WillTravel

No doubt you're right about A/C, Scorp. I had heard the Empress didn't have A/C, and the budget-oriented places I've stayed at have not had A/C, so I wrongly extrapolated to the hotels in the middle.

There are certainly an abundance of 4* hotels in Europe that do not have air conditioning, as many unfortunate people found out recently during the heat wave. However, I think European star ratings on Priceline might be different than US/Canada star ratings. I've heard the Empress does not have air conditioning - and I think that's true of many hotels, maybe most, in Victoria. Usually the climate is so mild that they are not needed. Sorry to hear that you had a bad night. It's worth finding out what Priceline has to say on the matter.

When I won the bid, I signed up for Wyndham by Request. I had read that this was not useful for Priceline customers anymore, but I thought I'd give it a try. Here is the email I got today: [snip] ======== I am the ByRequest Manager at the Summerfield Suites by Wyndham in downtown Seattle. I regret to inform you that ByRequest amenities and services are no longer available to guests who book their reservations on "opaque" sites like Hotwire or Priceline. Thank you for understanding, and please notify us when making any other type of reservation so we can provide you with full ByRequest service. ========= But this email still imparts useful information. It looks like Summerfield Suites in Seattle likely participates with Hotwire. Thus, if you see a suite icon on a Hotwire property in the downtown Seattle - Pike Place zone, I'd strongly suspect it of being Summerfield Suites.

chasman, what date was this bid for? I agree - the bidding situation is not ideal for midrange bids. Victoria does have reasonable conventional rates at times, particularly considering the exchange rate. Scorp has mentioned the James Bay Inn as a nice, convenient hotel. http://www.jamesbayinn.com My daughter and I have stayed at the Dominion Hotel, which often has reasonable rates on weekend packages. http://www.dominion-hotel.com Tourism BC sometimes offers some good deals: http://www.tourismvictoria.com/Content/EN/496.asp

thereuare, just to confirm - a Boutique bid on Priceline will *not* be "upgraded" to Resort or 4*, correct?

Expedia lists the Park Hyatt as a 5*, although Expedia's ratings are often "relaxed".

Sorry chasman. I agree that for the vast majority of people, this is an inferior location to the other 3* hotels in Victoria. Last time I looked, the zone is drawn in such a way so that this hotel falls just at the edge. On TOBB, there was a report of someone getting this hotel for $60. However, Orbitz has this hotel for $51, so the bidder was eligible for a small refund under Priceline's rules. Take a look at Orbitz and Priceline's rules and see if you can get a partial refund.

It will be a miracle, I think, if I get 8/31 at the rate I want to pay. I've tried and failed several more times. Last night, Expedia showed the downtown Days Inn with a rate of $308 USD! Admittedly, many other higher-star hotels are somewhat cheaper. I also read that 400,000 people attend Bumberfest.

As requested by thereuare, I'm putting this bid on a separate thread for easier reference by other users. The taxes of 54.96 HKD indicate that my bid was very close to the actual price Priceline paid for the room. For the backstory, see: http://www.betterbidding.com/index.php?act...T&f=155&t=1707& I phoned to ask for two beds, and that went off without a problem. Hotel web site: http://www.sixthavenueinn.com

As requested by thereuare, I'm putting this bid as a separate thread for easier reference by other users. For the backstory, see here: http://www.betterbidding.com/index.php?act...T&f=155&t=1707& The odd thing is that I phoned on Sunday to ask a question about the room, but the woman at the desk said they don't have an interface with Internet sites so she could not pull up my reservation. Apparently there can be a delay. She suggested phoning on Monday. I don't quite understand this as in all other instances the reservation seems to be in the system right away. This is a Wyndham property.

I tried with Priceline HK up to 400 HKD (just over $51 US) for a 1* for 8/29-8/31, and did not succeed. So I tried 340 HKD (a little less than $44 USD) for a 1* on 8/29 and failed. I added Lake Union and raised to 351 HKD ($45 USD), and succeeded. I got the Sixth Avenue Inn - http://www.sixthavenueinn.com. The rate on Expedia (which rates it 2*) is $84 and $119 on Orbitz (which rates it 3*). It's a Starwood property according to the web site, but I couldn't find it on the Starwood site. On the hotel web page it looks great, but the reviews on TripAdvisor are not stellar. I'm sure we will manage fine for one night. It's across the street from the Westin, so the neighborhood is probably ok, and it's very central. Priceline Hong Kong still has the old system where you can calculate the room cost from the taxes. The taxes are 54.96 HKD, and the Seattle tax rate is either 15.8% or 15.6%, depending who you ask. This indicates a room rate of either 348 or 352 HKD (the latter would be explained by exchange rate oddities). So very little overbid, if any :) So now I just have the middle night 8/30 left. We might end up with three separate places, but we don't really mind after all. We will just take a walk each morning and go to the next place. My daughter had threatened to skip bathing if we stayed at the hostel. Priceline has spoiled her. Now we will have at most one night at the hostel :)

5 occupied rooms! That's hilarious, but must have been mortifying at the time.

After trying progressively higher bids, I decided to split my bid. I still haven't succeeded for 8/29-8/31. I did get the 2.5* Summerfield Suites, which is a Wyndham property, for a bid of $52 on 8/31. If you get the web prepaid rate (about the same restrictions as Priceline re refundability) from the Wyndham site, the cheapest rate is $127. So it's a good deal, and the room on the web site for the property looks great. I just wish it were for more than one night! I have done so many bids over time that it's hard to remember for sure, but I am fairly certain I had just tried a bid of $50 for 8/31 that failed, so any overbid has to be slight. This 2.5* result was actually an upgrade from a 2* bid. I hate to be paying London-level prices for Seattle, but so it goes. I'm hoping we get the free good-quality breakfast that other guests get. I have signed up for Wyndham by Request and tried to attach my membership number to the reservation. We'll see if it works. I did try higher bids for 8/29-9/1 for 2* and 2.5*, and higher bids for 2* and 2.5* for just 8/29-8/31, but I did not succeed. I'm going to keep trying for 8/29-8/31 and see if I get lucky.

Hi Alan, good to hear the hostel is fine. I did ask about private rooms when I booked a week or two ago, but all they had left were the $99 deluxe ones - which I could possibly equal on Priceline anyway if I wanted to spend that much. The Travelodge web site is currently down, but Orbitz says the two downtown Seattle Travelodges have no rooms available. I've upped my bids a little, but still haven't had any success. I still have a faint hope inventory might be released at the last moment. The Sheraton is actually Bumbershoot's official hotel - the deal they are offering is $139/night, so you did great with your bid. The fact that you succeeded before and your friend cannot succeed now shows why bidding in advance can sometimes be very useful and profitable.

There's this thread. And ask away. Lots of Canadians here have had successful bids. PRICELINE Canada

Thanks for all the input - you're helping :) I want to make sure I consider all the options, so this is useful. I discussed the matter with my daughter and she says she'd prefer a more central location over a nice hotel, so if we don't get something within our price range downtown, we'll probably stick with the hostel at Pike Place. We'll keep on trying, but without much chance of success. I hope we'll have more success for our spring trip!

Those prices look great! The sad thing is, though, that the main 3* properties in Bellevue are all about an hour bus ride (give or take) from downtown Seattle. We're coming in to Seattle by Amtrak, so won't have a car. Plus we'd probably want taxis on some occasions. Hotwire for the University District is showing prices in the $120-140 range for 2* and 2.5*. Obviously this is a bad time for me to pick in terms of getting a cheap price. I did some low bids for Seattle North on Priceline for both 2* and 1* and failed (up to $31 for a 2* and then a 1*). I did not want to bid more at this point, because the taxi rides to a further out area could add up significantly (we'd probably want at least three taxis), plus I'd feel more comfortable with Seattle North if there were any indications of previous wins there, but I haven't seen any.

I decided to try August 29 only through savingsbarn.com. $35 with Downtown Seattle for a 1* did not work. But I added Lake Union and bid $40 for a 1*. Note that Lake Union has no hotels less than 2*, but it's conceivable I could get an upgrade. Now, I got a counteroffer screen from Priceline to raise my bid by $12. I don't have any rebid zones left, and I think the price is too high anyway so I won't take it, but at least there are some signs of hope :).

Thanks, thereuare. I think the HoJo and Travelodge you are describing are a little further out than we want. Our backup choice is to stay at the youth hostel one block from Pike Place, which is not too bad, particularly as my daughter is half-price. So they would only charge us $39 total/night inclusive - but of course we have to put up with all the disadvantages of a hostel! Given I got such a good price and location in Seattle earlier this year, which was even cheaper than the hostel, I keep hoping for a repeat even though I can see that's most unlikely. I tried to persuade my daughter to go to Portland instead, but she does not want to miss Bumbershoot!

Any advice welcome! I'm still unsuccessful. I think I last went up to $45 for a 3* and $43 for a 2* and then a 1*. I did go past $45 to $51 on the 3* a week ago or so, but not in the last try. I know the answer is probably to throw more money at Priceline :) Rates for the most likely hotels are often 35-50% higher than rates a week later. I've also tried bidding just August 29-31, and just August 30-September 1, at the same rates. That hasn't worked either. I was considering bidding just for August 31, since that's the date that rates start to drop at some hotels. If I do this, how many chances do I get to use the extend nights feature? The worst night for prices seems to be August 30. If I were to bid for August 29 (Friday night), how likely is it that I would make a future bid for August 30 (Saturday night) very difficult, because some hotels prevent Saturday night check-ins with Priceline or only offer greatly increased prices? I don't mind two hotels, but 3 might be a bit much for a 3 night stay. I am bidding both Downtown Seattle and Lake Union zones. 1* Travelodge prices from its web site are $116/night. Holiday Inn (a 3* in Seattle) has a web rate of $152, but its rate drops to $105/night on August 31. Inn at Queen Anne (a 2*) is unavailable, except through consolidators. Just noticing that Priceline's suggested retail price for a 1* in Downtown Seattle is $116. Maybe they just took the rate from the Travelodge web sites.

I've had this delay a lot recently. I get the screen that says Thank you for your request, and it also has a button for some sort of Rewards program (which I think is a bad deal personally). I think Priceline hopes you will sign on if you wait long enough. You go to click the button to see if you have won you bid, and if you aren't careful you click the wrong button and are taken to the screen about the Rewards program. Maybe Priceline thinks that the longer you sit there sweating it, the more likely you are to sign up with that program. If you do look at the Rewards screen be careful, because Priceline will transmit your credit card info to the program if you click the wrong button on it.

Kimmo, here are some tips for Canadians which also apply to anyone living outside the US: http://www.betterbidding.com/index.php?act...03&hl=canadians

TripAdvisor has some reviews of the Roosevelt: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g6...y_New_York.html

Enjoy your time away from the computer. I hope all your reservations work out marvelously :)

You don't need the exact same credit card for the hotel that you used for Priceline. You do require some credit card when you check in, though, as most hotels will want to have that on file for incidental charges. They might or might not accept a cash deposit - the problem is you can't ask in advance because you don't know what hotel you will get. I don't know if the WebCertificate will work for your bid or not. Either way, though, you do need a physical credit card when you show up at the hotel.