GM Mike

Are you bidding for this on priceline? Hotwire? If so, what is your bidding history, including zones? If not, are you open to using one of those services? Or even EasyClickTravel? What's your actual budget?

Now you do realize the L train station is IN the airport, very close to the hotel? You've really got it made on this one. 45 minute air conditioned ride and you're downtown. And you saved, what, $400? :)

I'm hoping, given that I know relatively little about Boston, that someone else will post a strategy suggestion for you. If not, I'll make an attempt at it tomorrow (or later tonight if you're really "chomping at the bit"). Hotwire is not a bidding service. They tell you the amount you'd have to pay, plus a listing of amenities, then let you decide if you want it. There are lists here that match amenities to known hotels, making it less of a guessing game -- but still a guessing game. Costs you nothing to run the search on hotwire and take a look. If you really and truly will accept ANY hotel...... you may just get what you want in the zones you want. EDIT: Looking at the information you gave, there's no reason I can't suggest a strategy, so I'll post one in a few minutes. Then everyone can critique it. :)

Welcome -- My first instinct is to discourage you from using priceline. In Times Square you're fairly likely to get a SMALL room from priceline that would not fit four people. You may still get a good value from searching for a 4-person room on hotwire. Also, before you use priceline the first time, I'd strongly recommend you read the PRICELINE FAQ posted here. In the final analysis, it may be cheaper to bid on THREE rooms on priceline... What are your thoughts about that? Can you deal with potentially not getting any special requests, such as non-smoking or connecting rooms?

Totally forgot about this. thenewbie put together this page on BOSTON PARKING. Hope you find it helpful. (Have you considered taking a bus/train instead of driving? Staying near a T stop and riding the T downtown?)

Before anyone here can suggest a strategy, we need you to do one more thing. :) You need to calculate your bid amount BEFORE taxes. Please go to the Boston bidding section on priceline, put in a bid amount, but do NOT enter credit card information and do NOT click "Buy My Hotel Room". On the credit card screen, BEFORE you make your final purchase submission, it will list a total cost with taxes and fees for a given bid amount. Please enter bid amounts WITHOUT making a final submission until you find the bid amount that gives you the highest total cost you'd be willing to accept. You'll also want to subtract what you find to be the average parking fee for each zone from the bid amount you enter. Then, give us a list like this: World Trade Center $x, Cambridge $y, etc. Someone here will help you develop a strategy that first attempts WTC up to your max bid for that zone, then helps you bid other inner zones up to your max, then outer zones up to your max -- probably at a 3* quality? or 2.5* quality? You're obviously very flexible about this but we do need guidance as to which quality level is bare minimum for you. Using the hotel lists here for Boston, you can get a good feel for the MOST LIKELY wins to see what quality level will work as a minimum for you. Finally, before you bid, make sure you run a search on hotwire. Some of those rates may be cheaper than your maximum bid, so they might become an effective maximum bid (above which, you'd just buy the hotwire offer). Hopefully I haven't confused you too much. :)

Be very careful of a strategy where you add rebid zones that are NOT free rebids, but which you THINK have only very expensive hotels at that * level. Most of us have lived to regret that choice. For example, just last week I DIDN'T GET THE ZONE I EXPECTED in Sacramento that way. It only worked out because, while I didn't want that zone, my plans could be changed a little to make it work. Danger... danger... danger... (And always check your rebid zones directly, on priceline's bidding screen, for each bid. Do NOT just copy zones someone else has used here or from the hotel lists here. Zone * levels change regularly.)

What are your dates for the stay? Are you sure that LaQuinta is in that zone? (Did you look at the detailed priceline map for that zone and see if the exact location of the hotel is within that mapped zone?) There are a lot of oddly shaped priceline zones.

Welcome -- I'm pretty sure no one here will want to bid for you. :) Please give us exact details of how you're bidding and we'll try to offer you some suggestions. Also, do you need to be in the Inner Harbor? What's the general purpose of your visit? What's your actual maximum bid? Refundable backup reservation?

Only an administrator can do that. Just ask thereuare within the thread to update it and he will.

Before I even attempt to answer that, have you ever used priceline before? Your room for two people may have one bed. Is that ok? Please take a look at PRICELINE FAQ if you don't have a lot of experience with the service.

Have you tried hotwire? Do you have a fully refundable backup reservation somewhere?

Do the parking fees in the inner zones affect your willingness to stay there/maximum bid amounts?

We just had a win reported for 7/20-24 at $130 in NYC so your budget is probably reasonable. I would go ahead and book the flights now. Don't want to lose the fare and you're getting close to your arrival date. Perhaps thereuare could suggest a bidding strategy for you, for the most common tourist zones, up to your maximum at $150, probably 3 and/or 4*. (I don't go to the city enough to have the strategy down firmly.)

A few points: Will you need a wheelchair accessible room? What if the hotel will not honor that request if you book thru priceline? Also, if you book a flight directly, please begin your purchase using the airline's link in the SUPPORT BETTERBIDDING page, if it's an airline listed there. You're probably better off NOT using priceline for a flight because of the unpredictability of it.

Hotwire shows the lowest priced option they have in their inventory for each star level/zone combination. You will continue to see the same hotels until one of these things happens: 1) Someone buys that option and there are no more rooms at that property at that price 2) Another hotel offers hotwire rooms at a lower price 3) The hotel you are seeing decides to raise its price/remove inventory

You won't be able to bid again today since your 3* bids include 4* implicitly. The "right" answer is probably to inch your bids up by a few $ each bid, three bids a day, until you hit a win or reach whatever your maximum bid amount is. You should also have a fully refundable backup reservation somewhere. Also, you should check hotwire and see if you can find any deals there. Also keep in mind, even if you get a hotel you like for this night, bidding that same price on another night(s) does NOT have a strong correlation with what hotel you'll get on your new bid. If there is more than one hotel willing to accept a particular price, the win may be awarded randomly. There may also be different pricing levels/inventory for different dates that are not reflected in any way from the transparent sites.

Yes, there is a zone you are missing. It is EXTREMELY important that you do NOT use the hotel lists here to determine rebid zones. You need to go to the initial zone selection screen for Toronto on priceline, from a fresh bid (not from a bid you already made) and individually check each zone. Check it, go to the * rating selection screen, note the maximum * rating available, then GO BACK, uncheck it, check the next one, repeat. You may want to make a list of the max * rating for each zone to reference. You want to go through this process EACH TIME you bid, as zone * ratings change regularly (as you've just discovered).

For a 3* bid for downtown Toronto, there are also two free rebid zones. Have you read our article on PRICELINE REBIDDING EXPLAINED? If you would like to bid twice more today, please read that article and determine your free rebid zones. Before you bid, you may want to post them here and ask for any clarification -- to make sure you don't end up with a hotel in the wrong zone. Good luck.

I'll add my 2 cents. If you guys are ok with the risk you get one king bed (or the extremely remote possibility one double bed), the hotel will almost certainly be ok with it, and you could use priceline. Priceline is almost always significantly less expensive than hotwire. I am almost always ok with this risk. Most of the time I've gotten exactly what I wanted. I am always prepared to have to negotiate with the front desk. ("Ok, I'm willing to give you $30 more if you give me the room with two beds..." for example). I can think of only one time I didn't get what I wanted -- had to take two doubles instead of a king. I can deal with that kind of risk considering that I average about 50% off using priceline. :) You know yourself and your family better than we do. It's ok if you don't want the risk and would prefer a guarantee for triple accommodations. Restrict yourself to hotwire in that case and be prepared to pay more. (Take note, however, that hotwire does not specifically guarantee how they will accommodate three people. Could be a king bed and a rollaway. It's at the discretion of the hotel for the most part. Also note that neither service will give you a smoking/non-smoking guarantee.)

I would imagine any detour through that area would be quite a long detour. Allow yourself enough time?

Don't be afraid of the El. If you get an O'Hare hotel with an airport shuttle, you can pick up the blue line inside the airport and that will drop you off on Dearborn Ave right in the middle of the loop downtown. Takes about 45 minutes. If you take Amtrak in, you can walk three blocks south to pick up the blue line at Clinton and that will take you directly to O'Hare. When you have firm plans, let us know and I (or AaronJB :) ) can help you with directions.

In case this helps anyone, failed bids for 6/30/06, the Friday of a long 4th of July weekend... Bids on 6/23/06: Reno 3* $27/28/29 South 3* $28/29 Sparks 3* $29 Bids on 6/24/06: Reno 3* $30/32/33 South 3* $32/33 Sparks 3* $33 Reno 2.5* $34 (counteroffer $53) Added South, $35 (counteroffer $53) Added Sparks, $36 (counteroffer $53) Bids on 6/25/06: Reno 3* $37/38/39 South 3* $38/39 Sparks 3* $39 Reno 2.5* $37/38/39 South 2.5* $38/39 Sparks 2.5* $39 Sparks 2* $40 North Lake Tahoe 2.5* $35/36 Bids on 6/26/06: Reno 3* $40 (counteroffer $80) Added South, $41 Added Sparks $42 Reno South 2.5* $40 (counteroffer $66) Added Reno, $43 Added Sparks, $45 Sparks 2* $46 North Lake Tahoe 2.5* $40/42 In summary, for Friday 6/30/06: Reno/Reno South/Sparks 2.5* up to $45, 3* up to $42 Sparks 2* up to $46 North Lake Tahoe 2.5* up to $42

Bid 2.5* Roseville - Rocklin at $39, got a counteroffer for $50 Added I-80 Business Corridor, bid $41, was upgraded to 3* in that zone. I feel like I could have bid lower and won this, but based on the wins here I expected this to be a low risk rebid, assuming I'd be working on inching toward the counteroffer in Roseville - Rocklin. Oh well. This will work fine (and I knew this was a possible outcome). But I still have that sinking feeling I could have maybe bid $39 in this zone and got this property, you know? Doubletree Hotel Sacramento Business I-80 Corridor - Arden 2001 Point West Way Sacramento, California 95815 916-929-8855 Check-In Date: Fri, Jun 30, 2006 Check-In Time: After 03:00 PM Check-Out Date: Sat, Jul 1, 2006 Check-Out Time: 12:00 PM Your Offer Price: $41.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $41.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $13.15 Total Charges: $54.15 doubletree.com rate is $95.95, AAA is about $86 -- savings of about 52% ALL BIDS USING THE LINKS AT SAVINGSBARN.COM

I miss the good old days when you could readily get rooms in the $20's. Or at least lower $30's. Bidding history: 6/23/06: Kearney 2* $25 6/24/06: Kearney 2* $28 6/25/06: Kearney 2* $30, Lexington 2* $30, North Platte 2.5* $30 6/26/06: Kearney 2* $32 (counteroffer at $40), Lexington 2* $32, North Platte 2.5* $32 Forced to go ahead and accept the counteroffer -- don't want to wait until the night before to bid again. (The magic number here is probably $36-38) ALL BIDS USING THE LINKS AT SAVINGSBARN.COM Fairfield Inn Kearney 121 3rd Avenue Kearney, Nebraska 68845 308-237-0838 Check-In Date: Wed, Jun 28, 2006 Check-In Time: After 03:00 PM Check-Out Date: Thu, Jun 29, 2006 Check-Out Time: 11:00 AM Your Offer Price: $40.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $40.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $12.38 Total Charges: $52.38 Marriott website rate was $84, AAA was $80, so just under half off after fees. Not bad. Backup plan was the Days Inn, not nearly as highly rated but with a prepay rate of about $45.