norwegianwife

Wow, for some reason I thought the World Cup ended the week before! We actually have all of our German stops secure (Hamburg, Munich and Berlin) with the exception of Frankfurt! I guess I will try a few bids for Frankfurt on the 12th of July. Hopefully there is some availibility. We actually have a great little hotel booked in Tyrol now at the base of the Alps, the pictures look gorgeous. thanks for your advice, Pirate...I will hop on it and try to get those last 2 nights (frankfurt and milan) secured.

I am a little hesitant to file a price gurantee claim for the simple reason that I use a foreign credit card and manipulate the system into accepting it. do you think they will investigate my card further if I call attention to myself? I would hate to get banned from Priceline...It would be a dispute over 19 dollars. What do you guys think?

well, i checked a little further into it and here is what i found; 69 Euros a night on Priceline Europe direct excluding taxes 90 USD on Hotels.com before taxes and 59 Euros OR 75 USD on Expedia... lowest I saw on their website for the date of stay was 99 Euros a night...so I don't know!! Maybe I should challenge the best price guarantee thing, but i don't really want to fight anyone on a few dollars of tax! I am happy! Thanks though!!!

really? because I checked through other sites and the lowest I saw was 99 Euros, excluding breakfast!!! Will look further into it!

I think this is the first time we have seen this hotel on the board! I don't even know which zone it is in?? The map function is down. I started at 65 in Tiergarten and was told that if I added 17 dollars to my bid i would be accepted. I closed the window and started over, and offered 72...was rejected...and NOT offered any alternatives. Raised the bid to 75 and added the airport, i think, but then my Visa wasn't accepted, (norway issues), so I had to add another zone for some reason, and I added East and upped it to 75 and was accepted here! Overall, a very confusing bid. The Charlie has really good reviews on Trip Advisor. Anyone heard of it??? As always, bid through Savings Barn!!!! Mercure Berlin Charlie Check-In Date: Sunday, July 23, 2006 Check-Out Date: Monday, July 24, 2006 Your Offer Price: $75.00 Extend Your Stay Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $75.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $19.92 Total Charges: $94.92

Hello everyone! well, we leave for our road trip in a few weeks and are really excited! We have several hotels lined up already, but I have a question. We don't have anything for the Hamburg-Frankfurt leg. We plan on 'mosey-ing' through the Mosel and Rhine Valley's and don't really want a set plan. Do you think it would be wise to 'wing it' in mid July as far as accomodation goes? We just want to decide where to end for the day, versus having a hotel in a certain city decide??? So, if anyone has been, and can reccomend a bed and breakfast or quaint hotel let us know! The same thought goes for Zurich to Milan. We don't have to stay in Milan, and would almost prefer not to, to avoid the 20 to 30 Euro parking fees...thinking of driving through towards Venice and finding something. ORRRR finding something on the one of the lakes on the way down. Again, any thoughts are welcome... Lastly, from Reggio Emilia to Austria (Tyrol) area. No fixed reservations, but have emailed a hotel 2 times with no response...starting to bug me. Ok...any thoughts are welcome!!

HI...living in Oslo, Norway, I can say that Scandanavia in general, especially the capitals of Oslo, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Helsinki, are PACKED out in the summer! At my office, we had to cancel people coming for business because there were NO hotels available in Oslo!! I know Copenhagen is a happening place in summer...They have a HUGE international jazz festival, but I am pretty sure it's in July...Just keep trying to bid as often as you can! Something may turn up!! Just book a cancellable backup!! Good Luck!

I hope it's not touristy...BUT...the absolute BEST steak I have EVER had was at Bobby Van's! And I am from Texas where we have some good steaks. There are a couple in Manhatten and we ate at the one off of Park and 50-something (57th maybe) in MTE. Prices were pretty good, and the portions are HUGE!! The filet was probably 16 to 18 ounces and you could cut it with a fork. All side dishes can be split between at least 3 people. Creamed spinich was heavenly. Caesar salad, perfect. I salivate just thinking about it! We plan on eating there again at least twice when we return this year for New Years through the 4th of January!!! Bobby Van's....yummy!

WE posted an actual luxury link win in the other hotel section on the board, and we actually saved a minimum of 350 dollars going through luxury link. Most of the rooms offered on luxury link are junior or luxury suites. I usually go to the hotel website and tripadvisor and do a check as to what the going rate for the rooms are for the dates I am interested in. Very rarely have the prices on luxury link been beaten, for the standard of room being offered (LL also has, in many instances, the inclusion of dinner for one or several nights and spa treatments, car, wine tastings, etc). This has especially been true in Italy this summer. Just some unbelievable deals that are nearly half off the summer rates! And like you said, so much fun to just look at the offers and DROOL!! We will definately continue to use it! Oh, and the hotel we won through luxury link for this summer keeps contacting us with sugesstions of things to do and offering to book any tours that we want to go on. They even sent an email last week asking if we had thought of anything else that we wanted to add to our trip and if we had any questions to please not hesitate to email and ask them. Seems like a high level of service!!!

Another change seems to be that you no longer receive an email from Priceline when the 24 hour period is up after you have been rejected. We bid for several cities on Sunday morning, and never received an email saying it was allright to bid again 24 hours later! When it was 72 hours, we always got emails reminding us that our 72 hour 'ban' was finished.

Yes, I kind of figured that my theory didn't hold water when I did the search for Hamburg and the hotel we won for $70 could be bought for $166 in the 'choose your own' section and it wasn't even close to being the cheapest option. All of the hotels we have won in Europe so far have been in the 'Choose your own hotel' section with the exception of Prague, where the Movenpick was not listed. Just thought I was on to something and wanted to see if anyone else had noticed patterns or trends!!!

Hmmm, I did a search on Priceline for Hamburg for the dates that we have already won the Renaissance for $70. In the choose your own hotel section, there were only 2 hotels that were more expensive than the Renaissance. you could choose the Renaissance for $166, we won it for $70. They had the Le Meridien for $109 and the Novotel for $85. So, I guess my theory is pretty much out the window. I just assumed that Priceline would give you the hotel in their inventory that was closest to your bid. So, by bidding the East in Berlin, I could get the Art 'Otel or the Westin for the same price, even though they are $70 apart in price in the 'choose your own hotel' section! There has to be a rhyme and a reason to the way Priceline does things!!!!!! Still an interesting thing to look at before placing your bid. Maybe after time we can notice some trends. Maybe not!!! Food for thought!

Was wondering if anyone has ever used the available hotels in the 'Choose your own hotel' section as a guide on how to bid in the 'name your own price' section. For Example: I am going to bid on a 4* in Berlin and if you select the 'Choose your hotel' option, Priceline will show you a selection of all star levels at a certain price. My question is, do you think the prices and properties are a good reflection of what inventory is available on Priceline? For example, in the East they have the Art 'otel for $82 a night. and in tiergarten they have the Art 'Otel and the Savoy for $84 and $87 respectively, if I choose name your own price and start around 55 or so, what are the chances I will get one of these properties? Just curious if you ever base you bidding strategies on what Priceline shows in the 'choose your own hotel' section??? I will be a guinea pig and try it. But I am wondering what the odds are, not only in this city, but also others, of pre determining which hotels you will actually receive? Just wanted to know if anyone else had thought of this and experimented with it?

I just tried bidding for a 5* in Berlin this morning and bid up to $70 without success. you can directly book the Intercontinental on the 'Choose your hotel' page for $95 or pay 90 euro on the Intercontinental website. On average, Germany tends to have about $20 in taxes per room per night. So, if you bid anything over $75 you will win for what you could have won by choosing it yourself. Not really worth it. I think I will lower my bid and go down to a 4* starting in the East. Looks like you can get a 4* for around 60 in July. Also, the Swissotel is rated a 4star by Priceline and Trip Advisor. So, I think by lowering your star level and bidding in the East, you could land a really nice 4* property. (the westin is east and I think the Swissotel is also). Just my two cents!

the original plan for this night was to drive down from Zurich and find a place on Lake Como, but we can't seem to find anything for under 160 Euros! So we switched gears and decided to drive from Zurich to Milano. That will also make it a straight shot drive to Venice the next day! So, the date for that stay is July 14. One night. I have heard Milan might be busier than usual due to the release of the Da Vinci Code and the fact that The Last Supper is there, but I am not sure. again, we are flexible, as it's a road trip, so if we can't find anything in Milan for a decent price, we can drive a couple of hours further to Verona as well!! Any ideas??

Again, in Prague, we started out trying to bid for a 5 star as I had noticed someone had gotten the Marriot for $115 the week before our dates. I wasn't sure what to expect as we are staying on a Saturday. Bid up to $115 adding free rebid zones and increasing by $5 each time. Rejected. Closed window and reaccesed Priceline. Selected 4* East (as we were hoping to get the Renaissance since we are on a roll!) and bid $75. Priceline countered with the old 'raise your bid by $22 and we have something for you'. I said no, added the West zone (instead of choosing the Southeast zone which only has 2 * hotels) and raised my bid by $12 to $87 and was ACCEPTED at the Movenpick!!! Stupid me! If I had done things correctly, I most likely would have gotten the Renaissance in the East!! I was just tired as I had been getting hotels all morning as you can see!! Anyway, we are pleased. The Movenpick has gotten good reviews and the lowest rate on the Movenpick website was 145 Euros. Check-In Date: Saturday, July 22, 2006 Check-Out Date: Sunday, July 23, 2006 Movenpick Hotel PragueMozartova 261 /1 Prague, Czech Republic Your Offer Price: $87.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $87.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $13.44 Total Charges: $100.44 Bid through Savingsbarn.com!!!!

Looks like this is shaping up into a Renaissance kind of trip! We are definantly going to enroll in the Marriot program and try to earn points! Started trying to get a 5* property in Munich. Bid $75.- rejected added free rebid zone and bid $85- rejected added free zone and bid $95- rejected Closed window and reaccessed Priceline Selected 4* and bid $57- Accepted! Check-In Date: Friday, July 21, 2006 Check-Out Date: Saturday, July 22, 2006 Renaissance Munich HotelTheodor Dombart Strasse 4 Munich, Germany Your Offer Price: $57.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $57.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $16.75 Total Charges: $73.75 Lowest rate on the Internet via Marriot website was $101! So, good savings. Bid through Savingsbarn.com!

We have a great little 3 * hotel we booked in advance for about 130 Euros a night already in our back pocket, but thought we would bid for Venice anyway and see if we could get lucky with a 4 or 5 star property. Started at $100 in Venice- rejected. Added Lido and raised to $110- rejected. Not sure if we will keep trying for Venice. If we could get a good property for 110 to 115, we will take it. Tried through Savingsbarn

Started with 5* in the Central zone of Milan and bid $90- rejected Added the airport and raised it to $100- rejected Closed window and started over with a 4* bid. Started at $70 and was rejected. Added the airport and upped the bid to $80 and was rejected. Still far out from our travel dates, so not too concerned, but any advice is always welcome! Bid through Savingsbarn

We knew there was a chance we would get the Renaissance if we added this zone (airport), but as this is a road trip, and we are driving from city to city, our main concern is having a nice hotel to sleep in after a day of long driving, so we weren't overly concerned about being out of the center of Zurich! I started at $70 in Zurich Central was rejected. Added the airport zone and raised my bid to $80 and was accepted. I don't know if I could have gotten this hotel any cheaper had I started in this zone, but am not complaining over $10!! Cheapest online rate via the Marriot website for our date was $180 dollars, so we saved about $90 through Priceline! Bid through Savingsbarn Check-In Date: Thursday, July 13, 2006 Check-Out Date: Friday, July 14, 2006 Hotel Name: Renaissance Zurich HotelTalackerstrasse 1 Glattbrugg Zurich Glattbrugg, Switzerland Your Offer Price: $80.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $80.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $11.83 Total Charges: $91.83

First tried for a 5* and bid 110 and was rejected. Added 4* and lowered the bid to 70 and was accepted. Lowest rate for this date via the Marriot website is 110 Euros, so, after taxes, we saved at least 20 Euro (or around 30 dollars) Bid through the Savingsbarn link! Check-In Date: Tuesday, July 11, 2006 Check-Out Date: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 Your Offer Price: $70.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $70.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $19.05 Total Charges: $89.05

About a month ago I posted a link in the 'run of the house' thread about this luxury travel website I had stumbled across. We are going to Italy in July and have been looking for affordable places to stay as it is high season, and we found this package a few days ago: This 3-night package for 2 includes: Heralded Italian Hospitality Hotel Posta, Reggio Emilia, Italy Includes: 3 nights in an elegant Junior Suite A welcome glass of Prosecco wine at the Nazzani Bar upon arrival Buffet breakfast or continental breakfast served in room** City and countryside information folder with suggestions for local excursions Complimentary use of hotel bicycles Taxes and service charges We won the auction for 345 dollars!!!!! It's a 4 star hotel in a building built in the 1200's! It has great reviews on Trip Advisor and is rated the number 1 hotel in Reggio (out of only 9, but hey) The lowest posted rate on the hotel website for our dates was 630 Euros for the 3 night stay or 778 USD! the lowest rate through Venere was 540 Euros for the 3 nights. So, by using luxury link, we saved a MINIMUM of 302 dollars and if we booked directly we saved 413 dollars! A GREAT deal for us, because the focus of this trip is Reggio, Parma, Modena, Bologna etc, and such an amazing deal for Italy in high season! Couldn't be more thrilled. WE are obsessed with this site. Just some really amazing deals, especially in Morocco, Costa Rica, the Carribean and Italy! WOO HOO!!

Lonestar, you had asked in the 'Venice in July' thread about the discount offered by Hotels.com, I have been on the website again, and it looks as if the discounts vary from property to property. It can go up to 15 percent off a night (for mulitple night stays)...but there are several with 10%, 6%, 8%...random discounts. And of course, some with none. It appears as if the individual hotels choose whether or not to offer discounts!!! But it is worth a look, because any amount off is GOOD!!! So, I hope that answers the question about Hotels.com discounts.

HI lls138, I think the thread Thereuare was referring to is this one: http://www.betterbidding.com/index.php?showtopic=22782& It is the most recent thread on Priceline UK vs US that I know of. IF the link doesn't work, just go to the start page of betterbidding.com and click on Run of the house section. It's a few topics down. Have you checked rates and availibility with actual hotels directly from hotel websites? There could be festivals or other events that are causing a higher than usual occupancy rate in those cities. And, May is the start of the tourist season, so rates could be on the high side. Your best bet is to just keep trying, and while you are trying, to book a cancellable back up at hotels in the cities you are going. Good Luck!

Well, we have just booked the Hotel Ca'vendramin Di Santa Fosca in Venice for 2 nights in July. It is a breathtakingly beautiful bed and breakfast (ranked number 11 in all of venice out of 173 according to TripAdvisor!) I was offered the 2 nights DIRECT from the hotel for 130 Euros a night. This was about 20 Euros less than the cheapest offer I found online, which was Hotels.com. Expedia, TravelNow, and Venere were higher still. The rate includes breakfast and taxes. Just goes to show that sometimes the hotel can beat the discount folks!!! if anyone wants to see the hotel check it out: http://www.hotelcavendramin.it/en/location.htm And it's off the beaten path. Very cool. We are pleased!