sjweyman

I booked this via PRICELINE EXPRESS Deals. I wanted this hotel specifically and suspected I could win it by either bidding or via express deals because there are almost no hotels in the area and the description matched the hotel well. I'm pretty sure I could have gotten this for about 10% less via bidding but I got impatient with the bidding process because of no free rebid zones and didn't want to risk the price going up so I just booked via the express deal with the 5% summer coupon and it ended up being the hotel I wanted.

Room Cost (avg. per room, per night): $66.00 (USD)

Number of Rooms: 1

Number of Guests Per Room: 2

Number of Nights: 3

Room Subtotal: $198.00 (USD)

Taxes and Fees: $40.98 (USD)

Priceline Hotel Coupon: -$9.90 (USD)

Total Charged to Card: $229.08 (USD

Bid in $5 increments until I wont at $100. Used 5% summer discount coupon.

Room Cost (avg. per room, per night): $100.00 (USD)

Number of Rooms: 1

Number of Guests Per Room: 2

Number of Nights: 5

Room Subtotal: $500.00 (USD)

Taxes and Fees: $108.05 (USD)

Priceline Hotel Coupon: -$25.00 (USD)

Total Charged to Card: $583.05 (USD)

Bid in $5 increments using free rebids until I won.

Room Cost (avg. per room, per night): $60.00 (USD)

Number of Rooms: 1

Number of Guests Per Room: 2

Number of Nights: 1

Room Subtotal: $60.00 (USD)

Taxes and Fees: $15.80 (USD)

Total Charged to Card: $75.80 (USD)

3 night stay. I used 5% summer coupon to save a bit more money. I bid in $5 increments up from about $80.

Room Cost (avg. per room, per night): $130.00 (USD)

Number of Rooms: 1

Number of Guests Per Room: 2

Number of Nights: 3

Room Subtotal: $390.00 (USD)

Taxes and Fees: $65.91 (USD)

Priceline Hotel Coupon: -$19.50 (USD)

Total Charged to Card: $436.41 (USD)

First try at $44. Was both surprised to get it that low and also surprised that it wasn't the Wyndham or the Courtyard, which is what I was expecting. Booked this for a friend, so hopefully they will be happy.

It took me 3 days to get this.

Day 1: $39, $41 in 3*, then $39 in 2.5*.

Day 2: $45 (offered try again raise $13), $48 (offered try again raise $14) both bids 3*, then $50 in 2.5* (again offered to raise $14)

Day 3: $52 in 3*, immediately accepted

I was bidding on South Portland only and adding in the free rebid when bidding 3*.

Bidding went as follows,

4 *: $50,$55,$60, $65 (using free rebids ... got no offers to pay more)

3.5*: $60, $65, $70 (got offered rebid for $22 more, declined), $77 (won on my final free rebid using 3.5*)

Normally I would have gone up much slower once I knew I was getting close and tried again tomorrow with 8 more bids. However, this is for a family vacation and involves 3 rooms so I wanted to make sure we had something today if possible. I've gotten this hotel for $45 on PRICELINE before so $77 is quite the increase ... oh well.

It isn't unreasonable to try but during high season in Niagara Falls you are unlikely to get a much better deal on PRICELINE than you are on HOTWIRE. Pretty much any other location than Niagara Falls and I would definitely say use Priceline (beats Hotwire 99% of the time). In this case, you might end up failing or paying more than Hotwire.

Provides some more info on your dates, your bidding strategy, etc and I'm sure people will chip in with advice.

The Sheraton should be better than the radisson anyway ... I think your friends will be happy :)

Thanks for the welcome. Also, it looks like the Sterling is already sold out for my dates. Glad I booked it early this morning ... it dissapeared really fast and probably won't be back for those dates. If anyone else finds it for other dates, let us know!

This is my first Hotwire hotel ever booked (I normally use Priceline). I have a backup booked in Niagara Falls at the Skyline Inn that I got through a Travelzoo deal for $99/night with bonus tickets to Clifton Hill attractions (not the good ones). Had been trying Priceline for weeks up to $100/night 4* and got nothing. Was afraid to do 3* because some of them aren't much good. I checked Hotwire yesterday and saw this 4* hotel that hadn't been there before come up for $124. It had 4.5 TripAdvisor rating. Through some investigation on Tripadvisor I easily determined it was the Sterling Inn & Spa. The reviews were nothing short of amazing and the place looks abasolutely fantastic! Includes free breakfast in bed for two and free parking which was enough to justify the added cost. Not to mention the flatscreen tvs, fireplaces, jacuzzis, chic extra large rooms, fantastic bathrooms, and so much more. For some reason I still held of booking it yesterday though. I came back today and it had dropped to $119 (probably because it is no longer the weekend) so I booked it right away. Turns out I was right and it was the Sterling ... I'm so excited to have 3 nights in this place for my wife's and my 2nd anniversary.

Ammenities:

- Smoke Free Rooms

- Restaurant(s)

- High-speed Internet Access

- Spa Services

Let the booking flood begin!