TProphet

Tried entering $40, $45, and $50 and was warned by priceline that the bid had almost no chance of being accepted. The warning cleared at $55 and my first bid was accepted (so I probably bid too high). This property appears to be advertised as a PRICELINE EXPRESS Deal with the price at $67 per night, so I was able to score a price under this. I did start the bidding process on betterbidding.com through the board [url=http://www.betterbidding.com/clicks/click.php?afsrc=1&id=40]PRICELINE[/url] link so you should get the commission!

I wanted this hotel. Bid $50 with Redwood City selected, 2*. Declined. Went up to $55 and added Mountain View zone. Declined. Went up to $60 and added Menlo Park zone. Accepted and I ended up with the hotel I wanted.

One question about the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links... if I use the "quickquote" toolbars at the top of the page, is this equivalent? This toolbar is what I used. Just want to make sure you get your credit. :)

After purchase, here is the list of amenities that appear: Amenities See description Free Parking Suite Casino Fitness Center Pool(s) Restaurant(s) Business Center Laundry Facilities (self-service) Golf Nearby Accessible for the blind Accessible for the deaf Accessible path of travel In-room accessibility Wheelchair accessible Accessible bathroom Handicapped parking Roll-in shower

Matches other zoning, star level and amenities previously reported. There is a whopping $14/day resort fee for this property, but this made the property relatively easy to identify since it matches what the hotel charges on its own site. Unfortunately, given Hotwire's whopping surcharges the savings aren't much, you really only save the actual room tax vs. booking with the hotel directly. If I didn't have HotDollars that were expiring, I would have booked directly with the hotel since I wanted this property. Here are the amenities shown before booking. It's worth noting the amenities shown after booking are different and if you rely on these to find the hotel, you may get it wrong or miss an opportunity: Free Parking <amenity names only please... not descriptions> Suite A guestroom designed for an extended stay and/or that is more spacious than the average hotel room. Suites typically offer residential-style furnishings, as well as separate living and sleeping areas; some also offer kitchenettes. Casino Property offers a full-service casino accessible from the lobby. Fitness Center Guests have access to exercise equipment; an additional charge may apply. Pool(s) Property offers at least one pool area; hours and dates of operation may be seasonal. Restaurant(s) Property offers at least one restaurant on the premises; hours and days of operation may vary. Business Center Guests have access to business equipment and services; an additional charge may apply. Laundry Facilities (self-service) <amenity names only please... not descriptions> I should probably also mention the dates, 31 July through 1 August.

Bid $5 for a compact at SEA for dates 12/30 through 1/2. Priceline took me to a screen that suggested a bid of $11. I re-bid at $7 unsuccessfully. Priceline then displayed a "special offers" page including an economy at $5 advertised from Payless. Normal reservation process, not pre-paid! All-in price is $41.64 for 3 days.

Bid $75, was offered the opportunity to re-bid for $99. Opened another browser and bid $85 for the same dates and star level, was again offered the ability to re-bid for $99. Went back to the first browser and re-bid at $99, and got this hotel. It's the Fairfield Inn NY Manhattan/Times Square, 330 West 40th Street. Barely inside the boundaries, this really ought to be in the Times Square area. Tripadvisor review here: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g60763-d1390172-Reviews-Fairfield_Inn_Suites_by_Marriott_New_York_Manhattan_Times_Square-New_York_City_New_York.html And yes, I did finally book through your affiliate link this time. :)

Unfortunately the PRICELINE link didn't work from the Chinese computer I was using in Beijing and I didn't have time to figure out why. Bid 4* at $59 for Gong Nam area. Rejected. There are two other areas in Seoul so I added these at $69 and $79, both rejected. Swallowed hard, added 3* and raised bid to the lucky Chinese number of $88 (yes, I know this is generally a bad strategy, but nobody has ever won a 3* in Seoul so I figured Priceline might be bluffing, and $88 isn't bad for a 3* centrally located hotel on Easter weekend anyway). Ka-ching! Accepted, and upgraded to 4* - the Renaissance, same hotel everyone else seems to be getting in Seoul. Maybe this is the only one Priceline has. $44.44 in taxes and junk fees added. Be aware that at this hotel there is a truly outrageous charge for Internet service. There is no toothbrush or toothpaste in the amenity kit - if you take them from the minibar, it will cost you the equivalent of about $15. Minibars are overpriced but this one takes the cake, about $16 for an airline sized bottle of Johnny Walker black. Also, check your bill carefully - there was a ~$30 charge for a breakfast I didn't eat on the bill when I checked out. Be sure to ask the hotel to charge you in local currency rather than dollars - if you let them charge you in dollars it's at a very unfavorable rate and your bank will still nail you with foreign transaction fees anyway. If you overlook this scammy garbage (typical of Marriott properties), the hotel is a solid 4* property in an excellent location. Priceline bookings earn no Marriott Rewards points, though, so keep this in mind. My status didn't count for anything since I booked through Priceline, but I got a decent room (it wasn't the worst room in the hotel like I'm used to getting when I book through Priceline).

Wow. Getting a room on this holiday weekend was like pulling teeth. It took lots of bids... - Started with 3* at $91. Rejected. - Opened another browser window and tried 3* at $101. Rejected. - Went down to 2.5* at $101, rejected. - Went down to 2* at $101, rejected. - In my first browser window, went down to 2.5* at $110, rejected. - Went down to 2* at $115, rejected (yes, I know this is a bad strategy, but the difference between 2* and 2.5* is rarely substantive) - Changed date to the first night of stay only at $125 at 2* level, finally won. - Was offered the option to extend stay, but went to first browser window and bid 1* at $100. Rejected. Changed dates and bid 1* at $80 for Friday only, also rejected. - Accepted offer to extend stay for $125. All-in, subtotal $125, taxes & fees $23.62 per night. OUCH. I have only paid this much in Copenhagen for a 4*, and Key West Travelodge isn't nearly as nice! Property: Travelodge Suites Key West 3444 North Roosevelt Blvd Key West, Florida 33040 ** Note this property does NOT yet appear in the Priceline hotel list for Florida **

Just landed the Copenhagen Marriott for $108 per night on 9/11 through 9/13. In a city where a hostel bunk costs a whopping $50 per night, it's definitely not a bad deal... - Bid $103 two days ago and ignored the counteroffer at $125. - Bid at $103 today (the lowest amount where the "based on our records, your offer has a very low chance of being accepted" text went away), got counteroffer of $118. - I ignored the counter and tried later at $108. This was accepted (additional nights were offered at the same rate). It appears that priceline may only have this one property in Copenhagen because when I selected 2* and 3* properties, the same $103 minimum bid was required to get rid of the "based on our records..." text (which from my experience should not be ignored). If you're willing to risk a 2* or 3* property to try the normally ill-advised strategy of increasing the bid while decreasing star levels, this may be worth a shot if you're too aggressive with your bidding. Priceline added $62.31 in junk fees, making the real price $139.16 per night.

Bid $7 for a compact, priceline declined but offered a free rebid. Rebid at $8, was declined. No free rebid, so selected Economy at $8, and that was declined. Bid $9 for midsize and was declined. Bid $9 for compact, and that was accepted. Total price $28.10 all-in from National. They won't let me add my Emerald Club number to the reservation--go figure. :)

Amenities: Oceanfront, Restaurant(s), Pool(s), Fitness Center, Laundry Facilities

After numerous failed attempts on priceline, Hotwire coughed up the Maui Seaside Hotel for $90. Came to about $110 with taxes/fees/etc. Not a great deal, but it beats anything else I've been able to find--given the hotel prices on Maui, I'll be camping most of this week!

Don't get me wrong, the property isn't bad, but it just isn't very good for the price or for the 3* rating. And yes, I agree the location is fantastic if you want to be in the middle of the Strip. - Noise is a huge problem. The insulation is very poor and traffic outside woke me up more than once. - Security on the doors doesn't meet AAA ratings standards (no chain lock), making it easy for housekeepers to barge in at 8:45AM. And again at 11AM. - The property is old and this leads to maintenance issues notwithstanding the dated 1979 decor. For example the water was shut off for 15 minutes yesterday. - High-speed Internet costs $11 per day. This is roughly 1/3 of the room rate. Fortunately Caesar's Palace nearby has an unsecured access point that allows outbound RDP and SSH connections, so I was able to get online through my home machine (if you don't have Windows XP Professional yet, this is a great reason to upgrade!). The New Frontier doesn't have most of these problems and is rated 2.5* so the 3* rating just doesn't make much sense to me. I learned my lesson, though, and won't use Priceline in Las Vegas again unless I'm bidding on an off-Strip property on a peak day (they have some great deals on Extended Stay properties during the weekends). Incidentally, Priceline paid $34.88 for the room, plus 9% sales tax ($38.02 total). The "taxes and fees" added up to $10.68, making $7.54 Priceline's take on the deal. I paid $2.09 more through priceline than I would have paid booking directly.

Priceline wasn't very good to me today. After bidding all the way from $22 to $35 (using two different browsers and credit cards) on 3* and 4* hotels, I finally got the "3*" Barbary Coast for $35. The total is $45.68 including Priceline's fee and tax. The Barbary Coast sells rooms on their Web site for $39 so I actually ended up paying more than I would have booking directly. It's a pretty crummy property and I'm not sure how it qualifies as a 3* in any respect whatsoever. Oh well, you win some and you lose some I suppose. I updated the hotel listing thread with this stinker of a property in Las Vegas.