GM Mike

So you have been bidding and you're not winning? How high are you bidding? Which airports are acceptable? Thanksgiving is a rough time to be looking for a plane ticket. There's a chance the prices might go down as you get closer, especially if there's a flight that ends up with a lot of empty seats. Are you comfortable waiting? (Also, welcome to betterbidding!)

You're looking at the regular flight booking section of PRICELINE - not the bidding section. You have to search for two specific airports (for example, SFO to JFK), then priceline will give you a link to the bidding section on the top left corner of your results. In general, the return on Sunday is bringing the price up. If you can return on Monday (12/1) the price goes down to $485 on Orbitz. Good luck... Please use the travel links in the "support page" section here if you choose to purchase.

You're bidding a little early. Inventory is typically loaded by a revenue manager at each hotel (a human)... Seems like many of them only work a few weeks in advance. They may not have loaded rooms for your date yet. Maybe wait another week - especially if you have the backup.

Friend of mine had this win for family who were visiting. He used lots of info from here and at least tried to use the PRICELINE link too. Hyatt Regency San Francisco 5 Embarcadero Center San Francisco, California 94111 United States 415-788-1234 Check-In Date: Tuesday, August 5, 2008 Check-Out Date: Saturday, August 9, 2008 Won at $88. He thinks his prior losing bid was $83. This was kind of a surprise. He had been bidding in USE for some time and also at the Airport. He thought he had won the Hyatt at SFO. Took a while until he noticed it was USE. :)

Just opened another thread here: Hilton O'Hare for $64. That's going to work out pretty well for us since we're flying in and taking the train into town. The other thing we considered was the Hotel Orrington. Looks like it's probably the 3.5* showing up in Evanston on Hotwire for $99 right now (although it's missing the golf amenity). But $64 for the airport is a significant enough savings to stay out there for us. Good luck!

Really wanted to stay downtown but it's just not happening this weekend. Bid up to $104 in NMA and Loop for 4* and $101 for 3*. Got a counteroffer at $58 for $75. Based on other wins here, I suspected the right amount was $64, and it was. Rejected at $63, won at $64! Hilton Chicago O' Hare Airport O Hare International Airport Chicago, Illinois 60666 773-686-8000 Check-In Date: Fri, Oct 3, 2008 / After 03:00 PM Check-Out Date: Sun, Oct 5, 2008 / 12:00 PM Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $64.00 Subtotal: $128.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $28.00 Total Charges*: $156.00 Used the betterbidding PRICELINE link. The hilton.com website shows $126.75 advance purchase rate (50% off) or $169 regular reservation (62% off). This is an exceptionally convenient win. Flying in late and using the train to get downtown all weekend. :)

What is the deal with this weekend in Chicago? I am ALSO about to start bidding for those same dates. I'm going to start another thread - except my theme will be stop bidding on my hotels! :) Seriously, though. Maybe AaronJB knows... why is this particular weekend so popular? Or is it just a last gasp of summer 2008?

Just to close this out... two or three days later I bid again, this time to at least $117 4* and $96 3*, no luck. My friend ended up booking the Old Town Inn (#10 on TripAdvisor right now) directly, for approx $105/night. He says it was "pretty good"... certainly better than paying more.

Bidding for a friend, using the betterbidding PRICELINE link: 4* San Diego (Downtown-Harbor Island) FAILED from $70 to $105 using 11 bids 3* same zone FAILED from $70 to $96 using 5 bids Great city for bidding, lots of rebid zones. Going to try again on Monday... maybe more inventory will be loaded. Hope this helps someone.

What a great example of how quickly inventory can change... $150 rejected... 2 hours later, $125 accepted! This is why so many people here recommend that if you fail one day, when you attempt to bid again the next day, you may want to "back track" and NOT begin by bidding higher than the previous day's attempts, especially if you have a lot of time before your stay begins.

It's worse than not noticing it on your bill... Keep in mind that the housekeeper / mini-bar attendant has probably NOT checked your room from the last night of your stay until after you check out. So the charge for that bottle of water could very well be added to your credit card after you receive the "final" bill. There are many innocent reasons the charge might be there. Maybe you moved the water and the attendant didn't notice it in its new location. Maybe you had a new housekeeper who put the water in the wrong location (or put no water at all) and the attendant didn't know. Maybe your door wasn't closed firmly when you left to check out and someone walking down the hall helped himself to your water! (...which is yet another reason why you should always make sure your door is firmly closed and locked when you leave...) The bigger point here: It's probably less a scam by the personnel on the front lines and more a "service" designed to encourage mistakes to occur, in favor of the hotel. It's something of a scam-by-design. And it's just as annoying to the desk clerks who have to remove all those charges...

A priceline customer is entitled to the same amenities as a customer booking the lowest benefit standard rate directly with the hotel. In other words, if everyone gets free high-speed Internet, the priceline guest does too. However, if only those booking a special package get free parking, then the priceline guest does NOT. At least in the US, Residence Inns give the free buffet to all guests - and it is probably the best free buffet served in any chain. You will enjoy it very much - great selection and variety.

I'll add: good people, too. When I worked at a nearby hotel a while back, they helped us out in difficult situations a number of times. Enjoy it! (And be thankful you got this property, rather than any of a number of less desirable hotels in your quality range in this area.)

3 - Bid 2 rooms at the same time, both for the full (longer) length of stay then check out of one room early. (Depending on your savings, this may be attractive, to guarantee the same hotel. This only works if both rooms are checking in on the same day, which yours are.)

Yay! Another priceline bidder welcomed to the world... :)

If you haven't found anything yet, HOTWIRE is showing availability by the airport 3* at $174. You might have to take that? (It's not Back Bay, but there tends to be a lot more availability, in general, at Logan - maybe you could win a lower bid on priceline in that area)

Congrats on finally winning! Lots of free parking and a great location near many restaurants and right off the highway. Trust it worked well for you?

...although it's probably worthwhile to remind everyone... as part of the priceline bidding process, you accept the risk that you may be assigned a smoking room. The hotel is under no obligation to accommodate any request, which is part of the reason they accept such low bids. Good to see it worked out in this case, tho.

If this is a Homestead Studio Suites, it's the same family as Extended StayAmerica. Supposedly it's their slightly-more-upscale brand - i.e. full size refrigerator, etc.

Here's some additional bidding history, for reference. I made bids on 8/12/07 and 8/13/07 for Thursday, 8/16/07, up to these amounts: 2.5* O'Hare Airport (ORD): up to $37 2.5* Glenview - Northbrook: up to $34 2.5* Deerfield Area: up to $34 All bids thru the links at savingsbarn.com I ended up working something out thru a contact in the industry. Good luck bidding!

Had been bidding since 8/10/07 for the night of Wednesday, 8/15/07. Here are the highest bids I made, for your reference. Some of these zones/star levels have very little bidding history: Bidding on 8/14: 3* Cleveland Airport Vicinity: up to $41 2.5* Cleveland East - Mayfield Heights: up to $40 2.5* Independence - Beachwood: up to $37 (which gave a counteroffer for $47 - surprising, since biddingforhotel recently won this at $37) I also bid on the day of arrival. Listing this separately since the hotwire rates went up roughly $10/night for the lower quality hotels that day - maybe these bids would have been accepted if tried earlier? Bidding on 8/15: 3* Cleveland Airport Vicinity: up to $44 - had been hoping to get the Airport Marriott (good stays in the past); called over and found out they were legitimately very sold out that night due to groups in the hotel 2.5* Cleveland East - Mayfield Heights: up to $45 2.5* Independence - Beachwood: up to $45 (no counteroffer this time) 2.5* Mentor - Painesville: up to $45 All bids were thru the PRICELINE links at savingsbarn.com I ended up working something out thru a contact in the industry. Good luck bidding!

When you run a search in HOTWIRE it returns the list of qualty levels/locations available. If you click on "See hotel details" for any of those options, there is a box in the top left that lists the total cost after taxes/fees. (And always remember, any resort fees/telephone access surcharges/parking/etc. that the hotel charges are in addition to those fees.)

Welcome! Please see our Info for First Time Priceline and Hotwire Users for general info. On priceline, there is no way to guarantee (or even aim for) a suite. On hotwire, occasionally you will see a "Suite" icon and/or a "Kitchenette" icon. Unless you see those, you will likely NOT get a suite or kitchenette room.

You may be right. Right now the Red Roof Inn by the airport is selling for about $120. That's how insane it is. Take note, tho, that you have made a critical error in your re-bid strategy. If "Albany DT" refers to the Downtown zone, you can NOT safely use it as a rebid for 2.5* because you COULD be upgraded to 3* by priceline. To be safely used as a rebid zone, the zone you pick cannot have that star level NOR HIGHER levels. Downtown has 3* so it is not a safe rebid for 2.5*. Tho this does answer our earlier question, since you have now effectively bid to $70 for 3* in the Downtown zone and have not won. Another thing to consider. Have you thought about bidding for both Saturday AND Sunday night? Consider this scenario. You bid up to $70 for just Saturday. If you bid $35 for a two night stay, that would be the same overall cost. Nothing says you need to actually stay the second night. I bring this up because one other popular thing for hotels to do is not allow a one night Saturday stay - enforce a two night minimum. Something to consider. And finally, thereuare is right, consider HOTWIRE. I did a search for ONE room for FOUR adults for Saturday night and got a 3* by the airport (not yet identified here) for $148. Not sure how they would accommodate four people. Two queen beds? Two double beds and a rollaway? Maybe that would work for you...?

The garage at the Crowne Plaza has always struck me as rather safe - it's attached to the hotel, and I don't think any of the other hotels downtown have been classified as 3*. But your hesitation is understandable. What's your maximum bid on this?