HarryK

I ended up staying at Ballys and getting the rooms directly through their site. $475 for 4 nights No Hotwire or Priceline bargains for me on that trip. I did try multiple priceline bids in an effort to get the Venetian. I bid all the way up to $140/night and was denied. At that point, I gave up and, honestly, I'm glad I did. One afternoon we headed up the road from Bally's to the Venetian and I was happy we were staying at Ballys. I didn't see the rooms at the Venetian, but I liked being more 'centrally' located at the Ballys/Paris/Flamingo/Barbary Coast/Caesars/Bellagio intersection and I just wasn't that impressed with the Venetian. Looked like a re-done Paris to me. Plus (like everything in Vegas, I guess) it takes you forever just to get INTO the freakin' building.

The Hotwire amenities listed are: Fitness Center, High-speed Internet Access, Laundry Facilities Any ideas?

Does this hotel exist anymore? I've googled it but all the official links to it seem to be dead. This hotel is still referenced by a LOT of websites but, as I mentioned in my last post, the hotel's website itself no longer exists, nor does ichotelsgroup.com have any info about it even though it used to be part of their website. After some internet sleuthing, it seems that this hotel at 500 N. IH-35, Austin, 78701 is now known as the "Capitol Place Hotel" I don't know any more than that, but maybe somebody else can fill in the blanks.

I'm back and poking around again for a deal. So, riddle me this: Do Hotwire and Priceline prices go up as the Hotel's website prices go up? Yesterday - Hotwire Venetian $150/night - Priceline Venetian, rejected my offers but offered me $160/night - Venetian website - $179/night Today - Hotwire Venetian $183/night - Priceline Venetian, rejected my offers but offered me $207/night - Venetian website - $199/night In the last 24 hours Hotwire's prices went up $33/night, Priceline's offer went up $47/night and Venetian's website prices went up $20/night Are these all linked and/or do the hotels change their Priceline acceptable rates on a daily basis? And, if so, should I then just wait until the Venetian website drops it's rates before even bothering with Priceline? P.S.: And why does the EasyclickTravel Link never let me check rates more than once? I check rates, I then change the dates and try to check again and it gives me "Information of this hotel is currently unavailable". I've noticed this before and I always get frustrated and give up on EasyClickTravel. Is this how it works or am I just always lucky the first time and then unlucky on my 2nd (and 3rd and 4th) tries? Thanks

Thanks, that's what I figured but I didn't want to 'bite' on something only to find out that I was miserably mistaken :) Thanks

It's a 3.5* for $87/night on Dec 23rd-Dec 27th Amenities include: Casino, Restaurant(s), Pool(s), Fitness Center, Spa Services, High-Speed Internet Access, Tennis Nearby, Business Center This sounds like Ballys to me, based on the "Hotwire Vacations" description, but I'm not sure they consider Ballys to be "North Strip". Any idea of what this hotel might be? Also, another (the same?) 3.5* shows up with a 1-day price of $85 on just Dec 23rd but is also listed as a "Best Value". It has all the exact same amenities as the $87/night one above... but when it's $87/night it's not listed as "Best Value". Does that designation change hotels depending on what other hotels are available at the same time? Thanks

That's the kind of info I needed to know. After reading about Thanksgiving being a busy time in Vegas, I thought Christmas might be the same. Yeah, that's what I figured. I read through all the reviews for the Boardwalk on tripadvisor.com and wasn't sure it's a place I really wanted to stay. So, how would you guys rank Bally's, Caesars The Flamingo & the Alladdin? All are nicer than the Boardwalk, I assume. Are any of those 4 markedly nicer or worse than the others? Thanks

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed right now, so forgive me if this post seems incoherent or like I'm asking for too much :) My wife and I are planning on spending Chistmas out in Vegas with family and I need some guidance here. I've been to Vegas a number of times, but 75% were youthful trips where we'd stay at the cheapest place we could find and 25% have been paid for by people other than myself. So I'm looking for something that won't break the bank, but also nice enough for my wife and me, and close to where the rest of my relatives will be staying I think they're going to stay in the Ballys/Paris/Ceasers intersection area. It's not imperative that we all stay at the same hotel, but I don't want to be really far away. If we're on the East side of the street, then the monorail is a help. If we stay on the West side of the street, I'm a little less likely to stay 'far' away. So I'm looking for something no further south than the MGM and no further north than the Venetian. After reading all the posts here about the Venetian for $99/night, I started to get excited, but my guess is that over Christmas, I'm not going to find that kind of a deal. So, where should I stay? I've never stayed there but I can get those 4-nights at The Boardwalk for a total of $240, which sounds like a steal. Unfortunately, the online reviews I've read make it sound potentially "seedy". What about Bally's, or Caesars or the Flamingo or the Alladin? Are there deals on these places? How do they rate on a quality scale? I can spend $100/night without much hesitation and can spend more if necessary, but I'd love to spend $100 or less depending on the quality of the hotel. Heck, through Hotwire vacations I can get roundtrip flight + 4-nights at the Aladdin for $550, that doesn't sound to bad but I don't know anything about the Aladdin. So I guess I'm trying to say that I'm looking for a good "value". Good 'bang for my buck'. The casino in any specific hotel is irrelevant to me since I figure we'll be bouncing around, but I'd like a nice room in that central area. Or, you know, a great room at the Venetian :) Any advice for me? Thanks

Currently there is only one 4* zone in Austin, and that's downtown. There are also currently 6 zones (although I swear that there were previously seven) A Downtown B Airport C North D Lakeway E Roundrock F Northwest Having a better understanding of the 'duplicate vote' flag, it now seems a little unwieldy to go for the maximum possible number of bids. If you want to place 32 bids to possibly get that ZoneA 4* hotel, then I believe that the following would have to be the pattern used:

Yup. That's what I figured after it didn't work the first way I tried it. Unfortunately, that means there's a LOTof closing the browser and re-entering all the information to do all 32 bids. I think you'd have to start over every 2 bids....

This was kind of an accident. I was really going to shoot for a lower per night cost and a 3* downtown... but I screwed up while trying out a new bidding trick. Oh well, no refunds! :) Anyway, it's a 4* hotel during SXSW for $60, so that's not bad. It's across the river (which kind of sucks) but it's walkable from downtown... I guess :)

Okay... this didn't work. I did only Zone A and lost THen Zone A + Zone B and lost Then Zone A + Zone B + Zone C and lost I then closed the browser I came back and all the gray boxes were cleared. So I did Zone A + Zone C and got: "Duplicate Request: We were not able to process this request since our records indicate you have already made a request for this same trip. Your credit card has not been charged for Request Number xxx-xxx-xxx-xx" ??? But I thought that A+B+C was different from A+C If that's true, then why did it call it a Duplicate Request??? Do they have to be done in a certain order? Should I have done: A A+B --- close browser --- A+C A+B+C Since I have 6 zones to play with, I went back and started with a different combination of zones.... but then miraculously won the hotel... experiment over

With six zones and only one (Zone A) with any 4* hotels, I came up with 32 chances to bid on a Zone-A 4* hotel. Previously I only had six. Unbelievable! Thanks!

Whoa! You just blew my mind..... I thought I totally understood the main thrust of this thread... but now I realize I wasn't even using THAT technique to its fullest! Okay, just for clarity, let's pretend that I ONLY want a 4* hotel. I have been working like this: (1) $40 bid on 4* hotel in Zone A. Lose bid (2) Add Zone B (highest is 2*) raise my 4* bid & lose again (3) Add Zone C (highest is 2*) raise my 4* bid again & lose again But what you're saying is that I COULD be doing this: (1) $40 bid on 4* hotel in Zone A. Lose bid (2) Add Zone B (highest is 2*) raise my 4* bid & lose again --- close browser --- (3) Select Zone A & C (highest is 2*) raise my 4* bid and lose (4) Add Zone B back into to the mix and get another bid because A+B+C is difft than A+B or A+C? This has crazy prospects considering the REAL city I'm searching has SIX areas and not just THREE

From PRICELINE RE-BIDDING EXPLAINED: This is easily overcome by closing the browser and starting from a new screen. A short example: 4* ZoneA rejected add ZoneB also rejected close browser and... 3* Zone A The 3* ZoneA is not viewed as a duplicate bid and ZoneB won't be included in your bidding because you haven't selected it from the new screen you launched. Hope that explains it better for you and has given you a new 'technique' to use. I just want to make sure I understand this "browser closing trick" before I start bidding on 4* (and then possibly 3*) hotels (1) I place a $40 bid on a 4* hotel in Zone A and don't get it (2) I add Zone B (a zone with nothing higher than 3*hotels available) and raise my bid. I still don't win (3) I add Zone C (a terrible area with nothing higher than 3* hotels) and raise my bid to my max. I still don't win Now, if I was to drop down to a 3* hotel, the risk is that I'll get stuck in Zone B or C because I can't "un-select" those zones once I've added them. But what you're saying is that by cloing my browser and starting over, I can try for a 3* hotel in ONLY Zone A because closing my browser will (effectively) "unselect" zones B & C??? Followup question: If zone B & C only go up to 2*s, using this trick would also mean I could have SIX bidding attempts for 3* or 4* hotels in Zone A, right? If I DON'T close my browser, I would only have FOUR attempts because I can't un-select a zone after adding it (1) $40 bid on 4* hotel in Zone A. Lose bid (2) Add Zone B (highest is 2*) raise my 4* bid & lose again (3) Add Zone C (highest is 2*) raise my 4* bid again & lose again (4) Drop down to 3*. Bid $40 again. Lose - GAME OVER - But would this 'browser closing' trick allow me to do: (1) $40 bid on 4* hotel in Zone A. Lose bid (2) Add Zone B (highest is 2*) raise my 4* bid & lose again (3) Add Zone C (highest is 2*) raise my 4* bid again & lose again ---- CLOSE BROWSER ---- (4) $30 bid on 3* hotel in ONLY Zone A. Lose bid (5) Add Zone B (highest is 2*) raise my 3* bid & lose again (6) Add Zone C (highest is 2*) raise my 3* bid again & lose again EDIT: One more question. Does this work with Date changes as well? Could I go through this 6-bid process and then close my browser and start completely over and make another six bids with slightly different travel date? Can someone confirm that I'm understanding this correctly Thanks

I've seen the posts about the Sheraton Music City in the airport area and other people staying at the Holiday Inn Select downtown. Any feedback on which is better? Also, I see that downtown goes up to 4 stars. Does anybody have an idea of what that 4* hotel is? I'm just trying to figure out which area I should shoot for Thanks!

Yeah, sorry I skipped that part, I was busy being annoyed :) Amerisuites Area: Little Rock West - Medical Center Thurs Dec 16th - $59 plus $16.95 tax Suite, Complimentary Breakfast, Pool, Business Center BTW, I really appreciate the existance of this board. Great info here (even if it didn't help me this time because nobody stays in Little Rock) :) I screwed up because there *is* one listing for Little Rock here that I found by searching (after the fact) and it's the Amerisuites. I could have found that first and gone to their website before buying my room on Hotwire and I would have probably figured out that it wasn't a deal. Unfortuntately I was so frustrated with my Priceline experiences that I was just happy to find a 2.5* hotel in there for $59.

I know this isn't a winning bid, but I figured I'd post my info anyway just for everybody else's benefit. As I said in a Hotwire post, I don't know what the heck is going on with Little Rock, but for a town that is NOT a huge tourist spot, they sure charge a lot for their hotels there. I tried multiple times over the last couple weeks to get a Dec 16th (a THURSDAY night) room in Little Rock. There are only TWO areas of town that even offer 2.5* or 3* hotels at all (all the other areas of town top out a 2*) and they don't seem to be readily available for a reasonable price. Perhaps there's a huge convention or some other reason that there are no decently priced rooms, but considering I'm spending the weekend at a 4* hotel in Austin TX for $48-night, there's no way I'm going to pay more than $70 for a Thursday night at a 3* in freakin' Little Rock. I even called a Holiday Inn Express on the highway OUTSIDE of LittleRock and they wanted almost $90/night for a double-occupancy room. Whatever. I'd love to see some success stories from this town to see if Priceline has more than 1 or 2 hotels available there at all and find out where they are, but I guess there's a reason there are so few Arkansas posts on this board.

If I was to ask "What's the deal with Little Rock?", I'm sure I'd get a lot of replies, but none would probably satisfy me. After trying Priceline on MULTIPLE occasions over the last week or 2, I finally gave up trying to get a decent hotel there for under $70 ($85 w/ taxes). So I hit Hotwire. They had a 2.5* for $59. It seemed like a better deal than anything Priceline had to offer there, so I went for it. Got the Amerisuites. Okay, I guess. Not great, but since I'd had such poor luck with Priceline, I was kind of happy to have at least gotten someplace halfway-decent. Until I went to the Amerisuites' website to check their "normal" prices. Guess how much? THE EXACT SAME PRICE! On their website I could have reserved the room for $59 PLUS I could have: (1) Selected smoking or non smoking, (2) Selected a King sized bed and/or (3) Changed my reservation in case my plans changed. But nooooooo, I was dumb enough to buy through Hotwire. All I can say is that Little Rock must either have a BOOMING hotel business going on, or they've got so little business that they can't afford to realistically participate in Priceline or Hotwire, because there are NO deals that I've been able to locate in Little Rock. Either way, I'm going to try and avoid the entire city in the future

$49 or $62.83 including tax for a 4 star room in downtown austin!.... Oct Friday night. Tried to add a second day (Saturday) but no room available Omni Austin Hotel Downtown 700 San Jacinto Blvd Austin, Texas 78701 Losing bids: $40, $45, $47 (the $47 bid gave me an "opportunity" to rebid if I added $13. I passed, added a different area to my search, bid $49 and won) Losing bids for 3* downtown: $35, 37 Losing bids for 2.5* downtown: $27

Doubletree Hotels Tampa-Westshore Airport Airport Shuttle, Restaurant, Pool, Fitness Center, Business Center 1 room(s) @ $47.00 per night x 1 night(s)$47.00 Taxes and fees:$12.95 Hotel Subtotal$59.95 It's on the list here: HOTWIRE HOTEL FLORIDA but only as a 2.5* hotel. Accdng to Hotwire, they've now got it as a 3.5* I guess YMMV :)

WHOA! Hey, I'm sure glad I didn't get the $44 deal last night. The $47 one in the Airport area with shuttle that you mentioned wasn't even listed there last night, but it is now and I'm jumping on it. Thanks!

Thanks. One reason I was choosing the $44 over the $47 is because of the airport shuttle. The $47 one was up in the Busch Gardens area, although I could take a cab. Thanks again for the info. I'm not overly psyched about a Days Inn

I'm looking at Aug the 11th. 1 night It's 2.5* and offers shuttle, pool and complementary breakfast for $44/night Westshore - Tampa Intl Airport TPA Any ideas?

price per night: $29.00 subtotal: $87.00 Taxes / Booking fees: $19.95 Total Price: $106.95 Hotwire listed amenities - Kitchenette and Laundry I priced out other combinations of days and lengths of stay from 1 day to 4 days and the prices were similar within a couple bucks. $29 was the lowest I saw but other combinations were up to $31/night