marie_scotland

hi there, I work in Edinburgh and you dont get many deals on Priceline. You may want to try laterooms.co.uk; ratestogo.com; wotif.com; lastminute.co.uk and hotelconnexions.co.uk Let me know if I can be of any more help to you in planning your trip. Regards Marie

absolutely brilliant! stonker of an idea! would be even better if you could 'draw' a circle round an area and it gave you a summary of the hotels there..... just throwing another idea in! let me know if you ever need help with Scotland! Marie :)

we stayed in the Marriott in Sydney at the start and end of our holiday - its great - well worth the 70-odd dollars we paid for it in November. search for my other posts and you will get more details. it seemed to be the only 5 star that came up. location is perfect - 1 min walk from Circular Quay - we were on the 25th floor and had a perfect view of the opera house at the start and the harbour bridge at the end of our holiday. we also did Melbourne and Brisbane and Fiji. We stayed in Cairns too - best sites I found for Oz bookings was ratestogo.com.au and wotif.com.au. you can also use lastminute.com.au we had 3 and a bit weeks in Oz and absolutely loved it - have a great time. Marie

I am not long back from Oz - (2 weeks). We did 3.5 weeks between Brisbane, Cairns, Melbourne and Sydney (as well as Fiji). I booked some hotels on priceline hk and sg and posted the winning bids in this forum. ratestogo.com.au is good and you have the usual sites like lastminue.com.au if you are looking for internal flights in Oz we used virginblue.com.au and virginpacific for the Fiji part and our flights were fantastic - not a single problem even though our cases were twice the weight they should have been!!! have a brilliant holiday - we loved the gold coast - wish I was back in surfers paradise right now!!! Marie (in a surprisingly sunny scotland)

still searching and bidding - 801 rejected again on priceline HK - no bargains as yet on hrs.de M

sorry - forgot the hotel name - 5* Marriott in Queen St - city centre couldnt find Brisbane on the US Priceline either not sure what you mean by the bid amount?? it is 801HK$ per night - on the HK site that includes tax by default. 801 HK$ is 102US$. total bill was 3279HK$ for the 4 nights including the 75HK$ booking fee or US$420.41 and £228.60 in my money. (where would I be without the currency convertor on ft.com!) hope this answers your questions - but if not, let me know! today's mission if I choose to accept it???? Melbourne! M x

success at last - have been trying to get hotels for various parts of Oz. ****************************************** Check-In Date : Tuesday, 9 November 2004 Check-Out Date : Saturday, 13 November 2004 Region : Brisbane City Area(s) : City Centre Number of Nights : 4 Check-In Time : Guaranteed late-night arrival Check-Out Time : Times vary by hotel Hotel Quality Level : 5-Star or better Number of Rooms : 1 Offer Price Per Room : HK$801 (per night) Estimated Taxes : Offer is inclusive of tax Processing Fee : HK$75 (per offer) ******************************************* This works out at 102.72 US$ per night which isnt bad I think as it includes tax *********************************************** bid at 50 HK$ from 700. previously bid up to 900 and that was rejected so inventory must just have come through in the last few days??? ************************** Hope this helps someone else! Marie ps - now only Melbourne, Cairns and Fiji to get!!

still searching and bidding (without success) let you know as soon as I nab a bargain! M x

some good sites are www.laterooms.co.uk and www.latelets.com

just tried bidding again for both the US and HK Priceline sites. Bids were for 5 star in Southbank area ********************* US - 95 & 101 US$ - both rejected Suggested 'retail price' was US$ 171 ********************* HK - 600 up to 801 HK$ in batches of 50 all rejected. suggested retail price was 1200 ********************* any bidding strategies would be really appreciated! Marie *********************

re my other post re my trip to Oz - no luck bidding for Melbourne bid up to HK$702 for a 5 star in the city centre area - anyone else had luck or able to view the source to get a better idea what bidding amounts are likely to be? Marie x

Thanks WillTravel!!! hadnt thought of that!!! will post my winning bids asap - hope you like the positive thinking!!!!

hello postees and fellow savers!!! I have booked our hotel for Sydney (via the link and Priceline) as per my other posts and wondered if anyone has booked hotels in Oz other than in Sydney? We are planning to stay in Brisbane Melbourne Cairns Fiji (I know its not Oz but its very close!) Any help people can give would be fantastic! Yours hopefully.... Marie

morning! I loved Bangkok when we were there - only wish I had known about this site before heading off - http://www.latestays.com/ you can book hotels up to 14 days before travelling and can save a LOT of money. Hope this is useful Marie

Thanks for posting this review - we are staying here for 4 nights at the start of Nov - sounds great and just what we are looking for location wise etc. Thanks again Marie

I owe you a HUGE thank you to wacky4alanis for posting their deal to this hotel. I put in an offer amount of $73 per night and got the hotel first go which I am over the moon with - but it may be that it would go for even less!!!!! Thereuare - thanks again for a fabbie site :) - I am just about to email all my work colleagues and point them to your site for their summer holiday bookings (via the link of course!) Thanks again!!!!!! Check-In Date: Sun, Oct 31, 2004 Check-In Time: After 03:00 PM Check-Out Date: Thu, Nov 4, 2004 Your Offer Price: $73.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 4 Subtotal: $292.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $41.46 Total Charges: $333.46

I am in the UK and have used Hotwire without problem - just dummy up the address/zipcode details. Everything is done electronically. Marie

stayed here 26th to 30th May. easy checkin - no line/queue - friendly staff all suites hotel. recently renovated apparently - very clean - good housekeeping. breakfast - only had to queue one morning (Sunday for 20 mins!!) - other days were completely fine. Sunday we picked the busiest time ie approx 30 mins before they stopped serving. food was always hot - not a huge variety but more than enough for what we required. pool/sauna/jacuzzi - great. always clean. loads of towels etc. could be doing with changing rooms rather than the one toilet. water was a good temperature in pool. not overly crowded but we did go later in the day ie around 8pm - 9pm before heading out for the evening. may have been crowded early with kids etc????? drinks reception - 5.3pm to 7.30pm each day. excellent - all drinks included for free (and pretzels etc). So, our overall opion is that it was a good hotel at an excellent price - $78 from Hotwire. Hope this helps someone! Marie

this has been a great help for me as I am Scottish and we definitely dont tip to the extent you do in America. I always end up tipping over the odds but now I can 'fit in with the locals' Thanks! M

having had my nose bitten off on TOBB site (for daring to post on both sites no less) I agree that the atmosphere here is definitely more homely. Thanks for a great site M x

Hope it is OK to post this here - I have found it useful previously! http://www.latestays.com/ M

well we will be easy to spot in the hotel - I'm sure there wont be too many Scots females with Irish boyfriends kicking about *laughs* thanks again for everything - wouldnt have done it without your help! M x

thanks for all of your information and help. At the risk of being called a copy cat :) I have just gone and booked this on Hotwire for 26 May to 30 May inclusive..... which overlaps this HOTWIRE POST Delighted that it has a good location and facilities - strange that the pool isnt even mentioned on the hotels website (or not that I could see anyway). We have saved just over $400 by using your forum and Hotwire so will make sure to spend this on lots of nice things while we are there!!! thanks again M ps I remembered to use the link at SavingsBarn.com for this purchase :)

Hi there, Firstly, thanks for a good forum - have been lurking in the background reading the posts re Chicago and they are very helpful. Boyfriend and I are heading to the US for a long overdue holiday between 26th to 30th May and cant wait to dive headlong into all that nice food, sunshine and everything there is to see and do in Chicago! I have put a couple of bids in via Priceline without success so far. Latest today was the following - started separate 4 star bids for each of Loop, NMA, RNA using Evanston, Midway, Lincoln Park and Skookie as my free re-bids for each zone. Bid between 55 to 75 on these. Then, finished it off by adding in Loop and NMA on my last round of RNA bids taking the total to 85 but no luck. Having taken your advice re getting a standby room, I have booked a studio room in the Palmer House Hilton for $124 per night plus tax. This can be cancelled up to 4pm on day of arrival. As we havent been to Chicago before we dont have a preference between Loop, NMA and RNA - should we have? Should I lower my hotel category from 4 star to 3 star or wait longer and try again for a 4 star on Hotwire/Priceline? I have also been keeping my eye on Hotwire and the 3.5 star in the Mag Mile/Wacker for 78 seems interesting?????? Anyone have any ideas what this hotel is? Right, better go and let someone else get a word in edgeways *laughs* Yours hopefully in sunnyish Scotland! M