WillTravel

It's true Priceline does not have a name your own price zone for Trastevere. As I posted on another thread, for HOTWIRE, "A small part of the Rome West zone includes Trastevere, but you are much more likely to get a hotel inconveniently situated. If you compare the zone map to a Trastevere map, you will see what I mean." You're going during Easter, and that is going to be a busy time, so I would suggest considering booking a backup hotel you can cancel. What is the best deal you have seen when you have looked conventionally? If you want Trastevere, your only real choice is to book conventionally. Trastevere mostly has small hotels and B&Bs that don't participate with Priceline or Hotwire. If you want a hotel near Vatican City, I'd again think about booking conventionally. The zones are set up in such a way that you might not get a hotel where you want it otherwise.

I haven't stayed there, but you can compare it to the price at http://www.pullmanhotels.com/gb/hotel-5347...tel/index.shtml . It looks like maybe Priceline hasn't changed the name on its site, because I see it referred to as Pullman Berlin Schweizerhof Ex Sofitel there. A year or so ago, Accor Hotels split their Sofitel brand into Pullman and Sofitel, with the Pullman hotels probably being somewhat less deluxe than Sofitel.

I don't know what hotel this is either, but I did check Expedia and found you can book the Angleterre, which is listed by Expedia as a 4* and is in this zone, for $72 per night for the package including breakfast. Berlin is typically a cheap city for hotels, unless there are special events happening, so I would not be inclined to book an unknown hotel when you can get a known hotel for cheaper. (I'm not sure I'd take the Angleterre either, but just pointing out better deals are probably available.)

The sad fact is that you can't control which hotel you will get with Priceline. If you try, one likely outcome is that you will get the hotel you don't want, at a price that is too high. I think some people have gotten K, and then paid for an upgrade, so that's another possibility to consider.

There are two Park Plaza hotels on the south bank. Maybe it's one of these.

A standard room at the Holiday Inn Kensington Forum certainly won't work for three (I've been there), nor would it at any other Holiday Inn I have been to in London. Keep in mind that "cot" in British English generally means a crib. I suggest either getting two rooms on PRICELINE, or using HOTWIRE and entering for three people.

It sounds like you made a bid and it wasn't accepted. If that's the case, your bid is not going to go through. If you want to bid again, set up a profile first. That will make it easy to tell what your rejected bids are.

Once I was lucky with the East zone on Priceline and got the Westin Grand, but I haven't heard of anyone getting that for ages, and I wouldn't bid there because of the risk of the Park Plaza. I have not been impressed with the Hotwire zones either. On a subsequent visit, I got a great direct rate for the Mercure den Charit

Did you say in one post (maybe another thread) that the hotel is willing to give you two beds in a room, for an extra $180 fee total? That is not such a bad deal, really. If you were to succeed in cancellation, where would you stay that is cheaper?

The problem is that Priceline's East zone is so big. In general, I'd prefer to be in the East zone, except that you can unfortunately get the 4* Park Plaza which is really on the edge of that huge zone.

Alternatively, you could ask the Wynn to bump you to Planet Hollywood.

I can't comment on this case specifically, particularly in Las Vegas, but getting bumped from hotels is a fairly common occurrence with any booking method. The usual compensation is to offer you a night free, and a free taxi ride to the new place. I think Hotwire should offer you a complete refund if that is what you prefer, so you can book somewhere else.

According to ITA, you can do $978 for BWI-OSL (change in EWR) on Continental.

I once booked a room for one adult and two children when it was actually one adult and one child. Although this should have given us two beds, when we arrived the clerk said we were down for one queen bed. However, he was happy to change it. So what I would recommend is that if you get a hotel on Hotwire for 3+ people, that you then phone the hotel and ensure that they will have a room with two beds waiting for you. This way you have resolved the issue ahead of time, to get what you paid for, and you don't have to argue with a clerk. I don't see any problem with buying a room for more people than you currently plan to have.

Hi Tito, sorry you didn't get the hotel you wanted. Could you post the other details of your bid - that is, the price you bid, the star level, and the dates of your stay? Your Priceline bid page should tell you the name of the zone in the same part as the hotel name, halfway down the page. Could you take a look at it again?

I would stick to these zones: As a female traveler also, I would say that the areas where you are most likely to be verbally harassed (but not physically harmed) are in certain outlying districts. It's hard to describe without drawing a map, and like I said, I don't think you will be in any physical danger. If anyone bothers you, just ignore him. I would stick to these zones in order to remain reasonably central and near transportation and in good areas: Opera Quarter East - Les Halles St. Germain - Latin Quarter - Montparnasse

How many women are in your party? A Priceline room, particularly in Paris, typically only holds two people. Although the train station area should be safe, many people do consider it somewhat seedy (although I think rather improved over the past few years). Are you sure you want the Gare du Nord area for your stay?

A few days ago, I got a counteroffer when I started at $47, with a 2.5* bid for the Space Needle zone. Today, I started at $47, and did not get a counteroffer. I did not get a counteroffer at $49, but got them at $51, $52, and $53. The lowest rate on the site is a corporate rate of $108, so I guess they halved it for Priceline. I was upgraded to 3* for this bid. This looks like an interesting property. Apparently the rooms are converted apartments, and I will have a kitchenette. About 6 years ago, I stayed at the lower-scale sister property, Inn at Queen Anne, and liked it pretty well. Most importantly, there is free wireless. I'm happy to try something different than the usual properties I have had. http://www.marqueen.com/ Ironically, this is one stay where I would have liked to be closer to downtown, whereas I usually don't care, and I got one of the furthest out properties possible. However, if I really wanted that, I should have stuck to the Pike Street zone, but I was not succeeding even at higher prices. I will be fine with this, and I look forward to exploring the Queen Anne neighborhood a little more. I used the BB PRICELINE link box at the upper right. I noticed the Days Inn Downtown on EasyClickTravel as an opaque option, for $46/night. This would have been a perfect location for me on this trip. It's supposed to be improved and under new management. But after a stay there a couple years ago (on a free night), I just couldn't face the prospect of 3 nights there.

The EasyClickTravel link does not seem to work. Is there a support link for that? I'm considering one of the options.

I am not sure, but aren't Marriotts non-smoking hotels? Could this be one of the Marriotts in the Regent's Park/Camden Lock zone (I think there are two). If you feel you want a better hotel, I think you should consider putting out the money for it, to ensure you enjoy your stay. On the flip side, a hotel with breakfast included will certainly save money when you have a party of 8 people. Is bidding for four rooms on Priceline a possibility? You could possibly get a good deal, given current exchange rates. But there almost certainly wouldn't be breakfast.

Hello, hcesarz. What are the dates you are looking at, and what are the amenities and price you see?

I won't guarantee anything, but my experience in London has been that a 2-twin-bed room is the most common configuration. I hope you are able to get that, but I think it's quite likely. Go to the likely hotel websites and see if there is a price difference for different sorts of bedding.

Instead of a simple rejection email, I received an email with the title: priceline.com Tips for Successful Bidding to Seattle, WA -- March 29, 2009 As you recently reviewed on priceline.com, your offer for a hotel in Seattle, WA was unsuccessful. Listed below is information pertaining to your offer and tips for successful bidding. Please review these tips and try your offer again. [The email then goes on to give tips about adding zones and raising my price.] This email arrived about 10 hours after I tried the bid today. I actually received two such emails. The first refers to my most recent bid of $50 for 2.5* for Seattle - Pike Place, and a few minutes later I did another bid for $47 for Seattle - Space Needle 2.5* (that one attracted a +$13 counteroffer). (I'm proceeding very slowly here, as I would prefer the Pike Place zone in this case, so I am reluctant to try to hone in on the Space Needle counteroffer.) Has anyone else started getting informational rejection emails? I guess there could be some merit, particularly for inexperienced users.

I just checked the vacation packages, and Holiday Inn - Camden Lock is (again?) rated 4*, with amenities: Fitness Center, Restaurant(s), Business Center, High-speed Internet Access I think it's possible the South Bank hotel could be Express by Holiday Inn Southwark, except that so far Express by Holiday Inn hotels have been 2.5* (and 2.5* is what this hotel is, on the current hotel list). But if it was this hotel, that would no doubt be perfectly satisfactory (but probably not all 3* hotels would be). If the South Bank hotel is this one, then I'd consider it a bit more convenient for a tourist than Holiday Inn - Camden Lock. Neither would be terrible, though.

I wonder if the convents would not be better than an unknown 2* Rome hotel (I don't think it can be identified with any certainty). With a convent, you know if you are getting a great location, and the room will always be adequate and clean, if not luxurious.