oldporkchops

After multiple tries from $50 to $63 in $3 increments in the French Quarter and Downtown from 4* to 3* using up all the re-bid zones, decided to give the Convention Center-Art District a try. Finally won the Hilton Garden Inn Convention Center for $57. Plan to stay for just a night.

Took full advantage of the numerous re-bid zones for 4* rooms in the Galleria area of Houston and finally got the Intercontinental Houston for $50 a night. Plan to stay from Oct 06 to Oct 10, 2010.

09/21/10 to 09/24/10

Bid all over the place for West Hollywood-Beverly Hills but figured that a 1* in that area would not be as comfy as a 3.5* near the airport, so selected the airport to avoid ridiculously high prices during my dates.

2 rooms at Wilshire Grand Double beds requested successfully.

I've unsuccessfully bid up to $88 for a 3* room in Downtown LA for July 30 to Aug 1. This is way more than half of the $136 market price for a 3* room in that area. I added Santa Monica as a "re-bid zone" since other than Lawndale (the real rebid zone), there's a slim chance of landing a 3* room in the Santa Monica area for my price. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can get a 3* room under $80? I'm assuming that prices will go only up and that there's some event that weekend? Any help would be gratefully appreciated.

3.5* Atlanta (Peachtree Corners-Norcross) Marriott $37 9/12/09-09/13/09 I had to raise my bid by $2 above the nearest bid since it's a Saturday night stay. Thanks for your help! This site has been most helpful!

SingingChef, thanks very much for your comments about catching the fireworks on the 3rd. I thoroughly researched the downtown hotels after reading the horror reviews about parking and nickling and diming and other complaints too. I had not success with any of the 3* hotels in the NMA and Loop areas and was tempted to select Greater Chicago after my two 3* rebid zones had been spent. Our similar dates is a good example of booking early. In the end, I checked out Hotwire after a long debate as I have had two very terrible experiences with Hotwire, but was pleased that the 4.5* brand new InterContinental O'Hare South could be had for $72 a night. The only reason I accepted O'Hare South and decided to go out of NMA and the Loop was that I didn't want to go higher than $76 for 3* or lower than a 3*. After reading all 8 pages and 39 reviews at TripAdvisor, I decided to take the plunge and book it. The total came to just under $250 for 3 nights. The only complaint seems to be the $12.95 daily internet rates. The entire hotel seems to be an art gallery in itself. The exorbitant parking problem appears to have been resolved by looking at Google Maps - there appear to be office lots within walking distance. Thank you all who have contributed to this booking experience in some shape or form. Singingchef, I'd like to thank you personally for sharing your Priceline experience with us. It's a pity Priceline didn't deliver for us this time.

Thanks for your comments on Greater Chicago. I'd like to stay downtown and can up my budget. Can you please suggest a bidding strategy? Thanks!

In a frantic attempt to get rooms in NMA and Loop, I also tried the following: 4* Loop and NMA $73 rejected 4* Loop, NMA, ORD S, Niles, Lincoln $76 rejected 3* Loop $58 rejected 3* Loop, NMA $59 rejected 3* Loop, NMA, Lincoln $60 rejected 3* Loop, NMA, Lincoln, ORD S $65 rejected In an attempt not to be pushed further into really undesirable areas, I tried Greater Chicago with the following: 4* Greater Chicago $60 rejected 3.5* Greater Chicago $65 (was offered $17 rebid offer but declined since the reported Holiday Inn Downtown is definitely not worth $82 a night) Please help! In your opinion, in terms of just room rates (exclude exorbitant parking and other cost concerns in this evaluation), do you think it would be wise to stay 30+ miles and 1 hour drive from downtown for less than $40 or raise my maximum to stay downtown? If the latter, what would be a good price to set the max at? Finally, any pointers on where to catch the big city fireworks on the 4th away from the crowds would be appreciated. We have a 26 mth old who probably won't do well with crowds.

Since it appeared bleak that my 4* bids had any hope of being accepted, I tried the following to no success. 3.5* Loop $58 rejected 3.5* Loop and Lincoln $60 rejected 3.5* Loop, NMA and Lincoln $63 rejected 3.5* Loop, NMA, Lincoln and O'Hare South $65 rejected 3.5* Loop, NMA, Lincoln, O'Hare South and Niles $67 rejected Seems that the reserve for 3.5 rooms in the Loop and NMA are higher than $70. :) Would you recommend Greater Chicago? Why? Why not?

Thanks for giving me a refreseher course on rebid zones. I checked out your tutorial and it sure made a lot of sense. Here's what I've tried: 4* Loop $60 rejected 4* Loop and Lincoln $63 rejected 4* Loop, Lincoln and MDW $67 rejected Defeated by priceline, I decided to wait for the experts here to advise as to a revised bidding strategy. Since you mentioned that Greater Chicago is not usually chosen, I decided to stick to the majority opinion and leave it out of my choices. So that leaves Loop and NMA. Thanks a lot!

Yup, that is about right. I would set a $65 maximum a night. Sure, I'd be glad to post my wins henceforth.

I'm impressed at the kindness and the willingess to help here at this site. Thanks a lot to all who have contributed in some shape or form. I've browsed for a guage of Priceline bids in the past but need more in-depth help this time. My wife and a 2 year old plan to stay in downtown Chicago from 7/3 to 7/6. Our criteria are: - total including tax must be below $200 - no lower than 3.5 star - be in the NMA, Greater Chicago, or Millenium Park areas Do you think it's a reasonable budget? If so, what would your recommended plan of action be? Thanks a million!