djohannw

More hotel for his error-fare. For his first three nights he was looking at Toronto, and we tried for a four star, but could not get anything - maybe a result of the Pride Toronto Week taking place (http://www.pridetoronto.com ). Started new bid at $45, raised to $50 and got accepted at: Courtyard By Marriott Toronto Downtown zone: Downtown Toronto 475 Yonge Street Toronto, Ontario M4Y 1X7 Check-In Date: Mon, Jun 20, 2005 Check-In Time: After 03:00 PM Check-Out Date: Thu, Jun 23, 2005 Check-Out Time: 12:00 PM Your Offer Price: $50.00 (US dollars) Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 3 Subtotal: $150.00 (US dollars) Taxes & Service Fees: $22.10 (US dollars) Total Charges: $172.10 (US dollars) Quite a difference than the $26 for the same hotel reported back in 2001, but still a perfect deal for a major city during a major event... Greetings - Dirk

Friend of mine got one of those error-fare-tickets Budapest to Toronto for this summer (sold at ~$80 plus Tax IIRC) and now needs hotels for his stay. For his last two nights he was again looking at Toronto, and we tried for a four star. Started out at $55, raised to $58, then $60 and got accepted at: Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel Zone: Downtown Toronto 123 Queen Street West Toronto, Ontario M5H 2M9 Check-In Date: Sat, Jun 25, 2005 Check-In Time: After 03:00 PM Check-Out Date: Mon, Jun 27, 2005 Check-Out Time: 12:00 PM Your Offer Price: $60.00 (US dollars) Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 2 Subtotal: $120.00 (US dollars) Taxes & Service Fees: $19.01 (US dollars) Total Charges: $139.01 (US dollars) Seems in line with the results here for this hotel, and is certainly a good deal for June. Regular rates were at CAD 264 per night for this date. Greetings - Dirk

Stayed at this hotel for one night after arriving from Europe. The hotel is located off Rt. 53 and can be found pretty easily. We arrived at the hotel around noon, but they were pretty empty so we got our room immediately. Asked for a King on check-in but were told the hotel only has rooms with a single queen bed. After we got to the room we found out why: The rooms are TINY. And I mean that. New York City rooms - notreknown for the spaciousness - look like a suite compared to that. The room was so small there was not even room for a second night-table beside the bed, or at least a path to access the bed from that side wider than maybe four inches. Apart from the bed the room was stuffed with a single chair, a desk with a work-chair, a tiny wall-closet, a single night-table beside the bed and an armoire with TV and some drawers. Apart from that there was nothing in there, and there was no room for anything else. Wife and I had to coordinate our movements to avoid bumping intoeach other when moving around. Bathroom was in line with room with a very small sink, toilet and a bathtub. Amenities were the usual Neutrogena stuff generally found at Marriott. This hotel mostly caters to in-house convetioneers, and the rooms speak a clear language about this. For a single person attending ameeting/conference there the room is fine, however for a couple it is definetly too small. The hotel itself is very nice, but the size of the rooms kills the good impression. One word in regard to breakfast: No idea why but in the lobby before the restaurant there was a continental breakfast buffet and several machines dispensing soft-drinks and coffee (in many varieties). As many people were having breakfast there, we decided to joined them, and indeed everything proved to be free. Greetings - Dirk

Basically can echo above remarks: Definitely an older property in dire need of renovation. I especially disliked the dark appearance of the lobby - you felt like night at any time of day. Also the hotel looked kind of "naked" as there was nothing in terms of "decor" like flowers or such stuff around. The room-layout was nice, but we also received a room close to the elevator and vending on the third floor -seems their standard for Priceline-guests. In general the room-layout with couch, small table and desk on one side and the bed on the other side of the TV as well as the size were very nice, however, and the bed was really high and comfortable. Due to a large youth-group at the hotel that used hallways as their raceground we moved to the 14th floor however for the second night, which was much mor quiet than the other room, but featured a broken TV-set that took about two hours to get replaced in several attempts. Breakfast in the restaurant was sparse as mentioned before with only standard-fare, and dur to the groups around, basically cold. After asking got what I wanted from the kitchen freshly prepared however. With $10.25 it was boderline worth it. All in all a place I have no desire to go back again, but would not fear if I have to as well. Greetings - Dirk

Yes, both bids were on first try - as I had that three times in a row now I wonder if I should have started lower (allthough history is against this). Greetings - Dirk

For the last night before our return back to Europe we decided that an airport-hotel would be the way to go as we have to return the rental car by noon but our flight does not leave before six in the evening. O'Hare has decent train-connections to downtown, so we will return our rental upon arrival at the hotel and take the train from that time on. We were hoping for the Hilton that comes up sometimes at $49 as it is on airport-property, but because our arrival is still quite some time away we decided to start a little lower than the known prices, and got accepted right away (for the third time today): Hyatt Regency O'Hare 9300 West Bryn Mawr Road Rosemont, Illinois 60018 847-696-1234 Zone: O'hare Airport (ORD) Check-In Date: Wed, Apr 27, 2005 Check-In Time: After 03:00 PM Check-Out Date: Thu, Apr 28, 2005 Check-Out Time: 12:00 PM Your Offer Price: $46.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $46.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $14.11 Total Charges: $60.11 Not exactly what I expected, but not that bad of a surprise either. Suits our intentions very well as it is just a short walk away from the subway, so we don't even need their free airport-shuttle for the purpose of getting into the city. Maybe we can even get a late-checkout so we can leave our stuff in the room until the late afternoon - if not, we can store them at least. Oh, and if our plans change we can just hang out in their pool until our flight takes off... Greetings - Dirk

Continuing the stay we started at the Marriott, we needed two more nights at this weekend before moving on to some other place. Bid $33 again for the Lisle-Naperville and got a different hotel this time: Hyatt Lisle 1400 Corporetum Drive Lisle, Illinois 60532 630-852-1234 Zone: Lisle - Naperville Check-In Date: Fri, Apr 22, 2005 Check-In Time: After 03:00 PM Check-Out Date: Sun, Apr 24, 2005 Check-Out Time: 12:00 PM Your Offer Price: $33.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 2 Subtotal: $66.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $15.60 Total Charges: $81.60 Shows that you assume a risk when you "add" nights by just bidding the same amount again. While it is nothing that does bother me too much others may think differently about moving around during a stay. Thy Hyatt is nice as well from reviews, but less than responsive to guest-requests. I have tried to eMail them now for some time but did not receive any response. eMails do not bounce (so the account I eMail to does exits), but nobody answers my questions... Greetings - Dirk

Out of a moment of weakness wife and I earlier this month booked a awfully cheap ticket to Chicago on United which were sold for 199

After the problems with Montreal something positive again. Bid this after checking rates (which were in the normal range - so no special event going on) as a first bid and were accepted almost immediately. Got The Westin Nova Scotian 1181 Hollis Street Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 2P6 as we had expected. Best rate for this place we could get over here in Germany was a whopping 294

Second city we are looking at is Montral, but we got a defeat on this one - and one that will probably last. My friend had booked this extended weekend to Montreal without knowing what was going on there at that time. We started some research and saw such "reknown" places like a Best Western asking 338$ a night, or a Days Inn going for 280

After a recent error-fare discovery for BUD-YYZ/YMQ (at ~60

Actually Hotwire has refused to refund my money after a Las Vegas 2.5 star got downrated to 2* (got the Wellesley Inn and Suites that still is considered to be a 2 star) about two years ago. At that time I decided that I would just eat the loss (about $100) and never again use Hotwire again or even suggest that anyone would use it anymore. I even took the time to send them a letter to their corporate office to get this refund detailing my claim, not just sending them an eMail. So no, Hotwire does not always refund your money in case of a downrate, and if that's the case that person has, I am fully on their side. As to resort fees - I absolutely agree with thereuare's opinion. But I have found my (personal) way around these: I just flaly refuse to pay them at checkout. And so far I never have. It sometimes takes a manager, but usually the fuss I am able to create (calling the resort-fee fraudulent, obscene, deceptive etc.) is enough to get the fee waived. Greetings - Dirk

Currently staying at this hotel also, and must say that the value is great. Paid $32 for our stay here, also got one of the freeway-facing rooms (even though we had to move after being assigned a smoking-room first and asking for a non-freeway room). Rooms are nice, however, both size-wise and by design. The hotel is also very responsive if you discover any problems - had a stainded showerhead that looked a little iffy, and after mentioning this to the front desk we had a brand new one in the evening. We did have brunch at the restaurant today which was OK quality-wise (OK, but not great), but choices were a little limited (like no Jalapenos at their omlette-station, only one type of sauce with the shrimp etc.). Also in comparison to other hotel-brunches I had it seemed a little overpriced at $27.95 minus 10% discount for hotel-guests. Oh, and the champagne they served with it (OK, I admit I had a few glasses...;-)) was just a semi-dry (usually prefer a Brut) and a California one - so not the real thing. As others mentioned parking is $11 a night, and there is no way around it - there is just no other place to park your car anywhere near. Nice thing is that there is a Albertson's supermarket on the other side of the freeway where you can get everything you need for your cravings. Also, as you most likely will have a car when staying here, there are quite a few places to eat around this hotel. Beach is in reachable distance as well - it is walkable by European standards, but for you Americans you might wat to take a car (could not resist, sorry, I took the car my self and it's about a three minute's ride). They have a pool in their inner courtyard that looked nice, but due to the heavy rains we were unable to use it. Fitness-center, however, looks nice and is free for guests. Greetings - Dirk

I am currently at the Hyatt in Scottsdale, and while it is well-populated it is far from being sold out. As Scottsdale is in high-season currently, however, rates are out of this world (like $440 per night here) - so even Priceline will ask higher rates than usual - probablay way above $100 per night. That said, I have seen bids around $120 accepted in February for the Scottsdale zone - all depend on availabilty for your exact date, however.. Greetings - Dirk

A friend today came to Las Vegas to meet with us, and during lunch he told me that he still had no place to stay for this night. As weekends in general and Saturdays in particular are very difficult I was a little stunned he had not planned ahead. Regular rates were like 129$ for a La Quinta property with such "famous" places like the Green Valley Station Resort charging 274$. As our friend is the typical Motel 6 customers and we had not much options, we started the bid with the maximum he was willing to bid, $40 for the more central areas of LV and 1* qulaity, were rejected, added the more peripheral ones (including NW Las Vegas), and were accepted at (and upgraded to 2.5*): Courtyard By Marriott Las Vegas Summerlin Zone: Northwest Las Vegas 1901 North Rainbow Boulevard Las Vegas, Nevada 89128 702-646-4400 Check-In Date: Sat, Feb 12, 2005 Check-In Time: After 03:00 PM Check-Out Date: Sun, Feb 13, 2005 Check-Out Time: 12:00 PM Your Offer Price: $40.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $40.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $11.28 Total Charges: $51.28 Looks like a great last-minute deal for Las Vegas on a Saturday where many hotels do not even allow arrivals... Friend checked in a few hours ago and was really happy with what he got. Seems like I got another pal hooked on Priceline...;-)! Greetings - Dirk

Yes, from what I heard they have substantially lowered their rate and now undercut the Hyatt's rate by quite a few bucks. I have seen accepted bids of $60 recently yielding the Sutton Place. So now it's even more problematic to bid in this zone if you would be unhappy with anything else than the Huntington Beach Hyatt. Greetings - Dirk

As thereuare mentioned you may give Hotwire a try as they seperate the Huntington- from the Newport-area. Usually Hotwire is substatially more expensive than Priceline, however. I just did a quick check for your dates, and Hotwire offers what I would guess is the Hyatt Huntington Beach for 120$ in the one zone and what I would guess is the Hyatt Newporter in the other for 118$. So with this guidance I would assume they both offer the same or very similar rates to Hotwire (and in that regard to Priceline also) - making themselves undistinguishable on Priceline as they have them both in one zone. From that rate my guess would be that 69$ is probably right on target for your dates with Priceline (maybe a little more like 75$), but again you could end up with any of the two Hyatt hotels (I think the third known hotel in that zone is much higher). I for my part was in the same boat for 2/23-25 (with similar rates available on Hotwire) and did not purchase the hotel through Priceline because I did not want to end up at the Newporter (even though it has been remodelled and is said to be pretty nice now)... Greetings - Dirk

Well, as always rates fluctuate due to demand, and as rates are pretty low for the day the OP bid (and it is the slowest day of the week for this hotel, and it is rather "last minute"), he was successful for the low amount mentioned. For your dates regular rates are substantially higher (179$ vs. 139$), and so you probably just bid too little to be successful right now. Hotels do have multiple tiered rates that are available through Priceline, and they can vary nightly - just because someone got a room for X$ on a certain night does not mean you will get this rate year-round. Also there is the possibility that the hotel has just not released any rooms to Priceline, and all other 4*-hotels in that zone either have not either or charge higher rates. E.g. I have bid the same zome up to 90$ recently for 2/18-23 without even a counteroffer... Greetings - Dirk

Just a word of caution in terms of Orbitz (which I still find VERY nice to get an overview of rates): Make sure you check with the car-rental websites as well. Especially with Dollar I made the experience that they consistently beat the Orbitz-price by about a dollar a day... Greetings - Dirk

Wife and I today decided to go with San Diego (thereuare, please edit the subject-line for me as I cannot access it) and after evaluating our options we decided for saving money and against a classy hotel (I mean - after two weeks at Hyatt Resorts on Faster Free Night awards we can stand that...;-)) and started bidding for a three star in the Del Mar zone. After some discussions we set our dates to 2/18 to 2/23, over the holiday mentioned above. As we still have some time to bid we decided to start low at 30$ and received a counteroffer of 38$. Declined as usual and raised to 32$, which was accepted: Hilton San Diego/Del Mar Zone: Del Mar 15575 Jimmy Durante Boulevard Del Mar, California 92014 858-792-5200 Check-In Date: Fri, Feb 18, 2005 Check-In Time: After 04:00 PM Check-Out Date: Wed, Feb 23, 2005 Check-Out Time: 12:00 PM Your Offer Price: $32.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 5 Subtotal: $160.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $27.00 Total Charges: $187.00 Looks like I have hit a jackpot - while certainly not the best hotel in San Diego it is decent and said to be comfortable. Reports also say it has been remodelled last year so rooms are probably still in good shape. But for 32$ a night in what is probably high season in San Diego I think I can consider myself very lucky. btw: The Hilton was showing up on Priceline's vacation-product at 277$ per person right before I checked, and was cheaper than even the Homestead suites - so I figured they would be pretty cheap. Regular rates for our dates were 139$ for each night - for that difference I can easily forgo the amenities as Hilton Gold... Greetings - Dirk

aldo, thanks for your information. Our "dates" are somewhere around 2/20 - currently we have arranged our stays until 2/17 - after that until 2/25 we are still "open". I am still considering to stop a few days in Palm Springs after that on the way to San Diego, but I am not really sure if I want that or not. But if we do, we would just arrive in time for President's day weekend (I was not aware of that, btw - so thanks also for that information). As to I have no real idea. We have been to Orange County, Las Vegas and Phoenix by that time, so relaxation should have set in then. So maybe some "action", like San Diego Zoo, Sea World and the like, and also some heavy shopping would be nice...,-)! Greetings - Dirk

Sorry to be a little late, but the meters across are enforced only between 9am and 6pm, so if you're out for the day you probably would not need to pay for parking there...out of our four days we only paid parking for the one day we went to NYC... Greetings - Dirk

It's a german website. This is from DENIC (the .de name-authority) whois: Domain: jetlagtravel.de Letzte Aktualisierung: 31.10.2003 Robert Kristofic JetLagTravel Einzelfirma Haldenstrasse 29 D-70771 Leinfelden-Echterdingen Germany So the site is around already for a while - domain was registered more than a year ago. Then again, from the secondary contact-information it is hosted by a cheap webhosting-reseller in Berlin - Strato (probably most low-cost domains are either hosted there or with Puretec). Funny that it ios hosted exactly one IP-adress away from my family-homepage...;-)))! That said: I have thought about such a business-model myself some time ago, but for legal reasons I decided against it. German law requires a lot of prerequisites before you are able to do such a stunt... Greetings - Dirk

Senoreit, thanks for the link to San Diego weather. I will have a car also, so getting to/from places should not be that much of a problem. As to personal "taste", I usually prefer to stay out of city-centers and rather commute there because being a light sleeper cities like NY prevent me from getting any sleep because of the environmental noises... But again, thanks for your information! Greetings - Dirk

Just a quick question...I am thinking about ending my tour of the west with a few days in San Diego - I have no idea however how San Diego is like that time of year (something like Feb 16th onwards). Is it high-season like in the desert-areas, rather low-season as it is cold, or something in-between? Also, I will of course use Priceline for that stay...which zone would you recommend for a first-time visitor? Greetings - Dirk