GM Mike

I almost agree with your assessment. You'd be bidding on 1* hotels. That would almost certainly include that Days Inn, but could also include other 1* hotels not listed in the non-opaque section of Priceline. What's your target price for this stay? Maybe we can think of something better.

Welcome to betterbidding -- If it makes you feel better, after exhaustive discussion here, there's no concensus that bidding higher necessarily increses your chances of getting a particular hotel. It may be that $70 is below what the Sheraton will accept. However, bidding $80, you may still have gotten the Kickerbocker, and paid too much for it. You may have been able to shave off a few more $ with a strategy using free rebids. In the future, if you'd like advice, feel free to post a strategy before you bid and we'll critique it for you. Don't worry about the Knickerbocker. It's a fine hotel. Great bar in the lobby. Some rooms are quite small tho, so I'd try to check in earlier in the day if possible. Location is fantastic for shopping. Enjoy it.

Wow I had no idea ETS had a hotel. Rack rate is $109 that night. You really are sticking it to 'em!

Looking at the Chicago Conventions Calendar, the Plastics show is June 19-23 with 75,000 attendees estimated. That's one of the reasons why things are expensive for your dates. You are arriving on the 21st and departing on the 25th, for four nights of hotels, correct? Hotwire shows availability in NMA for all nights of your stay, 4* at $211. If you look at only 23-35, it drops to $191. Others may have a different opinion, but that indicates to me that hotels are aiming to get as many guests as possible above the Plastics convention rate. Here's a link to Plastics Show Convention Rates for hotels. You can't book them, but they could help frame your expectations. I think you could save a considerable amount of money splitting your bid. Ultimately the first two nights will be the issue. What do you think of splitting your bid? Are you familiar with the implications of that? Did you want to try for a hotel in the Loop for the final night, so you can be close to the car rental place?

Welcome to betterbidding! What's your maximum bid? Do you have a fully refundable backup reservation somewhere?

New friend, Welcome to betterbidding! Can you give us your exact dates and which quality star level this property is?

Please update your MONTREAL and OTTAWA stays with what you ended up doing, then several of us have answers to your questions. Also, please give us a firm dollar limit for this stay, firm dates, and an idea of what sorts of things you'd like to be doing in the city.

If you go to the Westin and Hilton websites, and make a reservation price request for each night of your stay at the Westin Embassy and Capitol Hilton, what nightly rates does it show? Can you list them out for us? Based on the pricing pattern, we might see which nights are the difficulty and split according to that. There's no real way to "know" how many hotels in a zone participate in priceline. For hotwire, it will only show you one hotel at each star level in each zone. There may be other participants, but only one at a time will get visibility. (My gut has been wrong before.)

You're right, there does appear to be low availability. Could be because this is "spring break" season. There's better availability at 2.5* (Holiday Inn Harbor View, Comfort Inn Gaslamp have reasonable rates) so you may have to think about aiming for a lower star quality. There's also availability in Hotel Circle if you want to commute. Hotwire rates are high too, except the 3.5* downtown/harbor island suite property (Sheraton Suites?) at $129. ...but there's only one way to know if you'll be successful at 4*. :)

rynodaddyo, as Blueskies noted, your strategy is fine, but there are other ways to combine your zones to get you more bids. If you're happy with how many bids your strategy allows, then go for it. If you'd like to be able to make more bids, over a greater range or with less $ between bids, you could put together a more complicated strategy. Let us know if you need more help to put that together. If you're fine with the range/differentials you listed, then go for it! My gut says you'll have success on this one by the middle of your bidding range.

That would be a potential, UNverified match for the Clarion Inn and Suites Conference Center. Another option is the Candlewood - Austin South with a direct book Entertainment Card rate of $68 or AAA $76.50. That might offer you more certainty if the location works. Please use the betterbidding Candlewood search link if you decide to book directly. Good luck! Let us know what you end up doing.

You've got the basic form. I won't venture a strategy here since thereuare is the undisputed leader in that field. However, you understand the general form of a strategy. Maximum bid of the strategy is your maximum bid. Back off that bid by some number of units to fit into how many rebids you have. There are other considerations: 1) You've got some time, so your first round might not be up to your maximum bid, but some other lower amount, to allow a smaller differential between bids. 2) You'll probably want to make sure there are some fairly lowball bids on the low end of your strategy, just in case. 3) thereuare tends to track some particular price points that hit more frequently, so those factors can adjust the strategy a few $ either way at certain points. Since you have three zones you'll accept and four rebid zones, your strategy will have the general form of: Target 1 Target 1 + Rebid 1 T1 + R1 + R2 T1 + R1 + R2 + R3 T1 + R1 + R2 + R3 + R4 Target 2 T2 + R1 ... T2 + R1 + R2 + R3 + R4 Same with Target 3 Then... T1 + T2 T1 + T2 + R1 T1 + T2 + R1 + R2 ... T1 + T2 + R1 + R2 + R3 + R4 See how many bids you can get out of the combinations? You need to decide one more question before a strategy can be suggested. Do you want the lowest possible price overall across all three of your target zones OR do you want to explore up to your maximum bid in each target zone before moving on to another, in order of your preferred target zones. It changes the amounts you bid in each of your bids. Do you want to put together an explicit bid strategy with dollar amounts and then we can verify it for you?

The 4* is a match for the Inter-Continental on the hotel lists here. The others aren't listed. I was thinking the 3.5* Suite property could be that Candlewood, but the Candlewood has no restaurant, and that's too high a quality rating for a Candlewood.

That's pretty fantastic. If you tried to bid on priceline you'd have a good to great chance of getting the Knickerbocker anyway, though you might be able to get a lowball price. It sounds like you're looking for a certain quality level that PL and HW can't guarantee you right now. If I were you, I'd hold on to that Swissotel reservation and watch from the sidelines. Check Hotwire periodically to see if something else pops up that's not the Knick. Good on you for finding that rate.

Time to bump this thread to say... I recently used the triprewards guarantee to successfully secure a backup (free) night for New Year's Eve at a Super 8! Took a lot of pressure off us. (Ended up working out a deal with the desk at an Omni instead.) But also, I accidentally bought a room at another Super 8. My best rate guarantee claim was denied (justifiably - my comparison site didn't actually offer the rate I saw when you clicked all the way thru to the booking step) and I forgot to cancel my original reservation! So we ended up staying anyway and the manager offered us a small discount because of the confusion in the situation. Worked out really well - great motel. So, yeah, it's legit!

According to the hotwire hotel list here, that would be a likely but not definite match for the Millennium Knickerbocker, which is currently 3 bubble rated on tripadvisor. Does that work for you? If it is the Knickerbocker, it's located at the far north end of Michigan Avenue, making it ideally positioned for shopping and in an ok location for restaurants. It's also two blocks from the John Hancock Building. If that doesn't work for you, what do you want to do? Is it too early for you to lock in something non-refundable/non-changeable?

Based on the rates you researched earlier, that seems a reasonable split. Do you have any sort of cancelable backup reservation at this point?

As far as your original two questions: 1) Milennium Park/Loop/Grant Park is a better district for the big museums, the big park on the lake, and Soldier Field sports/concerts. North Michigan/Water Tower/Gold Coast is better for shopping and somewhat better for restaurants. If weather is good, it's a nice walk between the two zones. Your stay is in December so weather probably won't be good. 2) YOUR strategy is what's important. We need to know more about your goals. Which zone(s) work for you? What's your maximum bid amount? Backup plan? Minimum quality level? For your new question, if you're looking at a particular offer on hotwire, we need the * level, price, and the list of what amenity icons are shown before we can hazard a guess as to the property.

At this point, I would go ahead and bid for all five nights at once. Go for the 4*. Know your limits. The usual. Then you have time to decide if you want to try to wait it out or split your bid. Do you have a strategy you'd like to verify with us? Are you ready to bid?

thereuare, I was having a similar thought. It sounds like trane was looking at the Hilton because of the obvious advantage of being right in the airport. However, the Holiday Inn Select O'Hare in Rosemont has a $85 advance purchase rate for that night and offers a 24 hour shuttle. It's right next to the airport. That would be a significant discount without the risk of bidding and being farther from the airport.

Please list the amenity icons and price you see, to make sure we're all on the same page.

I don't understand your bidding strategy. You're adding re-bid zones and lowering or keeping your bid the same? How does that help?

solosf, the only thing I've been able to find comparable to what you've booked is the La Quinta Airport West through hotelclub.com for $92. (Never used them, don't know if they're reputable.) I don't think they have in-room safes, but maybe lock boxes at the front desk? You could call them and find out. dahammer, watch out! Some of us were desk clerks at one point in our careers. :)

I'd like to suggest several alternate options for you, with search links that support betterbidding. Assuming your conference is at the Rennaissance at 6 E Greenway Plaza: There are three nearby hotels with significantly lower rates that have very mixed tripadvisor reviews: Four Points by Sheraton at 2828 Southwest Fwy (.71 miles) has a fully refundable $90 rate and a 21-day advance purchase non-refundable rate of $79 for your dates; Comfort Inn & Suites Greenway Plaza/SW Freeway at 4020 Southwest Fwy (.96 miles) has a fully refundable "Internet Users Rate" of $71.95 for your dates; and, La Quinta Inn Galleria at 4015 Southwest Fwy (.94 miles) has a fully refundable AAA rate of $71.10 for your dates. ...and one choice fairly close that has mostly positive reviews: Candlewood Suites at the Galleria at 4900 Loop Central Dr (2.03 miles) has a fully refundable AAA rate of $80.99 on a studio suite for your dates. I note these for three reasons: 1) It sounds like you don't want to bid blindly, so these are some other options for you, 2) Any of these could serve as a backup reservation if you decide to bid and nothing comes up in your price range, and... 3) I'm kind of bored tonight and didn't really feel like watching TV. I'd definitely check out the tripadvisor reviews of these places before you book.

Welcome to betterbidding! Please list the amenities hotwire shows for these hotels and we may be able to help.