Romelle

I got curious. HOTWIRE is showing 4*s in Docklands for $83 and The City for $94 for your dates. And a 5* in Mayfair-Soho for $152. Amazing rates. And one usually can do a bit better via Priceline....... Made me want to plan a trip.... Don't miss the HOTWIRE link at the top of this page if you do decide to take a peek at the possibilities there. Of course Hotwire can sometimes be a little more generous with it's ratings than PRICELINE. Romelle

There is good train service from the Rome airports to central Rome. Assuming you land at FCO, the train is the Leonardo Express, and is a wonderful bright yellow. It runs every 1/2 hour from about 6:30am to almost midnight directly from the airport to Termini. Termini is a huge interesting place in it's own right. And then there are cabs lining up right outside it to take you the rest of the way to your hotel. Or - cab fare was 40 euros from FCO to central Rome the last time I checked. Romelle And think of changing hotels for the last two days as just adding another interesting element to your trip. Slightly different neighborhood, etc.

There really is no safe way to target a specific hotel, unless that is the ONLY hotel in the zone. I've read of people bidding minutes apart and getting different hotels. And no real way to predict being offered an extension either. San Juan is pretty much driven by the cruise ship business and there are big swings in that, depending upon when ships are arriving and departing. www.langland.org/cruises/sanjuan.asp is a nice map that shows some of the hotels and their relationships to the piers. Another site had the Sheraton as 1.6 miles from the Pan Am pier. Romelle

If you post in the HOTWIRE area here, and list all the amenities of that $89 hotel, thereuare may be able to ID it for you. I think the London areas are more iffy because there are lots of similar hotels in each zone. The prices can shift as the relationship between the dollar and the euro changes. And I'm sure the general economy is causing some of the lower wins being seen now. Romelle

You aren't missing anything as to free rebid opportunities for the London 4* level. Looks like you've got quite a bit of time though, so you can work on up reasonably gradually. The 4* Hotwire City hotel at $94 could serve as your max, but you need to be aware that sometimes Hotwire is a little more generous with it's ratings than Priceline. Do add in the fees from PL and Hotwire to get an "apples to apples" comparison for your max bid. They can be quite different. Romelle

Have you tried the actual car rental web sites? I ran into what you are experiencing in another city but the actual rental companies still had cars, and at good rates. Of course, clicking through from this site (links to the car companies are under the Support/Travel tab). Romelle

ca_gold, If you try your dates on HOTWIRE (clicking through from this site - upper left hand corner) you can see what the rates are. You won't know what hotel, but you will be able to see the amenities. Romelle

This hotel has fairly different rooms on different floors. They seem to get nicer as one gets higher up. Unless you have a reason for preferring the lower floors, IMO it is a good idea to ask to be as high up as possible. Romelle

PRICELINE has TWO SEPARATE areas. The first is where you actually select which hotel you want and pay for it. The second is the bidding area, which you enter by hitting "Name Your Own Price" various places on the first area. I am wondering if maybe you were just on the first area? And never actually got into the bidding area? Romelle

IMO London is one of the easier cities in which to move around via public transportation, so lots of the zones could work for you. If you plan to move about quite a bit, do buy some sort of all-you-can-ride fare card so you don't have to be fumbling with unfamiliar currency with every ride. I've not used it, but I've heard people swear by the "Oyster Card". When thinking about which to do, be sure to factor in a couple of "oops" rides, since they indeed do occur on unfamiliar systems. When you are looking at the other postings, try to take note of which zones tend to go for lower bids and which tend to go for higher bids. It changes a little from time to time, but I'll give you a clue that Bloomsbury is often a lower one, along with Finsbury/Islington. The reason for this is you want to bid your acceptable zones starting with the less expensive ones and adding in the more expensive ones as you raise your bid. Also, it never hurts to take a peek at what you can get via HOTWIRE for your dates (linking through from betterbidding, of course). Those rates can serve as a max on your PRICELINE bidding. Romelle

You don't mention whether this is your first trip to Lisbon or not, but thought I'd chime in anyway. The killer sweet in Lisbon is a "Brigadeiro". Bakeries have it, along with other wonderful things. The Metro is a breeze to use - cheap, fast, regular. But what really intrigued me about it was the wonderful tile at the different stations. Everything from old-fashioned traditional to underwater murals to Picasso-like work. Hope to get back some time. Enjoy. Romelle

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/dlr-route-map.pdf will give you a start on your mapping. The rail line says it runs every 8 minutes. Romelle

Public transportation really is pretty amazing in Vienna. For starters, there are 23 zones in Vienna, starting with 01 right in the center, and then the low digits circle around that, and finally the higher digits. An address in Vienna always has a postal code right before "Vienna". The first digit is a "1" for Vienna, and the second two tell in which of the 23 zones the address is. The 4th digit usually is a zero. So a quick glance at an address gives you a good general idea of it's location. Then, most addresses in any tourist literature also include the nearest Metro stop. The different Metro lines are numbered as well as color coded. Even the tiles on the walls are color coded. The only possible problem I know is the ring road tram used to run in a circle around the center zone, but now I think you have to change trams to do the circle. Romelle

When you check in, watch for any signs at the front desk telling of "resort" or other special additional fees. Maybe print out the exact wording of the Priceline contract where it describes what your payment covers and doesn't cover. Sometimes the fees are disputable, and sometimes they aren't, but it helps to be prepared. It has been several years since I was there, and likely changed, but worth being cautious. On the other hand, there was a ColdStone ice cream place just down the main street. Great for sitting out in the evening and watching those big ships. Romelle

$22 is sort of a magic number. It is seen a LOT on those offers. And that stunt of keeping it at the $22 while you actually increase your bid is a psychological ploy. Ignore it, and keep inching up. Or maybe wait a while (even a couple of months), and start all over at a lower level and inch up again. Your dates are far enough out that hotel overstock really might just not be given to Priceline yet. The important thing right now is not to get too high. You can always go higher, but once you've won - game over! Sometimes, I actually lower my bid when I get that $22 offer. And keep lowering until I don't get it anymore. Then I in my mind add $22 to my last bid, and it sort of gives me an idea of what might actually work. And do remember the Euro/Dollar relationship is changing as you are bidding. That can make things different from day to day. Romelle

I've bid (and won) as far out as 6 months when I already had plane tickets. Then threatened my grandkids if they came around with bad colds in the week or two before the trip. Besides the risk of not being able to make the trip for some reason, there is also the fact that your credit card gets dinged immediately upon winning a bid. Depending on your budget/credit, that can also be a factor. I do think there are some hotels that only have offerings at the very last minute, and if you bid too far out you miss those altogether. Certain cities are also notorious for bids just working at the last minute - New York and Paris seem to be that way. There are a few (very few) people who have managed to get refunds, but I don't know how they did it, and you are better off deciding a refund won't be possible. Romelle

My $57 bid got the Brussels hotel below for June 6 - 9, 2009: Nh Brussels City Centre 17 Chaussee De Charleroi Brussels, 1060 3225390160 I'm delighted. While I've not stayed in this Nh, I've stayed in other ones in Europe and they've always been very nice. Great central location. I was bidding on 2 rooms. My prior bid yesterday was $55. I had meant to creep up $1 a day, but got impatient. Guess I'll never know whether $56 would have done it. Yesterday PRICELINE slowed down a long time before it responded so I figured I was getting close. The prior day with a $53 bid, it gave me a speech about being way to low, and snapped right back with the negative answer. Never did get any counter-offers. Romelle

I just got the Marriott Manchester for 5/15 (one night, two rooms) for a $42 per room bid. With fees and taxes US$42.00 Subtotal: US$84.00 Taxes & Srvc. Fees: US$20.70 Total Charges: US$104.70 They do charge for shuttle service - 5 Euro each way (and a taxi is 6 Euro). My prior bid had been $40, and I'd gotten one of those messages to the effect that if I raised my bid to $52 it would work. I ignored it. The Crowne Plaza (which doesn't charge for shuttle) was $63 for the same night on the Priceline direct buy side with the total including Taxes, etc. coming to $147.48. So not huge savings, but still a great price. I'm happy. I did follow the PRICELINE link. Romelle

The Little Rock Residence Inn was amazing. HUGE room, or rather suite, - separate bedroom and bathroom, plus a "great room" that served as living room, dining room and kitchen. Kitchen was fully equipped with dishwasher, microwave, full sized refrigerator and stove. Great assortment of dishes, pots and pans, and gadgets. Comfortable firm bed. Everything spotlessly clean and fresh. Attractive decor. Living room had a couch and a full size recliner. I felt like I was in a cosy but complete apartment. Breakfast was a huge spread including the usual, but also make-it-yourself waffles. The menu changed a bit each day, too. And they did a "light supper" on weekday evenings. The one evening I ate there, the menu was chicken and dumplings, a tossed salad, and chocolate chip cookies. Various included beverages. Premium beers and wines were available for $1. Really handy after a long day to just walk in and get fed, rather than hunting down a restaurant. Free newspapers. I was kindly treated at the front desk, as they checked me in and fielded a couple questions. Little Rock maps available. PL never mentioned, just an observation on check-out that everything was prepaid. Right off a freeway exit, it is an easy shot into downtown, or off in other directions. Two computers available for free in the lobby, and they both had printers attached for those boarding passes. A work-out room. You will be fortunate if this is what you win on PL. Romelle

I just stayed at the Residence Inn Feb 8-12, 2009. It is very fresh and new and spotless. People are friendly and very helpful. No mention of PL at check-in, just an observation that "...everything was all set" when I checked out. The room was extra large. Included a sofa, coffee table, desk and side chair, as well as really comfortable bed and lots of pillows. Full kitchen. I even made myself some muffins from a mix one day. Enjoyed Boston Market frozen meals, and nuked a big package of veggies. Everything worked - wake-up calls on time, lots of hot water, etc. Very attractively landscaped outside with flowers and even had the various cacti labeled by name in one area. Phoenix now has a light rail line. The initial segment of METRO light rail service in the Phoenix, Arizona area began operating in December 2008. This first section is only 20 miles long, covering a small part of west Mesa, Tempe at the ASU Main Campus, downtown Phoenix and the central corridor of Phoenix. There are more segments that will be added in the future. The shuttle will drop you off at the nearest station, or it actually is only a short walk from the hotel, or there is a shuttle link to it from the airport. The buffet breakfast was great, but what I really appreciated was the coffee pot was on way earlier and I could get a morning cup even though I departed well before the 6AM to 9AM serving hours three of my four days there. Although I didn't use it, I did see a sign that this RI has the grocery shopping service mentioned in an earlier post. Free USA Today and Phoenix papers in the lobby was a nice touch. Enough puzzles in them to keep me entertained a long time. Almost the same selection of funnies as my home paper so I stayed caught up. Romelle

When bidding below the 5* level, you have to make sure the zone you want to use as a free rebid is not available either at the star level you are bidding OR ANY HIGHER STAR LEVEL. Thus, if you are bidding 3* and a certain zone is not available at the 3* level, Priceline can still award you a hotel in that zone if it has availability at either the 4* or 5* levels. They refer to it as an "Upgrade". Romelle

I was pleasantly surprised at how reasonable cab fare was in Lisbon. A smooth quick 4:30 AM ride to the airport from slightly south of downtown center was only 8 Euros, and I'm told day rates are even better. Romelle

AaronJB - I think I just learned something I had been wondering about. I did use the link from here for my first two bids (A and then A+:), but was going to do a permutation so backed out and then started again with the third bid(A+C). Apparently the link is lost when you do that? Sorry, and will get it right in the future. Romelle

Room Cost (avg. per room, per night): $55.00 (USD) Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 4 Room Subtotal: $220.00 (USD) Taxes and Fees: $37.92 (USD) Total Room Cost: $257.92 (USD) I started bidding at $51 for the PHX Airport zone. There are two free rebid zones, so I added one and bid $53, and then got accepted when I added the other and bid $55. I've done better in the past, but the rack rates were lots higher for this time period so I'm still very happy with the deal. Romelle

I just checked, and the rack rate for your date is 260 Euro! You must have some sort of record here for a great deal!! Romelle