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Sounds like a tough one! Only suggestions would be to try Expedia and/or Orbitz... when i was researching the breakfast info above i saw a few hotels that were <$50, i wouldn't jump into one of them, but if there's a property you recognize you may be able to get a few reviews on it that may be a better option than the Holiday Inn. I would also consider the 2* from Hotwire (but then again, i'm not that fussy with my hotel rooms). I would prefer a 3* or better hotel for $50-60, but if that wasn't available and my back-up was a Holiday Inn property for $70, i might consider taking a chance w/ Hotwire for half the cost.

We call this a "counter-offer" and you did good to turn it down. I only recommend accepting them when there's little time left and you have no re-bids available. The counter-offers can almost always be undercut. If you'd like to read more about this, you can do so here: Priceline Suggests Price to Pay You can also find out how much Priceline paid for the room by using the taxes shown on your winning bid screen (this helps you know the "right" amount if you bid this zone in the future). If you want to do the calcuation, it's all explained here: Using the Tax Info to Determine Priceline's cost Thanks again for posting, and if you have any questions regarding the above info, feel free to ask.

Welcome to BetterBidding!! we're glad you're here :) THANKS for posting and sharing your results with us.

Good Call!!! I don't know why my brain often stops working when i see the different "select a city screen" as is the case here. The way to check is to only select Alachua from the list and "NEXT". If you do so, as i just did, you'll see there are only 1* and 2* hotels in this area, so it should be safe as a re-bid zone when trying for the 3* level in Gainesville. (double check it on your own) For the record, Expedia and Travelocity use different star rating systems, so that's not the right way to check, you should check by selecting THAT city only and seeing what star levels Priceine shows on the next page. It is explained in detail in this thread: Priceline Re-Bid Explained Which has the following quote: To use as a re-bid you'll need to put a check mark in BOTH boxes and then on the next screen only select 3*. So now you have 2 more bids available (one for you, one for your daughter's account), and know to start at a price greater than $50.

Well, given that your back-up is about $70, i would probably bid $42, and if rejected, try again in 72 hours at $47 (if you're really not too happy with the Holiday Inn, maybe use $45 and then $50 in 72 hours... all depends just how happy/unhappy "he" will be at the Holiday Inn) If you get a reasonable "counter-offer" on any of these bids you may just want to take it since you're cutting it close time-wise and don't have any re-bid options available. Let us know what gameplan you decided to take and how it works out!

The strategy will be different if you only want to spend $x.xx amount via Priceline, or if you'd sooner take the 2* hotel mentioned above at $31, or if you don't want to stay at a 2* hotel at any cost and would spend the extra money to get 3*, etc, etc.

I do not know what the 2* property on Hotwire is, but i would guess that it is a Holiday Inn / Day Inn type of hotel. The 2* offers free breakfast and a pool, so doing a quick search shows possibilities as being La Quinta, Villager, Knights Inn, Cabot Lodge, as well as some others that may not be shown (when i saw that there would be multiple possibilities i didn't continue to narrow them down).

Welcome to BetterBidding and thank you for sharing your winning bid with the rest of us. This hotel is in downtown DENVER, correct? Thanks again!

I would guess that it is indeed somewhat of a "draw" since the rates for this weekend are $149 while the rates for the weekend before and weekend after are $119/$109. I see Hotwire has a 2* for $31 that weekend. What is your alternative if you don't get this hotel thru Priceline (then i'll be able to suggest a strategy)? -not go -stay with friends/family -buy at conventional rates -stay at the 2* (or 3* @$73) via Hotwire You actually have 2 (possibly 3 shots at it, since you can try today, and 72 hours until 6pm the day of check-in)

I'm assuming you stopped after your first $27 bid... or were you rejected up to $40?

Scorp, Well said! Too often we make things MUCH more complicated than they need to be. I think that Re-bidding is the most difficult part of the process, and even that isn't too difficut once you "get it." We can overanalyze any of this until we're blue in the face (and have no more definitive answers than when we started), but what it all boils down to is "how much should my bid be and what should be my next step if rejected."

Your Seattle hotel tax rate is a perfect example of why checking the hotel's website is the best source and less likely to contain errors.(i don't have any answers for you regarding how your Seattle stay was accepted, excpept to say that maybe there are a few properties that actually pay Priceline a booking fee (which Priceline is willing to subsidize your bid with) or something else along those lines). I'm certain the hotels know their competition in the area, which includes knowing their rack rates, discounted rates, Priceline rates, Hotwire rates, etc. and adjust set their own rates accordingly. My understanding is that Priceline bids are rotated among hotels, so in your example, Hotel A is given first crack at accepting a bid in their zone, if the user's bid isn't high enough, then Priceline will check other hotels in the zone. The next user that places a bid (i suspect not counting re-bids by the same user) is attempted to get filled by Hotel B, and if the bid is too low, then it's checked against other hotels in the area. Next user's bid is first checked against Hotel C, and so-on. This is getting off topic from the original post, but i didn't move it as it would have made no sense (from a continuity point of view) if any of these were posts were at the beginning of a thread. So let's end dicussion here, but if you'd like to continue it, then start a new thread in the Questions and Suggestions category.

.... but also prone to errors as hotel tax rates in a given city change (which are harder to keep track of then city tax changes). I will admit that it may be a personal gripe, as the author of that page is not BetterBidding friendly :)

I never understood why the above website makes things so complicated. To find out the tax rate, i find the best source to be the hotel's website, as that will have the most up to date information and not be subject to any errors, updates, or omissions. For the newbies that are reading and want to keep it simple: Bottom Line: Tax Rate= 14% Nitely Tax= $5.21 $5.21 / .14 = $37.21 I understand the potential differences in nightly rates, but there is no way to know this for certain. It is quite possible that hotels charge Priceline rates that are not whole dollar amounts.

Never be embarrassed about posting, it's how we all learn!! I thought i was going to read about some horrific overbid, but nothing so terrible here. This is actually a very interesting post, because it's a second Holiday Inn property in the same zone! Thanks again for posting and realizing the benefits of sharing your info with others.

Thanks for supplying all that info, but we're not that formal here :) This whole process should be fun so we try to keep it a little more "free form". I assume you know about RE-BIDS of which you have two when bidding 3 star in the Miami Downtown area. This is how i would proceed: Miami Downtown 3* bid $27, if rejected add re-bid zone and bid $34, if rejected add re-bid zone and bid $40 If you really want the Hyatt i think you're best shot is with the first $27 bid... the next two bids are more likely to land you the Sheraton (both are fine hotels). If you'd really like the Hyatt, you could stop after your first bid and just try again in a week since you have plenty of time (i'm neither recommending nor discouraging you from doing this, just want you to know your options, if you really had your heart set on the Hyatt). For the time being, until we resolve things on our end, don't worry about using our link. Your desire and willingness to do so is thanks enough!! Let us know how it goes and if you have any questions regarding the above. Congratulations for finalizing your cruise plans.

It seems like the popular cities are filling in quite nicely (we've only been 'live' for 3 months!) , but the less frequent areas will take a little time. With posts such as yours, we'll be there soon!! Thanks again for sharing, contributing, and getting us one step closer to filling out the hotel lists!

Glef, You're correct in your assessment in that only bidding $75 doesn't make you 'eligible' for the other hotels in the area (based upon prior winning accepted bid amounts). However, using your example, simply bidding $95 could easily result in a $20 overbid, with you still receiving the Grand Hyatt. I would handle the above situation by bidding $75 first, and then if rejected, raise my bid to $95 when using a re-bid zone. This way if $75 is rejected, i know there is no availability at that rate and by then bidding $95 it won't result in an over-bid (at least not by as much). If the Hyatt is indeed available, i'd get it with my first bid and not risk 'wasting' $20 with a higher bid. I know you're familiar with re-bidding, but i'll add this link for anyone else that may be reading: Re-bidding for Priceline hotels

Welcome to BetterBidding. A FANTASTIC deal you got there!! Let the bragging begin.. i always say it's hard to keep deals like this to yourself. Thanks for posting and sharing your results with the rest of us, now if March '04 could only get here sooner :)

Welcome to BetterBidding! Nice score! Thanks for sharing your results with the rest of us, and enjoy your stay.

I'd like to point out that i DON"T think the location is a discrepancy. Hotwire (and Priceline) clearly state that you can receive a hotel anywhere in the shaded region which (i assume) this hotel is. I admit sometimes the zone descriptions can be a little "fuzzy", but i don't think that it would be grounds for a partial refund. On the other hand, you could claim that you insist on a fitness center in your hotel for health reasons (and IN the hotel for convenience) and therefore this property was misrepresented. There is a thread on the net bashing Hotwire, and IMO it's ridiculous. It started with a legitimate complaint where Hotwire's system crashed in the middle of a transaction and the user was told the order didn't go thru so s/he resubmitted, and therefore was charged multiple times since the original order did indeed go thru (or something like that). It's then followed by a bunch of replies like: "i gave my credit card number and then they only offered me one flight schedule which i didn't like the time... customer service was no help and they wont' refund my money" "why would anyone give their credit card before they know the hotel" "i received a flight schedule taking 4 hours which should only take 2 hours" Don't any of these people read before buying anything? By the way, there are just as many similar webpages bashing Priceline, of which my favorite is, "i only saved $6 per room, where's the savings?" (to which i want to reply "well genius, why did you bid so much? didn't you do any research and find out prevailing rates in the area before you bid?")

I haven't seen Caesar's come up, so i don't know if you'll be successful in getting it. But to answer in more general terms, i have stayed at hotels with consecutive reservations booked thru multiple sources. I give them all the info at check-in and tell them i'd like the same room. I haven't had a problem yet, although one hotel did make me come downstairs on "switch" day in order to check-out of and then check-in to the same room (i didn't need to move, i just needed to go thru the 'front desk check-in/check-out procedure).

I have never heard of Caesar's participating in either program.

There are a few issues here. First, Priceline's Terms of Service are for non-commercial use only, so i think somebody bidding for you and charging for that would be a violation. I don't know what is involved in becoming a travel agent, but i believe they are licensed and regulated, so there might be some sort of issue with "only doing something in the customer's interest" and then buying a hotel room without knowing which one it is. As a thread here also indicates, mistakes DO happen to all of us, and since getting them corrected is the exception rather than the rule, one mistake could be quite costly. I do know of a service that charges for a bidding advice and strategy, but it's the same info you can get here on your own, so what's the point in paying for it? Depending upon just how much traveling you book, have you thought about hiring a high school (or college if there is one nearby) kid for a few hours a week to do your bidding? I would think that you could find somebody interested to be hired on an "as needed basis" and "flexible schedule" (meaning that they you tell them that you'll need them to come in for 2 hours this week, but they can come in any 2 hours they choose, and sometimes they won't be needed at all)

Thanks for reporting. I bet if you weren't happy with this you could probably "get ot of it" due to the lack of a fitness center, but it sounds like you're happy with the results (and it see the rooms have a refrigerator and microwave). Seems like somebody may have messed up by swapping the fitness center and pool icons when they inputted the amenities into the computer.