PDB_905

Hotel is not currently listed in the BB Hotel List under PRICELINE EXPRESS. Rooms near downtown very tough to find due to marathon weekend. Hotel website lists cheapest rate of $153 for members, $160 for non-members. Amenities: Free Breakfast Free Internet (in Room) Free Parking Pet Friendly Outdoor Pool Non-Smoking Handicap Accessible Business Center ROOM PRICE:$112.00/night NUMBER OF ROOMS:1 Room NUMBER OF NIGHTS:1 Night ROOM SUBTOTAL:$112.00 TAXES & FEES:$30.97 TOTAL:$142.97

Place looks pretty cool, never heard of it. I don't see it on your PRICELINE EXPRESS hotel list, feel free to add it. Booking via the hotel's website, the best rate I can find is $186. Travelocity lists it for $195 for those dates. A regular PL (non-opaque) search returns $83. What an absurd discrepancy. Amenties: Free Internet (in Room) Pet Friendly Non-Smoking Gym Handicap Accessible Business Center

(My apologies if I don't post this correctly. I haven't done PRICELINE EXPRESS before) This is a hotel that does not appear in the Betterbidding hotel list. Please feel free to add it. Room price:$65.00 avg./night Number of rooms:1 room Number of nights:2 nights Room subtotal:$130.00 Taxes & fees:$34.00 Total charged today:$164.00 Total Priceline charges:$164.00 Hotel fee:$17.96 Total cost:$181.96 Hotel Amenities: Free Parking Free Internet Indoor or Outdoor Pool

Thanks for the info. Good to know.

BTW, sorry, I meant NON-opaque sites have a best rate of $287. So I've never really used PRICELINE EXPRESS before, and I decided to do a search for the same dates. It gave almost the exact same rate for a 4*, which I'd be willing to bet was the same hotel. I've been doing PL Name Your Own Price bids for years and have done really well, but I'd like to know more about PRICELINE EXPRESS. Am I basically wasting my time still making all these bids when I can find the same deal on PRICELINE EXPRESS? Is there a topic where I can go to educate myself more on the differences between PRICELINE EXPRESS and PL Name Your Own Price? Thanks!

Not too bad for a 4* hotel on the beach in high season. Opening bid was $135. PL counteroffered $188, I started a new bid adding a free rebid zone. $152 accepted. Was hoping for the W, Westin, or Marriott, but this will do for the price. Hotel lists a best rate of $314/night for those dates. Opaque sites have a best rate of $287. One thing I'm unsure about - below you see a "hotel fee" (I assume equivalent to a daily "resort fee") of $40. But it is not reflected in the total charged. I guess that means I pay the hotel directly when I get there? Unless the $51.08 taxes & fees includes the $40 hotel fee, but I doubt that. Started all bids via BB's PRICELINE link. Thanks again. Offer price:$152.00/night Hotel fee:$40.00 Number of rooms:1 room Number of nights:2 nights Room subtotal:$304.00 Taxes & fees:$51.08 Total charged today: $355.08

Opening bid $48, rejected with a counter offer of $57. Decided to save $5 and reject it and start a new bid adding free re-bid zone.. $52 accepted. Started all bids via BB's PRICELINE link. Thanks again. Offer price:$52.00/night Number of rooms:1 room Number of nights:1 night Room subtotal:$52.00 Taxes & fees:$14.54 Total charged today:$66.54

Dates were check-in August 25 and check out August 26 Price accepted was $76. I don't have the taxes and fees handy, sorry. Update--after doing a little research I decided to try calling the hotel to cancel, then call Priceline to request a refund. I had decided I was not going to stay at this hotel and at worst I would be losing one night's lodging cost. I called the hotel and cancelled the reservation. They said they would cancel the room but I would need to contact whoever the reservation was made through for a refund, as it was prepaid. So I called Priceline, told them I had cancelled the room, and asked if I could get a refund. They put me on hold while contacting the hotel, then came back on the line and said the hotel had said it was OK to cancel and give me a refund. So I am getting a refund. So all is well, and I made another reservation outside of Priceline. I'm sure this will be noted in my PL account and there is a limited number of times they would allow this. But I don't expect to have this happen again. So my advice is, first, try not to have this happen. But on the off chance that it does, the strategy is to call the hotel and cancel and then call Priceline customer service and request a refund. It's always worth a shot.

OK, so I finally determined the Quality Inn & Suites appears to now be a 2.5* property. It's entirely possible I did make a bid for 2.5* after failing at the 3* level. Seems like the most likely scenario. So my only question remaining is--is there a way to find out what my actual bid was? Just so I can confirm that PL didn't screw up. Like I say, this is part of the accepted risk of this process and it's bound to happen from time to time. No harm no foul. The reservation was only for one night so it's not the end of the world. Also, please do update Hotel List with new star level of this property. Thanks as always!

So I got an unpleasant surprise--I had checked the hotel lists here on Betterbidding for the Worcester, MA zone and decided to make a bid for 3* hotels. It's possible I may have bid for 2.5* (is there any way of reviewing your actual bids on PL, if you don't happen to capture the page while you're making the bids?) So ultimately I made a successful bid and received the Quality Inn & Suites in Worcester, MA. I decided to look at TripAdvisor reviews, and this hotel gets absolutely horrible reviews, is in a sketchy area, and is a hotel I would never purposely make a reservation at and am unsure I'm even willing to stay in. I went back and checked Betterbidding's hotel list and is lists the Quality Inn & Suites as a 2* property. I can tell you for certain there is ZERO chance I bid for 2* properties. I make a good number of PL bids and I don't ever bid for 2* except under special circumstances. For this very reason. So either Priceline messed up, or the Hotel List on Betterbidding needs to be updated. Of course, I realize and accept that there is a certain amount of risk involved in opaque bidding and that's fine. But here are my questions: 1. How can I determine the actual current star level of the Quality Inn & Suites in Worcester, MA? (My web browser at work is pretty locked down and I'm having trouble viewing star levels on Travelocity, Hotels.com, etc.) 2. If PL screwed up and gave me a 2* hotel when I bid for 3*, what recourse do I have? 3. Is there anything else I can do? I may have to either hold my nose and stay at this place, or eat the money and book another room elsewhere. Thanks!

Made multiple bids for 3.5* in Downtown and other zones and reduced to 3*. Going rate on non-opaque sites including hotel web site was $119 for the same date. Started all bids from PRICELINE link on BetterBidding. Offer price:$78.00/night Number of rooms:1 room Number of nights:1 night Room subtotal:$78.00 Taxes & fees:$18.41 Total charged today:$96.41 Total charged:$96.41

This was a nice surprise! Was only bidding for 2.5* but got this very nice 3.5* property! Travelocity offering the same property for $163 for the same dates. Started bidding at $75, received counteroffer of $93, declined and made another offer, accepted. Offer price:$84.00/night Number of rooms:1 room Number of nights:1 night Room subtotal:$84.00 Taxes & fees:$15.29 Total charged today:$99.29

All other web sites listing this property for $279 for the same dates. Started bidding for 3.5* at $150 and using re-bid zones, adding about $10 per rebid. They counteroffered that I could get the room for $230 several times but I declined each time and plowed ahead. Offer price:$201.00/night Number of rooms:1 room Number of nights:1 night Room subtotal:$201.00 Taxes & fees:$39.39 Total charged today:$240.39

Thanks. I guess the only reason for not staying downtown would be expense. But I did sort of say price was not really an issue, didn't I? Might have overstated the case a little. But I also hate to pay like $40 a night to park my car, just on principle. No worries. I've done a little more research, I'll make some bids for downtown zones and I'm pretty good at finding the best overnight self parking options. I'm sure I will just leave my car parked and use the bikeshare option to get around. I'll report back if I get a winning Priceline bid. Thanks!

Planning to just spend a couple quick days in Boston at the end of August. Probably going to Fenway for a ball game and do the Freedom Trail. I'll be driving so I'll need to park my car, probably just staying one night on a weekend. I don't know Boston at all, so I have no idea what areas are nice/safe and which are not. Not too worried about price. If I could be in a nice area within 10 miles or so of Fenway, that would be OK. I'd probably be willing to pony up and stay right downtown as well. Any/all advice would be appreciated.

Only made one bid, accepted. Travelocity and hotel website list their lowest rate at $159 for the same night. Too easy. Offer price:$62.00/night Number of rooms:1 room Number of nights:1 night Room subtotal:$62.00 Taxes & fees:$15.87 Total charged today:$77.87 Total charged:$77.87 Savings:You saved 61%*

Wow, this one took a lot of bids. I know there is a pretty big 5K/10K race there that weekend, but last year I got this same hotel for $75 for roughly the same dates. Many, many rebid zones at the 3.5 star level, so I started way down at $55 and went up in increments of about $4. Once I hit $77 I started getting the message that if I raised my bid to $128 I would certainly get it. But I ignored that and went on. Also tried bidding 3* up to about $108 with the same result. So I'm quite certain $122 is about as low as you can go for a PL bid for 3.5* Downtown Pittsburgh for that weekend. Hotel website offers a lowest rate of $304 for the same dates. Travelocity offers a rate of $274. So I guess $122 is pretty darn good. Offer Price:$122.00/night Number of rooms:1 Room Number of nights:1 Night Room Subtotal:$122.00 Taxes & Fees:$25.12 Total Charged:$147.12

Forgot to mention, I started all bids from the Betterbidding Priceline link!

I was bidding for a 3*, so it was good to receive a 3.5* property. Great deal. The hotel's website offers a lowest rate of $184 for that night, Travelocity offers a rate of $156. Started bidding at $45 and stair-stepped my way up, with many free re-bid zones at the 3* level. Previous rejected bid was $68. Offer price: $72.00/night Number of rooms: 1 room Number of nights: 1 night Room subtotal: $72.00 Taxes & fees: $16.31 Total charged today: $88.31

And I used the [url=http://www.betterbidding.com/clicks/click.php?afsrc=1&id=40]PRICELINE[/url] link on the BetterBidding home page to start all bids, of course!

I knew from the BetterBidding hotel lists that the Holiday Inn Laurel West was most likely what I would get for a 3* in Laurel, as it is currently the only one listed. There were four rebid zones at the 3* level - Bowie, Camp Springs, Germantown, Upper Marlboro. This gave me the ability to start really low and make lots of rebids. Started at $35/night and bumped each bid by about $3-$4 till I hit on $52. Both the hotel website and Travel.ocity offer a best rate of $89 for these same dates. Deal type: Name Your Own Price Offer price: $52.00 /night Number of rooms: 1 room Number of nights: 2 nights Room subtotal: $104.00 Taxes & fees: $22.02 Total charged today: $126.02

Nice little last second deal. Originally was looking at Crystal City zone, but changed mind after first bid. Wanted to be near or in Rosslyn, so I decided to take a chance and bid the Arlington zone, even though some of the hotels were a little farther out. Bidding at the 3.5* level gave me 5 rebid zones and thus TONS of rebid possibilities, so I was able to start very low. Bid $45 for 3.5* in Crystal City - rejected, but counter offered that I could get the room for $62. Closed my browser and started over. Bid $50 for Arlington and Capitol Hill South. Bid Accepted. Key Bridge Marriott. Perfect location! Travelocity lists that property for $109 for the same dates. Deal type: Name Your Own Price Offer price: $50.00 /night Number of rooms: 1 room Number of nights: 1 night Room subtotal: $50.00 Taxes & fees: $12.69 Total charged today: $62.69 Started all bids from Betterbidding [url=http://www.betterbidding.com/clicks/click.php?afsrc=1&id=40]PRICELINE[/url] link.

Travelocity was offering a rate of $119 for the same hotel, same night. I decided to start below what I thought would be acceptable and then do a couple rebids. So I bid $75 and was surprised when it was accepted in about 2 seconds! Should've bid lower! Still a pretty good deal, though. Started my bid from the BetterBidding PRICELINE link. Thanks! Offer Price: avg. per room, per night $75.00 Rooms: 1 Nights: 1 Room Subtotal: $75.00 Taxes & Fees: $19.59

Please add this hotel to the Priceline Hotel List. Bidding for a 2.5 star hotel in either Collins Avenue Oceanfront or Ocean Drive zones. Had one free rebid zone (North Miami) Started bidding at $70 for Collins Ave. Oceanfront. Rejected. Bid $75 for Collins and Ocean Dr. Rejected. Closed browser and restarted. Bid $80 for Ocean Dr. and North Miami. Rejected. Closed browser and restarted. Bid $85 for Collins and North Miami. Rejected, but received counteroffer that I could get the room for $104. Closed browser and restarted. Bid $90 for Collins, Ocean Dr. and North Miami. Accepted. Hotel's website and Hotels.com lists a best rate of $199.00 for that date. Hotel gets reasonably good reviews on Tripadvisor. Offer Price: avg. per room, per night $90.00 Rooms: 1 Nights: 1 + Add nights for the same rate! Room Subtotal: $90.00 Taxes & Fees: $20.11 Total Charged to Card: $110.11

Yes, forgot to mention that I did use Better Bidding's PRICELINE link to start all bids. Thanks.