Marliny

What's with the taxes/fees on car rentals? For the time period I am looking at which is not quite 2 days, my lowest price through conventional methods for a compact car is $27.66 + $10.47 in taxes ($38.13 total). If I start a Priceline bid even at $10/day my taxes and fees come to $24.74 (total of $44.74), so to get a total that was equal to my regular rental for a compact I would have to bid $6.69 / day just to equal my regular price. I am sure I wouldn't get it at that price, plus to justify Priceline I really would want to be under that price. Why are their taxes and fees so high compared to the car rental agencies directly? Hotwire is $54.21 total w/ fees.

Bid date 3/10/10, Started biding at $50, then icrementally raised my bid $5 till I won at $70, using free rebids, (used Ft Sam Houston, SAT East, SAT NE, SAT South for rebid areas). Used your PRICELINE link. Room Cost: $70.00 (USD) Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 4 Room Subtotal: $280.00 (USD) Taxes and Fees: $57.72 (USD) Total Room Cost: $337.72 (USD)

Dates of stay are 3/25/10 to 3/28/10

Bid on 2/25/10, Can't remember where I started (I should have post this a week ago), I used a couple rebids to get to $50 Got an offer to extend stay if I wanted to, so I decided to arrive a day earlier for the same price. I am running the ING Atlanta marathon this weekend and was glad to see that this hotel is within a 3/4 mile of the start line. Room Cost: $50.00 (USD) Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 2 Room Subtotal: $100.00 (USD) Taxes and Fees: $29.12 (USD) Total Room Cost: $129.12 (USD)

Bid on 3/1/10, Started at $35, then used free rebids, got it on $45 Got an offer to extend stay if I wanted to. Meant to use your PRICELINE link and forgot, sorry. Room Cost: $45.00 (USD) Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 3 Room Subtotal: $130.00 (USD) Taxes and Fees: $27.84 (USD) Total Room Cost: $162.84 (USD)

Bid on 3/8/10, I bid $40, then $45 using free rebids, got it on $50 (used Mt Vernon & DC Suburbs for rebids). Got an offer to extend stay if I wanted to. Used your PRICELINE link. Room Cost: $50.00 (USD) Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 3 Room Subtotal: $150.00 (USD) Taxes and Fees: $29.61 (USD) Total Room Cost: $179.61 (USD)

I have been trying to get something at National Harbor for a while, I had wanted a 4* (hoping to get the Gaylord) but went up to $125 and decided to give up. I am attending a convention at the Gaylord and had a reservation their for $230, and the recently lowered their convention rate to $199 so I know they are not projecting to be full during this period. Today I started with 3* and bid $105, didn't get it but got an offer to increase my bid by $22 to get it right away. Knowing from past experience that I can always go under that offer a bit, I added Mt Vernon and bid $115 and got it. For what it's worth, I also got an offer to extend my stay.

Bid $40 for Winston-Salem West, added Winston-Salem for $45, then added North Winston-Salem for $50 (I didn't really care which area I stayed in, although what I got worked better then "North"). I hadn't seen this hotel as a possibility in any hotel lists for this area on betterbidding.com. It looks like a pretty nice hotel, I was afraid I would get the Holiday Inn, which I personally don't care for. Rates for this hotel are $179, which seems high to me for a 3* in this city.

Bid today, started at $25 and rebid 4 times (using free rebid areas) increasing by $3 each time till I got it at $37. As a side note, I tried several times for downtown, but it appears that everything is pretty full. I bid up to $66 on 6/19/09 for a 4 star and gave up as I didn't want to spend that much, Red White & Boom being on a weekend must be the reason (other years I have gotten a 4 star for $50 on the same date), as it appears all the 3 & 3 1/2 stars are full. The 2 1/2* Holiday is still available, but I have stayed their and it's a stretch in my opinion to call it a 2 1/2*.

I have bid several times over the last several months for a convertible at this location (including this time) for up to $33 and it was always rejected. Finally I gave up and got this car for $23. I probably could have got it for a bit less, but I leave in a week and didn't want to lose my chance at bidding.

Started bidding at $54.00 and kept raising my bid by two dollars at a time. This is pretty easy for a four star in Columbus as most areas do not have four star hotels. Areas used for free rebids were: Easton, Airport, East & South. Taxes are $17.77 which brought my total to $79.77.