electriccity

Winning bid of $51 a night, or $186 for three nights all inclusive. Rate at hotels.com for the same property was $129 a night, or $445 for three nights all inclusive. Bid strategy: 1. $40, 3.5*, downtown Norfolk. Rejected. 2. $43, added 3*. Rejected. 3. $45, added downtown Portsmouth. Rejected. 4. $46, added Chesapeake/Greenbrier. Rejected. 5. $51, added Norfolk Airport (ORF). Accepted. Not the fancy downtown Sheraton Waterside that I was making a lowball bid for, but it will do. Free breakfast, free airport shuttle, and free on-site parking (the lack of which is a drawback for the Waterside). Used the PRICELINE link here at betterbidding.com. Happy to support a great service.

Got the Sheraton Harrisburg/Hershey for $75 on the first bid. All-in price of $91.03. Was hoping for the Crowne Plaza, another 3.5 star property in that zone - official hotel for a wedding we're attending - but you can't win them all. The Sheraton is a nice property in any case. Used the PRICELINE link here at betterbidding.com. Thanks again for providing a fantastic resource. We would be lost without the insights gained here.

Was able to use the extend-a-stay feature on PRICELINE to add a night here for another $46... the folks in front of me in the front desk line this morning were quoted a rack rate of $179. Nice.

Got a great deal on this nice downtown Norfolk property thanks to the previous poster here who got the Sheraton for $45. I bid a buck more as a precautionary measure. Used the PRICELINE link at betterbidding.com. Thanks again for providing this resource.

We used our priceline skills learned on betterbidding.com to get the 3.5 star Sheraton Waterside in downtown Norfolk for four nights 3/30-4/2 for a bid of $45. All-in cost was $217.56, or $54 a night. Cheapest rack rate st starwoodhotels.com was $131/night all-in, so a good deal. We wanted to stay in downtown Norfolk or downtown Portsmouth, so here was our strategy: 1. 36, 3.5*, downtown Norfolk 2. 38, add 3* 3. 40, add Norfolk Naval Base/Tidewater, free rebid since no 3/3.5 properties 4. 41, add downtown Portsmouth 5. 43, add Central Suffolk free rebid since no 3/3.5 properties 6. 45, add Chesapeake Bowers Hill free rebid since no 3/3.5 properties 7. Success! We've stayed at the Sheraton Waterside before - it's a great property. Used the PRICELINE link on betterbidding.com. Thanks to the moderators of this site. It's a great resource.

Got it on my first bid of $60. All-in price is $73.61 a night, or $147.22 for two nights. Rack rate at marriott.com is $149 a night pretax or $170 a night all-in. Quite a savings. Used the PRICELINE link here at betterbidding.com. This site is a great service -- I used another poster's winning bid of $61 at the same hotel to game my bid.

This was a bid I made on the fly tonight for friends who are stuck at O'Hare because of severe weather in Chicago and elsewhere in the Midwest. First bid rejected: $65, ORD North zone, 4* Second bid accepted: $70, added 3.5* Marriott Chicago O'Hare O'Hare Airport (ORD) North 8535 West Higgins Road Chicago, Illinois 60631 773-693-4444 All-in price was $88. I might have been able to bid a little lower but I wanted to get them a room quickly. My friends are price-sensitive but would rather (I think) pay $88 for the Marriott than $68 for the Red Roof Inn in Palatine. Used the PRICELINE link on betterbidding.com. Many thanks for this wonderful resource.

Update from the Hyatt: Because we checked in so late (12:30 a.m.), they were out of plebe rooms and had to put us on the key card-access only club zone at the top of the building. That comes with access to the high rollers only lounge on the 32nd floor, where the hotel offers free continental breakfast, free afternoon snacks, free nighttime dessert, and an honor bar. All maintained by a a discreet, deferential staff. Quite the tragedy, huh? All for $90 a night all-in on priceline. The rack rate for the same room tonight at hyatt.com is $328. That is for tonight only. We paid $269 all-in for our entire stay. My wife and I tried not to look like we just came in from the farm, but we're accustomed to the Wingate Inn lobby waffle machine, not lox and capers on our bagels. Thanks to betterbidding.com for making it happen.

Saw the winning bids for this property and unsuccessfully tried to lowball the price a little and/or get into the Embarcadero. First bid: $65, 4* Financial District/Embarcadero, rejected Second bid, $70, added USE, rejected Third bid $75, added Fisherman's Wharf, accepted (essentially a free rebid because there are no 4* in Fisherman's Wharf) Grand Hyatt San Francisco 4 Star Union Square East 345 Stockton Street San Francisco, California 94108 All-in price for three nights was $269. Compare that to the rack rate of $209/night on the Hyatt Web site, with an all-in price of $725 for all three nights. Used BB's PRICELINE link. Thanks again for all you guys do. This is a great resource that has saved us scads of money on big-city hotel stays.

Got the Sheraton Waterside in downtown Norfolk on my first bid of $48/night. Based my bid on an earlier winning bid reported here of $46 for the 3* Marriott Residence Inn downtown. The Sheraton is a nice 3.5* hotel. It's for my in-laws, who are kind of fussy. Otherwise I would have tried to lowball the bid at around $40 and gone down to 3*. There is a glut of rooms in downtown Norfolk, especially this time of year. Used the betterbidding.com PRICELINE link. Sheraton Norfolk Waterside Hotel 3

Got the fancy-looking Hotel Monaco on my first bid of $80 for a 4* in the Downtown/Pike Place district. The all-in cost is $99. Not bad at all for what looks like a premium property. The all-in rack rate is $227! The great thing about betterbidding.com is that it helps you drill down to exactly the kind of hotel you want for the price you want. My wife and I are normally $45-Doubletree-at-the-airport types, but this will be her first trip to Seattle and also our first trip sans Baby Electriccity. So I wanted something nicer and downtown, but close to Pike Place and light rail. And, thanks to PRICELINE, we got it. Used the official betterbidding.com PRICELINE link. Thanks for providing a fantastic forum.

Failed on a second try just now. (Panic setting in....) First bid, 3*, $80: failed Second bid, added 2.5*, $90, failed Third bid, added 2*, $105, failed Fourth bid, added 1*, $115, failed (Charlottesville is a single zone for PRICELINE purposes.) The cheapest hotel at Orbitz for the weekend is the Red Roof Inn for $88/night. The next-cheapest is the Econo Lodge at $160 (!) night. Many properties are showing sold out. As another poster noted, it's parent's weekend. We are in town for a wedding. Maybe we can stay in a dorm? :) Used the bb PRICELINE link. Thanks again for providing this forum. It's a wonderful resource.

First bid: $40, 3*, rejected Second bid: $45, added 2.5*, rejected Third bid: $50, added 2*, rejected Fourth bid: $55, added 1*, rejected I know these are lowball bids, but the date is still well down the road and I figured I had nothing to lose by lowballing. Rack rates are inexplicably expensive for that weekend: $88/night (Red Carpet Inn) is cheapest at bing.com and the Econo Lodge is second-cheapest at $125/night. We are aiming for the Comfort Inn Monticello or the Doubletree Charlottesville. The Doubletree, in particular, seems to be a Priceline favorite. Will try again in a few days. Used the bb.com PRICELINE link.

This was actually quite painless; PRICELINE accepted my first bid, $50 for a 4* in the ORD zone. Got the Hyatt Regency O'Hare. The rack rate for the weekend is $160 a night on the hotel Web site. Pros: nice hotel. Cons: parking is $20 a night, and Internet is $15 a day. That's what you get at hotels like this. (Was actually bidding on three rooms for two nights, and the all-in price is $60 per room per night.) The Hyatt is quite close (a few blocks on foot, free 24-hour shuttle) to the Blue Line. This hotel would be a good option for Lollapalooza fans who can't afford the premium prices downtown. I've stayed by the airport for downtown events before and it's a quick and easy train ride downtown. Used the PRICELINE link on the BB site.

We're actually flying and hoping to avoid car rental. I had hoped that the Lollapalooza effect wouldn't be beyond the Grant Park/Loop area. We'll see. The purpose of the trip is to go to a Cubs game (well, an Iowa Cubs game at Wrigley Field) and to get a little boozy. I'd rather stay at a 2.5* for $80 in Lincoln Park than a 4* in Evanston for $100. I do appreciate the input, though. What's the deal with the new Lincoln Park sector? I also noticed that nothing from it was on the PL hotel list here.

I was a little too cheap in my attempt to get a room in the NMA/River North/Lincoln Park area on 8/7-8/9. First bid: $50, 4*, NMA/River North and apparently Lincoln Park as well, though I didn't realize I'd checked it. Rejected. Second bid: $55, added 3.5*. Rejected. Third bid: $56, added 3*. Rejected. Fourth bid: $57, added 2.5* Rejected. I did not add any other areas because we'd really like to stay between downtown and Wrigley Field; we're going to an Iowa Cubs game there on Sunday 8/9. I thought for sure Lincoln Park would be a winner for us on the last bid because a) the properties are all 2.5* or below and :) the "real" Cubs are out of town. The sticker prices for Wrigleyville hotels, however, were all quite expensive at $200+. I did not add ORD because we want to stay closer to town. PL offered a number of hotels (Super 8, Candlewood) in the $60-$70 range after the last failure. Does anyone know what hotels are in the Lincoln Park area? There were none listed in the pinned list here. Used the BB PRICELINE link. Will try again in a day or two, or will have my wife try. Thanks to the moderators and contributors here; this is a wonderful site.

I'm bringing this post around to update the parking situation: There are affordable private parkades near the hotel and there is also metered street parking (free after 6 p.m.). We checked in at 9 p.m. and checked out at 8 a.m., so we paid zero to park on the street.

First bid rejected: $79, 4* in WH/Downtown Second bid rejected: $80, 4*, added DuPont Circle/Woodley Park Third bid accepted: $81, 4*, added Georgetown/Foggy Bottom Grand total, including all taxes and fees, was $100. The rack rate, including taxes and fees, was $205. The Renaissance M Street Hotel is on the border of the Georgetown and White House zone; a close parsing of the PL maps shows it as technically in the Georgetown zone. I was inflexible on zones because my wife is staying that week at the Madison Loews near the White House, and baby and I are joining her in DC for a day after the conference ends. We were trying to avoid making her move hotels for one night. Oh well. Used the PRICELINE link on the BB site. Thanks for all the site offers. It's a great resource.

Waaaaah: Be careful bidding for a 3.5* near a big-city airport... parking at the Hyatt is $25 a night! Shoulda just gone to the Pentagon Days Inn....

Successful bid the second time around for a room 3/28/09. Got the 3.5* Hyatt Regency Crystal City, 2799 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, Virginia 22202 for a bid of $48 ($62 overall). Bid 1 rejected: 3.5*, Arlington zone, $45 Bid 2 rejected: added Crystal City zone, $46 Bid 3 accepted: added 3*, $48 Used the bb.com PRICELINE link. Thanks to all here. This site is a great resource. [Mods, can you edit the subject line to reflect a successful bid? Thanks.]

Failed bid for a room in the Arlington area 3/28/09. Our needs are flexible and it's still a month away, so I tried to lowball a room. Bid 1 rejected: 4*, Arlington zone, $42 Bid 2 rejected: added 3.5*, stayed in Arlington zone, $45 Bid 3 rejected: added Crystal City zone, $46 I know those are probably unrealistically low bids for 3.5-4*, but I wanted to give it a try. I'll wait a day and retry in the $40-$45 range starting at 3.5* and going down to 3*. Used the bb.com PRICELINE link.

Dahammer is on the mark. My wife and I have "won" the Nichols Village a couple times on PRICELINE. They do a ton of PL business by virtue of being labeled a three-star hotel, which is a colossal joke. Dark, dowdy, worn. A family property that hasn't been reinvested in. That said, it's a good value for $40 if you just need a place to sleep. It's dowdy but not seedy. It's in a nice suburban area on a busy commercial strip with lots of services. Clean sheets, no bugs, no drugs. They do a good trade with weekend skiers who just need a place to rest. It's a long haul from downtown Scranton, something to bear in mind if you're in town for St. Patrick's weekend or any other event involving booze.

3.5* Northern VA (Airport Dulles IAD) Sheraton Reston Hotel, $45... 3/16/09-3/19/09 Sheraton Reston Hotel 11810 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, Virginia 20191 Four nights at $45 per night, for a grand total of $158. This is a great deal; the Sheraton/Starwood site quotes a per-room rate of $228 all in, or $683 for all three nights. Priceline is really a lifesaver in this case. I have to go up there for a multi-day job interview in the IAD area, so I didn't want to stay out in the boonies. The IAD hotels are very consultant- and contractor-heavy, so it is impossible to find cheap rooms during the week. The earlier poster who got an IAD-area room provided my bidding strategy; I first tried $40 for a 4* (on a lark) and then $45 for a 3.5*. The second bid was accepted. Thanks to the guys who provide this board.

I brazenly copied the winning bid of another person here and it worked perfectly. There are only two three-star hotels in Scranton, the other being the Radisson, which is very nice, so we knew we were going to do well either way. Lowest rate on the Hilton Web site was $90.