Thank you for all of the bidding tips. They are very much appreciated.
I am planning a trip to Louisville in four weeks. After doing some initial research on this website and on Hot.wire and Price.line, I opted to try the Name Your Own Price feature on Priceline and placed an initial bid of $65 each night for a 3.5 star hotel in downtown Louisville from August 20-22, 2014. The bid was rejected. I added the Clarksville area and increased my bid by $2. The bid was rejected. I continued adding additional areas (that didn't have any hotels over 3 stars) and increased my bid by $2 to $3 each time. At $78, my bid was finally accepted. The 2- night total for the hotel was $188.44 including tax.
The hotel that Priceline assigned was The Brown Hotel. It's actually a four star hotel. Priceline said that they upgraded the hotel quality level. By the time my bid was accepted, the Minimum Guaranteed Amenities listed on the website only stated a "Guest Review Score 8.0 or Higher."
I used the link on this website to access Price.line.
Again, thanks for the tips!