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Me, me, me, me...;-)! I'm pretty sure it is the HI Express. From the ICHotels-Website: "Hotel Features: 146 Guest Rooms 7 Suites Airport January 2001 Last Renovation Date ca0289 FEMA Property Number 3 Floors Cocktail Lounge 1 Restaurant Airline Desk: See Front Desk For Information Rental Car Desk: Hertz Car Rental " Details at: http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/6c/1/en/h.../hd/urlbh?irs=y That said, I am pretty sure that a Priceline-bid of 49$ for a 2.5* (for 28th of August) in the South San Francisco zone (other side of the airport, closer to the city itself) will yield something you will find very appropiate... Good luck! Greetings - Dirk

Just bid this for a friend: Holiday Inn London Heathrow Ariel Zone: Heathrow Airport 118 Bath Road Hayes, United Kingdom 44 870 400 9040 Check-In Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2004 Check-In Time: After 02:00 PM Check-Out Date: Sat, 17 Jul 2004 Check-Out Time: 12:00 PM Your Offer Price:

Sorry, can't help you with that...I'll be around that area of L.A. in August for the first time this year also (I'll be staying at the Hyatt SFO the same time you are at the Embassy Suites SFO, btw, August 14-17th). We, however, decided to bid for the Irvine/Costa-Mesa zone for L.A. and got the Wyndham Orange County for 27$ (? - not sure and too lazy to look it up). As to the Sizzler, there is also a place across the freeway that serves very good breakfast...from flyertalk.com: "I know this is late, but I live in Burlingame, right next to the airport. If you go to Burlingame Ave, there are many fine places to get breakfast. Our favorite is without a doubt the Copenhagen. You have to stand in line and order (send someone else to get a table). The bannana pancakes are the best I have ever had. Other places include Stack's (1 block north of the avenue, on California street), and Alana's (on the Ave)." While I have not been to any of the named places, I know the area is very close to the hotels (basically just across the freeway). Another suggestion from the same board (and the one I was looking for): "There is a Max's close to the airport - I believe you can take a courtesy shuttle to the Ramada Inn on Bayshore, which is adjacent. The food is NY Deli style - healthy portions & big menus. The food is decent, and if you have a car, the parking is free." So plenty of options other than the Hyatt, and for a much more decent price. Cannot help you with either Seattle or Vancouver as I never been there. @thereuare: I knew that, I just was joking...;-)! Greetings - Dirk

Hope I get no scolded :) for helping you out on this, as this is more "touristy" information than bidding for a hotel... The Hyatt has a parking fee, true, but there is a side-street a block towards the airport where you can park for free - lots of space in the evening. I think the street is called Burtway Road if I recall this correctly. As to breakfast...I see that this adds up especially at the Hyatt, but there is a Sizzler restaurant more or less across the street that serves breakfast on the weekends for considerably less than the Hyatt. And add to that the breakfast (not sure about brunch) at the Hyatt (at least the buffet) is less than desirable! As to the three star...I have been wondering about that myself. My first thought was a Hilton Garden Inn, but they do not offer breakfast for free. It could be the Quality Suites Milbrae, the Holiday Inn Express SFO South and a Wingate Inn. My guess was the Wingate Inn as this also came up on Priceline once in a while...but it's outside the zone-boundaries. So my only guess would be the HI Express... Greetings - Dirk

There are two Embassy Suites around SFO, one north and one south of the airport. Both are considered 3.5 star, but the one north does not show "suite" as they have some studios as well. As to 28th, I'd go for the 4* in the south zone for 49$ which most likely is the Hyatt in that zone. If you consider using Priceline for that however, my guess is that bidding 37$ there will result in the same hotel... Greetings - Dirk

This hotel is in the South/Burlingame zone...it's right across from the Doubletree and shares the bus with them. It's a nice place and has spectacular views on arriving aircraft into SFO. Make sure you call them from the courtesy desk after your arrival as the shuttle only runs on demand. Oceanfront however is a little exaggerating things...the Pacific is probably a mile or more away...it's right at the bay though, but that's not really an ocean. The breakfast ist good however...including made to order items. Greetings - Dirk

Seems to me like yield management at work. The hotel seems to be very full on thurday and pretty full over friday and saturday. My take would be that they do not release any rooms to priceline for the whole time and probably even only at higher prices for friday and saturday. My suggestion: If you split your stay, try thursday in a different zone (e.g. the airport) and bid 6/25-6/28 in one go starting for South San Francisco at 40$ per night for a 2.5* raising 3$ each re-bid if rejected by adding San Francisco Downtown zones (note the risk that they could also have 2.5* or better hotels, but my assumption would be that these are substantially higher). Stop at 49$ if you are not successful and reconsider the airport zone at that point which even with parking and breakfast should be in the same range. Good luck, and let us know about the outcome! Greetings - Dirk

According to their Packages I was wrong. The resort showing up there is the "MonteLago Village Resort", 30 Strada di Villaggio, Henderson, NV 89011. Description (from their packages): "Special Offer! Book now for a stay through August 31. At check-in, you'll receive your choice of either (1) Golf - 2 rounds of golf at Reflection Bay or the Falls Golf Club or (2) Lake fun - a one hour gondola cruise plus a water toy rental at the marina. MonteLago Village Resort, a one of a kind luxury resort and real estate opportunity is just 17 miles from the Las Vegas strip. Set among the desert mountains of Nevada on the shores of sparkling Lake Las Vegas, the Mediterranean-themed village offers exquisite shopping and dining, golfing, European-style gaming, and access to championship golf and lakeside recreation of Lake Las Vegas Resort. " Website: http://www.montelagovillage.com/ Going rates for the dates I was looking for in August (weekdays): 109$ for a room, 129$ for a studio, 149$ for a one-bedroom and Hotwire (opaque) 153$. Greetings - Dirk

After being unsuccessful for a 2.5* in the Pinedale-zone for up to 70$ for weeks I today decided to settle for 2* and the Fresno-zone. Hotel has good reviews, and also offers free continental breakfast each morning... La Quinta Inn Fresno 2926 Tulare Street Fresno, California 93721 559-442-1110 Check-In Date: Mon, 30 Aug 2004 Check-In Time: After 01:00 PM Check-Out Date: Thu, 2 Sep 2004 Check-Out Time: 12:00 PM Your Offer Price:

@Delta Purser: The rates has a two-night minimum and is a package called "Win Taste & Show 2nt". From their website: "You're always a winner at the Las Vegas Hilton! $118 Package Valid Sunday through Thursday - $59*/night $148 Package valid Friday and Saturday. Call 1-888-732-7117 for reservations Your package includes: Three days and two nights of luxurious accommodations Two-for-one show ticket to see The Fab Four - the Ultimate Tribute to The Beatles or Trent Carlini - #1 Tribute to Elvis Two complimentary dinner buffets $10 in promotional chips" The breakfast comes in for Hilton HHonors Gold or Diamond members, it is not part of the package. Hope this helps! Greetings - Dirk

Just checked Hotwire for dates I check for month now, and today for the first time apart from the usual 4* Resort that most likely is the Hyatt Regency Lake Las Vegas, today another Resort with 3.5* showed up. Amenities: Resort, Condomium, Boutique, Casino, Restaurant, Pool, Fitness, Kitchenette, High Speed Internet, Golf nearby and Laundry facilities (the last three amenities show up after clicking on the Amenities link) Rates for that property were 149$ per weeknight vs. 114$ for the 4*-resort. For what it's worth, my guess is that this are the Lake Las Vegas Resort Vacation Villas, 1600 Lake Las Vegas Parkway, Henderson, NV 89011, http://www.lakelasvegasrentals.com Orbitz has the follwoing description of that property: "Lake Las Vegas Resort Vacation Villas offers luxury single family homes and villas located on the Reflection Bay Golf Course, near Hyatt and the Ritz-Carlton, 17 miles east of Las Vegas Strip, near Lake Mead. Perfect Vacation Getaway, -Stripped Clean- Check-Ins and Outs must be made at the Lake Las Vegas Sales and Information Center at Southshore Security Gatehouse - 1600 Lake Las Vegas Parkway between 9am-6pm. After hours check-in at Security Gatehouse - 33 Grand Mediterra. Amenities Babysitting/Child Services, Bar/Lounge, Casino, Concierge, Handicapped Rooms/Facilities, Fishing, Free Parking, Golf, Hairdryer in Room, Pool, Fitness Center or Spa " Going rates for their cheapest room are 325$ conventionally... Greetings - Dirk

thereuare, thanks for the suggestion. However none of the properties you mentioned offer HHonors benefits any more (since June 1st all Park Place properties except the LV Hilton do not participate with HHonors any more). As to booking, I usually use Travelaxe to check lots of consolidators in one place...but still the -hilton LV seems the best deal currently. Greetings - Dirk

FWIW, I am using a mix of Visa-, Master- and Amex-cards for Priceline both in the US and the UK, and they all work very well. As I am based in Germany, my credit cards are all issued there. In fact Priceline.co.uk is a little more picky in terms of how to set up a Visa-card to work than the US-site is...you need to put more effort into making the ZIP look like a UK one. No problems with MC and AX in this regard, however. Greetings - Dirk

We surely will see the strip...our total stay at Las Vegas is August 24th for four nights, but we decided to stay "away" from the strip the last two nights and stay close to the strip the first two nights. We know the Hyatt pretty well having stayed there already twice, and it really is a beautiful place. The first two nights, however, are currently booked conventionally through Park Place at the Las Vegas Hilton which gives us free breakfast as HHonors Gold plus a nice package (2 Dinner Buffets, 10$ coins, 2for1 Show Tickets) for 59$ per night. As this is cancellable we may redecide on that, but honestly I do not think that Priceline can beat that deal by much - if at all. Greetings - Dirk

Going on with our summer-holiday today was the day for our bid for Las Vegas. After bidding a total of £37 (including the £10 bonus-money available that time) last year and receiving the Hyatt Lake Las Vegas (great hotel!!!) we today paid £40 for the same place after £39 being rejected: Hyatt Regency Lake Las Vegas Check-In Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2004 Check-In Time: After 03:00 PM Check-Out Date: Sat, 28 Aug 2004 Check-Out Time: 12:00 PM Your Offer Price: £40.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 2 Subtotal: £80.00 Taxes and Service Fees: £12.28 Total Charges: £92.28 However with the gain of the Euro vs. other currencys we still pay less than last year, and as a Diamond with Hyatt's Gold Passport program, we were treated VERY WELL last year at this hotel. Hopefully they will treat us comparatively, but even if not the standard-rooms are just fine! Going rates, btw, for our dates were 155$ per night and up. Greetings - Dirk

If you would be willing to settle with Flagstaff, the choice of hotels is much bigger there and your chances will be a lot better. As to the Grand Canyon, driving-Time will be about the same from both places... We stayed at the Fairfield Inn and the La Quinta in Flagstaff through Priceline, paying as low as 26$ for the Fairfield Inn last year in August. Rates may be a bit higher now, but my guess would be that you won't be paying more than 35$ even in July. Good luck, and keep us updated! Greetings - Dirk

I use Orbitz almost exclusively for booking rental cars, and so far all my rentals have been "regular" rentals where you pay at the rental-agency. When I rented with Hertz I have been able to use any type of payment Hertz accepts, including dollar-denominated vouchers issued by customer service. It's a bit tricky if you choose Gold-service (you have to take your contract to the Gold-booth to get the voucher added to the reservation), but never has been a problem for me (I had a total of three rentals where I used 25$ vouchers in addition to CDP and coupons - my vouchers were always treated same as cash). So while this certainly is no guarantee, I would expect this to be still the same if your voucher is not tied to some special conditions that should be printed on the voucher... Greetings - Dirk

In case you are looking for a hotel in the USA, you may want to consider Wyndham's current 72 hour sale that is going on. This sale offers quite substantially discounted rates for all Wyndham properties in the USA. It's fully prepaid and non-changeable/cancellable (like Priceline), but offers really great deals that can be interesting if you want to guarantee rooms with an occupation higher than two or even a suite. Minimum stay is three nights, and it has to include either thursday or tuesday night. Sample rates: Wyndham Orange County from 77$ Wyndham Bel Age in Hollywood (all suite) from 84$ Wyndham Washington D.C. from 84$ for an executive room (including cont. breakfast). To book, just follow this link. Greetings - Dirk

OK, this time the right geographical area...going forward with our summer holiday in California, we were looking for a place in Orange County. Disneyland area did not have availability in the range we were looking for (up to

Uh...ahem...yes, please excuse my gegraphic disorientation...Kanab is the last city in Utah before Arizona, so not even close to California... Greetings - Dirk

Friends need a room for three nights this summer right in the middle of three national parks. Kanab was their first choice, and they previously had reserved the Holiday Inn Express for 85$. Decided to bid something like the equivalent of 60$, so bid

I stayed at the Hyatt for one night from saturday to sunday. When arriving at the hotel late at night I had slight problems finding a place to park my car in the driveway for check in as the valets were getting cars in numbers for people obviously having attended a function at the hotel. Check in was reasonably quick but a bit on the brief side. Had requested King non-smoking, but received two queen smoking without being told so at checkin. Room was on the 13th floor (the first hotel I remember to have such a floor). Elevators were quick and available whenever I needed them. Room was spacious, but looked a bit too dark and tired. Bathroom was nicely appointed and spacious, but sadly not clean (several long black hairs and old coffee in the coffee-maker). However at 1am I just notified the manager about these shortcomings and went to bed. High-Speed Internet is offered in every room, worked without a flaw (was a little slow however) and is free for all guests. Due to the higher floor I had a nice view of the Delaware-river. Had breakfast from the buffet the next morning which was excellent in terms of quality and service, however I found the number of items a little spartan. Not even toast was on the buffet, you had to ask for it, and cold-cuts were not available at all (except for salmon, but I do not eat fish). For 13.95$ it was OK, but not a great value because of the limited choice. However my server was one of the best I have had in a long time, asking all guests for their names and from that point adress them with that. Parking is 15$ a night for self-parking, but you can find street parking a few blocks away from the hotel for free from midnight to 9am which I used as I arrived after midnight. All in all still a great deal for a hotel that close to downtown considering the price I paid (40$) and the location. Greetings - Dirk

After about a week of fruitless bidding up to 70$+10$ for a four star in PHL Downtown I today noticed that someone on TOBB got the Hyatt for dates close to mine, so I decided to give it a try again. Started at the lowest known entry-point of 40$ total bid including bonus and was accepted immediately: Hyatt Regency Philadelphia At Penns Landing Zone: Downtown Philadelphia 201 S Columbus Boulevard Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19106 215-928-1234 Check-In Date: Sat, Apr 24, 2004 Check-In Time: After 03:00 PM Check-Out Date: Sun, Apr 25, 2004 Check-Out Time: 12:00 PM Your Offer Price: $30.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $30.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $10.36 Total Charges: $40.36 Compares favourable to my backup hotel (a Residence Inn about 30 minutes by car away from PHL at 55$ + Tax), and I get another Hyatt stay for my incidentials. Best rate for this hotel was a whopping 245$, btw, and they even have an Avis desk inside the hotel so I can take the train to the hotel upon arrival and pick up my car the next morning whenever I am ready to do so. Too bad it's just my employer who benefits from this... Greetings - Dirk

Need to attend a presentation near PHL airport, and bid on this for days now. Bids up to 65$ for a three star were rejected until yesterday, so started my daily routine today again for a 3* at 45$, was rejected, added Deptford (free rebid) for 48$, got a counteroffer for 62$, added Veterans (another free rebid) and upped to 52$ and got: Philadelphia Airport Hilton Zone: Philadelphia Airport (PHL) 4509 Island Avenue Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19153 215-365-4150 Check-In Date: Sun, Apr 25, 2004 Check-In Time: After 03:00 PM Check-Out Date: Thu, Apr 29, 2004 Check-Out Time: 12:00 PM Your Offer Price: $52.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 4 Subtotal: $208.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $37.97 Total Charges: $245.97 Best price for the Hilton on their website is 118$ as a prepaid or 139$ as a regular rate. Hotel looks OK, but I had preferred a place with free High Speed Internet - well, that's the price of using Priceline... I actually need 4/24 also, but the availability for that night is even worse, so I guess I will need to go to some outskirts to stay that night... Greetings - Dirk

Thanks for the feedback, and I appreciate the suggestion for breakfast. If you just paid five dollars less on a considerably lower available rate it makes me feel a little better in terms of an eventual overbidding in this case...;-)! Greetings - Dirk