WillTravel

Hi bob1, it would probably be good to start a new topic for your bid, which is separate than the original poster`s. However, I would say that you should determine if you will really be okay with a London 3* hotel. Personally I have had good luck with them (because I`ve always gotten hotels that were later upgraded), but I know this star level can be a bit risky in London. Also, you could use Mayfair as a `rebid`zone of sorts. It`s more likely that you will hit a hotel in a cheaper zone, but if you did get a hotel in Mayfair, you would have lucked out, given its super-convenient location.

I just had the Millennium and a renovated room, and it was very nice. What I did was pay for a $20 package that included breakfast and Internet. So if you are willing to take that small financial risk, I think you need not fear about a lower star level (in my opinion, knowing I am not the most picky traveler).

I just posted this on another thread. It`s always best to start a fresh bid anyway. So if this happens, just close the browser tab, open BetterBidding, and click the PRICELINE link at the top right of the page, and proceed to the next bid combination. I would suspect, though, that $36 is probably just too low. If you want to keep your costs low, consider going to a 3* or 3.5*, if you think the reviews are OK. On a recent trip I had the Crowne Plaza (3*) and Millennium (3.5*) and both were good. (I did have a renovated room at the Millennium, though.) However, I suspect $36 is probably too low even for a 3*.

It's always best to start a fresh bid anyway. So if this happens, just close the browser tab, open BetterBidding, and click the PRICELINE link at the top right of the page, and proceed to the next bid combination.

When I was checking in, I asked about a club room upgrade. None were available, but the clerk offered me a package of Internet + breakfast for $20. Considering that Internet is $9.95/night, I thought it was a reasonable deal, and went for it. I got a renovated room which was very nice. The most important thing to me, though, was the air conditioning, and that was perfect.

I am staying an extra night in Minneapolis, and I'm currently at the Crowne Plaza Northstar (previously booked below), which I had booked on a $34+10bonus rate. BTW, the Crowne Plaza Northstar is a fine hotel, and I will write a review later. I used the PRICELINE link at the top of this page, and tried to extend my stay another night. They offered me a room for $101, so I gave up on that. I tried bidding for a 3* downtown for $44, but got a counteroffer for $54. I rebid using another zone with only lower-starred hotels, and won the Millennium Minneapolis at $45, so I was upgraded to a 3.5*. One nice thing is that the Millennium has a pool, even though it's a small hassle to change hotels.

The time shortly after New Year's can be low-priced. New Year's, however, tends to be crazily priced. In at least some cases, if your bid for one night is not high enough, then you get none of the nights. This is why it can be tough to get 11 nights for a low price. You should definitely book a cancellable bookup. I'd also expect to break this up into several stays, if using Priceline, and not necessarily be successful for New Year's, although you may be lucky. I'm sure someone with more experience in this city will comment.

If you put in two adults and a child for HOTWIRE, then you'll get three "sleeping places", which may mean anything from one smallish double-bed plus a rollaway, to two queen-size beds.

The other option is to bid for 2 rooms on Priceline. From the ages of your children, it sounds like you`d probably need to split up the parents to do this, though.

Note this information in the Priceline Terms and Conditions: Special Needs: If you have special needs (e.g., wheelchair accessible room) you must call the hotel and verify that special needs can be met. Your hotel reservation will be refunded, canceled or modified if special handicapped needs cannot be met.

I think that, unfortunately, you may indeed have problems if you try to book a room for 2 when there are actually 4 of you. I'd recommend trying Hotwire, and comparing that price to what you can get from other sites and specials. Maybe look at properties like the Holiday Inn Express (if it follows its usual pattern and allows children for free, which I haven't checked in Manhattan).

Yes, it would almost certainly be a problem. Keep in mind that in Paris, a room for 2 is quite often barely big enough for 2, let alone 3. With a child, look at options offered by Accor Hotels. Accor's Novotel and Mercure brands typically (but you have to check on a per-hotel basis) allow one free child.

There's no reason to distrust Hotwire. If the operator agreed to do that, you should have booked it. Credit cards can be compromised for many reasons, but booking with an established company is not the most likely reason.

Just a heads up: with the Kimpton InTouch Summer Weekend Special, you can get the Hotel Vintage Park for $122/night for your dates, which equates to about $110-115 on Priceline. Hotwire has a downtown 4* for $102 (use the Hotwire box at the upper left on this page), which you may be able to figure out from the Hotwire hotels list here. So your price range looks very reasonable. Do you want the cheapest 3* or would you prefer to start by trying for a 4* hotel?

If you look at Hotelscombined.com, you can see 4* hotels from about that price point. For example, the Jolly Hotel Madison Towers is available for $170/night (and you have to consider Priceline's fees). So I'd double-check there and on TravelZoo and some other sites to make sure that you aren't exceeding a reasonable threshold with your bids.

http://www.applecorehotels.com/promotions/bidonus/ The idea is that you place a bid, and you may get accepted by any of the 5 hotels in their group. These seem to be reasonably central 2* hotels with decent reviews. This says the promotion is valid from July 1, 2010 to August 31, 2010, but when I filled out the form, it allowed later dates, so I'm not sure what would happen if you submitted those dates. Also note that the form says the bid cannot be lower than $99.99 (+ taxes). The thing I would worry about before bidding is whether all of these hotels had air conditioning, so that's what I'd check for a summer stay. And I'm not sure how good the discount will be--it's quite possible PRICELINE or HOTWIRE would give you a better rate for a better hotel.

I had gotten the $50 bonus cash offer through a post on this board. In order to use it, I clicked the link to PRICELINE at the top right of this page, opened My Rewards, and placed my bids. $33 + 10 bonus had failed. There are several rebid zones for the Twin Cities if you are bidding for 3* or above. This hotel has excellent reviews -- better than some 3.5* and 4* hotels in this zone. The Westin Minneapolis (4*) had a deal on the SPG website for prepaid rooms at $69/night, so I knew to keep my bids fairly low. For the Crowne Plaza, cheapest rates on its website for this stay are $109/night.

The Downtown Minneapolis link includes a 3* Embassy Suites. So far as I can tell, there is no such hotel in downtown Minneapolis at the moment.

I's supposed to be, for example, that if you bid for 5 nights at $60 and you have $50 in bonus cash, that's exactly the same as a $70 bid for 5 nights ($60 + 10 per night). I don't think there is any indication that this doesn't work properly, but without access to Priceline's financials, it's hard to prove or disprove. So I guess we'll just have to trust them on this.

Can you pay to upgrade them to a more comfortable room than the standard tiny one?

That Holiday Inn on 57th Street can also be booked directly for $229 per night for a triple, which would save the fees (and it's possible to use a link from this site too).

I'd expect breakfast at a 4* German hotel to cost about 20-30 Euros per person, more or less, if it's not included in your rate. It would undoubtedly be an excellent breakfast buffet. For a 3*, I'd expect about 15-20 Euros. So you'd be able to buy breakfast, but if it's not listed as included on HOTWIRE, it probably is not.

I can't tell you where to bid for them :), but try BroadwayBox.com .

I think the best way to get to the airport probably differs on which airport, and which time of day. But if you have a noon checkout, and a flight at 8 PM, just store your bags at the hotel, presuming it's in the city. Then come back around 4:30 or so, get your stuff, and head out to the airport by whatever method. The only cost will be the bellman tips. You're right that if you don't stay in the city, those last few hours could be a bit awkward.

You're not lame because of that! It can also happen that you click on a hotel and when you try to buy it, it won't let you anyway. (One reason it tends to be a bad idea to count on HOTWIRE as a sure thing until you actually book it.) Availability may or may not come back before your stay.