HarryK

As of today I cancelled my trip. I bought plane tickets last week to make sure I got a decent flight but I knew I might have to cancel and that's what I had to do. Too much work and stuff going on now but I'll definitely make this trip in the future and I'm going to shoot for the 5* in Carefree when I do, so I'll be back. Thanks again for everybody's help

Thanks! That's good to know. Yeah, I used to do that. I'd come up with long lists of when to open/close/start again, but I don't really need that many bids these days. I'm no longer bidding in $3 increments like I used to :) And I think I'm going to skip the 4* anyway. From reviews and photos of the 4* Scottsdale Plaza Resort, I don't think I want to stay there. I'm going to shoot for the 5* in Carefree and then decide what to do after that, depending on whether or not I win.Thanks again

Okay, I've re-read the "Bidding Again before 24 hours" thread again and the 'resorts' issue still isn't clear to me. The resort interaction with other star-levels is only mentioned in 2 posts in that thread from three years ago. "if you bid for a resort in an area, then 4* for that area is also greyed out and vice versa if the initial bid is rejected" with a followup that says "It can be overcome if you bid Resort and then 4*, but not the other way around. " As I mentioned in the very first post here "I've never bid in a Priceline area with 'resorts' before" and while the "Priceline Rebidding thread" discusses the 'resort' interaction with 4*, it's still not clear to me how the "resort" option interacts with the 5* option. The resort option is at the bottom below the 1*. Is "resort" HIGHER than 5* or is 5* HIGHER than "resort"? If I bid on 5* FIRST will the "resort" option be greyed out? Thanks

Okay, so "resorts" are considered higher than 4*? That's not clear to me since they're listed at the bottom of the list on PRICELINE. If you mean that I shouldn't use the list to determine what zones contain what star ratings, I'm not. All the star-rating information listed in my posts came directly from the PRICELINE page.Based on the information from the Priceline page, I came up with those options listed above. Of course, if 'resort' IS considered to be higher than 4*, then that throws a wrench into things which is why I asked about the resort listing placement at the bottom of the list in a prior post. But as far as being upgraded to a 5*, I went through and made sure that there were no 5* options in areas used with later bids and noted each one on my lists by saying "no 4* or 5* available there"

Hmmm, after more investigation and reading reviews of the 4* locations in Scottsdale which I might get through Priceline, I'm starting to think that the 4* in Carefree is more what I'm looking for. The Hilton and Doubletree just sound like normal hotels and not many people posting here have even gotten those locations recently. The Scottsdale Plaza Resort doesn't sound very great at all. It also seems like the Scottsdale Plaza Resort is frequently the location that people end up with here when bidding on 4* in Scottsdale. If there's a good chance that I end up at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort, then bidding on 4* Scottsdale locations through Priceline might not be the way for me to go and it seems likely that I'll either get The Scottsdale Plaza or the Orange Tree. The Orange Tree would be fine but I don't think I'd be thrilled with Scottsdale Plaza. SO, let me revisit my bidding plan and come up with something that would work for "resorts" instead of 4*. Start with 6-bids for the 5* in Carefree, just for kicks: BID1 - $?? for 5* in CareFree BID2 - $??+? add Apache Junction (no 5* available there) BID3 - $??+? add Chandler Vicinity (no 5* available there) BID4 - $??+? add Downtown Phoenix (no 5* available there) BID5 - $??+? add Scottsdale (no worries because there's no 5* here) BID6 - $??+? add Phoenix North (no worries because there's no 5* here) I could then DROP my bid price and start shooting for a RESORT in Scottsdale or Phoenix North BID 7 - $? (lower bid) add "resort" (only locations so far with "resort" should be Scottsdale & Phoenix N) BID 8 - $?+? add Mesa (no 5* or "resort" available there) BID 9 - $?+? add Metrocenter (no 5* or "resort" available there) BID10 - $?+? add Phoenix Airport (no 5* or "resort" available there) BID11 - $?+? add Phoenix West (no 5* or "resort" available there) BID12 - $?+? add Peoria-Suncity-Glendale (no 5* or "resort" available there) This plan would focus the first 6-bids on the 5* in Carefree and the final 6 bids on getting a resort location in either Scottsdale (Resort Hyatt Regency, JW Marriott Camelback Inn, Scottsdale Resort & Conference) or Phoenix North (JW Mariott Desert Ridge, Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak, Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs). Okay, now I'm off to see which of these are most frequently won on Priceline and if any of them look like they're terrible :) NOTE TO SELF: In this scenario (looking for resorts) I can NOT add, Avondale-GY-BE -or- Fountain Hills -or- Tempe because they all potentially offer resorts

I think I'm going to shoot for the 5* in Carefree and see if I get it for ~$110 or so. The resort fees for The Boulders appear to be around $35/night (WHOA!) so I'm not sure how high I'll go, but if I can get three nights at the boulders for a total of ~$150/night, then why not. (I'm curious though, if The Boulders IS the 5* location and it's not listed as a "resort", then can they still charge me 'resort' fees?) If that doesn't work, then I'll go back to trying to get a 4* in Scottsdale for under $70/night. If I can't do that, then I'll try an entirely new plan. I'm going to avoid 'resorts', I think, because it makes the bidding process much more complicated for my tired brain. The 4* and 5* availability are pretty straightforward. So, lets see if I can come up with a bidding plan here. Carefree is the ONLY place with 5*. So I start there, then move through the locations with no 4* OR 5* available, then I can always drop down to a 4* and try to get one in Scottsdale (as long as I stay away from Peoria.) I guess the only risk with this plan, it seems, is that I MIGHT end up with a 4* in CareFree since I've added it from the start. If I ONLY want the 5* in CareFree, it looks like I easily have a TON of bids, but I probably don't need that many. So Let's say I want the option of 7 Bids to try and get the 5* BID1 - $?? for 5* in CareFree BID2 - $??+? add Apache Junction (no 4* or 5* available there) BID3 - $??+? add Chandler Vicinity (no 4* or 5* available there) BID4 - $??+? add Downtown Phoenix (no 4* or 5* available there) BID5 - $??+? add Mesa (no 4* or 5* available there) BID6 - $??+? add Metrocenter (no 4* or 5* available there) BID7 - $??+? add Scottsdale (no 5* available there) I could then DROP my bid price and start shooting for a 4* in Scottsdale BID 8 - $? (lower bid) add 4* (at this point, only Scottsdale & Carefree are on the list & offer 4*) BID 9 - $?+? add Phoenix Airport (no 4* or 5* available there) BID10 - $?+? add Phoenix West (no 4* or 5* available there) BID11 - $?+? add Avondale-Goodyear-Buckeye (no 4* or 5* available there) BID12 - $?+? add Fountain Hills (no 4* or 5* available there) BID13 - $?+? add Phoenix North (no 4* or 5* available there) BID14 - $?+? add Tempe (no 4* or 5* available there) Again, the only risk here is that there ARE 4* locations available in CareFree which is a location that I've already added to my list of options at the very start, so as I go through bids 8-14, I could end up with a 4* in Scottsdale OR in Carefree. Hmmm, I can't remember, if I LOG OUT of Priceline after Bid7, could I re-start the process with a 4* and NOT have Carefree on the list? It's been a while since I've done this Okay, anybody see any flaws in this plan? To me, the biggest 'risk' is that I really don't know what I'll end up with as a 4* in Scottsdale. It looks like it could be: Doubletree Paradise Valley, Hilton Scottsdale Resort, Orange Tree Golf Resort, Scottsdale Plaza Resort (and spa) and possibly even Hyatt Regency Scottsdale (previously a 4*) or JW Marriot Camelback Inn Resort (previously 4*) And if I end up with 4* in Carefree, it is likely the Carefree Resort and Villas NOTE TO SELF: NEVER ADD PEORIA-SC-GlenDale! There are 4* available there!!!

Thanks Aaron, Most of my Priceline/Hotwire experiences have been positive, MAINLY because of betterbidding.com! In the past, I've only been burned once and it was by Hotwire who gave me a hotel that was outside of the area they described. With Priceline I don't always know what I'm getting, but it's always been a great deal as far as price goes. For me, thats the difference between HOTWIRE and PRICELINE. PL has always been cheaper and because of that, I'm willing to accept some randomness on the location. HOTWIRE has always been more expensive than PRICELINE, but I pretty much know what I'm getting for the money. So if the location really matters or if Priceline has too many possible locations and some suck, I'll pay a little more for Hotwire. Unfortunately in this situation, things are different. The Hotwire hotels aren't dirt cheap AND they're unknown locations. I'm willing to trade off one for the other (money or location), but not give up both and pay $140/night with no idea of where I'll end up. That's why I'm leaning towards Priceline in this situation. Hopefully by the end of the weekend I'll have a better grasp on my schedule. Thanks again for everybody's help. You all are certainly more active in here than in other regions of betterbidding where I NEVER see any conversation about the locations. Thanks

Thanks for all the replies. Great info from everybody. I don't have dates at this point, I'm looking to do a 3-day getaway sometime in the next couple weeks, but it's going to depend on my workload here at home, the price of airline tickets and what seems to be available. The first decision I made was after reading tons of reviews on TripAdvisor and almost decided to just go for the Chaparral Suites because it is highly reviewed, was available for about $140/night and wouldn't necessarily require me to rent a car. Then I decided to check Hotwire, but there wasn't much available for very much less than $140/night AND a LOT of those amenities looked the same or weren't identified here so I wasn't even sure where I'd end up. I figured if I was going to pay the same amount of money, I'd probably just go with a known factor like the Chaparral rather than possibly get 'burned' AND have to rent a car But THEN I saw the posts in the Priceline forum here and was seeing rates like $65/night or $55/night thrown around and it became a whole new ballgame :) If I can get a 4* for $55/night, I'm all over that. And since I was already willing to pay upwards of $140, I started setting my sights even higher! A 5* for ~$120 maybe? A resort for the same price? But since there were so MANY options and so MANY possibilities of 4* Priceline hotels in Scottsdale, I figured it would be best to ask. $60/night is a good rate unless the place really sucks and then it's not such a great deal anymore. At this point, I'm probably looking at checking in on Sunday the 11th and checking out on the 14th. Right now Hotwire shows a 4* for $59/night and a 4.5* for $94/night. That $59 is definitely better than what I was seeing yesterday (maybe slightly difft dates) but neither one exactly matches hotels listed in the pinned threads, which is why I'm a little leery. I mean, there are apparently a lot of 4* hotels in Scottsdale. There are four 4*s on the Pinned Hotwire list and none completely match the amenities. Factor in the possibility of star-ranking-numbers changing and the possibilities are endless. For $59 it might be worth a gamble, but then all the prices go up quickly from there (the others are $122, $169, $255, $346, $400) at which point I have no interest in gambling. That's why I figured I'd look into Priceline. At least there might be more than one option under $100/night I completely appreciate all the opinions, and I'm still up in the air on what to do. This really is a getaway. I'm not interested in shopping, going out to dinner, playing golf or anything like that so that kind of 'location' doesn't matter to me. I need a few days to just relax, get away from the cold weather and do absolutely nothing. I'd love to open the windows and see the landscape and get lost for a few days and I think the desert is beautiful. The problem is that it seems there are so many possibilities that I'm not sure what I'd get on Hotwire for under $120/night and with Priceline it looks like a total crapshoot. The only thing close to certain seems like it would be for me to completely stick to trying to score The Boulders. :) If there's only one 5* out there in CareFree, then I could multi-bid and see if I get it. It's either that or I just say "Okay, any 4* in Scottsdale is going to be okay and I just won't bid over $??/night"

EDIT: Just wanted to note that my sub-title got cut off. I was trying to say "what areas to skiP" but it looks like "ski". I'm not looking to do any skiing. Sorry for any confusion :) I never knew that Phoenix consisted of so many different Arizona cities (Scottsdale, Tempe, Peoria...) I'm looking to stay at a nice (4*, 5* or 'resort') that hopefully has a nice view of the surrounding landscape. I've gone to Priceline and determined that there are probably a lot of multi-bidding options available, since there appear to be SEVEN areas that DON'T offer 4*, 5* OR resorts. However, there are SO many areas that it's boggling my mind a bit. This is what I know, as of today: I can make additional bids on a 4* or 5* place by safely adding: Apache junction, Chandler Vicinity, Downtown Phoenix, Mesa, Metrocenter, Phoenix Airport, and Phoenix West Additionally: - Avondale-Goodyear-Buckeye has 'resorts', but no 4* or 5* - Fountain Hills has 'resorts', but no 4* or 5* - Phoenix North has 'resorts', but no 4* or 5* - Tempe has 'resorts', but no 4* or 5* - Carefree has 4* and 5* but no 'resorts' - Peoria-Suncity-Glensale hast 4* but no 5* or 'resorts' - Scottsdale has 4* and 'resorts' but no 5* SO, "Carefree" seems to be the only place with a 5*. If I want that, I can add every other region on the list and keep bidding, but I don't see anything on the list as to what that 5* might be. If I want a 4*, it'll either be in Carefree, Peoria-SC-GD or Scottsdale. Again, the Peoria-SC-GD area only has a 2.5* on the list, so that's a mystery as well. Keeping all of this in mind, it seems like Scottsdale is my best bet. I've never bid in a Priceline area with 'resorts' before, but adding "Scottsdale" automatically adds "resorts" to the bottom of the list. I find this curious since it's listed below that 1-star. Should I care about that? I would naturally guess that a "resort" is going to be at least as good as a 4* or higher, would that be a poor guess on my part? There are a number of locations listed as 4* or 'resort' on the Priceline list, so if I go for "Scottsdale", there's a lot left to chance, but it's clearly a popular area. Are there any big 'risks' or 'losers' in the list of Scottsdale 4* or 'resorts'? There seem to be enough options that I could multi-bid on either 4* OR 'resort', so if one of those lists is sporting a real loser, I can skip it and just focus on the other. I guess my final question would be whether or not I should try for the 5* in Carefree. I've never even heard of Carefree before tonight :) Thanks for any thoughts or advice.

Thanks, I thought that was just her guess.

What were the amenities listed? Thanks

I'm confused. So which hotel was it? Was it the Staybridge?

I have not been there in over a year but when I was there, this place was a DUMP. It's going for over $100/night on Hotwire during SXSW this year. I'd love to know if it's shaped up at all since I was there. Any info from your visit MMSantaFe?

I had totally forgotten about that (been a while since I've used Hotwire or Priceline) but yeah, I may just go with a known entity. We'll see, it's only one night and I may even just stay with friends. Thanks

$59/ night on Dec 20th 2006. Only has fitness center and restaurant(s) listed. Any ideas?

I know it's only been 3 and a half hours since I posted this, but I couldn't wait so I went ahead and booked a 'known' hotel directly through their website. After getting 'screwed' last time by Hotwire and being booked in a hotel that was not in the area listed (and even though they wouldn't refund my money, at the last minute they cancelled my stay there because the hotel had 'over sold' the rooms) and then ending up at a different unknown hotwire hotel which was under construction and a complete dump, I didn't want to risk it again. So, instead, I'm staying at a La Quinta for $80. That being said, if anybody can i.d. this hotel, or even give some kind of idea what it might be, that'd be great. There seem to be a bunch of Austin hotels on Hotwire that aren't on the list here. Heck, this hotwire one might have even been the La Quinta that I'm staying at. Who knows.... Thanks HK

Any ideas on this one? Looking to book for this weekend which is a busy one in Austin. Sat and Sunday nights gave me $64/night 2.5-star in North Austin with amenities of: Complementary Breakfast, pool(s), high speed internet Just trying to figure out if this place is a dump or not :) Thanks

Austin TX Checkout on 03/17/06 2.5* Arboretum - Mopac $55 It has: Complimentary Breakfast Kitchenette Fitness Center Laundry Facilities Thanks!

This one isn't on the Hotwire list. I took a chance and, man, I hope it's not as bad as some of the tripadvisor.com reviews say it is. :) The location isn't where I hoped the hotel would be and, honestly, the location isn't within the "Arboretum - Mopac" Hotwire "map" area (although it's close) :) Summerfield Suites by Wyndham - Northwest Austin 7685 Northcross Drive Austin, Texas 78757 One night Price :$59.00 with taxes etc:$73.54 Hotwire listed Amenities: Suite, Pool(s), Fitness Center, High-speed Internet Access, Business Center, Laundry Facilities NOTE: The first post in this thread refer to the a 3-star hotel in South Austin - Airport Area and not the Arboretum-Mopac area as the thread title might lead readers to believe. The thread subject/title is only referring to the previous post in this thread which is a 3* hotel in the Arboretum-Mopac area that I bought, not the 3* hotel in south Austin that I was attempting to identify.

3-star hotel in South Austin - Airport Area Check in 3/15/06, Check out 3/16/06 $91/night Amenities: Complimentary Breakfast, Pool(s), Fitness Center, Kitchenette, Tennis Nearby, Business Center, Laundry Facilities Any ideas? Maybe the AmeriSuites - Austin/ Airport?

Booked it via the SavingsBarn.com link to HOTWIRE Customer Favorite Amenities: Fitness, Kitchenette, Hi-Speed Internet, Laundry $106.91 total FWIW, the word "Candlewood" is misspelled as "Candelwood" in this Hotwire Hotel List thread. I'm not being nitpicky, just noting because it might make a difference if people are searching the forum.

Thanks. That Candlewood is a little far south for me. Part of the 'downtown' goal was so I wouldn't have to drive at all. If I'm going to have to drive, I figured I'd look close (South Austin) and the Clarion Conference Center is a bit closer, but (obviously) still a drive to down town and in the $100 range. I may end up staying up near the Arboretum, which is not close at all, but there's a nice Candlewood up there in the $40ish range which would defray some of my other costs. Thanks for the help

I went ahead and logged into Hotwire and it was the nights of March 10th-12th (check out the 13th) The price listed for me is $48 That link takes me to a page that says: Hotel not found.

My complete travel dates are up in the air right now, because everything is sold out for March 10th-11th (the opening weekend of SXSW) Even though I stayed at a 4* downtown for $60/night last year (reservations made in Feb, I believe) I can't get a 4* downtown for under $200/night this time and I've been working on it for the last couple weeks. So my 'week in Austin' may end up being '3 days in Austin' because I'll be spending $1000 in hotel costs :) That being said, this particular 2.5* came up when I searched March 10th-12th (I believe, but it's hard to say with 100% certainty because I've been pricing-out all kinds of things from the 10th to the 17th). I'd check again but right now Hotwire is preventing me from checking prices without logging in first. Has it always done that after a certain number of requests? Maybe I'm just doing more shopping around than normally. I'd like to stay downtown and, frankly, I'm willing to stay just about ANYplace downtown for March 10th and 11th (and possibly longer depending on cost) but I don't think I can get a cardboard box for under $200 for that first weekend. If there's any way to do it, I'm all ears.

Done. The only reason I didn't do it previously is because I never ended up finding anything via Priceline or Hotwire.