mlaurence

This looks like a nice Price.line deal. I started bidding for 4 star properties, looking for either of the two downtown areas at a maximum of $100. I knew that wasn't likely, and it didn't happen. Then I relaxed to a 3.5 star rating with my maximum of $90, starting at $65 and bidding in $5 increments through the 4 rebid zones that don't have 3.5 star hotels. Finally on my 13th try, I got this nice looking and well reviewed hotel for $90. Total with taxes and fees is $640.80. At hotels.com the same reservation would cost $1102. I used the betterbidding.com PRICELINE links. Thanks for all your help over the years, I've found many great bargains like this! :)

It took a while but I think I extracted just about the best price I could for a 3.5 star hotel that's not at the airport or in the distant suburbs. Philly has quite a few rebid zones including several with only 1 star properties. I identified 3 zones where I'd like to stay and 5 rebid zones that lacked a 3.5 star or higher hotel. Started at $55 in Convention Center, and rebid at $5 increases to $80 with no luck. Started at $60 in Rittenhouse Square, and rebid to $85, again no luck. My third choice was City Line, somewhat suburban but only 15 minutes by SEPTA bus. Started at $55 and finally won at $75 after 4 rebids. Total including taxes and fees for 3 nights: $268.71. On the Crowne Plaza website, the best deal was a 7 day advance non-refundable rate which totaled $512.82. So PRICELINE is just about half price. The rooms look nice and TripAdvisor has good reviews. I used the Better Bidding PRICELINE links to bid, but oddly enough if you search for "Philadelphia, PA" you end up looking for rooms in "Factoryville, PA." You have to type Philadelphia without the state to get where you want to! Weird.

Actually it was the PRICELINE link, but thanks for responding. :)

I wanted to stay in the Dorval area for lower prices and free parking. Opened bidding at $60 for 3.5 stars, raised to $68 rebidding through Downtown and Convention Center. Lowered rating to 3 stars and bid $55 for Dorval, raised to $59 rebidding through Downtown, and won at $63 rebidding through Convention Center. Total for 4 nights including taxes and fees is $309.04. Reserving online through hotel website would be $772. Looks like a nice property with free wifi, pool, room service, and yes, free parking. Thanks always to betterbidding for the tools and tips to get deals like this. I used the PRICELINE links to submit all bids.

I was targeting this property for a late summer weekend. I know this area is not good for bargain-hunting because I stay here every year. Red Roof had a decent non-refundable advance purchase rate of $82 so I didn't try any elaborate strategy on Priceline. Using the betterbidding form I submitted a bid of $60 for 2.5 stars with no success, then $64 for 2 stars which scored the hotel I was looking for. With taxes and fees I saved $30 for my two night stay over Red Roof's lowest rate. Maybe I could have done a little better but this is another satisfying betterbidding PRICELINE win.

I was unable to get any inexpensive hotels in NYC (less than $120) so I went to the suburbs. Saw that $55 was often accepted in Stamford, so I bid $53 for a 3.5 star, was rejected, and went to $55 on a 3 star for the win. Total including taxes and fees is $70.88. Taxes and fees are a lot lower in the suburbs also! A one hour train trip should be worth it. I used the betterbidding PRICELINE links...thank you!

I topped out at $95 for 4 stars, and $78 for 3.5 stars. Looking for Downtown or Convention Center, which gave me a lot of rebid zones for those areas, but none for 3 stars. I placed a $65 bid at 3 stars for Downtown, failed, upped to $70 including Convention Center, and won this nice-looking property. Excellent location - 2 blocks from St. Catherine & Peel, hotel offers free breakfast buffet, free wifi, and kitchenettes. Add Priceline taxes and fees for a 4 night total of US$340.60. Reserving at the hotel website would cost US$738. I'm very happy...and yes, I used the betterbidding PRICELINE links. :)

This commercial will catch everyone's attention, but I think it's totally the wrong kind of attention. It's just like Netflix's boneheaded idea to drop DVDs, for which they saw their stock plummet, their users get angry, and even though they took it back, they're still paying a heavy price. Priceline IS name your own price. They're not hotels.com, Expedia, Orbitz or HOTWIRE. It's fine if they want to offer a side-by-side reservation service, but when they laugh and laugh about blowing up their iconic image, it's clear they don't understand what makes them unique. Stupid move.

I used Better Bidding's PRICELINE link to bid. I was looking for French Quarter or the Downtown area. For 4 star hotels there are a lot of rebid zones. Started at $50 in the French Quarter, and went to 55, 57, and 59 through rebid zones. No luck. Restarted at $50 Downtown, then added French Quarter at $52. Went through 54, 56, 58, then won at $60 in rebid zones. Nice price! Priceline's taxes and fees bring the 3 day total to $217.23. On the Renaissance website it would be $542.01. Thanks again to Better Bidding.

I wanted a deal on a one-night stay before a morning flight from SFO. Also, I had $10 in bonus cash, which I'm including as part of all bids in this message. Started bidding on 4* at $80 up to $105 in the SFO region. Then I tried 3.5* from $80 to $114. For 3* I opened at $60 and won. I don't know if that means I could have done much better, but I doubt it. The Priceline total was $76.64 including $16.64 taxes and fees, and the Holiday Inn website charges $142.35 total price. I used the betterbidding.com PRICELINE link. Thanks!

I started at $75 for a 4* in Union Square West. 29 bids later, I ended up here. I bid up to $106 at the 4* level, then from $80-$107 at the 3.5 star level. At the 3* level I bid from $70 to $88, always including Fisherman's Wharf because I liked the selection of 3* chain hotels there. So I'm happy I ended up where I did. Taxes and fees of $50.46 brought the 3 night total to $314.46. Compare to a booking on the Holiday Inn website which would total $468. And yes, I used the betterbidding.com PRICELINE link. :) Thanks!

I started at $70 Downtown, went to $75 adding Convention Ctr, $77 adding Laval (no 4* properties), and won at $80 adding Longueuil (no 4* properties). That was as high as I was going to go...how do they know? :) Nice savings from their $125 "best available rate". With tax and fees it totals $387.16US for 4 nights. I like this hotel a lot and I love the location, so this is a nice win. Thanks, and yes, I used the betterbidding.com PRICELINE links.

You're right, the Hyatt is more annoying than I originally thought. I guess it depends on how annoyed you will be if you get a good price for your hotel room. :) From the Hyatt, it's a two transfer ride to the Convention Center. During the weekdays, it's only a one block walk to the "limited stops" bus CT2. That's definitely comparable to a Copley Square hotel. During the evenings and weekends you'd have to walk a little farther to the 47 bus (1/3 mile) or the Green Line B (2/3 mile). It's a safe neighborhood but I can understand if you are hesitant to take the bus in an unfamiliar city. If you do end up taking that route, check out the MBTA smartphone apps that use GPS to tell you exactly when the next bus is arriving near you.

You're right that Cambridge is a more spread-out area than others, but I looked up the Priceline hotels in the zone, and in my opinion only one would be significantly more annoying to access via the MBTA than the Copley Square zone that was chosen by the OP. That's the Doubletree which would require a moderate walk across the river to the Green Line, or a bus to the Red Line. The others are all within a few blocks of the T. The Meridian, Sonesta, Marriott, and Residence/Cambridge are all on the Red Line, thus easier to reach for a Convention Center trip. The Marlowe, Holiday Inn Express, Courtyard, and Hyatt Regency are on the Green Line, offering a similar 2 transfer ride as Copley. The Residence/Boston Harbor is also a little tricky but within walking distance of 3 subway lines so it's also fairly convenient. So, if saving money is a top priority and opening another zone in Priceline would help, I'd still recommend including Cambridge in the bidding.

Hi, I'm from Boston and offer a little transit advice. You would be taking the Silver Line to the Convention Center, which connects to the Red Line at South Station. So you would probably have an easier trip if you stayed in Cambridge or even North Cambridge because they are on the Red Line, than if you stayed in the Back Bay (aka Copley Square) which requires a second transfer to get to South Station. What Priceline calls "South Boston" is also a low priced possibility even though it looks like this neighborhood is not what Bostonians call South Boston, but actually Dorchester. There are a couple of lower priced hotels in this neighborhood and they offer shuttle service to the Red Line, where again you'd have an easy connection to the Silver Line and the Convention Center. But it's not a touristy part of town.

After checking many sites, the lowest price I found on an economy car was $30 through HOTWIRE. Lowest at a brand website was $35 at Enterprise at a city location. There were some specials on minivans and small SUVs but I didn't want to buy all the gas for them. I tried PRICELINE bidding for the first time for a car rental, with no idea what to expect for taxes and fees. They "strongly suggested" that my $11 opening bid was too low, saying $14 was good and $15 was better. So I upped it to $13 and was quoted a bottom line of $24.46. They made me wait a very long time but eventually it went through, with Hertz. Nice price from my favorite company. Maybe I'll try PRICELINE car rental bidding again! As always, I used the Better Bidding PRICELINE link. Thanks!

I found a $50 offer accepted on Better Bidding on the first bid, so I started at $45 for a 3* property and was rejected. Then I added Central Palm Beach (which has no 3* or above listings) and raised the bid to $50 for the win. I used the Better Bidding PRICELINE link to bid. I'm not sure how you figure this in but Priceline was also crediting me with $10/day bonus cash, so my actual winning bid was $40 + the $10/day bonus. Total including taxes and fees for 4 nights is $193.80. I'm glad to see that I got a similar price to the other user when I used the bonus cash - they didn't just jack up the price to cover the bonus. I always enjoy looking up the hotel website to see what they'd charge for a similar reservation - in this case even with a AAA discount they were asking $611. Thanks for the help from Better Bidding forums!

I used the Better Bidding link to search and buy from PRICELINE. I started bidding at $80 for a 4 star, then $70 for a 3.5 star, and won at $60 for a 3 star hotel. Based on other posts, this is a good current price for a room at this hotel. The two day total from PRICELINE is $148.74 including taxes and fees. On the hotel website it would go for an eye-popping total of $292.

Based on a previous stay, Comfort Inn in Long Island City was my target for an inexpensive 2 nights in New York. It's one subway stop away from Central Park South, and offers free internet and breakfast. I started bidding at $75 for LIC, went to $78 LIC and TS, then increased by $2 combining LIC, CPS, and TS. I kept LIC in every bid so I know $85 or $86 is the minimum acceptable bid for that zone at this time. It's a moderate savings over the non-refundable rate of $105 at the hotel website, so I'm happy. BTW I used the BetterBidding PRICELINE links to search and buy.

I used the PRICELINE search box to bid. By the way, this is a convenient way to close and reopen the Priceline site for multiple zone re-bids. I started with an $88 bid for a 2.5 star in Long Island City, and a $120 bid for a 4 star in Times Square. Both rejected. Expanded the 4 star bid to ESB, also rejected. Then I bid repeatedly for 2.5 stars and above. Tried $90 in LIC/TS, $92 in ESB/TS, $94 in LIC/ESB, and $95 in MSG/LIC. That's the winner, and I'm happy with the location and the price. On their website they are asking $135 for the room.

I used the Better Bidding PRICELINE search box to start my bidding. I started at $38 and bid for a 3* property, raising it by $1-$2 increments using "safe" zones with no 3* hotels. Priceline kept urging me to rebid at the same star level with a $10 increase, but this would have been a waste even on the lowest bid. I was rejected at $43 then succeeded at $45 for the Inn at Nichols Village. Their website invites me to pay $139 per night plus tax for the same reservation. Total Priceline price for 2 nights including taxes and fees is $107.76. That's 9 cents less than the exact same winning bid 2 years ago!

I tried shooting for a 4 star hotel in Manhattan but my budget ended at $115 and I was unsuccessful: Bid $100 ESB, $105 ESB & Chelsea, $110 adding MSG, $115 adding MTE. Then I tried $90 in Long Island City for a 3*, and time being short, upped it to $100 for a 2.5 star. This succeeded. A small bargain: the Comfort Inn is listing itself for $126, but it's something on the weekend on short notice. If I had more time to play around, perhaps I could have done a little better. I used the Better Bidding PRICELINE search box to start the bidding. Thank you.

I made numerous bids for 4* and 3.5* properties in MSG, MTE, MTW, Times Sq., and CPS, with $120 as the upper budget limit. Finally I dropped down to 3* and succeeded with this - OK for a busy summer weekend. I'm hoping the Jolly's promotion from 2.5 to 3 stars is deserved. Total taxes and fees: $54.98 for a 2 night total of $294.98. Transaction date was 7/3/10.

I bid through the Better Bidding PRICELINE link. Never expected this price in late June, but I got it on the first bid. Total price including tax & fees: $65.

Won this on my first bid. I kinda hate when that happens, but with Priceline's own website offering this at $119, it still looks like a good deal. Taxes & fees of $13.58 made the 1 night total $54.58. I used the betterbidding.com PRICELINE link.