bluesavvy

Tried $10 for midsize - rejected Priceline offered immediate re-bid without changing anything Tried $11 for midsize - rejected Tried $12 for SUV - rejected Tried $12 for Standard - accepted for Hertz. Total is $125 with all fees, which is better than any coupon I had for National by about $30. :)

3* Orlando (WDW) Tried $45 - rejected Rebid at $51 - accepted I hope it's nice! :)

Looking for Orlando Resort Tried multiple bids by adding non-resort zones, rejected up to $91

Best thing about this hotel is the location, which is close to Embankment and Charing Cross tubes, as well as Trafalgar and Leicester Squares. However, the streets around the hotel were nearly deserted, because the area included many government buildings and several vacant former-government buildings. A few staff members were helpful, but several were borderline rude. Even the concierge didn't know much about excursions out of London and had trouble directing us to the correct train for a day trip, and that was if we could get his attention. Hotel has computers for guest internet use, but price is steep (4 GBP for 20 min) and printer was non-existent. A very nice woman at the front desk got an exception for us to print our tickets from her computer for the next day's trip. Room 551 was typical size for London accomodations (smallish), but beds are hard and uncomfortable. Wallpaper was peeling from the walls in bathroom and bedroom. Small tub/shower with good water pressure. Nice size bathroom. Poor selection of TV channels for a business hotel. Room had a nice balcony, but it faced a boarded-up building and the doors only opened a few inches, so we couldn't get onto it. Door latch to balcony also didn't hold, so it was always open a little and there was significant street noise at early hours for street cleaners and trash collection. We also heard the man in the next room when he coughed during his sleep. For 20 GBP, room could be upgraded to a view of the Thames, and for 40 GBP, upgrade was to a deluxe room (larger). I didn't see the view, but I'm glad we didn't spend money on the upgrade. We were told the 20 GBP only got a view, but the room would be exactly the same. We declined the offer to look at the room first. For the location (Mayfair/Soho), the hotel was worth what we paid ($101), but the overall appearance and amenities made it seem more like a 3-star than the 4-star ranking it has on priceline.

Marriott San Francisco We stayed there 9/3-9/6 after successful priceline bid of $95. Hotel was nice, but dated. It was a business hotel, as evidenced by the conference rooms and business center. But it looked like they ran a local special for Labor Day weekend. The crowd was not exactly the upscale business traveler. Parking was very expensive (~$45/day, valet only), but convenient city garage was across the street for $20/day. Location was excellent, near cable car turnaround and union square. Lots of shopping and good restaurants nearby. Only negative was response of business center. My husband received a document for work (reason for trip), and the business center didn't deliver it to us. He had even called to find out if the package arrived, and they said no. Then upon checkout, he found out it was waiting for him at the business center. I'm not sure if delivery was delayed or they were just waiting for him to get it. Overall, a very pleasant stay.

Mayfair Soho 5* Bid $120 - rejected ($195 offered - I rejected) Added 4* $75 - rejected Changed to Westminster & Mayfair Soho 5* Bid $130 - rejected Had a friend bid same strategy 5* $135 - rejected ($195 offered - we rejected) 4* $85 - rejected ($105 offered to me - we rejected) Changed to West & M/S 5* $140 - rejected Waited 3 days and started over 5* $145 rejected 4* 95 rejected ($120 offered to me - why their counter offer increased, I don't know!) Had a friend bid skipped 5* - too much for me at this point Mayfair Soho 4* $101 - accepted With taxes & fees, total for 4 nights is $487.10 Located near Charing Cross Station. From reviews on other sites, location is great and hotel is charming. I've only stayed at one other Thistle (Edinburgh) and I was very impressed by the service, food, and accomodations, so I am happy with the result.

Bid for 4* San Francisco 9/3 - 9/6 Fisherman's Wharf - $65 rejected Added USW - $70 rejected Added USE - $78 rejected Tried same prices for 9/3 - 9/5, all rejected Waited 3 days... Fisherman's Wharf - $80 rejected Added USE - $85 rejected Added USW - $95 accepted at Marriott San Francisco. Expedia lists for $139 for those dates. Not a steal, but I'm pretty happy. I'm pleased with the results from the reviews I've read, but it sounds like parking will be a robbery at $43+ per night.

I tried the same dates (9/3-9/5 and 9/3-9/6) with no luck up to $80. I have to wait another day to get to rebid. I included USE, USW, and Fisherman's Wharf 4*.

We just got back from an 8 night stay at the Gaylord Palms (7/30/05-8/7/05). The hotel is wonderful. Atrium areas are amazing, and pool was fun. They had a lot of summer activities at the hotels - live shows, alligator feedings, wine tastings... things all weekend throughout the summer. Food was pricey, but the concierge had a list of places that deliver pizza and chinese at reasonable prices. They delivered more water to our room for free with a call to the "consider it done" desk. Coffee maker didn't have tea, but front desk provided it after a couple of calls (again no charge). Resort fee a little high at $10, and they wouldn't budge on it, but in-room internet access was convenient. My husband also connected easily with his laptop. HUGE PROBLEM is transportation to Disney if you don't have a car. They say they're only 5 minutes from Disney, which means the Disney-owned property. Dropoff at any of the parks is 10-15 minutes, more if there are other parks where they have to drop people off. We planned to go in the morning, return for a swim, then go back to Epcot or MK at night. But the shuttle service follows a strict schedule for pickups, and they don't start picking people up at the parks until 2 pm. Then you have to go to all 4 parks before returning to the hotel. Same for afternoon/evening dropoffs. If you miss the bus, it's 1-1/2 hours before the next pickup time. The driver told us it would take over an hour just to get to Magic Kingdom at 6pm, so we took a taxi one night for $16. Alternative is to get off at the first park stop, then transfer to a Disney bus, which saved some time. Also, the hotel's transportation only takes you to the outer dropoff areas, so you have to plan carefully. At MK, for example, you have to exit the park and take the monorail or boat back to the transportation center, which adds about 15 minutes to your exit time. One day, we did arrange with the driver to pick us up at a special time, since we had small kids. They could do it because there wasn't much traffic that week. Also, we booked through Priceline at a good rate ($86), and there were no conventions in the hotel, which made it very quiet and relaxing. But the hotel did try to charge us an extra night. They adjusted it without any problem, but we thought it was odd that they would try to charge an extra night. And the rate they wanted to charge was $83, as compared to the $150+ on their website for that date. Maybe they have even better deals if you call direct? I would recommend this hotel for the area, just make sure you plan the transportation accordingly. It also looks like they have some kind of winter wonderland with ice sculptures at Christmas. And I'd like to see the other Gaylord properties as well.

I had the same experience. I bid on a hotel in Houston for $70 for a 3* (highest category for the area) for June 10-12 for 2 rooms. It came back with a rejection, but I could rebid if I bid at least $17 more. I tried to re-bid for $78 - I've heard that about half the suggested re-bid should be accepted, but it would only let me bid for $87 or more. It was for my parents, who are conservative about bidding and didn't want to risk not getting anything, so we bid. It did accept for $87. That was for a hotel we'd previously gotten for $50, too.

Are the hotels in the non-bidding section of Priceline in the same inventory as the bidding section? For example, is it likely that the same hotels that show availability the same ones that could potentially accept your bid? We used Priceline that way to make sure that at least some of the hotels we liked were available before bidding, and the dates of availability were different than the ones in Expedia. Expedia showed that at least one hotel was available on 7/29, while Priceline didn't show it available. :)

Zone - WDW Vicinity Resort $70 bid rejected Added zone - Resort $75 bid rejected Resort $86 bid accepted for Gaylord Palms Glad to get Gaylord Palms and not Hilton after reading Hilton reviews. We won at $70 once before for similar length of stay for the Swan, but the dates were low season (May). We looked at availability of hotels through Expedia and Priceline's compare and choose hotels options to make sure that there were several hotels available. Our previous plan was to go earlier, but only the Marriott, Hyatt, and Hilton were available. We wanted the possibility of the Dolphin/Swan, Gaylord, and others, too.

We stayed in this hotel almost 3 years ago, and we had a really good time. The grounds were nice, and the pool was well-kept. Our room had a funny odor like they had just cleaned the carpets and the carpet was wet (that mildewy smell). We contacted the front desk, and they promptly moved us to a nicer room on a high floor without any hesitation. We could see the fireworks at night from our window. We thought that getting to and from the parks was easy. You can take the hotel shuttle that stops at several hotels in the Downtown Disney area. The plus side is that the Wyndham is one of the first hotels on the route, so it rarely gets full before getting to the hotel (sometimes they skip the hotels at the end of the route because the bus is full). The downside is that you have a pretty good wait on the bus once you leave the hotel. But that's not too different from even the Disney hotel buses. An alternative is to walk over to Downtown Disney and take one of the Disney hotel buses. You can easily ride to one of the hotels on the monorail and take the monorail to the Magic Kingdom or ride to one of the hotels that has a boat to Epcot or MGM. You can also ride to some of the parks directly from there, especially the water parks. It's nice to be that close to Downtown Disney, too, since there is a McDonald's and other non-Disney restaurants plus the shopping options. The walk is only about 10-15 minutes after leaving your room, much less from the pool area. It's probably the closest hotel to Downtown. The hotel is a little old, but not in any worse shape than most of the other hotels in the area, and the staff was friendly. We were there in September, and all of the Spa packages were half price. I'm about to priceline the end of July, too, so thanks for the heads-up! Enjoy your stay.