cunparis

Tried to get ruby's inn, called direct, it was full. PL said around $98 (I forget exactly). Bid $76 rejected Bid $86 rejected at this point I could have booked it but I searched for something better and found Best Western Thunderbird Resort in orderville which is about halfway between Zion & Bryce. Reviews on tripadvisor look great. PL quotes 78, Best Western website quotes $78. It's not in a popular spot so I was optimistic: Bid $60 rejected, counterbid offered for +$17 Bid $65 accepted! I will post a mini-review when I get back.. Hope this helps someone. Now I just gotta get las vegas straightened out. -Michael

I confirmed that the soaking tub is very nice & big enough for 2. I bid: 5* strip $120 (no chance) 4* strip $60 I don't mind paying more but my wife really wants the soaking tub. So if there's a chance that we will get the westin I will just take hotwire. But presently hotline is only proposing two 4* hotels: aladdin & westin, and aladdin is about $40 cheaper. So am I correct to assume that if I bid more I will most likely get aladdin and not westin? (I know nothing is certain).

The best deal I've found is what I believe to be the Aladdin 4* north strip on hotwire for $109 average. It's a very expensive weekend, even excalibur is more money on their website. I checked easytravel and all the rest. How should I priceline this? I am interested in the aladdin because I read about their european soaking tubs. Anyone know if they are big enough for 2 and a baby? I was hoping for a jacuzzi but I can't find any without booking direct with hotels for almost $200/night. If I bid on priceline I might not get the aladdin, that wouldn't be the end of the world and all the 4* hotels seem pretty good. Aladdin is centrally located which is a plus. and how does one do the $20 trick? is there a discrete way of doing it? Thanks, michael

I thought I'd update the thread with my opinion of the hotel. Basically it was very nice. I don't see how it was 3*, it seemed 4* to me (maybe priceline said it was 4* I don't remember). It was a great hotel, 4* in every way. The parking was $22 canadian which wasn't too bad. We only stayed one night. The hotel is well located, just off Yonge street which is "the street" in Toronto. We walked around the city and then came back and went for a swim in the pool on the 27th floor. The hottub has a view overlooking the downtown skyscrapers including the CN tower. Later that night I took my camera back up to take some night photos and I got some great photos. Overall if you get this hotel you will not be disappointed!! Some additional notes: internet is an extra $11/day, contental breakfast is $11 (we skipped this and went to a coffee shop). They had some reasonably-priced food like a giant slice of pizza for around $5.

I probably bid too much, I bid $60 for 4* and didn't get it so I bid $80 for 3*, expecting to get a 4*. I probably should have bid $60 or $70 for 3*. But we were in a hurry so we weren't too disappointed. Parking is $22/day seems expensive but QuickBook had hotels at $130 so we're still cheaper. No complaints. First time priceline worked for us after trying in 3 cities (NY & Boston). Thanks betterbidding!!!

I tried my luck with priceline again, it's like gambling, it's addictive. I wanted it to work for me but just couldn't win. We decided to stay a day less in NY so of course I redid all my bidding to see if that changed anything. I'm positive it's the saturday that posing the problem, cause for the hotels that price per day the saturday is the most expensive. Probably because this is a holiday weekend and people are staying over until saturday and going home the sunday?? I tried lowering my stars to 2.5 and bidding $100 but that didn't win. At that point I stopped because I like the grand union's location better and for us location is as important as the hotel. I also bidded $85 for 2.5* for Jersey City (there's only one hotel) but that didn't work. So I reserved the Grand Union hotel. I'm sure it will be fine for us. I used the link you gave me so you will get credit. I never used priceline before and now I feel like an expert. All thanks to this site. Thank you very much for all the help. -Michael PS: I tried priceline for airline tickets (Boston to KY) and car rental but they were much more expensive. It seems the "name your price" only works for hotels..

I read through all the posts in the NJ forum and saw the price for Hyatt is between $71 and $100+. So I bid up to $80 and stopped. We backpack a lot so we're used to staying in cheap hotels when we have to and we really like the convenience of staying directly in midtown. Still debating on this but I have to make a decision today as I'm worried the hotels I've selected will be full soon. I don't have a cancelable refundable backup reservation (I know I should)..

I just took a look at the PATH, I didn't realize this was a subway. I thought it was commuter trains, which here in Paris are a little more confusing and difficult. It looks very simple to get from Jersey to the 33rd St. station (midtown) which is where we were wanting to stay. So now I'm very interested. What area should I be looking at? For the moment I am looking at Jersey City and I saw two 3* hotels. I read the tripadvisor reviews, they're both near the path and they sound great. Several people said they paid $48 for the Hyatt but that was in Jan-March. Wow, $48 for the Hyatt! How much could we get a 3* in Jersey city for? If we can get this about 1/2 the price of the hotels in Manhatten ($120 is our best deal so far) then we're ready to stay in Jersey. I'd say our maximum bid would be around $80 (this would save us $180 counting tax and give us an awesome hotel). Thanks, Michael

I just discussed it with the wife, so we bid again for 3* MTE, MTW, MTS $130 then $135 and didn't work. I'm beginning to think there is one of these days that is full, probably Saturday. When I search rates with the online sites, they often say saturday is the most expensive. That could be messing everything up. I wouldn't mind splitting the room but I think my wife would. She doesn't even care if we're in a 1 or 2 * she doesn't plan to be in the room. :) I'll discuss it with her. Here is some more information: Dates: 07/09 - 07/13 (4 nights) Areas: Midtown 2 people (double bed is fine) I have thought about NJ but don't know how to take the trains. I live outside Paris and take trains to work every day so I'm quite used to it and can figure it out but I think it'd be much easier to have a hotel within walking distance of the shopping areas. That way we could return to the hotel to drop off purchases, rest up, etc. My wife is 4.5 months pregnant so that could come in handy although a month & a half ago we were in Venice and we were gone from morning to evening nonstop so we never know. For NJ, is there really a big savings? If it's the same price but a nicer hotel, we'd prefer the lesser quality hotel in NYC. The hotel would have to be near the train station. I assume the 10 min ride is to the south manhattan and then one takes the subway up to midtown. Definitely something to consider. I looked at hotels on long island but they were the same price (about $130) so we figure better to have a not so nice hotel in midtown. My wife likes the "walking distance to Macy's" part. :) Thanks for the advice, Michael

I need a room for next saturday for four nights. I've been trying priceline, I've bid up to $130 for 4* MTE, MTW, MTS and $110 for 3* same areas. I hesitate to go higher cause I'm really stretching my budget. I found two hotels on other sites, Grand Union for $120 via Quickbook and Wolcott for $132 via HotelConexion. The Wolcott isn't that great but it's in a great location and we don't plan on staying in the room at all. In fact when discussing our previous visits to NYC, we stayed in the lexington radisson and Pennsylvania and we don't even remember the rooms! I know the Penn. is really cheap at $118 now but I read the reviews and it sounds awful. One guy on tripadvisor (latest review) said he found a dead rat in his room! I don't remember the rooms being that bad but I don't think we always had our eyes shut when we were in the room cause we were sleeping! So I'm hesitating to bid $120 for a 3* with priceline. The hotels listed in the sticky look better than Wolcott, but then again the location could be further away I don't know I haven't verified them all and there is the chance of getting a hotel not listed. Should I take the chance? The reason I'm posting this is I'm wondering if I wait a bit if I the hotels will lower their prices for priceline for last minute deals. My theory is if a hotel has 20 rooms empty they might as well put them on priceline or lower the price to fill them up. But obviously if I wait I may lose the two hotels I've found myself. It's a gamble with only 1 week to go! What do you all think? Thanks a lot for this site I really learned a lot here about priceline, I've never used it before and now I'm bidding like a pro. -Michael