tokar

Just picked up this hotel through the hot rates using the $30 HOTWIRE promo link from BB here. Came to $283 after tax.

This hotel is the Holiday Inn Express Manhattan Midtown West @ 48th street between 10th and 11th avenues. I have no idea how they determine an HEI to be a "boutique" heh.

90% recommended, 415 reviews. 4/5 on Tripadvisor, 1001-1500 reviews.

Complimentary

Free breakfast

Free Internet

Amenities

Boutique hotel

Business center

Fitness center

Smoke-free rooms

Pet friendly

Smoke-free rooms

Fitness center

Restaurant(s)

Business center

Self-service laundry

Internet access

I got the exact same hotel, same exact amenities, for $145 for Saturday night. It did not show up for Friday and Saturday.

Add on to it that Hotwire showed a 90% recommended rate.

Wyndham offers AAA card holders a 10% discount through their website.

Rate: $114

AAA rate applied: $102.60

Taxes (on regular rate): $10.26 (tax is 10% in LA)

Total: $112.86

Compare against:

$125.40 - the regular price through Wyndham after tax ($114 + 10% hotel tax = $125.40)

$118.72 - the post tax/fee price on Hotwire (Hotwire was offering a 3* hotel in Manhattan beach area for $101 pre tax/fee, which I am pretty sure is the Wyndham, but if not it is still a 3* hotel that will be similar to the Wyndham)

$117.36 - rate with 10% coupon through Expedia/Hotels (coupon only affects the rate, not the tax, not to mention the $3-4 fee they charge)

Just one night

Holiday Inn Express Grover Beach-Pismo Beach Area- 3.0-star hotel

Rate: $81

Tax+Fee: $15.41 (taxes for this area are 10%, so ˜$7.31 hotwire fee)

Total: $96.41

Amenities:

Free Parking

Free Breakfast

Free Internet

Pet friendly

Pool(s)

Accessible for the blind

Accessible path of travel

In-room accessibility

Accessible bathroom

Roll-in shower

Already has gone up to $82 after booking. It was as low as $77 when I was looking yesterday.

Just one night. Same day find and purchase. Regular rate is $115, AAA is $105.

Rate: $77.00

Tax&Fee: $14.95

Total: $91.95 (one night)

Hotel tax in Madera is 9%. Looking at an $8 Hotwire fee. Youch...

Amenities:

Free Parking

Free Breakfast

Free Internet

Fitness Center

Pool(s)

Business Center

Laundry Facilities (self-service)

High Speed Internet Access

Accessible for the blind

Accessible for the deaf

Accessible path of travel

In-room accessibility

Accessible bathroom

Handicapped parking

Roll-in shower

Using TripAdvisor filtering:

(Strikethrough means hotel does not match zoning area)

270 hotels

Added filter Hotel Class: 5 star. 13 results (Mandarin Oriental, Four Seasons, The Palazzo, Bellagio, Wynn, Encore, Vdara, ARIA, Venetian, Skylofts MGM, Red Rock, Trump International, Cosmo)

Added filter Amenities: Pet friendly. 3 results (Four Seasons, Trump International, Cosmo)

You mentioned that Hotwire says that the TripAdvisor user rating is 4.5/5.

Four Seasons has a 4.5/5

Cosmo has a 4.0/5

Looks like it is possibly the Four Seasons.

Both the Four Seasons and the Cosmo have $28/ni resort fees ($25 + $3 tax).

Looks like the Tropicana

(strikethrough indicates that the result does not fit the zoning area mentioned in the title)

165 hotels

Added filter Amenities: Casino. 55 results

Added filter Amenities: Free Parking. 52 results

Added filter Amenities: Free High-Speed Internet. 8 results (Bellagio, Mirage, Tropicana, Cosmo, Mandalay Bay, Eastside Cannery, Best Western Casino Royale, Clarion)

Added filter Hotel Class: 4 star. 3 results (Mirage, Mandalay Bay, Tropicana)

Added filter Price: $50-$100. 1 result. Tropicana

Was going to edit this to say that you can't go by price. $69 is not terribly unreasonable for the Mandalay Bay.

Also The Luxor is a possibility. It doesn't show up with TripAdvisor because they see it as a 3.5* hotel while Hotwire sees it as a 4*.

Amenities:

Indoor pool(s)

Smoke Free Rooms

Fitness Center

Restaurant(s)

Business Center

High-Speed Internet Access

Spa Services

In-room accessibility

Hotwire told me that this was a 4.5* hotel in Nob Hill available for $169/night.

$169/ni x 3ni = $509

Tax+Fee = $93.59

Total = $600.59

Hotel taxes in SF are a total of 15.565%. Deducting that from the Hotwire Tax+Fee shows that the Hotwire fees are like $14.36, making the hotel room, per night, more like $173.89 before tax.

Regular rate on Huntington's website is $252.33/ni (and on Expedia), for a total, after tax of $874.34.

Priceline's advance, non-refundable, purchase price is $185/ni, for a total after tax of like $640+. So, cheaper than Priceline too.

Please help me ID this hotel.

Dates: May 22-27

Star Level: 4.5

Area: Union Square West - Nob Hill

Rating: 4.0/5 TripAdvisor

Amenities:

Pet friendly

Fitness Center

Restaurant(s)

Business Center

Thanks!

-lp

Edit - forgot to mention it's for 4 adult travelers.

Yes I am seeing this one too. Trying to figure it out. Although mine says 4.5/5.0 on TripAdvisor.

It might be The Huntington Hotel.

It tells me the hotel is:

4.5 Overall

4.0 Condition

4.5 QoS

4.5 Room

4.5 Cleanliness

4.5 Location

These all match TripAdvisor

Distances from airports are 11.3mi (OAK), 11.8mi (SF). Which is approximately what i see in Google Earth path measure.

edit: nevermind, the fine print says the distances are measured from the area center, not the hotel location.

edit: I just booked it. See my priceline win for The Huntington Hotel.

I read through the whole thread. It does not answer my question.

I understand the process of rebidding. I am asking if using an entirely separate browser or computer will allow you to make a brand new bid and have it be treated independently from the first time you tried.

I was playing around last night with the bidding system. I started out at $75 in this case, and it failed. I would then open a different browser (i.e. Internet Explorer vs Chrome) and then try again at $80. That also failed. Open another browser, tried $85 and that failed.

Is this a successful way of rebidding? Or is the system designed not to accept this?

My friend booked this recently. So I figured I would share the win.

Started out at $170. Just one night.

Does having an existing reservation with the hotel you are trying to bid for hurt your chances?

I am trying to see if I can get a lower rate at The Benson (if I'm lucky enough to get that hotel should I win). I already made a reservation there at $113/ni (a price which is not available anymore) but I see people on the forum have gotten it at $95/ni.

I was ready to cancel my reservation, but the hotel doesnt have that $113 rate anymore, so...I don't want to lose that.

Hi Tokar,

It looks like I started bidding around eight days before our stay. I don't remember what my first bid was, but I always start as low as I can after determining what prices others on the board have won. In this case, there was not much to go on as most of the posted wins were for weekends, and I thought I read once that downtown hotels are emptier during the weekend as they cater to business people during the week. In this case nobody seemed to get anything for less than $80, so I probably started around $75 (since at 4* there are lots of rebid opportunities). I base my increments on how many rebids are available and the prices other bidders have won. In downtown Portland at 4* there is no need to create a new request with so many free rebids available. Hope that helps.

Yes, this information helps.

What changes did you make to your request each time to rebid? Or did you just wait 24 hours each time to make the rebid?

When did you start bidding? (i.e. how many days before your stay)

Did you do a whole new bid process for each increment (i.e. went to Priceline's homepage and created a new request), or did you modify the current one, using the tactic mentioned in the FAQ?

When did you start bidding? (i.e. how many days before your stay)

Where did you start the bidding? ($85? $90?)

Did you do a whole new bid process for each increment (i.e. went to Priceline's homepage and created a new request), or did you modify the current one, using the tactic mentioned in the FAQ?