Coco

Forgot to mention...of course, used the PRICELINE link! :)

Dates 3/27/2010 - 3/28/2010 for 4* in La Jolla, CA. Started with a $60 bid in Coastal San Diego. Rejected. Rebid $67 adding North County Coastal. Rejected. Rebid $75 adding Del Mar/Santa Fe. Rejected. Rebid $80 adding Mission Valley. Rejected. Rebid $85 adding Point Loma / Shelter Island. Accepted! Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines $85 +18.93 tax & fees = $103.93/1 night :)

I forgot to mention, we bid $90 on my husband's computer for Jersey City, tried 8/17-8/20, rejected, 8/18-8/20, rejected, then 8/18-8/19, rejected. Then we tried to rebid for the original dates (8/17-8/20) for $95 and got locked out for 72 hours. Did we do something wrong? We changed our bid to $95 but it didn't recognize it, still showed our bid as $90.

I would be willing to go to $105; I guess $110 would be my absolute tops! Also, I heard you can take the ferry from the Liberty Science Center in NJ to the Statue of Liberyty and it's less crowded than the NY Ferry. True? Also, do you think it's worthwhile to actually take the trip to the Statute (can we go inside now?) and Ellis Island or just take the Staten Island Ferry and view it? Any idea how long the trip to the Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island would take it we took the first ferry of the day (weekday)? Thanks....

I bid through the link on savingsbarn.com, unfortunately I didn't get any bites on $81 or $85 for any of my dates. I tried to up my bid to $90, but for some reason it said I still needed to change some information to bid again or wait the 72 hours. I'm going to try to bid ($90) on my husband's computer with his email information and credit card and see if we can get some of the dates. We'd love to stay at the Hyatt; I'm a little bit afraid of lowering the rating to 2.5*...I really don't want to stay at the Courtyard. I do have backup reservations at the Embassy Suites (which is now sold out for my dates), but I guess I could try Secaucus (as a last resort) with a 3*. At worst I could get a hotel = to the Embassy Suites at a lesser rate. Do you think I would be better off waiting and trying to rebid for the Hyatt as I get closer to the dates or, in your experience, will the chances diminish as we get closer? Do you think lowering to a 2.5* in Jersey City will increase my chances of getting Hyatt or will it likely just get me the Courtyard? Thanks again everyone for your help; it's been invaluable :) -------------------- [ Add to Buddies ]

WOW! :) Thank you for so many great options!!! I'll be sure to post my eventual trip results...it's so nice to have so many helpful and knowledgeable travel buddies! Thanks again.

Yes, I would be willing to split the bid if you think it would help!

This site is wonderful, but please excuse me, I'm a total newbie. We are a family of (gasp! :) ) 6 traveling to NYC August 17-21. The kids range in age from 8 - 15. Since NYC is very expensive with small hotel rooms we were looking at doing a suite in Secaucus (or Jersey City, which seems easier for public transportation to the city!). We would probably need a suite with 2 double beds and a pull out sofa. (The Embassy Suites runs 170/night) I have never used Priceline or Hotwire before, but if I could score a hotel room at the Hyatt for $70-80/night, maybe a better strategy would be to try to book 2 hotels rooms through Priceline. We are driving up from the DC area so we will have a car to park at the hotel (sometimes parking fees, right?), but we plan to use public transportation to the city and back. Any advice on how to get a great hotel for us? Thank you for your help; it's pretty daunting trying to arrange this whole thing (many hotels have a maximum of 4 people per room). Thanks again for all your travel expertise!! :)