riley

Sweet success!!! :) :) :o Using link from www.savingsbarn.com, I accessed Priceline and followed your strategy and won a 3* at $55/night. Renaissance Toronto Downtown Check-in: Friday June 8, 2007 Check-out: Sunday June 10, 2007 $55 (US dollars) THANKS Thereuare!

Hi Thereuare, I'm looking for least expensive, and will take the 3* for a better price. Thanks

Hi ... a bid strategy would be greatly appreciated for: 3 or 4 star hotel in Toronto Location: Downtown Dates: Fri June 8 & Sat June 9 From the board, I see winning bids starting as low as $55 for 3-star and then inching upwards to $90 range for 4-star. My max price per night is $70. Thanks very much! :)

I now have a hotel room! Hudson Hotel 3* for $125 on 08/23/2006. Here's what I did: Via Savingsbarn.com, linked to PL and bid UMT/CPS 4* $90 rebid $95 rebid $100 closed browser, went back to savingsbarn.com, and bid MTE 4* $90 rebid $95 rebid $100 closed browser, went back to savingsbarn.com and bid UMT/CPS 3* $95 added MTS and $100 added MTE and $105 added UE and $110 added DT and $115 added MTW and $125 Won with $125. Should be a tight squeeze since I hear Hudson's rooms are small, but I am happy nonetheless since it is on budget and I hear it is an interesting place. Thanks to all for the help to get to this point! :)

dahammer: Yes, started at 4* and stayed there.

Hi rizan: I saw these on travelzoo.com's NYC section. I had booked one once before via this same site, then got a great deal on priceline ($120 at Hilton NY) and cancelled the original booking without charge. Hi thereuare: I am still (crazy optimist?) hoping to get myself a $130 (max!) hotel room for Aug 23rd via priceline ... which I will of course access via my fave savingsbarn.com. :)

I agree with thereuaure ... it might be time to take a breath and back up. I've seen some deals on nice hotels under $200. The Roosevelt for $149, the Mansfield for $159, the Crown Plaza Un for $169, and the Carleton $174. Most of these could be booked in advance and cancelled without charge (double check all fine print!). Good luck!

Hi everyone ... thanks so much for your help and the hotel tips (I will check them out asap). Last night, I decided that I should just bid on downtown hotels in NYC since I have had good luck with priceline (i.e. $120 and $130 for 4*) and it seems crazy to spend $230 - 300 on a so-so hotel. I have not had a successful bid, but in case it is helpful for others, my failed bidding went as follows: (linked in thru savingsbarn.com, then...) bid $80 for downtown/soho rebid with UMT $85 rebid with UW $90 rebid with UE $98 rebid with MS $112 rebid with ME $118 rebid with MW $120 So, as you can see, I am starting to lose focus and patience and go all over the map! lol! :)

Hi thereuare, Thanks for the info. My bid ended up being rejected after all ... (I'm still working on some kind of accommodation for August 23, as per the PRICLEINE NYC posts). I'll keep you posted. Julie

Have you ever received the notice of "Check your Offer Status"? I had not seen this before. Just got it now while bidding on priceline. PL tells me they "are working on my request and should have an answer for me within 15 minutes" ... has this ever happened to you? what was the result? thanks

Hello ... linked into priceline via SAVINGSBARN.COM and tried step 2. No luck. Ah, well, I shall keep checking around Expedia, etc via your other links. thanks

Hi - thanks for the strategy - much appreciated! Linked to priceline via SavingsBarn.com and tried the first step and was rejected. Will wait my 24hr now and try step 2. I'll let you know how it goes ...

I'm back and ready try again for a hotel near La Guardia airport for August 23rd. Would appreciate bidding help, with these details: location - LGA star - 3* (but will move to 2.5*) max bid - $100 Many thanks!

As FYI, I tried another bid on priceline.com (unsuccessful). I logged in via SavingsBarn.com and used the strategy above but: $70, rebid $75, rebid $80, rebid $85

Awesome, thanks dahammer.

Okay, thanks for the advice. I've never been to either area. take care

Well perhaps I can find a cheaper rate at a JFK hotel then instead of LGA?

You hit the nail on the head -- we see it more as a layover stop. We won't have any great siteseeing ambitions by that point (and we'll likely be broke by then too! ha!). So, we don't really care where we stay, but we do want it to be clean and relatively cheap. However, I suppose we could fork over the cash to go from JFK into Manhatten. Stay over night in Manhatten and have a dinner on the town. Then in the am, make it out to LGA. I will keep poking around Hotwire etc to see if I can find any cheap hotels for that night.

We're arriving into JKF from Australia at 5:20pm on Aug 23. Then we leave NYC from LGA on Aug 24th at 8am. Suggestions welcome! :)

Excellent then! We'll definitely hit the Ess-a-Bagel!

Thanks for the sweet strategy -- I'm happy to report sweet success! I linked to priceline hotels via SAVINGSBARN.COM and followed the strategy exactly as outlined. I won at $130 for W New York (4* MTE). (This was at the second last para of outlined strategy while bidding on MTE, MTS, and SoHo). Yippee! Thanks again for the help.

Our flight out is at 8am ... so we need to be at LGA airport for 6:30am (ugh).

Ah, okay, I scrolled down further and saw the additional options that included NY airports. Here's how it went: I used the link from Savingsbarn.com, and used the strategy on this thread exactly, but was rejected. So, perhaps (as suggested), I am simply dreaming in techni-colour! Question: do you feel that I might have some luck in this price range ($70) at 2.5* (instead of 3*)? Thanks to you both for your help!

Yes, I would like to confirm with you that the above are now my top 4 preferences for locale. Thanks for your .02 ! p.s. no, haven't bid on LGA yet ... work has been hectic today. Will try within the next hour and let you know how it goes.

Ah, I see ... you bring a good point to my attention. I was lulled by the Priceline Hotel list for Soho that included 60 Thompson, Soho Grand and Tribecca Grand. I realize the Millenium Hilton is more financial district, but I was going to take the risk. Based on your advice, I will revise my location preferences to: 1. MTE 2. MTS 3. Soho 4. MTW Thanks!