ilander

I didn't post the win because the information at the time was consistent with what was known by the board at time and didn't see much value added in posting the information. Here are the relevant facts: The stay was for Fri Feb 10 and Sat Feb 11. Orlando showed a lot of sold out hotels for Saturday, I assume people using pre-valentine stays,so I had to hunt for a hotel. After trying Priceline up to $110-resort and $70 - 3*, I switched to Hotwire. I chose the 3 1/2 * for $108 per night hotel showing restaurant, pool, fitness,business, and laundry and was assigned the Crowne Plaza -Universal, which interestingly enough was showing sold out on its own website. The downgrade of this hotel to 3* is unfortunate in my view. Now the Crowne Plaza - Universal is in the same category, and competes with the Wyndham - Orlando. Since the Wyndham usually has lower opaque rates than the Crowne Plaza, the Crowne Plaza will be harder to choose at Hotwire since only one hotel per rating category is displayed. I had much rather stay at the Crowne Plaza. Hope this helps someone. Edited to correct a spelling error

I booked the Crowne Plaza Universal through Hotwire on Feb 2 and at the time it was listed as a 3 1/2 star hotel. Prior to the stay Hotwire sent an email offering to cancel the reservation or give me 50 Hotdollars since they had downgraded the hotel. I took the $50 since nothing was available through Priceline at 3 star or above in the relevant price range. My wife stayed and had no complaints about the hotel. Maybe Hotwire is trying to be a little more consistent with Priceline on their ratings, which would be a good thing. Just thought you would like to update the hotel list. Thx for your efforts in providing useful bidding information. Steve

Couldn't get the edit to work but the dates in the above post should be 2006. Sorry for the error. Steve

Wanted the Courtyard, but this will be an interesting change. Not disappointed at all. $35 rejected. Next bid of $40 was accepted. Rate on hotel's web site is $112, but limited to those on Emory Univ. business.

Tried to get a 3* up to $65 with no luck. The Hyatt was sold out and the available rooms at the Marriott were $279. I tried EasyClickTravel for an Off the Record - the Marriott - which was listed as "On Request" and they came back saying it was unavailable. On to plan B. Started 2.5* bid at $34, then $39, then the winning $44. The rate at the time of bid for the airport Courtyard was $169.

Good news is the Marriott is the hotel I targeted due to a wedding recepiton across the street. Since the web rate is $109, the PL rate seemed high, but a $69 bid was met with a counteroffer of adding $17, $70 was rejected, and $71 accepted. Maybe the rate would have been lower a week or two prior to the date, who knows. A $34 savings per room - got 3 rooms - after figuring for PL fees and taxes on conventional rate.

Started at $30 and worked up. $40 was rejected. The winning $43 bid was for two rooms for a single night, July 5, 2005.

Hi I'm not sure if it will work for you, but one option is to to to EasyClickTravel, search Cocoa Beach, and chose the "Off the Record" hotel for $74 a night. The one with the description about undergoing renovations and parking lot resufacing in August is the Cocoa Beach Hilton. I've stayed there with the kids and everyone had a good time. This hotel is usually available through priceline for a little less but you won't be certain of the hotel you will get.

Bids of $40, 45, 50 rejected. Conventional, prepaid internet rate on Westin website is $189 for this date at time of bid.

Needed to add one more night to a previous reservation. Was unable to use "add a night" because more than 30 days had passed and I had already added a night. oh well. Bid $46, 50, 55, 60 then the winning $65. Wanted the Westin because previous reservation was there, Hilton was okay cause a friend was there that night, but as luck would have it ... out came the Omni. Conventional rate was $199 for the Omni on Orbitz.

If I remember correctly, $47 was rejected. This reservation was for my wife who then decided she needed to stay Friday April 1st also. Used the add a day function Priceline offers and was offered the Friday night at $65. I took it because I didn't want to risk getting a different hotel.

Received this hotel on first bid for 2.5*, so you may be able to better it. Bid 3* up to $50 in this zone with no luck. Only one free rebid zone due to a couple areas being greyed-out. Best alternative was $69 group rate at nearby Radisson, so I'm pleased. Best conventional rate for Courtyard by Marriott on Lavista Road for these dates was $79.

In situations like this in the past I have found someone who wanted to use the room I had reserved via Priceline, called the hotel and added their name to the reservation. Never had a problem with them checking into the room.

Got 3 rooms - same dates, same hotel, separate bids. A bid of $58+bonus rejected.

First bid was $110. Was counterd at $127. Bid $115 and was accepted. Hotwire was $135.

Sorry about posting in the wrong place. Feel free to move the other one and delete this one if you wish. As far as I know both still participate. Since Gainesville only has 1, 2, and 3 star bidding - no 2 1-2 or 4 star - my guess is the ratings remained the same. The Hilton is a nice 3 star and the Paramount a lower quartile 3 star. Gainesville isn't exactly a hotel rich environment and if those two are not in the 3 star offering, I'm not sure what hotel would be a three star. Maybe the BW Gateway Grand, but I've never seen it come up on Priceline. When you are updating the list in the past I have gotten the Fairfield Inn and the LaQuinta both as 2 stars in Gainesville, but I don't remember the dates or amounts.

The Florida list needs to be updated for changes in Gainesville. The Doubletree is now a Hilton and the Sheraton is now called The Paramount Resort.

Bid for friend. Got the Crown Plaza Airport in Orlando first bid of $41 + $10 bonus. Wanted this hotel because the web site says you get 7 days parking with a room and the hotel has a shuttle. Date was cut out of title was for Nov. 12.

Searching June 6 - 8 will bring up both the Swan and Dolphin. Dolphin does not show resort icon but does show rest., pool, fitness, business, golf, tennis, and laundry facilities, Swan shows resort, rest., pool, fitness, business, golf, tennis, and spa. EDIT (by thereuare): the Swan also shows laundry facilities, but only if you click on "detailed information" (as the row of icons can only show up to 8 amenity icons, but you can see 9th, 10th, etc if you click on "detailed information" link)

Just pulled up Treasure Island under packages. It is 4* and shows casino, rest., pool, fitness, high speed internet, business, golf, and spa. EDIT by THEREUARE: hi-speed internet NOT currently associated with this hotel under vacation package

The Swan is 4 * and in addition to the above shows the resort icon and spa services in the LBV area. I just pulled it up under packages. The Dolphin shows laundry facilities in addition to the above.

I don't usually use Hotwire over Priceline unless I need a suite or when hotwire had the $25 coupons a while back. However, I saw this hotel and was 95% sure I'd get the Portofino and I wanted to stay there. Amenities listed were: rest., pool, fitness, business center, golf course & tennis near, spa, child activities It looks like the Royal Pacific might be the 41/2 star listed or the Hard Rock. Will be interested if someone chooses it and reports. Even if Priceline had access to this hotel, I don't know how you would get past the Renaissance at Sea World since Priceline puts both resorts in the same zone. Hotwire divides up the zones into Wet'n Wild and Sea World; plus Hotwire doesn't use Marriott hotels, so thats not a problem. Good luck to all and here's to healthy growth of this site. Thanks for the resource.

You know the drill. Here is a link: http://priceline1.m0.net/m/s.asp?HB8348951...2272514X167462X

Which zone do you need? The 3* Omni comes up often for $45 downtown along with the Hilton;the Marriott at Sawgrass is a 3 * that has come up at the beach. You may find a $10/day bonus link posted by Pitflyer in the Priceline Tips section that expires today. good luck

Here is another bonus link I'm not going to use. http://priceline1.m0.net/m/s.asp?HB8348971...2272514X167462X enjoy. expires today. post if u use it please.