mbstone

Much wasted time today attempting most of OC and SE LA County at up to 58 and down to 2.5*.

Caution: the confirmation email said "Long Beach Airport Area" which led to a long argument with the front desk clerk at the wrong hotel! The Long Beach Airport Holiday Inn (a glass cylinder on NE corner Willow & Lakewood) is a different property, this hotel is at 1133 Atlantic near downtown Long Beach.

Room Cost (avg. per room, per night): $56.00 (USD)

Number of Rooms: 1

Number of Guests Per Room: 2

Number of Nights: 2

Room Subtotal: $112.00 (USD)

Taxes and Fees: $24.72 (USD)

Total Room Cost: $136.72 (USD)

I also couldn't get 3.5* $58 in Bellevue. I couldn't get anything in Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Bothell or Kent, and we are talking a wide variety of prices, star levels and dates. Even on the hotel chain websites and rack rate websites like Hotels.com there is little availability in the region. Went with Motel 6 in Kirkland for $54+$3 internet+tax.

Rated 1* by PL. Exterior entrances, two story building with stairs. A spotless and comfortable motel with queen bed, microwave, coffeemaker and refrigerator. Stall shower, iron. Free wireless internet. Pool. Property has 78 TV channels, a good example of Mbstone's Law of Hotels. Near downtown business district. The regular rates here are probably about the same as a successful PL bid.

2.5* 55, counteroffer at 70

2* 48

1* 52 -- ZONK!

Oh well, wasn't planning to do anything except sleep a few hours. Rack rate for this property is $55 so I am a net loser.

Room Subtotal: $52.00

Taxes & Fees: $13.67

Total Charged to Card: $65.67

TUA, How about including SLO and surrounding zones (Pismo Beach, Cambria, Morro Bay, Paso Robles) in your database so free rebid zones can be identified if there are any.

The BP Radisson is the best hotel in the OC that isn't a Hilton Garden Inn. Smart move not taking the counteroffer

Wow, I actually got into the Anaheim S zone. PL paid $49 for the room (inadvertently printed on bill).

Rated 3.5* by PL. One of the best values in the S Anaheim zone if you can get it, a good place for visitors to Disneyland. Resort fee $12 includes self parking 350 yds away from lobby, "free" wired internet (no wi-fi in rooms), Disney shuttle, "use of pool and jacuzzi." Valet parking $16/day. Bell service. Pool, jacuzzi. Meeting & banquet rooms, exercise room, business center 24H. Room service 6A-11P, reasonable for what it is+$4+20% if you are too lazy to walk a very few steps to a nearby restaurant. Most TV channels and PPV inop during our stay and hotel could not or would not fix. Front desk did not answer house phone, call the outside number. Guest laundry, Starbucks coffee store open in AM. Restaurant, lounge. Restaurants adj incl Cocos (coffee shop), Outback Steakhouse, Red Robin (burgers), Joe's Crab Shack. Target adj. Numerous shops, restaurants, Disneyland in immed vic. Coffeemaker; refrigerator; (empty) minibar. Safe. Work desk. Free house brand bottled water, also Fiji water $5. PL paid them $49 (disclosed on room bill).

I have had problems bidding these zones recently after many months of easy wins. Either the economy is heating up and people are taking the rugrats to Disneyland again, or the hotels have gotten together and agreed among themselves to limit PL availability.

PL was not having any of my SF action for these dates at up to $91 and down to 3* including Fishermans Wharf, Embarcadero, USE, USW, Moscone. Nor was Berkeley biting at up to $79 and down to 3*. Wound up with this. This, and lots of wasted time.

Wanted Anaheim or Buena Park or Cerritos. Started at $44 3.5* Cerritos. Added Anaheim South. Added Anaheim North. Eventually got up to $52 and down to 2.5* in all these zones without success, which is very unusual. Discovered I had $5/day bonus cash, added Seal Beach and went up to $55 ($50+5). Added Costa Mesa-Irvine (BOO HISS) and went down to $46 3*. Got this 3.5* piece of meatloaf at $46+5.

Ding! $15 for self parking ($18 for valet). This difficult-to-find property is shoehorned among a forest of steel office towers (no civilization in immediate vicinity of hotel). Smallish but comfortable rooms. Coffeemaker, PPV. Free SNA airport shuttle. Free wireless internet. Restaurant, $15 breakfast buffet, $10 on weekends; lounge, coffee bar 530a-1030a, room service. Gift shop. Indoor pool 6A-10P; sun deck; basketball court; putting green; exercise room 24H. Two stand-up free workstation kiosks (Macs) with printers to right of front desk. Rated 3.5* by PL.

At least for me, PL has all but stopped working. PL is rejecting tons of my bids in areas and in ranges that it should be accepting. Right now I am staying in the Oakland Airport zone where I don't want to be, but PL rejected all my SF bids up to $91 and down to 3*. The same thing is happening in SoCal. PL had put me in every Orange County property, one at a time, and now all my OC bids are rejected in ranges that other people are getting (up to 52 and down to 2.5* in Anaheim N, Anaheim S, and Buena Park). Something is really screwy. Did I do something to tick off PL, and if so how do I fix it.

Update: PL put me in Irvine in a ding-$15-for-parking property. 3* $51 should have gotten me any number of properties in South Anaheim or Buena Park that don't charge for &^% parking.

I want to stay in SF and Anaheim, not Oakland and Irvine. And I don't have all day to look at screen after screen of rejections.

Unsuccessful bidding for 6/15 in the Embarcadero zone, up to $91 and down to 3*

PL has rezoned Anaheim. Instead of Disneyland-Anaheim and Disneyland-Garden Grove, there is now Anaheim North and Anaheim South. And I wouldn't be surprised if these two zones are gerrymandered, or the distinction between the two kept murky.

Tried 3* $49 in Redmond, then added Kirkland, then added 2.5* and Bellevue.

Fairfield Inn Bellevue

14595 Ne 29th Place

Bellevue, Washington 98007

425-869-6548

Check-In Date: Sunday, June 6, 2011

Check-Out Date: Sunday, June 13, 2011

Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $49.00

Subtotal: $343.00

Taxes & Fees: $60.90

Total Charges*: $403.90

Your Offer Price: $16.00 (per day)

Total Rental Days: 14 days

Subtotal: $224.00

Taxes and Fees: $184.30

Total Charges: $408.30

Lowest Published Price: $778.74 (USD)

Total Savings: $370.44 (USD) (You saved 48%)

I received the Holiday Inn on South Manchester (hotel review).

The only confirmation page I am now able to retrieve is a dual confirmation page listing the original winning bid plus my later purchase of an additional night. There is no zone listed anywhere on the page.

After the original one night stay plus the additional night, also at $43+13, we elected to stay one more night (I was ill) for which the hotel charged us $59 plus a resort fee.

Cerritos is actually in L.A. County, not Orange County, but for PL purposes it's in the Buena Park-Cerritos-Cypress zone.

Rated 3.5* by PL.

This Sheraton property merits a full 4* for its ambiance and guest rooms. Compare to the LAX Sheraton.

Awesome lobby and public areas. Elegant guest rooms. Coffeemaker, free parking, restaurant/lounge, room service 630A-11P, what you would expect plus $3+19%. Guest pantry. Bell service. Heated pool, jacuzzi 6A-10P. Exercise room. Internet $10/day, free internet terminals and printer in lobby. Starbucks in lobby. Breakfast buffet $15. Meeting & banquet facilities. Steps from Cerritos Center for Performing Arts. Shopping, restaurants in immed vic incl Wal-Mart, OfficeMax, Best Buy, Macaroni Grill, Woodfire Grill, Mimi's Cafe.

PL seems to be giving me every hotel in town, one at a time. This is a great property and a nice win.

Bid $43 3* Disneyland-Garden Grove, nada

Added Buena Park-Cerritos-Cypress, nada

Up to $46 added some free rebid zone

$46 * 3 + $26.91

I could swear I had bid the Disneyland-Garden Grove zone -- too many pay-parking properties in the Anaheim zone. But got this.

$43 + 13 = $59. Bid for one day and was able to add a 2nd.

Rated 3* by PL. Bid Disneyland-Garden Grove and won this property even though it is in the Anaheim zone. Apparently the place was renovated since the previous reviews in this thread. Fresh paint, carpet, and wallpaper. No king beds available, only double beds, finally I was given a Kid Friendly room which is a room with one queen bed, partitioned in half with bunk beds and a separate TV and play area on the other side of the partition. The thermostat is in one of the bunk beds, so you will be at the mercy of your rugrats. Stall shower. Refrigerator, coffeemaker, free parking, free internet. Restaurant, lounge, room service, pool, jacuzzi, exercise room, Disneyland shuttle. Hard to find, use GPS. 1 mi E of Disneyland on S side of I-5.

My $5/day bonus cash was ineffectual in bidding for my usual zones at my usual bid levels, although others got the star levels, zones, dates and prices I was bidding.

This hotel is a Zonk, and not because it's not a nice, clean, comfortable hotel, which it is, but the additional overcharges for everything will leave you numb. $13/day for parking. $12/day for internet, per device. $10/day if you want a mini-fridge. And on and on and on. Nearly every other PL hotel in this and surrounding zones features free parking and free internet. Compare, for example. the nearby Hilton Garden Inn which is a nicer Hilton property and which features free parking, free internet, microwave, refrigerator, and far less expensive hotel food. Back to talking about the Doubletree. Exercise room 24H. Pool, jacuzzi 6A-10P. Room service, insanely expensive +$4.50+mandatory 17% tip plus extra line on the charge slip labeled "tip" in case you or someone in your party is really stupid. Bell service. Business center, 24H, complimentary with secure printing from your room (I had stayed here before so I brought my own printer, expecting insane business center charges). Convenient to Anaheim Stadium, UCI Medical Center (across the street) and OC family and probate courthouse (across the street). $16/day valet parking. Duck pond.

Room Cost (avg. per room, per night): $48.00 (USD)

Number of Rooms: 1

Number of Guests Per Room: 2

Number of Nights: 3

Room Subtotal: $144.00 (USD)

Taxes and Fees: $27.45 (USD)

Total Room Cost: $171.45

More than my usual bid in this zone, but I was lazy. The DT Club is a semizonk with pay parking and internet, but it happens to be near where I need to be, so a win.

Used cool PL Android app to book thereby earning $25 gift certificate.

3* $55 Redmond, no tiendo

2.5* $55, accepted.