jrarey

Priceline got the ball rolling with a one day only email offer to moi for $7 per night bonus cash on any hotel win. I knew the dates for my pre cruise January trip to PR and came to this eggzcellent site to do my due diligence. Once I settled on a strategy I used the PRICELINE link here at betterbidding dot com and with the $7 bonus decided to start low @ $80. Used rebid zones and increased bid by $10 for the first couple rounds, then $5 increments. Bid of $115 (plus $7 bonus) was accepted for the Caribe Hilton. The numbers break out like this; Room Cost (avg. per room, per night): $115.00 (USD) Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Guests Per Room: 2 Number of Nights: 3 Room Subtotal: $345.00 (USD) Taxes and Fees: $51.60 (USD) Total Room Cost: $396.60 (USD) (plus $21 bonus) Cash out of my pocket at just under 400 clams contrasts nicely with the best non-refundable total rate of $827 (well over a grand if I wanted refundable) seen on several booking engine sites. That saves me over 400 schmackas and makes me one happy hotel camper. That'll buy me a pina colada or two! Thank you to the guys who make this site go.

Researched on this forever helpful forum to determine starting bid for the dates and location. Had made cancellable reservation thru traditional website for a total of $175 for a Compact thru Royal Rent-a-Car. Began bidding process thru the PRICELINE link above. Originally bid $16 for Full Size. Bid rejected and was counter offered $20. Declined the counter and rebid on a Mid-Size at same price. Bid rejected. 24 hours later repeated the process but bumped bid $1, to $17. Full Size was rejected and I turned down $21 counter-offer. Rebid $17 for Mid-Size and offer was accepted! The gory details; Your Offer Price: $17.00 (per day) Total Rental Days: 5 days Subtotal: $85.00 Taxes and Fees: $54.73 Total Charges: $139.73 Lowest Published Price: $364.53 (USD) Total Savings:* $224.80 (USD) (You saved 62%) Cool O Julio save a bunch o dougho! $35 less than my conventional reservation plus a larger car and more reputable rental co. Thanks to all here for the great site. :)

Reviewed all the pertinent info on this always helpful site and took a look at the usual suspects (Expedia, etc) to develop a bid strategy for a one night stay on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls en route to a long holiday weekend in Toronto. Commenced bidding for 4 stars only at $70, bid rejected. Used all four rebid zones and stepped up to $105 as my final bid. Bid was accepted for 4* St. Catharines - Niagara (Niagara Falls) Doubletree Fallsview Resort And Spa By Hilton. With fees and taxes it worked out to just a tad over $130. Not a great deal but hey, how do you spell procrastination? That's right, $$$! I should have been doing this a month ago. Always fun to participate and support BetterBidding.com, and of course there are the Doubletree cookies!

Researched accommodations for my short stay in St. Louis on this always friendly and helpful site. With ample rebid zones available started process using the PRICELINE link for 2 rooms, 4* downtown to crash in after the upcoming Radiohead show. First bid of $40 was offered a counterbid of $48. Passed on that deal and rebid $42. This was accepted for the Hyatt Regency at the Arch property. Saved nearly hundred clams per room from the best published rate of $139 +. Very happy with the bargin I got thru BetterBidding dot com. Thanks guys!

Spent some time researching the location and bid history for an upcoming pre-cruise stay in the Ft Lauderdale area. As always used the info on this great site to build a bid strategy for TWO 4* rooms and decided to start at $70 with an upper limit of $120 thru use of rebid zones. Used the PRICELINE link above to start the process. Bid a couple times in the past week but stopped at $100 as there is no hurry. Today finally decided to go 'all the way' to $120 in $10 increments. Won this property on the last bid. Best internet quote was $279 plus $31 tax/fees for a per night total of $310. With Priceline fee and taxes our per night charge nets out at a cool $137. Might have saved more by waiting, but can file this one away as DONE and certainly saved a ton-o-$. Thanks guys as always for the great site!

After researching the hotel scene in the area mostly thru this always awesome website, I tried PRICELINE for my dates and failed twice for what I thought were reasonable bids / rebids. Accessed HOTWIRE thru the link on this site to check inventory for my dates. Comparing what came up to the Hotwire list here for Downtown Nashville, the *** offering in the Downtown area amenities looked like the Hampton Inn Downtown for $77 per night for my two nights. I liked the location, close to the Ryman where I will be attending the kd Lang show. Press the magic button...sheezam! Sealing the deal revealed it was, in fact, the Hampton Inn. I won't wollow in the lap of luxury, but the combo of location, amenities, and value thru this site and HOTWIRE make it just fine for my stay. The particulars; Amenities, Smoke Free Rooms Complimentary Breakfast Fitness Center Pool Business Center Laundry Facilities High-Speed Internet Access (all as listed in the Hotwire Hotel List) Rate per night: $77.00 Nights: 2 Rooms: 1 Tax recovery charges & fees: $38.52 Subtotal: $192.52 Booking direct or thru any number of sites would have run me over 350 clams after taxes, so saved me over one and fitty. Woo hoo, will eat like a king in Music City! Thanks everyone here (or there) for your continued awesomeness! Till next time...

Accessed bidding site thru the PRICELINE link of this always outstanding board. This was probably the 6th time in the past two months I have attempted a reservation for this date. Selected 3.5* with a starting bid of $85 actually hoping for the Sheraton Old San Juan for a single night pre - cruise stay. Only reason I was hoping for the Sheraton was looking for a one night deal with close proximity to many of my favorite things in OSJ, and it is liveable for one or two nights. Used free rebids incremented at $5 a shot, with $115 being my limit and knowing full well that that had a chance to land the IC based on other posts in this section. Sure enough, on the final bid the Intercontinental came up and I am very happy. While it does not have easy access to Barrachina and the cafe stand in Plaze de Armas, et.al., it is a great property,especially at this rate. One of the things I like best about the Intercontinental is the beachfront bar / snackbar that has some of the most reasonable prices you will ever find at a resort hotel anywhere. And Old San Juan is just a fun bus ride away! Thanks to you guys who run this place, as always... joe

Read posts here to determine bidding strategy. Began bidding thru BB PRICELINE link targeting DT North 4*(to try and stay away from Sheraton) initial bid $65. Rejected and started using ample Toronto rebid zones at $5 increments. Got to $85 (my ceiling for today) on 4th rebid and was awarded Marriott Eaton Centre. Would have preferred Blor, but that is the world of blind bidding. Room Cost (avg. per room, per night): $85.00 (USD) Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 2 Room Subtotal: $170.00 (USD) Taxes and Fees: $31.96 (USD) Total Room Cost: $201.96 (USD) Compared online sites which have the same hotel pay in advance rate for the same time at $337 total. Very happy with the result, now I have to figure out a cheap way to park. Thanks as always to thereuare and everyone here on this outstanding site!

Would also be great if you could post the additional cost of the taxes and fees, to know the true cost to compare. Thanks

Booked the El Convento in Old San Juan; Check-in date Thu, Jan 29, 2009 Check-out date Sat, Jan 31, 2009 Hotel rate per night: $214.00 Nights: 2 Rooms: 1 Subtotal: $428.00 Tax recovery charges & fees: $114.28 Total price: $542.28 A bit pricey, but it's Thursday and Friday night and still about a third off published rate. Puerto Rico taxes add a lot too, but have wanted to stay here so I jumped on it. IDed it with info from this board and did the transaction thru the link here. Thanks to everyone here for making this the friendliest and best bidding info board. Your hard work and contributions are appriciated. Have a safe & happy new year.

Been working on this one on and off for about a month, using info from this great board for this season, and looking back at last season on the same dates. We are in San Juan for pre-cruise from Jan 01 until Jan 05, hoping for Marriott Stellaris. I have been bidding all four nights, resort only, starting at $120 and working to $145 with rebids. Tried this maybe a half dozen times over the past month and got nowhere. Decided try Jan 02 thru 05 the past two times, thinking the 1st might be full with leftovers from New Years. Still no joy. Finally today I went Jan 01 thru Jan 04 and bingo.... Check-In Date: Tuesday, January 1, 2008 Check-Out Date: Friday, January 4, 2008 Hotel Name: Marriott San Juan Resort And Stellaris Casino 1309 Ashford Avenue San Juan, Puerto Rico 907 787-722-7000 Your Offer Price: $145.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 3 Subtotal: $435.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $94.30 Total Charges*: $529.30 Now all I have to do is find something for the night of the 4th, which should be no problem. Thanks to Thereuare and all the other folks who make this forum as great as it is. I'll tip a classic Colada de Pina with a 151 float for you after check in on the 1st!

Think I'm on to something.... Went back to HOTWIRE to have another look, same hotel came up at same price. Besides the amenity icons there is a link to 'See Hotel Details'. Mostley generic stuff except this page tells us the star rating Hotwire uses is the Tripadvisor Traveler Rating, and this property has been reviewed on Ta 60+ times. Ahha, so on reviewing hotels in the same geographic area on Tripadvisor, there is only one hotel that comes back with a Traveler Rating of 3 stars, and 60+ reviews (69). (Oddly, the general hotel list page says 71 reviews, but clicking thru to read a full review shows 60 reviews.) My bet is the property is the Beverly Pavilion. Seems it is in the midst of a major overhaul, so I'm guessing the amenities change from day to day. If I were interested in staying here I would take the plunge just to test the theory, but alas, I am not. Most exciting to me is that comparing Tripadvisor info may be a way to further distinguish hotels with identical or very similar amenities. Something I will check out further and dutifully report back to this great forum. Joe

Looking at Hotwire for 8/3 thru 8/6. One 3* in BH - WW- CC shows up at $114, but has nothing in the amenities list. Any ideas? TIA, Joe

Hi, Just wondering if anyone has succeeded in changing a rental made through either Hotwire or Priceline to a different drop off location. I know neither has the option for one way rentals on their respective sites. Has anyone changed the drop off location either by phone prior to pickup or at the counter when picking up? I am flying into LAX and out of Las Vegas in August. For my 10 day rental HOTWIRE is quoting about half the best discount I have been able to find so far. I think I can probably do even better on PL. If I can swing this (even for a small fee) I will obviously save some serious bucks. TIA Joe

Opps...moved to Car Rental Forum

Thanks to thereuare for the great site. The info from here makes it like walking through the dark with night vision goggles on! The aminities listed out just as described in your hotel list. 4* Caribe Hilton Beachfront, Restaurant, Pool, Fitness, Business, Tennis, Spa Price per night: $103.00 Subtotal: $103.00 Total Taxes and Booking Fees: $21.95 Total: $124.95 Thanks again!