soozle

Was looking for a 4* in Downtown North zone for under 65$/night. Used free rebid zones to start at $40 and bid up to my max -- but no luck. Decided to add 3.5 stars to my options as HOTWIRE was showing a 3.5* (which looked liked the Delta Chelsea) for $79. At $50, PRICELINE offered me the chance to add $14 to my bid for acceptance. Ignored that and continued to bid. At $57 they offered to accept if I would add $15 to my bid (cheeky!). Continued to ignore and bid $59, which was accepted. Used your PRICELINE links to bid. As always, thanks for these forums!

Whoops, I thought I put it in the subject line... The dates are: April 10-13, 2009. -Susan

First off, I used your PRICELINE link to begin my bids. It's the least I could do... :) Was trying for a 4* in Quincy Market or Copley Square. Started bidding using rebid zones and went up to 70$ with no luck. Added 3.5 stars and at 60$ I was asked to Try Again Right Now for an additional 17$. Ignored that and bid 65$ for 3.5* with both my preferred zones and 1 rebid zone and got the Marriott Copley. As always, thanks for this board. It's a great resource! -Susan

Won after several bids for the Downtown area using free rebid zones. Started bidding at 30.00, and increased by 3-4$ per bid. Was asked at 44.00 to rebid again if I'd add 12$. Split the difference and bid again on my own. Westin won. :-) With taxes and fees price came to US$121.51 We've stayed here before (also through PRICELINE) and received phenomenal service. Location's a bit barren, but views are great and hotel very very nice. Thanks, as always, Betterbidding! -Susan

(Posting belatedly to separate HOTWIRE win from my thread in the PRICELINE forum.) 3* Holiday Inn New York City - Manhattan 6th Avenue 29/09-01/10 $119/night Won as part of a trip split across Priceline and Hotwire. The 3* bid on HOTWIRE, the amenities returned (Restaurant, Fitness, Hi-Speed Internet, Business) matched those listed under the Hilton Garden Inn in the Hotels List thread. I thought for sure that was the match, and was surprised to get the Holiday Inn. Thanks for adding that info to the hotels list thread. (fyi: HOTWIRE is returning an error when I try and double check the info posted above about the amenities. I will keep trying and post a followup if anything's in error. I'm quite certain about the amenity match though.) By the way, our stay at this Holiday Inn was an EXCELLENT value for the price.

Thanks for the advice! After much research and many bidding attempts, I ended up splitting my stay over two hotels: From Hotwire: 3* Holiday Inn New York City - Manhattan 6th Avenue 29/09-01/10 $119/night From Priceline: 4* Hilton Times Square 01/10-04/10 196$/night We're pretty happy, considering it seems to be a busy (and expensive!) time in NYC. By the way, for the 3* bid on Hotwire, the amenities returned matched those listed under the Hilton Garden Inn in the Hotels List thread. I thought for sure that was the match, and was surprised to get the Holiday Inn. Perhaps you could add this info to that thread? (No worries, though. It's understood that the hotels and amenities do change.) As always, thanks for providing this service. It's fabulous!

Hi there, I'm looking for a 4* hotel for 5 nights sometime between Sept 29-Oct 13. Our preferred dates are Sept 30-Oct05, but dates are flexible. Ideally I'd like to stay at the same hotel for the 5 day stretch, but we can split the bid if really needed. My acceptable zones are MTE, MTE, TS, CPS, ESB, DTSoho. I'm very familiar with the concept of rebids and permutations, but I've been trying a few dates up to 175$ with no luck. Any help or insight into dates and going rates would be appreciated! Thanks, -Susan (ps. Yep, I'm absolutely using the betterbidding PRICELINE link. :) )

We stayed here from 7/18/08-7/20/08 and payed 75$ per night. The room was spacious and had all the amenities. Bathroom was an okay size, but clean and new. The hotel location is excellent, within a couple of blocks of shopping, the Common, and the T. It's a nice hotel and clearly upscale, but is looking a bit faded/dated. Staff was extremely accomodating on check in. We were travelling with a 13 month old. I requested a king size bed, and a crib for our baby. They also suggested a mini fridge for our baby, rather than using the minibar. The fridge was providied no charge. The bed itself sadly was one of the most uncomfortable hotel beds I'd ever experienced. Something was wonky and it felt like the head was lower than the foot of the bed, making for a dizzy night's sleep. Linens and pillows were lumpy and definitely un-luxurious. Two other issues we experienced were: the carpet was quite dirty and housekeeping didn't come to our room. After about 10mins crawling on the carpet, the knees of my daughter's pyjamas were black... really quite gross. On check out, the clerk picked up on my tone when I said our stay was "fine" and probed for details. I mentioned the carpet and housekeeping issues (very politely) and she immediately removed the charge for our night of valet parking (~45$) and gave us two vouchers to have breakfast in the hotel restaurant. This was such excellent service, I was floored. All in all, we were really pleased with our stay. The service at the hotel made quite an impression, and at the price we paid, it was really hard to beat.

My first bid of 75$ with only this zone selected was accepted. Dang! makes me think I should have started my bidding lower! :-) The dates were for 18/07-20/07. Thanks for all the great info on BB.com. -Susan

Love this site. We were looking for a 4* hotel in Downtown Toronto for this weekend. 1st bid: Downtown @ 60$. Got rejected but received a free rebid offer if I increased it by 17$. Ignored that because there are tons of rebid zones for 4*s. 2nd bid: Downtown + Brampton @ 63$. Rejected. But got same rebid offer as above. 3rd bid: Downtown + Brampton + Don Valley @ 66$. Rejected. 4th bid: Downtown + Brampton + DV + Markham @ 70$. WON. Check-In Date: Sat, Oct 6, 2007 / After 03:00 PM Check-Out Date: Mon, Oct 8, 2007 / 12:00 PM Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: US$70.00 Subtotal: US$140.00 Taxes & Service Fees: US$28.73 Total Charges: US$168.73 Never stayed here, so hope it's nice. But at 4*s, I'm not too worried. :-D

Wow, thanks for the step-by-step! Will let you know how it goes...

Before I start my hunt, does anyone have any advice on what price I should begin my bidding at for a 3* for September 25-27? Acceptable zones are: MTE, MTW, MTS, UM/CPS, SOHO/FD. We've got a backup reservation for an average of 198$/night for a 2*, so I've gotta do better than that... :) Any help is appreciated! -Susan

So glad my posting helped, though I have to admit I'm a bit jealous! :-) -Susan

I've been trying for two weeks now to get a 4* for 09/21/06 to 09/27/06 in MTE, MTW, UM/CPS, MTS, or FD/SOHO for anywhere between 150-215 per night, with no luck. I've been using the methods posted on this forum, and have to say the information here is fantastic. So, the good news is: decided to split my dates when I realized the 25-27th were the pricy dates and got an accepted bid for: MTW 4* Hilton 150$ / night Am thrilled! We have a backup reservation at the Quality Hotel (2*) for the last two nights, but will be trying Priceline again to see if we can do better. Thanks again for all the great help! Oh, and we used the savingsbarn.com link to make our bids. -Susan