mrxow

What I am seeing on Hotwire is 72 and missing an icon, but maybe I am doing something wrong. I don't use hotwire all that much. How many people are staying in your room? Is your daughter staying with you so that you have to take her every day? Or does she have a place to stay there and you are just going for fun? Is there going to be more than the two? If her thing is a couple miles west of old town and the Residence is ok for you, then any 2.5 or above on PL in that zone should be ok with you as far as distance. Many or most of the other hotels appear to be closer to where you need to be than the Residence. I also noticed on the Courtyard site that they have some kind of 25% weekend special during your time period for Marriott Rewards members. Maybe you would have to join something to get that. The weekend rate I saw was $99, so you would be at $74 or $75 at the Courtyard Alexandria and it appeared there was no parking fee. That property is 1 mile due west of the Residence, so you would be a mile closer to where you need to go. You could at least book 2 nights on your arrival weekend at that rate with free parking if you were going to wait to bid the rest of your stay.

People definitely get better price on PL, but the trade off is that you have less control. Sites like these help to bring a little more control into the process. I will look into the possible likely distances PL hotels might put you from where you want to be tonight when I get home. I would say certainly that you should not just book one long stay at an expensive place simply because you are unsure about what to expect when you get there. Maybe, like I said, break up the reservations, have a list of possible priceline participating hotels with you, check out their locations when you arrive and see if you think it is worth 100+ a night to go ahead and take a chance on PL. That extra money would make up for not having a kitchen in my book. And you could possibly end up with a kitchen anyways. I am one to not worry about exactly where my hotel is. So I get much better prices using priceline, probably, usually, and that is why my posts lean that direction. Other people who are more risk adverse might be better off on Hotwire if hotwire hotels matching a property you want have been identified and are showing up on Hotwire. One such hotel is the Sheraton Suites. It seems to be near where you want and people have won it recently. It supposedly has 9 icons and is listed as a 3.5 star. There is a 3.5 with 8 icons that I saw for your entire stay, but it didn't have the tennis icon, so it may be a different property. If we see the 3.5 with 9 icons, though, that might be something for you to consider grabbing. Whetever you end up doing, please remember to start your bookings from the site links to support the site.

I stayed at the La Quinta and I agree with this person that it is better than the Crowne Plaza even though it is rated half a star lower. I would like to be able to bid 2.5 stars without worrying about having an experience like this one myself, or worse, having my wife go through it with me, both for her sake and for my sake having to listen to her rant about it... There are plenty of comparably priced hotels at LAX - at least 4 others reported here at 2.5 stars alone and maybe there are more participating and there is a boatload of 3 stars, too. There is no reason for Priceline to subject its customers in a predicament like this person went through. When you place a bid on Priceline, you are putting your trust in them that they are looking out for you and won't let you be stuck in an unpleasant situation. This makes good business sense for them as far as keeping current customers happy and keeping word of nightmare scenarios from reaching the ears of potential new customers. But I think they owe this to people on moral grounds, too, since all their customers place a lot of trust in them. My experiences with PL have been overwhelmingly positive, but to keep it that way, they need to be informed when they are failing to keep the trust placed in them. I didn't call them any nasty names, but I did inform them that I don't appreciate it when I am made to look bad when a service I recommend somebody use turns out to to not live up expectations. I told them they need to check out the ventilation system in this hotel, and that if it isn't up to snuff that they shouldn't allow their customers to be sent there. I have no reason to doubt this person's account. It sounds like he travels a lot. The hotel has already been downgraded from 3*. I have read elsewhere that there the parking lot is not big enough. And we had some record breaking type heat here recently. A problem like this is not going to show up in every review since because it is weather and room dependent. Priceline can investigate the ventilation system for themselves, but they aren't going to do anything unless they are informed of a problem. I liked the La Quinta. I would prefer that this hotel not be in the system. There is no need for it. All having it in does is benefit the hotel's owners who apparently want to skimp on their remodel and try to squeeze every day they can out of their old ventilation equiptment at the expense of their guests. The more complaints they get, the sooner something might be done to resolve it, and the less chance I or anybody I recommend priceline to or book a room for is going to have to go through a similar situation.

This is another hotel I stayed at on a PL reservation several years ago. It has already been reported, so I wasn't going to bother posting a win, but there are some issues I thought I should share. It is certainly a nice enough hotel. It seems to me that the zone map has changed a little. This hotel is definitely a mile west of the Amsterdam airport zone border. And it isn't showing up on the PL retail side for the Amsterdam airport zone on the test searches I made. If you are bidding in this area, this might be important because if you got it, maybe you could make a stink and get upgraded to something better. Also there is no free shuttle. It is 7 euros one way, and you need a reservation, and I am not sure you can even get the shuttle to pick you up at the airport. It may only go one way to the airport. So that leaves you with a 50 dollar taxi ride. Or if the public transport bus can get you within about a quarter mile of the place for 5 bucks (that is what we did). I wonder if the transportation issues and distance made them exclude this hotel from the zone and move the zone border... It is fine for an overnight. It is no good for a tourist unless you have a car, and even though it is out in the boonies they charge, a lot, to park. The google map location shown for this hotel at the time of me writing this is wrong. The map link on the Marriott site had it right. The google map location points to a spot which IS within the Airport zone, but the hotel is not there! It is a mile northwest of the zone border.

Sidestep calls the Crowne Plaza a 3 star, and that has been reported as a priceline win as a 4 star. It calls the Intercontinental a 4 star, and that has been reported as a priceline win as a 5 star. So when it calls the Le Meridien a 4 star, you would think it was 4 or 5 star and not 3 star on priceline, but I just don't remember what it said on my win page. I know I bid for 3 stars. It looked like a 4 star hotel...

Just remembered another hotel and it isn't on the list. Stayed here one night. Booked same day. Pretty sure I bid about 50 dollars. Pretty sure I bid 3 star, but don't remember if I was upgraded. Place was right across the street from the Shinagawa high speed rail station, which was very fortunate for us as were had a rail pass and that is how we were getting around. We had a night still left on our reservation in another area, but we were tired of where we were at, so we packed up our stuff and headed to the train station where we knew there was an internet connection we could use. A few minutes later we had our reservation and we were off and in the hotel in a few hours. The rooms were small, as is common in Tokyo, but nice. It probably looked like a 4 star kind of place. There is a TGI Fridays in the building. It was the last night of our trip and we were itching for some American food, so that was nice. Only problem was they had an item on the menu that we really loved, but when we got back home, they didn't have it here!!! :) I checked a couple dates on Priceline retail side and it didn't seem to come up, so I can't say for sure what rating they give it, but I am almost certain that I bid 3 stars and I don't recall being upgraded. But I am not sure. Sidestep calls it a 4 star...

Are you saying you checked the box for the Reforma area when you made the bid and that is the only zone you bid in? I think your priceline win page would say the name of the zone above the address of the hotel. When I mapped the hotel's address, it fell within the confines of the zone border called "Viaducto" which is next to and just south of the Reforma zone. But mapping programs are not always right... What does the PRICELINE win page say? The address for the hotel is: Av Juarez 70, Col Centro 06600 Mexico City A google map placed this in the Viaducto zone, but when I zoomed in, none of the surrounding streets seemed to match that address, so maybe it is a glitch, but Orbitz's mapping link placed it in the Reforma zone. It isn't coming up in Priceline retail, so I can't say where they place it. Seems like based on what the person who reported it is saying, it is in the Reforma zone...

There is a help menu at the top right of the PL screen that gives you access to a contact page with and email form and phone number. I wrote them a nasty letter. There are 10 2.5 and 3 star hotels at LAX. Why do they need a place like this?

I hope you send your story to priceline. Maybe send it to the La Quinta, too, and tell them you like their hotel but can't bid in their zone again because of the ridiculous hotel Priceline allows in their system. Maybe they will apply some pressure to PL to take them off. There are plenty of other hotels in that zone. PL doesn't need to have one in the system that gives people experiences like that.

What is the reason you want an extended stay kind of place? More room? Or kitchen facilities? It seems people get nice places on Priceline in that area for over a hundred dollars less than that per night. That would pay for a lot of parking and eating out every day. And there are several suites hotels in the 2.5 star and 3 star range that you could end up with. Or other nice places like the Courtyard which appears to be not too far from the Old Town area. The Residence is even a possible win at 2.5 star, though you are talking about a very busy time, so I don't know where you might end up. If it was me, I'd break the trip up into three or more segments and try some priceline bids, stay in some different parts of town, save a lot of money on my hotel and spend it on other things. Do you need to be right there in Old Town the entire 3 weeks? Maybe determine the time it is really important you be at that location, bid the other parts of your trip on Priceline, see if you end up somewhere you like or if you have enough time in old town. If your other bids aren't quite what you were hoping for, pay direct at the Residence in for a week or so. Or make cancellable reservations at Residence if possible, but don't make it one long reservation. Go there for the first week and then decide if it is absolutely necessary to stay the entire time. If you think another location for a lot less might work, try a priceline bid at that time and cancel one or more of your remaining Residence reservations.

We were there in the fall. Very nice room indeed. Don't know about other 2.5 stars in that zone, but if there aren't any dogs, definitely worth bidding at that level. The three star Holiday Inn pales in comparison.

The hotwire hotel list on this site for that zone is showing Hawthorne Suites and Extended Stay with kitchens, but no Residence in has been reported yet. That doesn't mean it't not offered, just that it hasn't been reported. If you pick a hotel with a kitchen, it will be somewhat what you want, though likely not the exact hotel you are looking for. Maybe somebody on here can say what star level Residence Inns are normally registered at on HOTWIRE. 2.5? Probably if it is 2 star with kitchen it is ESA or something else. Actually just did a search and saw some Residence Inns reported at 3 star. Here is info from one of those: Residence Inn Milwaukee Downtown 648 North Plankinton Avenue Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53203 Suite Smoke Free Rooms Complimentary Breakfast Fitness Center Restaurant(s) Business Center Laundry Facilities Kitchenette Amenities wouldn't necessarily be exactly the same, but that might point you in the right direction. How long will your stay be? You could try some short reservations at the beginning or end of your trip to try to see if you are hitting a hotel you want. Remember to use the site links if you decide to try for a HOTWIRE win. I did some random HOTWIRE searches for your zone and didn't see any suites or kitchenettes. It is going to be date specific, of course, but I would say that does not bode well...

Welcome to betterbidding. :) Make sure to use the links on here and support the site. Sometimes stays starting Saturday night can give you fewer options, so you might not want to split up your weekend stay if you do decide to make separate bids. If any hotel doesn't have availability on one night of your stay, you won't be able to get it, so splitting might make sense if you are having trouble. Changing your dates around and bidding to 3 star in hopes of getting a place in Old San Juan would allow you to make a lot more bids per day, too. Maybe shoot for the 3 star hotel portion of your stay first, then bid only to resort on the rest, whether it be the first or second part, so you can be on the beach. You might want to look at the weather report, too, first, since it is getting close enough to maybe see what you might experience and determine from that which days you want to be in a hotel and which days you want to be on the beach.

Do vegas hotels have airport shuttles? I know one downtown hotel I sometimes stay at does. Take the hotel shuttle to the airport if available, then take the rental car shuttle to the airport rental center. Vegas car rentals are done from the new rental car center on the north side of the airport. Everybody has to jump on the rental center bus that takes people to that center. There used to be a few agencies on Paradise just south of Tropicana. I think some people might still get their cars there. That would be a little more problematic to get to, maybe. The main rental car center is right near to the south strip transit center which is a destination for strip buses - the double decker "Deuce" ones, which would probably cost you two dollars to ride. I think you can get within a block of the rental car center on those buses. Where are you staying and I will help you how to figure out how to get to your car if you don't want to pay a lot extra to pick up the car one place and drop it off at the other. (assuming you can't get as good a deal doing that)

Has to be Viaducto if the mapping program is correct, should you get no reply.

Welcome to Betterbidding :) It is interesting that the counter offer was still valid after you continued bidding. I don't have any experience that said is shouldn't be, but if they continue to be available after bidding, why ever stop bidding? Does anyone know how long counter offers are good for? Was it 24 hours and that is why you grabbed it when you did? There is a long time before August, so maybe you jumped the gun a little, but you're doing a lot better than all the people who are too scared to use PL. Somebody won Treasure Island at some point, so sure, you might be able to get a 4 star north strip if you keep at it. You have lots of time. But is your stay for longer than the time period for which you made your first bid?

I didn't even know they offered insurance. Shows how much I read sometimes... From what I see, and I may be wrong - certainly let me know if the terms are different - the reason for enacting the insurance has to be valid, such as documenatable illness without precondition, lost travel documents or something like that. It appears you will have to make something up. Also, I read a post somewhere, a little old so it may not be accurate, that somebody was required to document everything when they made a claim. They had a real medical emrgency, but when it came to documenting it, they said a previous stroke is a pre-existing medical condition for having another stroke (not so sure I agree with that) and denied the claim. The insurance I read about was a real insurance policy paid out by an insurance company, not some backroom deal between the hotels and priceline where the hotels let the people out of their reservation should they have a problem. So it looks to me that you would have to lie about why you want out of your priceline reservation. And you would have to lie in writing to get the claim approved. And if you were successful, an insurance company would have to pay you back - Priceline and the hotel get to keep their money. So everybody else's insurance costs are going to go up so you can save some money. Sorry, no, not ethical.

It doesn't hurt to keep trying. Make sure you wait the full 24 hours before you try again. Be aware that you could end up with the Westin if you bid 4 stars in the south zone. Some people aren't too thrilled with that.

Embassy Suites Anaheim South is the property on Harbor Blvd. near Disneyland and in the Priceline Disney zone. It would almost certainly be in the Disney South zone if it showed up on Hotwire. Embassy Suites Anaheim North is off the 91 freeway at Glassell and would actually be in the Fullerton/Brea zone if it were to show up on Hotwire (or Priceline) It is technically in the city of Anaheim, unlike many other hotels like Doubletree Anaheim/Orange County which is Orange and Crowne Plaza and Hyatt and a few others near the intersection of Harbor and Chapman which are in Garden Grove. My response is probably a little late for Janette, but maybe it will help somebody else out... :) Sorry Janette, wherever you are...

Priceline retail side has this as a one star.

Priceline's retail side calls this a one star, so that should probably be how it is listed. All the other ESA's in the "my trips" section of my priceline profile are listed as one star. It has been listed twice in the OC hotel list. There is only one ESA in that zone.

I tried to post some information from Tripadvisor indicating that there were some hotels missing from the Orange County hotel list, Fullerton/Brea zone, but apparently the post was rejected. This was one of them on the list I posted. This report was made in 2005, but it isn't on the hotel list. It was reported by three different people on Tripadvisor as a win in 2005 and 2006 as well...

I was driving down the freeway today expecting to see a sign for 4 points Sheraton, but instead it read Crowne Plaza. When I hit the link to the Tripadvisor review it also read Crowne Plaza. Fullerton/Brea Orange County zone

Here is another one I remember booking that has scrolled off my trips page. I don't remember the price, but it was pretty cheap... of course. They didn't have any regular non smoking rooms when we got there so she upgraded us to a suite. :)

I remembered another place I stayed at from PRICELINE that is not on the list. I got a different one in the same area, too, but I think it might be the La Quinta which has already been reported. 400 S Meridian Ave Oklahoma City, OK 73108