $70. The bid was accepted with an upgrade to this 3* property! 2 bids, a great price, a pretty good star level (better than I was looking for) - I consider this a win as most cheaper hotels in the area are sold out that weekend - and the others are going for $150+/night when booking directly. (I checked). I'll do a review after my stay. Thanks again for this site - (I did use Savings Barn to get to priceline.)
  8. Review posted in Hotel Review section. Very nice property, IMHO.
  9. Got the room for two nights for a $61 bid through Priceline. With taxes and fees came out to about $139. Not bad for the 4th of July Week. The hotel itself is older - but very well maintained. Very clean. The decor was tasteful and attractive. It was true to the historical nature of the hotel - we felt like we were staying in a period movie set. The room was on the small side, but had all amenities except a refrigerator and microwave - as we usually carry our own drinks, the lack of a small fridge was a minor annoyance. The bed was extremely comfortable. Room safe was a nice plus. High quality soaps and lotions were provided. The maid service was excellent. We did not spend much time in the room - so cannot tell about the TV entertainment - we did not watch it at all. A curious touch was that the wakeup calls were not automated recordings - I dropped the phone when answering it and I was totally shocked to hear the staff member ask if everything was allright! We were on the interior of the 6th floor Atrium, the pool level, - it was not noisy at all - the pool area was nicely decorated with live plants so it gave the impression of having a nice outside view. The pool itself was samll, but great to grab a few relaxing moments in - and the fitness room had all the gear one needs. A dry sauna was a great touch. The staff was extremely helpful - one of the Concierge's was not that knowledgable about the area. Maybe he was new. Regardless, he was extremely polite and worked hard to find out the info we needed. We did not eat there - though the Lobby lounge staff gave great service, and mixed good drinks . Minor negative is that the lounge closes at Midnight except on Friday and Saturday when it is open until 1 AM. The Warehouse district is only a few minute walk across the Public Square, but I am not sure how safe it is to walk there that late at night if you want to get a very late nite cocktail. The hotel does not provide any type of shuttle service - we wanted to go down to the Flats to take the Lolly Trolley tour at 9:30 AM - and had to take a cab, as I did not want to drive in an unfamilair city at morning rush hour. Other downtown hotels do provide this service. The cab ride was only $6 with tip, but still... Big negative was the cost of parking. It was $25 a day for Valet parking with In and Out priviledges. There were open Public lots right across the street, but the area was not the safest. We bit the bullet to make sure our car was secure. That brings up another negative. The Public Square is right next to the Hotel, and a lot of vagrants and other less desirable types hang out there at all hours. As long as you stay in front of the Hotel, you are okay - but walk around the corner and you will run into groups of pan handlers and worse at all hours of the day. A plus is that the Tower Mall is connected directly to the Hotel - you can go there without leaving the building. Another plus side of location, the hotel is central to all downtown Cleveland attractions - we walked to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in about 15 minutes. This is a non smoking facility - our understanding is that Ohio has passed a law that prevents smoking in any hotels, bars or restaurants. They do provide a smokers area with a bench in the Parking Garage, that is well lighted and in view of the 24 Hour parking attendent, so it is secure. Overall I would say that this hotel deserves the 4* Priceline gives it.
  10. Used SavingsBarn.com link to get to Priceline. Started Bidding 4* Downtown at $50. Rejected. Added Airport Area (No 4* there) - $55 Rejected. Added Cleveland East (No 4* there), upped bid to $60 based on earlier posts here. Rejected. Added Elvyria (?)- (No 4* there) - since there were so many zones here without 4*, I got stubborn and decided to go up by 1$ increments. Bid accepted at $61. Go figure. :) Anyway, thanks for the site - looks like a decent property to spend a few days at - great price for 4th of July week too - wife and I want to go the the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. BTW - noticed that Cleveland Heights now has a 4* choice available - anyone happen to get it yet?
  11. Used Savings Barn link to HOTWIRE. Amenities: Restaurant Pool Fitness Center High-speed Internet Access Business Center Normally I use Priceline but this was a special case for me. I Tried Priceline 3* + - rejected for up to $50. Did not want to go higher as I had about $80 in Hotwire Bucks and knew I could use them to keep my real rate low. With my Hotwire bucks the actual cost came out to about $42 a night. (We also have a NEA union discount available that would have gotten us a room in the Chapel Hill Hampton for $54. But the Sheraton is nicer!) Going to see the BBall Tarheels whomp up on Dayton! :) Thanks for the site and a Safe and Happy Holiday Season to all!
  12. I needed to get a room for two nights next week in Batavia, NY. I tried Priceline - no luck on getting any deals. There were two star ratings in town - started at $35 for two star; rejected. Went up to 40$ for one and two star - rejected. Waited 24 hours and tried again - two stars - $43, rejected, one and two stars - $45 - rejected. I did not want to go higher - as most hotels were also listed at $52 in the choose your own area. Looked around on the web at Hotwire, Orbitz, and Cheap Tickets - could find nothing less than $50. Then I went to Travelocity"]Travelocity, a site I had never used. They had a room at the AAA rated 2* Days Inn for $46.60. Cool! Snaped it up. Now I know this is not a big savings from $50, but hey, that $8 will help pay for the gas used on the trip. Main point is Travelocity"]Travelocity rates (for the same hotels on the other big sites) seem to run about 5-8% less. Over time that will save a lot when travelling to smaller cities where Priceline and hotwire are not so effective. Thanks Travelocity"]Travelocity... ...and thanks BetterBidding! I used the links from the support page here to connect to Travelocity"]Travelocity and the othe sites while checking. :)
  13. One night/2 room stay 6/3/2006 to 6/4/2006 (Saturday Night). Strategy: 1) Started bid at 3.0* level at $45. 2) Got a PL counter offer to add $12. 3) I Did Not accept counter. 4) Added 2.5* level and re-bid $52. Was accepted with an upgrade to 3* Marriot. Details: Your Offer Price: $52.00 Number of Rooms: 2 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $104.00 ($52.00 per room) Taxes & Service Fees: $20.14 Total Charges: $124.14 I Used savingsbarn link to start bidding. Thanks for the site! :)
  14. Hi all. I was wondering if anyone had any info on motels/hotels in south Florida that may be open - or where I could search for one - my sister and her husband are trying to get one close to Broward area as possible that has power after Hurricane Wilma. They are currently staying in St Augustine - evacuted two days ago as their home was in Coral Springs, right in the path of the storm and they cannot get back to it because of the damage in the area - they would like to move closer to the impacted area - his elderly parents are still in the damaged area without power and they want to be able to be closer to be able to assist them. They have a pet. Any assistance or advice on where to search for a hotel would be greatly appreciated. They can stay in St Aug as long as needed but just want to be as close to his parents as possible. Thanks and have a great day!
  15. PL rating is 2*. Sorry to be unclear ... It was 2.5* in Hotwire by my initial deduction and another post here in HW forum. ... BTW, thanks for all your help. You went above and beyond. I have booked my entire vacation from tips here; used savings barn for all purchases except one;and I used the Hotel Checker link on this board to do that one. The Expedia link provided had the best rates for our stay near Mammoth Cave Ky. Neither PL nor HW could match it. We don't travel much right now, except for Summer vacation; so I may not use this board again for a while. But I will be sure and post reviews of the properties we booked here after our vacation. We'll be sure to buy our 2006 Entertainment Book from your site! And I'll be back next summer for sure if not sooner! :)
  16. One night stay 7/30 to 7/31. Started bid at 2.5* level - hoping to get Ramada Plaza. Bid $45 - got a PL counter offer to add $12. Didn't accept. Added Nitro zone and bid $52. Was accepted with an upgrade to 3* Marriot. Not bad! Your Offer Price: $52.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $52.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $12.91 Total Charges: $64.91 Used savingsbarn link to start bidding.
  17. (Opened all bids through savingsbarn.com site) Started at 4* initially. Bid - $45 rejected. Added zone1 and Bid - $50 rejected. Added zone2 and Bid - $50 rejected. Added zone3and Bid - $65 rejected. Could have added more zones and increased bid but this was my budget limit. Closed Browser. Choose 3* Downtown area. Bid $38 rejected. Added zone 1 and Bid - $40 rejected. Added zone2 and Bid - $45 rejected. No more 3* re-bid zones. Could have done some multiple zone bidding, but I did not want to bid more for 3* anyway. Closed browser. Per instructions in this thread: http://www.betterbidding.com/index.php?act...&f=129&t=15864& Used this strategy for 2.5*: Select 2.5* Downtown... Bid $30, if rejected add re-bid zone1... Bid $35, if rejected close browser and re-access priceline however you did previously. Select 2.5* Downtown and re-bid zone2.... Bid $40, if rejected add re-bid zone1... Bid $45. Unsuccesful. Closed browser. Opened new browser and did one bid for 2* Downtown zone only at $35. Successful. Got The Terrace. :) Not overly happy about hotel, as this one has some spotty reviews on the internet. However it meets our location and price requirements. But I believe Hotwire has this one for $45, so I did save there. (Hotwire has it as a 2.5*) I'll do a review after vacation. Your Offer Price: $35.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $35.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $12.56 Total Charges: $47.56 Thanks for all the asistance anyway! You all rock!
  18. No luck at 2.5* rejected up to $45 using above strategy. I did however did get the 2* Terrace at $35 - $10 cheaper than Hotwire. Not extremely happy due to negative reviews on the net, but I guess it is only one night. I'll post bidding history in a separate thread. Thanks for your time and help! Much appreciated!
  19. Started out for 2.5*. Refused at $35. Tried adding free bid zone (Metropolis Il) - rejected at $40. Closed browser. Started again for 2* Paducah only. Initial bid at $32. PL counteroffered to increase bid $8 to get room. I took it. Could have tried adding Metropolis Il zone, but that is 12 miles away - the convenience was worth a few dollars - $40 was within my anticipated range anyway. Could have booked through Expedia for $50 - not a huge savings but $10 is $10. Hotel seems nice...lots of little perks....especially the free breakfast...I'll review after vacation. Baymont Inn Paducah Web Page BTW, How do I add this one to the KY PL list? Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $40.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $12.33 Total Charges: $52.33
  20. Yes - once - yesterday! See my 1st post in Missouri/ St Loius yesterday. Got a great price for a 2 night stay using the new member coupon code and e-book coupon - this board helped me do it! I have been doing lots of research over the last few weeks. We are taking a road trip from Pitsburgh, through WV and Kentucky, to St Loius, and back to Pittsburgh via Cincinnati. So I have been researching cities all all along the route.
  21. Sorry. I guess we are looking for a cheapest price strategy - stars not really an issue, (except I want to get the most bang for my buck. :) ) I guess we got caught by the unusually high prices for this week - when I researched it for planning our trips' budget last week it seemed that we should have been able to get a 3* room for around $40 as most "PL hint type" web sites I found had indicated that price range. (I like this one the best, btw.) I know $25 does not seem like much to bid up to get above $65 to get a 3* or 4* - but I am stubborn and would rather have that $25 to spend on a nice meal. The star rating is not as important as the price - it will only be a one night stay. Convenience to the ball field downtown is paramount; a short walk or short cab ride away. Holiday Inns, Days Inns type hotels would work as long as they were fairly clean - we will not be spending much time at the hotel; mainly just to rest. I just don't know where to start the bidding in the case of 2*, and I don't see how a rebid strategy works as all zones have 2* properties. Maybe 2.5* would be better as there are 2 zones without 2.5* properties, none without 2* properties. So to be clear: - I am asking for a Best price strategy starting at 2.5* (Reason: Past results; I have exhausted my 3* attempts; can still do 4 rebids for 4* over $65 ) -Bid limit $45 (Reason: Hotwire has a 2.5 star for this rate - but as the reviews on the probable property(The Terrace) seem shaky it will be our choice of last resort only if we cannot find something cheaper on PL.) -Date 8/4 -8/5: is not flexible. -Zone Downtown Riverfront: not flexible -Stars: ARE flexible; possibly all the way down to one if the price is very low and location is right.
  22. I agree --- the 2* is out of line IMHO. What type hotels are usually in 2* class - would that be Holiday Inns, Days Inns and such? Or would a Hampton Inn or Extended stay be a better example? Our needs are simple - we would like to stay at the better hotels - but for one night we can be flexible. We will not be arriving until mid-afternoon; we had hoped not to have to waste time commuting in to see the game; wanted to spend a few hours seeing downtown Cincy, eating dinner at a nice restaurant near the park, etc. It is more important to my wife to stay in the downtown area and be able to walk to the ballpark ... she enjoys that. I would take a 2* in the downtown area - if I could get it under $45 - do you think that is reasonable? Is there a good strategy for that? 2 questions on that - no 2* are listed here for the downtown Cincy zone - but Priceline says there are 2* there - at least they have the option listed. Looks more difficult as most zones in Cincy have 2* so rebidding would be harder. Also, I would welcome 3* strategies...any suggestions would be welcome. $65 is pretty much the top side of the room budget we set for this part of the trip ...would like to save as much as possible. Sorry for the wordy post - have a lot of questions as we are new to this. Thanks for your reply, this is a great site - and of coarse I am using the recommended savingsbarn link for doing this!. :)
  23. Looking for help on a winning bid for Downtown Cincinnati for one night/2 people 8/4 to 8/5. Prefer a 3* due to price - would like to keep it under $50 + taxes, but will go up to $65/68 for 4* as a last resort. Tried to bid for a 4 star starting at $45 - went up to $65 - no takers. Used 3 bids. I then closed the browser window, started again for a 3 * Downtown at $35. No luck. 3 more bids - 38, 40 and 45 - no luck. Cannot add anymore zones as there were only 3 zones with 2.5* or less. I cannot go back now and bid for the 4 star without the 3 star and different zones without waiting 3 days, or can I? I have seen several winning bids here - none more than $43 - what did I do wrong? Now I have to wait 3 days. Date cannot change - have tickets to a game that night; and we really want to stay downtown as we have never been to Cincy before and probably won't be there again for a long time. Any suggestions for another area that is close and convenient to downtown and has a reliable cab service available - the game will be over late - we don't really want to deal with traffic to drive in - would be welcome. Hotwire has these two available - Downtown Riverfront - Selected amenities include: Complimentary Breakfast, Fitness Center, High-Speed Internet Access, Tennis Nearby, Business Center. 2.5* @ 45. (This seems to be the Terrace - not good reviews.) Downtown Riverfront Selected amenities include: Restaurant(s), Pool(s), Fitness Center, Laundry Facilities (self-service). 2* @ $66. Seems high for the star rating - cannot identify. Thanks for any help.
  24. Hi all. First time on the site, first time using Hotwire or Priceline. Took this one because I also got $10 off per night for the Hotwire New User discount (GIFTCARD06), and I also have an Entertainment Book coupon - total for two nights is $84 after coupon savings!!!! I found out about both discounts here!!! Much appreciated. :) (I also logged in through savingsbarn ...hope that helps.) I did not try Priceline - well, I did, but got nothing for a 4* bid in the Downtown area for under $50 - since I had a good suspicion I would get the Radisson on Hotwire from reading here, and my wife liked the location - possible view of the arch - no sense in trying a 3* there since they had several 3*'s and we may not have gotten the Radisson... + it would have had to be under $38 to be comparable. This Hotel features the following amenities: Restaurant(s), Pool(s), Fitness Center On Edit: The 4* Sheraton listed in the post a few below this one was probably still there... but it was $64 now. My wife didn't like the location so we went for this one. There was also a 4.5* listed for $140...and a 2.5* listed for $37... could not figure out what they were.
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