mucsea2003

Hmm, I actually think I could have gotten the 17th for $90 as well, but I don't think i will go out and try! :) Thanx again, and I hope it will be a good conference. And Montreal in July shouldn't be too shabby either. Never been there. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I saw someone on TOBB had gotten the 4*Sofitel for some of my dates for $90. So I added my last rebid zone and upped my bid and got the same thing :) : Check-In Date: Sunday, July 18, 2004 Check-Out Date: Saturday, July 24, 2004 Sofitel Montreal 1155 Sherbrooke West Montreal, Quebec H3A2N3 514-285-9000 $90.00 (US dollars) Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 6 Subtotal: $540.00 (US dollars) Taxes and Service Fees: $63.58 (US dollars) Total Charges: $603.58 (US dollars) Thank you for your help thereuare, and can you change the topic title? I don't know how to. It might not be the best rate, but I was not going to wait longer. Interesting though that the vacation package had the Sofitel as the cheapest 4* at $109 for the entire length of the stay. Can we learn anything from that? Probably not! Keep up the great work on this site!!!

Thank you for the suggestions. I decided I could take a red-eye flight to Montreal and try 7/18-7/24 without having to split my bid. Unfortunately to no avail. 4* was rejected up to $85, 3* at $55. Did you assume that Saturday night would have a higher rate based on any of the published rates or was that a general observation for Montreal/summer? I am not sure about Hotwire, I would probably first try to get up to $95 for a 4* on Priceline. And I don't think I want to wait since this could be a pretty big conference (8000-10000) and also I want to have my things booked.

I am trying to find acommodation in Montreal from 7/17 to 7/24. I will be attending a conference there and so will a few thousand other people. So it might not be easy to get a good deal. I want to stay in the Montreal downtown zone. Star level is not that important, everything 2.5 and above will do. Here is what I did so far: 4* $75 rejected, $80 rejected (free rebid) $85 rejected (free rebid), had one more but stopped. 3* $50 rejected, no free rebids. The vacation package for this week brings up the Sofitel as the cheapest 4*. The price in-/decreases by $109 if I add a day or take one away. Same for 3* and tyhe Crowne Plaza at $84. Whatever that indicates. :) Expedia shows the Hilton Bonaventure (4*) at $198, the Omni at $188-216 and the Sofitel at $244. The Crowne Plaza can be had for $127-$130, the Marriott shows sold out. Any suggestions? I haven't tried 2.5* yet since I am a little concerned about the Residence Inn Westmount being a litlle bit out of the way.

I stayed there last year and was upgraded to a suite with view of Mt.Hood. I was given it for free before I could ask by the very nice front desk person, but I know that they offer these upgrades for $20 to Priceline customers. So just ask! Other than that I actually think this hotel is superior to the Benson. Don't miss the wine tastings in the lobby every day! :)

@epicureangirl: Yeah, check out Ballard the next time you are there. It might be quite a bit out of the way, but has some good attractions! (Locks, Besalu,...). And the Museum of flight can easily be reached by bus (No.174, I believe). @thereuare: I don't expect my taste for coffee to change anytime soon! :) In fact Eastlake is a little bit out of the way (on the east side of Lake Union) and doesn't merit going there just for coffee. It just happens to be close to my workplace. I would definitely recommend Bainbridge Island (we take all our visitors there), but don't expect too much from the island. It is the ferry trip you are going for, especially the inbound leg. Time it for the half hour before sunset and you won't be disappointed. Schedules can be found here: ferry schedules. By the way in one of my former posts I suggested to have a beer on the sundeck of the Bremerton ferry. I just learned that there is no food service on the ferries anymore. I have no idea whether they allow bringing your own food or drinks now. And if you want to mostly stay downtown try the original Torrefazione coffee place (320 Occidental Avenue S. , near Pioneer Square and Safeco field) . Also quite nice. I also find SAM very nice for a rainy day, but don't expect that in August. Today would be a great day for that. :) I still would recommend you to check out at least one other neighborhood (maybe Fremont) to get a feel for the "real" Seattle. Another "fun" restaurant would be "Pink Door" on Post Alley (close to the market). They have an outdoor patio with water view so reserve in advance or prepare to wait! If you desire an upscale place, the only ones I could recommend are the Campagne and Earth and Ocean, the latter in the W hotel. For quick snacks during the day: on the small road alongside the market you can find a good Turkish place and a good hot Dog place (Taxi dogs). Also there is a small bavarian groocery store called "Bavarian Meats" who have some great "Wurst" and "Bavarian style sandwich".

Well enjoy, bring your sunglasses! I just discovered another nice espresso place this morning in the Eastlake neighborhood. It is called "Hines Public Market Coffee" and is on Eastlake Avenue. It is a smallish place where you sit among the big coffee sacks that they roast in a roaster right in the cafe's only room. Tasty, reasonable coffee and nice people.

O.k. here we go, a few more suggestions: food: - Le Pichet, 1933 First Ave., 206-256-1499, close to Pike Place Market. Small, original French Bistro with very good food. We go there for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Reasonable prices. Try to make reservations. - Ray's Boat House, Ballard. Seafood, moderate-expensive. Although kind of a touristy place, the food is still good and the view can't be beat. Try to get seats on the patio for sunset over the Olympics, but bring a sweater! - Thai Tom, 4543 University Way NE, in the University district. Dirt cheap, always packed. Sit at the bar and watch them prepare your food. I would not go for 5 stars. 4 star is already about as hot as it gets. No cards or checks. - Pick up copies of The Stranger and Seattle Weekly for more restaurant reviews. Also online. activities: - Take the ferry to Bainbridge Island as a pedestrian (leaves from downtown, about 25 minutes), spend about an hour or two there walking through the main street and window shopping. Board the return ferry shortly before sunset for a gorgeous view of the city. The ferry to Bremerton is also a pretty ride along Vashon Island (about 45 min.) and you can sit on the sundeck and down a good microbrew in the sun, but Bremerton is a dump unless you crave naval shipyards. - The locks in Ballard are always worth a trip (Bus 17 from downtown), especially on the weekend when there is a load of boat traffic. There won't be too many salmon running in August though. Good to combine with Ballard Avenue on a Sunday with a nice Farmers Market and some unique clothing and specialty shops. - Especially if you bring kids, but also for adults the aquarium on the downtown waterfront is a nice thing to see. - If you like flying, Kenmore Air departs with seaplanes from South Lake Union to the San Juan Islands. Regular roundtrips are about $150, but if they have open seats they will let you fly standby for $75 return. Do that on a clear day and you will get a more than two hour scenic flight with great views of the islands, the mountains, downtown and maybe some whales or submarines. www.kenmoreair.com - The Museum of flight at Boeing Field is also very much worth a visit, especially now that they have one of the BA concordes. - For a view of the city: Kerry Park in Queen Anne. Beats the view you have from the Space Needle and is free. - There is a book called Seattle city walks. It details sightseeing walks through the different neighborhoods. If you like walking, this is for you. This is all that pops to mind right now. Which Yankees game are you going to? I will be there Friday the 13th, hopefully a good omen. :)

IMO it is not worthwhile to stay at SeaTac and then drive because of all the hassle with traffic and parking. I would rather stay downtown and not have a car at all, since you can walk to most places including Safeco Field, which actually is a fun walk on a summer evening with everybody walking that way and lots of opportunities to stop for beer, coffee or food before you pay through your nose for it at Safeco Field. If you want to go to any of the other neighborhoods (I would recommend at least Capitol Hill, Fremont and Ballard) taking the bus is convenient and cheap. On the other hand if you want to save some money and don't mind being a short bus ride or long walk away from downtown, the South Lake Union zone on Priceline is a good alternative. You will stay either at the Courtyard or the Residence Inn because there is no other hotel in that zone. Except maybe the Silvercloud Inn, but I think they are just outside the zone and don't participate in Priceline. There is quite a few restaurants in the area and you will usually end up with a nice lake view. There is also one more relatively new coffee place I would like to recommend: Fremont Coffee Company right across the street from Ladro's in Fremont. It is located inside a 1904 residential house that still has most of the original floors and decors. So you can choose to sit in different living rooms or outside on the sunny patio to have their excellent coffee (Vivace) or use their free WiFi access. And for pastries I will have to add Cafe Besalu on 24th Ave NW in Ballard. It is a little bit out of the way but their pastries are from heaven. You can easily forget Le Panier's (which are actually very good) compared to these. I doubt you will find better pastries even in Paris (no kidding!). Ouch, I know i shouldn't have given away this still relatively well kept secret. :)

I just hope you are not on the Yankees side and help us boo A-Rod!!! :)

- I totally agree with the poster above. Stay in Bellevue and then "move" to the Downtown/Pike Place zone and go for a 4* property. Travel from Seattle to Bellevue and vice versa is terrible during rush hour and a cab woud cost you $30 plus one way. The Seattle Center zone should be avoided hotel-wise. - For coffee places: there are indeed about a million plus a Starbucks and Tully`s at every corner. I personally like "Zeitgeist" for its atmosphere. The best espresso IMHO is served by Monorail Espresso which is actually not a coffee place, more like a stationary cart on I think Pike and 5th Avenue. (A mini search on Google just revealed that quite a few people agree with my opinion.) Mini-chain Ladro's has good coffee, 4-5 locations (Fremont, Queen Anne, Cap Hill) and very good berry pies! - If you like baseball, the Yankees will be in town Aug 13-15th. - If you stay downtown, the public buses will take you everywhere you need to go. Anyways, enjoy! Nothing beats Seattle in August! :)

Bid $40, rejected but received a counteroffer to raise by $12. Raised to $42 and included NE denver zone, accepted at $42. :)

Just came back from my stay there on a $89 plus tax rate found on spg.com. Nice hotel, friendly front desk but I still don't understand why they would have no rooms available to Priceline. The hotel seemed to be completely empty.

Bid $30, counteroffer of $38, accepted at $32.

ALso rejected at $50 and $55. They probably don't have any inventory.

Thank you, I actually have to stay in downtown Tacoma. I will try and raise my bid on Monday. Let's see what happens! Thanx for the heads up on TOBB. Until now I really used to like that board. Guess where I will post in the future.... :)

Accepted on first bid. Might have overbid a little, but cheapest published rate at this place was $139.

I had my bids for a 3* in Tacoma rejected at 30, 32 (72h) 35, 38 (72h) 40, 45. There is only one 3* property in Tacoma, the Sheraton. Their best rate online for that date is $89. Any recommendations on what to do? I am thinking of maybe bidding 45, 50 after 72h. If that does not succeed I might book their online rate and use my SPG Gold status to get a room upgrade. What do you think? (This post was removed from TOBB for the ommission of the two 72h intervals! :) :) )