Romelle

Just to get you started right on the free re-bid zones, try this. When on Priceline as thereuare described, with no zones checked, check just Baltimore Stadiums (currently #4). You should see only the 2 1/2* and 2* buttons in white. All the others are "greyed out". That means you can safely use this zone as a re-bid zone for 3* and higher bids on other zones. You can't win in it as there is no property offered in it. Now, if you uncheck Baltimore Stadiums and go on and check the other zones one at a time, you should be able to see the rest of the free re-bid zones for both the 3* and 3 1/2* levels. Romelle

There are several zones that can be used for re-bidding at the 3* level. You might want to read the information on rebidding and make sure you are using the right technique to identify the zones. It is the first post in General Priceline Bidding Tips. If you think you've found the correct zones but are still a little unsure, you can post them back here and somebody will double check for you. And the second question in thereuare's last response asked about your budget. A necessary question so a bidding pattern isn't proposed that exceeds it. Romelle

Thereuare's post #7 addresses the shared bathroom issue. I've emailed Priceline asking that specific question, and they have responded assuring me that all their rooms had private bathrooms. With Hotwire, I've looked at easily 1,000s of listings, and only seen shared bathrooms on maybe 2 or 3. The shared bathroom offers have a very specific icon to denote them. You could email both Priceline and Hotwire if you'd like to have their response directly. Romelle

About a 15 minute walk away is the Caribbean Cinemas - Fine Arts Miramar, 252 Avenue Juan Ponce De León. An interesting place. It is reviewed very positively on TripAdvisor. International/foreign movies, you can eat and drink in the theater, and it is very comfortable. Several public buses stop very near the hotel. $.75. The hotel is used to giving people advice on the routes. The buses go to Old San Juan and other areas. Do check with the hotel though, as the bus stops and buses are not clearly marked. Besides the hotel restaurants, very close there is TEXAS DE BRAZIL and CHINA CLUB. Romelle

When Priceline does this, it means there really is something available somewhere between your last bid and the $299. Assuming your last bid was the $200 from the pattern you received, the mid-point is right at your max budget. Things vary, but once in a while a bidder is successful with the addition of only a dollar or a few. Success in the area of the mid-point is fairly common. It is quite possible you will be able to land this one within your budget. Romelle

Janice, I'm always concerned when using those free rebid zones also. Maybe some hotel just sneaked in an offering right after I checked to be sure the zones were really safe! What I do with a long sequence that takes me a while to execute is to open a second Priceline screen on my computer. In it I check the zones between each bid, so I know the opening for a new hotel is merely seconds instead of 5-15 minutes. While it only improves the odds from something like 1 in 1000000 to 1 in 10000000, I feel better doing it. Romelle

That list is the same list as the one thereuare had in his last post. Romelle

The Eurostar St. Pancras station is on a far edge of Bloomsbury - Marble Arch. It might be an option to make for an easy departure. Regents Park - North London is adjacent to the station, and has the huge Regents Park plus some smaller ones. The more zones you include, the more likely you'll find a lower price. Any of the central core ones are well served by the Underground. Romelle

It looks like the address falls in Strip North, but the building sprawls both there and on south into the South Strip area, at least according to a Mapquest map. Maybe that would let them offer it in both zones.... Romelle

f you look at the Hotel Lists (Priceline), you can see the 5* hotels other members have reported here. Of course it is always possible to get a different hotel not yet reported (speaking from experience, too). Regarding bidding, if you are willing to accept any 5* hotel with in the zone(s) you are bidding, you can simply start somewhat lower than the $95 Hotwire offer level and work gradually up. Do take a good look at the Priceline zone map to be sure the full area is acceptable to you. Finally, Hot.wire can be a little more generous with stars than Price.line - maybe 1/2 a star - so the 5* on Hotwire could be a 4.5* on Priceline. This varies, as there are examples of the same star level and even some of a full star level difference. Romelle

As of right now, those zones are the correct free re-bid ones at the 3.5* level (plus St Paul NE that you already mentioned). Romelle

Yes, St Paul NE is one of your free re-bid zones at the 3.5* (and higher) level. Your logic is correct. To be totally safe, you might want to post what you think are the other 6 zones, and somebody here will double-check them for you. Romelle PS - you still always need to recheck the free zones just before bidding, as they can change.

For splitting, you want to determine which dates are high and which are low. Assuming 9/15 and 9/16 are high, you'd want to bid 9/11-9/15, 9/15-9/17, and 9/17-9/22 as three separate sets. To determine the high and low dates, you can look at individual nights with Hotwire, and/or Priceline Express. Or you can check the web sites of individual casinos in your desired star level and areas. Many of them have calendars listing rates by date. Generally the weekends are higher, but sometimes events/holidays/conferences can run up week night rates. Assuming you don't want to split off the single week nights at the beginning and end of your visit, a likely split will be 9/11-9/14, 9/14-9/19 and 9/19-9/22 (if weekends are the only factor increasing rates). Regarding which areas, take a close look at the Priceline zone maps. Different people define "short walk" differently. Include only those zones where the furthest outer edge is still within your definition of a short walk to the South Strip. Romelle

The one little refinement to your logic is that Hotwire can be more generous with stars than Priceline. Lots of variance, but a rough tendency of about a 1/2 star, with Hotwire tagging a place 3.5 stars and Priceline giving it only 3* There are examples of a full star difference, and also examples of the rating being the same. Romelle

You've got the 4* free rebid zones correct for right now, but do check again before each bidding session. Regarding just pulling the Louvre out of the bidding, you can do that. But with only two actual zones you won't have as many bids in one session. To get to the $120 you'll have to either use larger increments, or bid over a couple days. Romelle

You got a "counter-offer". All it really means is there is something somewhere between your last bid and $184. You were wise not to accept. If you keep working on up, sooner or later it should work. While roughly 1/2-way usually works, there are instances of just a dollar or two additional working. On the other hand, I did once have a counter-offer and crept up toward it $1 at a time. I actually finally got clear to the offer number and it wasn't successful. I have to assume that in the days I was bidding, somebody else nailed the available room(s). The beauty of your backup reservation is you can keep bidding to score a better deal right up to the last minute. Good luck. Romelle

I'm a member, not a board official, but thought I'd try to help a bit here. For starters, 115 CAD is about $105. While you can bid in all sorts of currencies, keeping the communication to USD makes things more consistent here. You've got 4 days in Paris, so likely are going to be doing quite a few different things. And the tourist major attractions are scattered about. Considering as many zones as possible will improve your chances of getting a good price. The Paris Metro is very easy to use to move around. If you zoom way in on the Priceline map, you can see how close together the Metro stops are. Another benefit of zooming those maps way in is you can see a number of the named tourist attractions. Not all of them, but some. If you are walkers, you will find you can easily walk through several zones. That inner core of Paris with almost all the Priceline zones is only about 5 miles across. While I wouldn't advise it for a short visit, I once stayed clear out in the La Defense zone (the most remote zone) and used the Metro to get everywhere. It was about 15 minutes to the very center of Paris. The La Defense area is mostly offices and such so it doesn't offer much right there. But the price was right and the hotel was very nice. I'd guess that 20% discount off Priceline Express in not realistic for summer in Paris. The only real way to know though is to actually bid. You mentioned safety. My teen-aged granddaughter and I wandered much further around the city than the zones you are considering, and always felt completely totally safe. We did not however do any wandering after dark. Probably also safe, but I did want to mention it. Without knowing more about your interests, it is hard to give advice on things to do. When tackling a new city, I usually do a few things. First I go to the local library and check out an armload of guide books. While there I also search on the city/area/country names and even check out historical novels and pure fiction. I usually end up actually buying the favorite guide book and taking it with me. I also search the internet with something like "top 10 tourist attractions citynamex". Then look at the map for the attractions and it helps me define just where I'd like to stay. Sometimes my budget causes me to reconsider the location (hence La Defense in one case), but it is a good start. My teenage granddaughter's top choices were: A tour of the Paris Sewer System A tour of the Catacombs Shopping in a major department store The Eiffel Tower I added a requirement of one museum. We had a grand time, but I'd guess your list might be quite different? Romelle

You might also take a look at the PRICELINE EXPRESS deals. I'm going there on different dates, and the rates were pretty high. With PRICELINE EXPRESS I got a relatively reasonable 3* and it turned out to be a Holiday Inn Express with free breakfast. You can see my win HERE. I'm happy with the deal. I've been there before, and know there is a free trolley running in that area clear to Old San Juan. Romelle

Both Priceline.Express and Hot.wire deals sometimes seem to almost "flicker" on and off. You've got quite a bit of time yet. That deal may well come back. Romelle

A minor change in technique - use your bigger increments at the beginning of your series of bids. You are less likely to win down there anyway, and might as well save the smaller increments for when you are getting closer. If I counted on my fingers correctly, your last bid in the series above was $67? That would still be under the 50% mark, and when times are busy the % savings becomes much less. The hotels simply don't have to offer the deals to fill. Romelle

There is discussion here on Priceline Bidding Permutations. There are other posts in this thread also covering the topic. But with 11 free re-bid zones, and if you just use an increment of $2, you could surely span the possible range? Using your date and Maps.Hotels in the Tool Box above, the 3.5* hotels are Doubletree $165 and Sheraton $199. The 3* Springhill Suites is $139. The 2.5s* range from $92 to $121. One really never knows, but assuming a 50% win, your budget puts you in the 2.5* range. Although it could be worthwhile to try for a 3* first. You could also each day bid the 3.5*s first, just to assure yourself you aren't missing a new offer. Romelle

The Fort Lauderdale 17th Street Embassy Suites address is: 1100 SE 17th Street, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 33316 I'm guessing your question is which Hotwire area? If so, it is in the Las Olas - Downtown - Port Everglades area. It is east of A1A, and on 17th, both of which are within that Hotwire area. Romelle

Speaking from personal experience, it is possible to win a NYOP hotel not on the current Hotel Lists here. I have to admit, I'm usually hoping for that as I think it is fun to get to add a new hotel to the lists. Some have been smaller, less tourist-frequented cities, but I also got new hotels in Budapest and Edinburgh. No, I don't think "8+" means 7.9. I think "8+" means 8.0 and higher. Romelle

Have you seen the Hotel Lists for Buffalo yet? Down at the bottom of the page, starting on the left hand side are links for both the Price.Line and Hot.Wire lists of hotels other members have reported. If you continue to be stuck for those 1st two nights, maybe it will help you consider a slightly lower star levelsfor them. You could also check out the Hotel Reviews on this site (clear at the end), and in Tripadvisor, to further sort out the zones between " humm ... possible" and "no way". Of course there is no guarantee you would get one of the hotels on the lists, but it could help you avoid some known low review ones. Romelle

I can see a couple public bus routes that mention both the nearby Crystal Mall and New London. http://www.seatbus.com It is just possible one of the routes has a stop near your hotel. The maps are hard to read, but seem to run in that area. You might consider contacting the hotel for better details. Romelle