rumpak

Got it! I'll need only one night 12/17 to 12/18, 2011. Maximum bid: $350.00

Hello... I plan on bidding for a NY 5* Hotel through Priceline. Here's my question: According to Priceline bidding map, 5* hotels located only in Times Square - Theater District (TSTD); however, looking at the 5* hotels listed on Priceline (their regular "list view"), only one hotel (The Setai 5th Ave) that is located in the TSTD. Is this mean this is the only hotel available for bid in the 5* category? What is the bid range for 5* hotel? Should I use the price listed by Priceline as reference? Thanks in advance for any helps.

Thanks!

Just got back! You're right; me and my wife love the hotel. We love everything about it! One thing that we wonder after this NY trip... and I guess this question will be directed to administrators or members who are familiar with NYC hotels. Are those NYC fancy hotels (such as The Plaza, Mandarin Oriental, Pierre, etc.) ever put for bid on Priceline or listed on Hotwire their rooms? Thanks!

I started fresh with Chelsea at $120... failed add Upper East Side at $130... failed add Queensborough Bridge at $140... failed add MSG - Convention Area at $145... failed add Long Island City at $149... won Hilton New York Fashion District property at Chelsea Feeling a bit better today after contacting the hotel Guest Service Manager and share my devastating experience with Priceline. She said she understood my devastation and would courteously gave me a King Bed High Floor overlooking the city to make me feel better. At least I know the hotel offered a good customer service and just found out that it's a brand new property opened on April 2010.

Keeping my focus on Times Square/Theatre District and Midtown West areas, but got frustrated bidding all the way up to $200/night and never win. Adding other areas excluding Downtown/SoHo/Financial District and Empire State Building Area and "surprisingly" won this property. Thought that a good deal, NOT! Found out that the property is actually on sale at $186/night on a lot of travel websites (ironically... including Priceline!!!) Tried to find out what would be the final cost after all the tax and fee... I was shocked that Priceline actually waived all the extras which made the net total to $746 That is just $25 different than the total I paid on my bid!!! Granted... the figure $149/night may sounded so low; BUT... add the tax and fee and I ended up paying a total of $721.16!!! WOW... just 3% of savings, people! So much for bragging the "up to 60% saving!" Now... I have to suffer wandering what type of room Hilton would provide me while I could actually paid the same amount and got a guaranteed King Bed Room on High Floor with New York City View. Sadness....

Thanks for the inputs; went to bid on Priceline instead and won a 4* property in Chelsea (will post on Priceline forum)

Hello... could someone please help me on identifying the property as describe below? Dates of stay: Fri, 11/25 to Tue, 11/29, 2011 Room Rate: $214/night (price drop from $349/night according to Hotwire) Amenities: Fitness Center, Restaurant(s), Business Center and High-Speed Internet Access Hotel is located 0.2 - 1.0 from city center and is recommended in 80% of Hotwire customer reviews. Many Thanks!

I'm sorry about your disappointment as well, but I really think you should've done your homework first rather than depending fully on this forum. I always go to Priceline directly to check the list of the hotels, and the property you won is in Bellevue 3.5* hotel list. Beside the forum also has warned us first about their hotel list. Check out this quote written by "theruare" on the very fist paragraph of the hotel list post: "This list is NOT a complete list of all hotels that Priceline offers in this area, it is ONLY a compilation of hotels that have already been reported on this forum. Hotels are added/removed by Priceline all the time, and star ratings can change at ANY time. As well, the geographic boundaries of an area are subject to change, so it is always a good idea to look at the Priceline map before purchasing."

I have a strong feeling it is because of the pool. I just won a Priceline bid at Crowne Plaza, and they don't have a pool.

Thanks and thanks for creating this forum. It helps a lot. Yup, that's exactly what I did :) Oh... by the way, I noticed I made a mistake on my very last part of my previous post. It's actually $94 per-night (a total of $100 with the $6 cash reward), not $98. So, the total charge on my card is 336.90 ($282 plus $54.90 taxes and fees) Sorry.... :)

Finally!!! I won a Priceline bid for my 9/30 - 10/3, 2011 Seattle trip. Received a $6 per-day limited time (24 hours) cash reward from Priceline, and used it right away. Used Hotwire pricing (same date on "downton - pike place" area) as my ceiling: 4* ($125), 3 1/2* ($112) and 3* ($84). Started bidding for a 4* hotel up to $119 ($125 with the cash reward) using 11 different areas, but no luck. Next, I bid for a 3* hotel up to $77 ($84 with the cash reward) using 3 different areas. Still... no luck. Last, I bid for a 3 1/2* hotel. Started at $79 ($85 with the cash reward), I won "Crowne Plaza Seattle Downtown" on my 7th and last trial at $94 ($100 with the cash reward). Phew... that was really... really close! Check the best available rate directly at hotel's website, Kayak and AAA Travel site, it's $170 per-night for my dates. So, it's a 45% savings. I called the hotel about parking and internet; they said it's $32 plus tax which will come up to $39 per-night (vallet parking) and $12.95 (tax included) per-night for in-room internet access. Read reviews on TripAdvisor and Yelp, some mentioned about cheaper parking garage about a block away and free street parking on Saturday from 6 PM and all day on Sunday. So, I have to do another homework on that. Cancelled my Best Western Pioneer back-up, and weight some pros and cons. To me they all even out. I could probably avoid the high valet parking rate after I do my homework research on parking as I said before. I may loss my free internet and complimentary breakfast at Best Western, but it evens out by better pricing and better downtown location. Beside, according to some of reviews, they have free internet/wifi access in the business center and lobby. So, this should be okay along with 3G should I need internet in the room. Also, some reviews says that sometime they upgraded its "Priority Club" members to receive complimentary breakfast. My wife and I are members; so, I hope we could get this upgrade as well. If this really happen, Best Western would definitely be outdueled. And I'd be very... very happy. But hey! 45% savings at $98 per night makes me happy already :)

True if they don't have all those extra fees. Did my homework already on this matter. On average, these 4* hotels charge $40-plus for parking and $10-plus for internet inside your room. Those two add up the pre tax/fees charge to $175-plus already, and no complimentary breakfast. Not to mention the s***ty treatment they tend to give after knowing you booked through Priceline (oh yeah... I got a lot of these from my previous stays). But again, this is a matter of personal preference as you said before. Okay... I'll keep on trying with my budget, and will definitely post it on the board (should I win). In the meantime, I think I'm happy with my back-up plan. Just finish reading more reviews on TripAdvisor of the property, they're awesome. Thereuare, thanks for u'r info on the odd of single vs multiple night.

I know I could win a 4 stars hotel with $135/night hotel, but I guess I'm that type of guy who want to max out the worth of my $s (as what you said in one of your posts, "...others feel they need at least half-off to make an 'opaque' purchase worthwhile.") I did see someone (nenv) actually just one $105/night bid ad Westin; so yeah, I'll keep on trying. Oh... one more thing, I noticed that most of winning bids are for one night stay. Does the odd of one night stay better than 2 or 3 night stays?

Colfax, I was thinking about dropping it down to 3.5*, but just afraid of winning Silver Cloud Stadium (which happens to be one of the most winning 3.5* hotels) after my reading on TripAdvisor. So, I think I'll just wait and stick with bidding just for the 4* hotels. In the meantime, as your suggestion, I've booked a cancellable reservation at Best Western Plus Pioneer Square Hotel (3.5*) using my AAA discount rate advantage. Decided to pick them after (again) reading its reviews on TripAdvisor. I got $135/night rate. With free internet, free breakfast and a walking distance $20 daily rate public parking location, I think I'll have no regret at all. On top of that, if (somehow) I do win low $100 4* hotel on Priceline, there is no cancellation fee on this reservation. So, it's a win-win situation. Thanks, Colfax. Great suggestion! So, I guess I shall end this topic, and would posted a new one just to inform the forum should I win a 4* hotel on Priceline. Oh... thanks thereuare as well for your replies. All the time, man... all the time :)

$107 was my highest bid, and you're absolutely right about the "Supply and Demand" rule. But to me, why would I pay such amount of money (all the way to the high $150s even $160s) for a hotel that might not fit my preferences and at the end got dissapointed while just by paying 10 to 15 percent more (the median market price) I can get more of assurance. Beside, it's Priceline themselves who make a big deal of their advertising; so, customers (like me) expect to get what their advertised.

Just finish bidding as suggested by Colfax. Unfortunately no luck for me. I noticed that I'm not the only one among other members who have been trying to get a 4* hotel in Seattle's Pike Place area with a "reasonable Priceline's deal rate" but keep on failing. I think it's just crazy paying between $120s to $160s (as reported on the forum and by "Priceline's Winning Bid") while Priceline itself has a 4* hotel in Seattle's Pike Place area (Kimpton Vintage Park) listed at $159 per-night. I'll just wait and see since I still have plenty of time. I'm just curious how Priceline system works because there are still people who could actually got "the deal" such as "rickret" who won Sheraton Hotel and Towers for $83 per-night last week for this weekend stay. Maybe because he did it last minute? Who knows.... :)

Thanks; I'll keep you (the Forum) posted. Definetely! :)

Okay; last year Decibel was on 9/22 to 9/26, 2010. I looked at the "Calendar of Wins," and these are what I found focusing on 4* hotels in Pike Place area: Priceline: 9/10 & 9/11, 2010: 2 winning bids of $95 & $97 at Westin 9/17 & 9/18, 2010: 2 winning bids of $125 at W & $144 at Renaissance The weekend of the event, 9/24 & 9/25, 2010: 4 winning bids of $85, $95, $100 and $101 all at Renaissance 10/1 & 10/2, 2010: 2 winning bids of $95 at Vintage Park & $109 at Westin 10/8 & 10/9, 2010: 3 winning bids of $92 at Renaissance, $95 at Grand Hyatt & $95 at Westin Hotwire: No reservation made 2 weekends before the weekend of the event 9/17 & 9/18, 2010: $98 at Westin The weekend of the event, 9/24 & 9/25, 2010: $119 at W 10/1 & 10/2, 2010: $156 at Pan Pacific No reservation made 2 weekends after the weekend of the event Looks to me the event didn't impact the hotel rate at all. It's kind of steady at the $90s and low $100s with an exception of the 9/17 weekend. Also... looks like the winning bids last year are lower than this year. Or... maybe it's because September and October are considered as low season already? Any recommendations or inputs on nailing 4*hotel in Pike Place area for my Seattle's trip on 9/30 to 10/3, 2010 with a $90s to low $100s budget?

Thank you for the reply. I totally forgot about the "Priceline and Hotwire Calendar of Wins." In regard to the festival; according to the website, last year the number of participants were 18,000. With new venues around the cities and more artists to be participated, they expected this would be the biggest of the previous 8th. On top of that... Seahawks is having a home game too on Sunday. I have a feeling I'll be having a tough bidding process :) I'll do the homework and keep you posted. All the time.... :)

Hello... I'm planning on going to Seattle from 9/30 to 10/3, 2011. Just browsing on Seattle Events Calendar, and noticed that there will be this Decibel Festival happens on the same weekend of my visit. Would anyone remember how this event effected Seattle Downtown hotel rates last year? Thanks!

Going to Sacramento to go to California State Fair. Not to thrilled about the hotel after reading reviews on Yelp and TripAdvisor, but the rate I got bidding from PRICELINE (using BetterBidding's link) made that up. Focussing on 3* hotels, this was how I bid: Bid #1 (Failed): $32, "Sacramento Downtown" area Bid #2 (Failed): $38, adding "Parkway - Florin - Elk Grove" Bid #3 (Won): $44, adding "West Sacramento"

I second "vb mom." I've been monitoring Seattle's downtown hotel rates for a future trip. What was your starting bid "mlane"? Thanks.

Just joining the forum and in search for hotel in Downtown Seattle. I totally agree with your statement. The last 4 low rates posted on this forum are last minute bidding. $85 Vintage Park; bid at the same day on 7/10 for 1 night stay $93 Sheraton; bid 1 day before the date of stay. Bid on 7/7 for 7/8 to 7/9 stay $100 Westin; bid 1 day before. Bid on 7/2 for 7/3 to 7/4 stay and last but not least... this specific post bid $110 Hyatt Olive 8; bid 1 day before as well. Bid on today for tomorrow stay I guess it's the effect of Seattle's high season.