BME

Been trying for somewhere in Chicago for a little while now - Finally got something today. We are going the 20-23rd of May, not prime time for anything and wanting to be near "the action". Here's what I did: Start with River North $150 4.5 & 5* only Add Millennium Park $151 Keep 4.5 & 5* only Add Hyde Park $140 Add 4* Add Franklin Park $145 4*+ Got the bid with the last entry for $525 out the door at the Hyatt Regency (4*) - going for $199 (non-refundable) normally so about $50 off per night. Not sure if I'm excited over this win though - I don't like that the Hyatt doesn't have free wifi in rooms, that I don't get Hyatt points with Price.line, and I think it was a bit high to pay for the hotel. But it is within about a 2 mile or less walk of what we want to do! For reference, we could have gotten Hotel Indigo for $148 normal price for same nights, but it is a 3.5* hotel and is in River North district (that's the hotel I was comparing to while bidding).

Thanks so much for the help everyone! Your tips and lists were wonderful and I was able to score the hotel RIGHT NEXT to my conference for over $100 less than the "special conference price" rate and less than even hotwire had it listed for... With taxes and fees, I'm at $268 for two nights! Started the bidding way low and worked up to it.. had to restart the website once since I had maxed out the areas... but the lowest price was $120 on HOTWIRE so came in under that...

So I'm reporting back on this attempt - we actually did it twice. I started at $75 and went up to $100 on the first try and started at $90 and went up to $110 on the second try. Next I went for USE, FD, FW and added other sites that had no 3.5* or 4* but no luck so I will be sticking with my (unsafe and further out but cheap) B&B for this trip and will try again next time using BB's site. Tips for others: Start early & if you book one place through somewhere else (like we did with B&B), give yourself time to try over a week or two every day before the cancellation date comes up. Thanks for the help!

Thanks so much for those links! The Comfort Inn is a bit out of our way, but I see on Hotels.com that a room with two queens is only $130 - I will call and ask about 3 adults in that room, but it will most likely come out to less than $288, which is what we have for a B&B now. Of course, it will be up to my travel companions if they wish to do that, but having the option is great.

@Go - it's right next to it, yes, and I have searched there...I was just told being IN NB is better, I'm willing to go out as long as it's safe. And if it's less than $100 a night - which of course is hard to ask. We are currently so far away though, that I thought it would be worth trying.... @Aaron - We are currently booked for $100 a night so my max budget would be that :-) It also includes breakfast for that price... I wanted to know if we could move closer to the action, hence why I am looking. Acceptable zones would be Union District W & E, FD, FW since those are closer to where I want to be (NB). This would be for the night of the 27th and 28th of June. We will most likely be buying a CityPass and so can ride the Muni anywhere all the time, but I want somewhere safe to walk at night, with several good places to eat and things to do. I realize I'm asking a lot so if it's not doable, please let me know and I will just stick with what we have. Thanks!

Hi Aaron, thanks for getting back to me! For HOTWIRE, they don't have anything when I rule out Santa Rosa and 1* hotels and under $200 a night for 3 people. We do need more than 1 bed - there are two of us who are married and the third is a friend (all adults). For PRICELINE, the list you gave I have looked at, but it's all in the Napa region but not upper napa valley, which is where I'm searching (as I really want ones close to St. Helena). I know it's a bit restricting, only using Zone 8 (through priceline) but we won't be finished with our meal until around 1 in the morning and we don't want to drive far after that. Plus, we'd like to use the room to change before the meal and thus we don't want to have to drive far before either. Napa would mean driving ~20 miles out of our way to and from the meal! Santa Rosa would mean driving ~15 miles out of our way to and from the meal AND the next morning! But when I search "Upper Napa Valley", the best they offer are 2.5* so I was hoping for help identifying that and getting some kind of a bid range. I hope that makes sense and if there are any tips for getting HOTWIRE to offer any results, that would be useful as well.

Hi all, I was told the best place to stay is north of market and closer to North Beach. We currently have a B&B near 17th and Dolores but it's only $10 to cancel if we want. We are booked at $99 a night there, plus taxes etc of course. However, since we'd prefer to spend money on food, I figured I'd hunt more. I was looking for places in the North Beach area, ideally near Coit Tower, but priceline seems to skip that area of town. Any ideas of how to go there? Also, I searched for 4*, USE and USW and FD and put in $65 per night, but how do I see if it will let me without putting in my CC info? Or do I just let it get rejected and bump up slowly? (Yes I will go re-read the forums for these but quick tips are helpful). I would prefer to stay with 3.5* and up. Thanks y'all!

Hi everyone, I was sent here from "one bag one world" to get help with my upcoming trip to CA. We have already reserved a place for 2 nights in the city, but I'm having difficulty with a place for one night. Specifically, the night of June 25th (a Monday). We scored reservations to a VERY nice place in St. Helena to eat - but they are for 9:30pm and supper won't be finished for "around 3.5 hours". And wineries in the area close around 5pm. The next morning, we will be driving down to Santa Cruz so we need to find a place where we can check in around 5pm, change for supper, entertain ourselves for a bit, and leave in the morning. Since Napa is around 20-30 minutes south of St. Helena, that's too far to go at 1am and we wanted to find a place in St. Helena so we can get maximum sleep after supper. Ideally, that place should also offer breakfast. Finally, there are three of us - all adults and we will have a car. I have looked through hotels.com, bed and breakfast sites, priceline, and hotwire. I have found, on Priceline, 2.5* (low for me) for $50 naming my own price (haven't hit accept yet) somewhere between mid St. Helena & lower Yountville. 8+ reviewers, pool, gym, breakfast, business center. Anyone know what that is? I looked on Google maps, but there are TONS of hotels in the area! Can anyone offer some help or suggestions as to how to go about this? Our budget is tight and with three of us, it's a bit of an issue. We don't want to have to drive north to Santa Rosa or south to Napa (although we can if we have to). We can get two rooms as well, if the price is low enough. Finally, I can't sleep at the really cheap places (like a Motel 8) - the bedding itches and the pillow results in a very sore back in the morning due to health problems. So nothing below 3* would probably work. Thanks so much!!