shernuf

Amenities: Smoke Free Business Center Wheel Chair Accessible Fitness Center High Speed Internet Restaurants In-Room Accessibility One night in Boston before our cruise. Did not see anything about this hotel before getting it on Hotwire. Best available rate on their website is $179.09, but most of the listed 4* hotels in this area were $250 - $400/night. $148 was the base price with taxes total ended up being $180.88 Had previously bid on Priceline $170, $171, $185 in Boston Common and Back Bay, but saw this deal on Hotwire and went for it. It ends up being in a great location and close to the T subway station.

Going to Portland, Oregon June 2, 2012 - June 9, 2012. Needed 8 day rental car and had previously reserved a Thrifty car for $200 Bid $10 to start, but got rejected and Priceline offered $13/day. Took that deal since Hotwire had already listed their best Economy car at $159 Avis Economy $13/day for a total $152.24 including all taxes and fees. My wife had tried back in February to book this car for $15 and got rejected at that time. Thanks Better Bidding. I was sure to use the PRICELINE link. :)

First bid accepted. Total with taxes was $55.85. Looks like this hotel has indoor/outdoor pool and a hot tub which is what I was looking for. Very happy with this site and PRICELINE.

First bid of $75 was accepted. I was really shooting for Hotel Galvez, so I am happy that I was able to get this hotel. I was unsure how it would go since this will be over Memorial Day, but it turned out great.

Going to the Big Island of Hawaii and flying into Hilo and staying in Kona for 8 days. No way to pick up at one airport and drop off at another with Priceline at this time so I booked a one day rental from Hilo to Kona with National for $81 Compact. Pricelined 7 day rental with Hertz Economy for $17/day (Total $170.96) 12/14 to 12/21 Lowest price through car rental checker for 8 days pick up Hilo and drop off Kona was $381. :)

Going to Kauai in December (12/6 - 12/13) for a week and needed a car. Won a Mid Size car with Alamo for $12/day on Priceline. Total $129.28 Got it on the first try and maybe should have bid lower. :)

What I ended up doing was getting a one way rental from Hilo to Kona for one day. Went with National since they were the cheapest compact in the car rental checker for $81 Then I booked a Kona 7 day rental with priceline for $17/day for $170.96 total with Hertz. The total if I booked without priceline for 8 days from Hilo to Kona would have been $381 so I saved roughly $130. :)

Has anyone had any experience using Priceline to name their own price for a one way rental? Specifically, my wife and I are going to the Big Island of Hawaii and flying into Hilo so we're closer to the Volcano and flying out a week later from Kona. Priceline name your own price doesn't let you rent from one airport and drop off at another. I was wondering if anyone had any experience doing this on the Big Island. Is there a fee to pay? If you let them know in advance do they waive it? Current rentals for the December 13 - 20 are running around $300 on Car Rental Checker so I could save some money if I knew it was possible even with a fee. Thanks for your help.

Winning bid from Priceline for my travel to Fort Lauderdale over Memorial Day weekend. Flying in Sunday to Sunday for a week rental Won a compact car from Alamo at $10/day for a total with all taxes of $137.68 Hotwire was going for $12.95 for a total of $157 I feel bad that I won it on the first try. I should have tried lower first but what are you going to do? I think it's a good deal. Incidently, I wish more people would use this GREAT site for car rentals!!! My in-laws have a time share and while I have used this site for bidding on hotel rooms (which works great by the way), it seems I always need transportation once I'm on vacation. Please post your winning and losing bids and your great deals wherever you go. Maybe priceline is the cheapest, maybe their not on any given time frame. Thanks to thereuare for all the great work and timely responses. Shernuf

UPDATE: I've been bidding priceline and so far haven't been successful. However today I noticed that Dollar and Thrifty both had come down to $230/week for a convertible. I've made a reservation with Thrifty (cheaper by $6 after all taxes and fees) for $280.35 This is the best deal yet and is right in line with priceline for $30/day (I haven't bid that high yet). Hotwire is still at $35.95/day ($331.38/week) and doesn't come close now to Dollar and Thrifty even with the $30 rebate. Thank you all for your suggestions and experiences. Hope this info helps some others. :)

Thanks for the useful info, tikinyg. I guess priceline gave up finally after rejecting your $25 bid for 10 weeks. :) Its good to know that you can still have a successful bid despite the warning against bidding too low. I've got my back up reservations made with thrifty for $313.11 for 7 days which is right in line with hotwires pricing of $331. Hopefully, I'll be able to get a successfull bid in with priceline before we go. (7/30-8/6) I got a compact car with budget.com at $85 on maui for 3 days with the Walmart code W810000 I don't know if it will help you or not, but its worth a try. Have a great trip. :)

Thanks for the help tweekerz. My wife decided she wanted to get a convertible and so that's what I've been looking for lately. The rates finally dropped this week at the rental car companies. I've made a cancelable reservation with Thrifty (Dollar had similar pricing) for $37/day on a convertible. Using the 5% discount code AU11 I was able to get the total down to $313.11 for the 7 days we'll be there. This compares pretty well to the hotwire price of $35.95/day Total $331.38 Using the $30 Coupon Book Rebate, I can get it down to $301.38 Now, I can bid every week on priceline till I go and see if I can get a low ball price. :) Thanks again and enjoy your trip. I know we'll have a great time.

That's great tikinyg! Would you like to share your bidding strategy to date? What did you start at before getting the successful bid? Also, how has the Maui and Kauai bidding been going. My wife and I have been bidding for a convertible on the big island for the last three weeks with no success. I think we've started too low, but we're going at the beginning of August so we have time. Thank you and good luck bidding. :)

Does anyone know: A. If I get a successful low bid of say $15 for a compact car on priceline, can I upgrade that car to a better car when I get it? B. Is it really expensive? Does it follow the same guidelines that their website has like upgrade this car for $5 more per day? Anyone have an experience to share? Is this something someone does all the time? I can't imagine that the rental car companies wouldn't want to make some more money. Re-cap: My wife and I are going to the Big Island of Hawaii at Kona from 7/30 to 8/6 and would like to rent a convertible cheap. Current Hotwire going rate is $34.95/day for a convertible for a total of $324.38. We'll use the hotwire rebate to lower it $30 more. Haven't had any successful bids yet on Priceline, but I'm limited to the number of times in a week to bid specifically for a convertible to two. If I successfully bid for a compact or standard or SUV, can I then upgrade that car at the rental desk and how much would I expect to pay? Current compact is going on hotwire for $19.95/day for a total of $195.11 (with rebate $165.11) I would need a comparable $16/day successful bid on Priceline to compare to this. Thanks for the help! :)

Yesterday, the hotwire price dropped to $19.95 on June 14 in the morning. Today, the hotwire price was back up to $20.95 for a compact car during 7/30 - 8/6 for Kona, HI. Is this normal? I didn't bother booking yet because overall its only $7 difference down to $195. :) I'm still PL bidding, but no success yet.

I don't know if this is too late for you lawnboy, but since your not going till August... I used a "Wal Mart" code I found elsewhere to make a reservation for a car in Maui. Dates 8/6 - 8/9 The code wasn't very good, but it changed the budget.com price significantly. The no code price was $116.97 for three days and dropped to $66.09 before taxes. :) The code is: W810000 Do NOT put in any fastbreak or RapidRez number (BCN) Good luck

Car Rental Checker is showing the $240 range. Not much better. I'm going to keep checking hotwire and PL and hope a cheap bid gets accepted. Thanks.

Can anyone give me some advice on renting a car on the Big Island of Hawaii? I'm trying to find a cheap car rental ($12-$15/day) for the above dates. Is it better to bid PL or use hotwire. I've been bidding PL without any success so far. Hotwire is showing about $20.95/day with a total for the week at $202.11 for a compact I could use the $30 Entertainment rebate to lower it down to $172.11 Is it better to wait on hotwire? I've noticed that if I went in the next few days that it gets down to $12.95 - $ 14.95/day The car rental checker runs in the $240 range for the big 3 and sidestep hasn't done much better either. I guess my question really comes down to should I wait? Is this as good as it's going to get or can expect the prices to drop. :) Ideally, I would love a convertible (who wouldn't in Hawaii), but all I need is an economy or compact. Any help from previous experience would be great. I'm not a novice. I've PL a couple of hotels in Newport Beach and Springfield, MO and I've gotten a car rental for a week in Daytona Beach. However, not a lot is posted about renting cars here and not enough about successful bidding in Hawaii. Thanks.

I'm very interested in how you were able to get $6.99/day for a rental car in Maui. I'm trying to get a week on the big island and haven't had much success with finding anything cheap. Hotwire quoted me $20.95/day totaling $202.11 I'm looking for $12/day economy or compact. Nothing specail for my wife and I. We are going July 30 - Aug. 6 and flying into Kona. Priceline said I would never get it for $12/day total of $126.48, but I haven't started trying to get it yet. I'm hoping for the $130 - $150 range with all the taxes included. Any help would be appreciated! :)