WillTravel

That map shows that Pier 66 is definitely in the downtown area, but I'm not sure whether hugnpooh is going from Pier 33 or Pier 66. Hugnpooh, what do your tickets say? Disclaimer, disclaimer for all the below. I think it's true, but please double-check. As you keep walking along the waterfront following the direction on that map, the numbers just keep decreasing. I can't find a map with Pier 33 on it, though. However, Downtown would be as close as you can get to Pier 33 anyway. If you are going from Pier 33, you'd probably still want to stay downtown, because that's where most of the sights are. Hotwire has a little finer control of the downtown-area zones, so it might be looking at too. It has Downtown-Space Needle and Downtown-Pike Place Market. The Pike Place Market one would be nearer the piers.

Thereuare, that makes sense--thanks. It's a moot point for me at the moment, but I was also trying to figure out a strategy for a city that has multiple acceptable zones (say London or San Francisco). Suppose you would be fine with zones B, C, and D, but you'd really prefer A (but not enough to pay more than a bit extra per night, say). So I would start out with zone A, and increase by a bit for each zone. So say you've done 3 bids total, and are now about to add zone D. So far as I know, there's no way to make Priceline "prefer" to give you zone A if there are two hotels with the same rates (for example) in zones A and D. I don't know how Priceline selects in this case.

Maybe everyone has seen this before, but I haven't. I am engaged in another round of what I likely know to be a futile effort to bid in Scandinavia (futile mainly because I'm severely limiting the amount I'll spend). I am in the midst of putting in a $50 bid for Copenhagen for July 1 on Priceline.com. I noticed that on one of the initial screens I was given the option of learning more about trip cancellation/interruption insurance. I checked that box. A screen or two later, I got information about the policy. Here's the first bit: Travel Insurance Get 24-hour protection for your trip! Priceline.com has made a special arrangement with American Home Assurance Company (AHAC) to provide low cost travel insurance. For only $5.00 per room per night, this Travel Insurance plan provides: Travel Arrangement Protection Trip Cancellation /Trip Interruption: Priceline reservations cannot be cancelled, changed or refunded. However with Travel Insurance provided by American Home Assurance Company, if you or your traveling companion have to cancel or interrupt your trip for a covered reason (e.g., unforeseen illness, injury or death), the cost of your reservation will be reimbursed. . . . Priceline.com also says that buying or not buying the insurance has no impact on the bid. I would consider buying this insurance if I were a US resident. One problem with Priceline is its non-refundable nature (with rare exceptions). I would see this as cancellation protection for a cost of $5/night, although of course it won't deal with situations like not being able to go due to your employment or whatever. I'd definitely want it for airfare. The screen is a little tricky also. It invites you to initial and I could see someone quickly doing that just as they do on the bid screen. Does this insurance option appear every time and I've just never noticed it before, or is it just for bids for European hotels?

Is your ship going to depart from near Pier 30, or from near Pier 66? Either way, you'd have to choose the Downtown zone, I think. I suspect if you bid for a 4* hotel, you won't be put anywhere ridiculously remote. And there'd almost certainly be a hotel shuttle to take you to the terminal.

I've read, but I have no idea if it's true, that the waiting period is a random thing Priceline puts in to make it appear to you like their system is hard at work searching down the best deal for you. In actual fact, the real search period is very brief. When I get a chance, I'd like to take a look at Priceline's patents, as well as get a better idea of their long-term business strategies. I'd also like to know what type of computer systems and databases and CRM software they use. I posted a few weeks ago about getting a personal email from a Priceline HK customer service person inviting me to use Lucky Money, telling me by how much to raise my bid, and offering to perform the rebid for me (resulting in what appears to be a relatively slight overbid when I agreed to this). As far as I know, though, Priceline.com has no similar human input into bids (but I could be wrong). When I tried to bid on Oslo with Priceline.com a few days ago, I immediately got a rejection and a screen showing me lowestfare.com "deals," that were not that great. I wonder if that means there is no hope of getting a room in Oslo with Priceline. I'm also curious about if someone puts in a really high bid (say $500) in a moderately-priced but small market which has no inventory, will Priceline find some way to accept that bid?

thereuare, it sounds like you've always done better by waiting it out for the next rebid period than you would have with a counteroffer, if you can wait that long. Is that right? I am baffled by whether the hotels will either get more or less lenient in terms of price as you get closer to the date. Any ideas about that?

I just wanted to clarify the difference between counteroffers and the suggested retail price. What happens with counteroffers is different than what happens when you are preparing to bid or rebid and just above the "Name Your Price" box, Priceline has a line something like this: Suggested retail price for a 2 star hotel in [city]: $100 In this case, I'd suggest completely ignoring what Priceline says and just going by your own research, other postings, and your intuition. Usually the suggested retail price that Priceline posts in these cases is a top rack rate. And if you go through one or more rebids, you'll notice the value changes every time. I've never had a bona fide counteroffer, but your advice sounds good.

Yes, they've extended the promotion from April 15. So it remains to be seen whether I will get my first credit within 30 days of April 15, like they said in the email, or within 30 days of the new end of the promotion date.

Nilknarf, I've posted elsewhere that Priceline HK told me by email that I would get a credit within 30 days after April 15 (the end of that particular promotion). Have you tried emailing Customer Service?

Priceline HK Customer Service told me by email that I would be credited within 30 days of April 15 for the LM for my Victoria bid (posted elsewhere on this board). I admit the concept makes me a bit leery. I like the bonus money idea better. Thanks for the reminder about Ryanair. I think we will fall within the 15 kg (33-pound) limit without difficulty, given we pack light, but I'll make sure to weigh our stuff before heading out and to avoid loading up on bottled water and food (which I sometimes do to save money while travelling).

I have already emailed the hotel and asked for a room with two twin beds, and they agreed to that without a problem. The Lucky Money is still going on. In fact, I just checked the www.priceline.com.hk web site a few minutes ago, and the Lucky Money prompt came up again. You click a button and go through the process, and you'll get something. I know they previously said that it would end April 15, but it's there now. This LM is supposed to be used for a booking by April 30 that must be for airfare or hotel which will be used by July 31. I had my husband get some LM at his own email address and he got HK$200 this morning - I'm trying to find out if I am safe to use it for a booking done on his credit card if I'm the one who checks into the room. Does Priceline HK care? Excellent tip about VISA/AMEX. Fortunately, I used my VISA on this one, although that is only because it was handy and my AMEX wasn't. I'm curious and looking forward to seeing my statement now (well, not really). I'm familiar with the general area, and it's good for me. As soon as I find out whether it's safe to use the HK$200 LM, I will probably bid for June 28 with similar parameters. If I get this hotel for June 28, we will start off our time in London by getting off the Gatwick Express in Victoria Station, switching to the tube down below, riding for a few minutes to Vauxhall and then walking the rest of the way. Or else we'll just walk from Victoria Station. We'll then proceed to Denmark via RyanAir the following evening, proceed eventually to other parts of Scandinavia, and then return back to London for this hotel stay and flight out.

Yes, the VAT is 25% in Denmark (from what I can tell from online sources), so your calculation seems correct. As far as I can see from the Priceline Help, Priceline guarantees that US bids won't have more than 20% tax, but they don't make the same guarantee for international bids. I hope someone will correct me if I'm wrong. Another thing to keep in mind is that hotel prices quoted online are often inclusive of VAT in Europe, so you have to keep that in mind when preparing a Priceline bid so you don't go too high. (I looked at the Copenhagen Marriot site, and it seems the prices they quote are inclusive of VAT.) Obviously you were in no danger of going that high. I'm not sure how it works, but I know VAT is also refundable in some instances to tourists (maybe when the prices aren't inclusive? - I don't know). The Priceline site, though, says you can't get VAT refunds on Priceline-bid rooms, so that's something else to investigate. But never mind all that - as you're clearly still way ahead on this bid and it sounds like a great deal and a nice hotel.

Supercat, when I go to Priceline.com and try to bid I get a map of what is described as "greater Copenhagen." See: http://tickets.priceline.com/hotels/Lang/e...nmaps/20640.gif I haven't gotten out my ruler, but it looks like this might be a circle with a radius of about one mile. If so, why do they call it "greater Copenhagen?" As another data point, I yesterday tried a bid on Copenhagen for 2* July 1-6 at $50 on priceline.com and failed. What were your taxes on this bid?

My research indicates the hotel tax in Britain (actually the VAT) is 17.5% (see, e.g. http://www.frommers.com/destinations/great...498020157.html). That rate appears to correspond to what I see with London bids on the other board as well. Thus, if that is correct, I might have been able to get away with a bid of 420 HKD per night. If so, I will happily accept the loss of 64 cents USD per night!

(Apologies for the length. Hope all the detail is useful to someone. When I bid on Priceline.com.hk, the HKD are converted to Canadian dollars on my credit card. I only consider the US dollar rate for reference purposes, and so the post will make sense to most readers here.) Dates: July 12-14, 2003 (2 nights) Thanks to Zbenye's suggestion, I had my eye on the Vauxhall district and this hotel (no guarantee, of course, but no other 2* in Vauxhall have come up). (Some parts of Westminster would have been slightly preferable, perhaps, but I don't think it is as cheap. Besides, Priceline's Westminster extends beyond the area I really wanted, and this hotel is within the area I wanted.) I got 100 HKD Lucky Money = (approx. $12.82 US) using the Coin Scratch game Priceline.com.hk is offering (I got an email from them.) Keep in mind that the processing fee on Priceline HK is 65 HKD when making bids. Also, be sure to consider the exchange rate. You can get this at any time from http://finance.yahoo.com/m3?u. I imagine credit card rates aren't quite as good as the rate posted. (Actually, you can get approximate credit card exchange rates as well as other exchange rates from http://www.oanda.com. Oanda.com says that the typical credit card rate is +2% the interbank rate.) The results without the Lucky Money: Your Offer Price: HK$425 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 2 Comfort Inn Vauxhall 87 S Lambeth Road London, SW8 1RE United Kingdom 44 207 735 94 94 Subtotal: HK$850 Taxes: HK$146.80 Processing Fee: HK$65 (per offer) Total Lodging Charges: HK$1,061.80 So with the Lucky Money, the final result is 961.80 HKD. I won this on the first bid. I had first thought of starting out with 400 HKD, but I got a prompt that I had only a small chance. Even though I know better than to listen to that, I decided to make the bid 425 HKD (which is equal to $54.50 USD). About an hour before, I had done a series of rebids on Priceline.com going up to $52 USD per night in a bunch of districts. Maybe someone can help me figure out if I could have gotten this cheaper. The UK taxes and what Priceline HK charges are a mystery to me. 961.80 HKD is equivalent to $123.31 USD for two nights, with all taxes and charges. If my failed $52 Priceline.com bid had worked, the final results would have been in the range of $126 USD for the two nights. There's the possibility the exchange might not be quite as good as Yahoo's rate, but even if I am a few dollars off I am quite pleased with this. It beats the rockbottom B&B prices I had found (no private bath) and it even beats some hostel prices I had (2 dorm beds). I wanted some place relatively close to Victoria Station, and Mapquest tells me this is about 1.85 miles, which is walkable to me. In fact, I did walk a longer distance on approximately the same route last year wheeling/hauling my luggage when public transit was mostly down due to a civic protest (I was switching hostels). Maybe prices would drop in a few months, but maybe not. The cheapest price I saw for this on the other board was $49 USD for a March 2002 bid. Obviously I am bidding for high season. The best rate I can get directly from the web site at http://www.comfortinnvx.co.uk/ for the two nights in question is 129 pounds total (1 adult and 1 16-year-old child), which is at least $202 USD. I'd be interested to know what overlap there is between Priceline.com inventory and Priceline.com.hk inventory. I've now had two successful bids with Priceline.com.hk (and Lucky Money) that appear to have been better than what I could get with Priceline.com.

Here are some 4* specials packaged with some other items: http://www.tourismvictoria.com/Content/EN/1285.asp Priceline might be able to beat these, of course. I read the other day that hotel bookings in BC are down by half.

My daughter and I stayed here from April 18-20. Our bid was only $26/night. I had phoned a couple weeks before to ask for a 2-bed room. The clerk put the request in and said it was subject to availability, but it would probably be no problem. We checked in a bit early on the 18th (just after 2 PM). We got a room with 2 twin beds, a kitchenette, a full bath, and a large walk-in closet. The room was on the smallish side, but perfectly adequate. The property consists of a three-story, two-part brick building (built in 1929) with the two halves separated by a walkway. I think I read somewhere that the building used to be a convent. The walls were a bit thin, but there were no real noise problems. There's a free continental breakfast served in the lobby. I didn't expect it to be a full breakfast, and it isn't, but it's nice to be able to get some coffee, juice, apples, and pastries/breads if you want them. The staff is friendly and helpful. The location is great, right at the edge of Seattle Center (www.seattlecenter.com) and in the lower Queen Anne neighborhood. There is a QFC (grocery store) across the street. After I had made the bid, we found out there was a Japanese cultural festival going on at Seattle Center on the exact dates we were going to be there. As my daughter is very interested in Japanese culture, she was very pleased. We purchased Seattle City Passes (http://www.citypass.net) that provides a good discount for major attractions. The weather was mostly not-rainy and even sunny at times, so we were lucky there too :) . (I even managed to get my nose sunburned, so there must have been some sun!) We also saw two laser light shows at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle Center. There's a monorail connecting Seattle Center and Westlake Shopping Center, which is pretty well in the center of downtown. We didn't take the Metro buses, but those are free downtown (although not where we stayed, I don't think). Downtown is within walking distance (probably > 1 mile, but it's a pleasant walk). Seattle has lots of hills, although not quite as many as San Francisco. I've heard that hotels on the Space Needle side of Seattle Center are not in a nice neighborhood, but where we stayed (on the side of Seattle Center that is opposite to the Space Needle) seemed like a nice neighborhood. I know it's what Priceline calls downtown, but I don't think most people would call it downtown. Nevertheless, it's really the exact location we would have chosen if we had a choice, so it was pure luck to get it.

Tickets purchased at $934 Canadian each total from itravel2000.com (hope no one minds the plug for them, they've been good travel agents to me). Air Transat has a limited promotion for a discount for a second passenger, but since my son is in school, I can't travel during the allowed time period. Manulife has a travel insurance policy, including trip cancellation insurance, trip protection, and health insurance, for $119 Canadian each total. Now - I can torture myself for the next 2.5 months, looking for a slightly better deal! I am almost certain, though, that the most the price will decrease will be $100 Canadian or so, and the price is more likely to go up. My next plan is to consider using Priceline in Scandinavia.

I am going to post an abbreviated history of trying to find the lowest fare for my prospective trip to London (and on to Scandinavia), just in case it's useful to anyone trying to get a low airfare. * I signed up with Travelocity's Fare Watcher service so I could keep track of how fares were changing. I checked the major airlines' sites on a weekly basis or so. I'm also signed up with Expedia. * I regularly checked various itineraries with Expedia and Travelocity. (Since I am departing from YVR, many American-oriented services like Orbitz weren't as useful. I did check sometimes to look for fares out of SEA, but mostly decided any savings (and there really weren't any) weren't worth the extra hassle.) * I regularly checked the relevant charter airline sites, Air Transat and Sunquest, and their resellers. * I kept a lookout for companion flies free programs. None were useful to me, but for some people they might be. Virgin Airlines currently has a deal I just read about today. * I signed up for a variety of airline emails announcing specials. On Sunday, I noticed a sudden drop in Air Canada's international fares. A few hours later, I got an email about a seat sale, which ends on April 24 (for international flights). The fare for the dates I wanted was now $1030 Canadian, including all fees. The cheapest charter airfare (on Air Transat) at this point was $1079 Canadian total. I suspected it would go down due to Air Canada's seat sale. It did. The cheapest airfare total now is $934 Canadian. Note that Expedia has Air Transat fares, but they are charging about $300 Canadian more than what I can get from the site directly, or from some travel agent sites (like www.itravel2000.com - which I used successfully last year). The disadvantage of charter flights is the impossibility of changing times or dates. But Air Canada charges a fee for this, and our dates are pretty solid. I will purchase trip cancellation insurance (although this doesn't cover "change of mind"). The charter flights are nonstop and at a more convenient time, compared to Air Canada. I haven't purchased these tickets yet, but I probably will. Of course I can't use Priceline or Hotwire for flights originating in Canada, so that option was out. I also wouldn't use Hotwire anyway, knowing they might have a layover of up to 18 hours on international flights. * To summarize: track fares from a multitude of sources over a period of time. * Also, take Internet advice with a grain of salt :) : Posters on newsgroups a few weeks ago told me that Air Canada would not beat its fare of $1500+ Canadian total to London -- but it did by about $500. (Note: $1 US = approx. $1.50 Canadian)

Thanks for the Priceline chart. I emailed Hotwire to ask about their layovers, and I got this response: Dear [name], Thank you for contacting Hotwire regarding flights. Any connection for an International flight can be up to 18 hrs. long. If we can be of further assistance, please feel free to reply to this email or contact us directly at 1-866-HOTWIRE (468-9473). Thank you for visiting Hotwire. Based on this information, I wouldn't even consider a Hotwire flight.

The odyssey continues. I emailed the hotel to ask for a room with two beds. They told me there were two reservations under my name, one with a king bed and one with two beds. I have emailed the customer service rep at Priceline HK to make sure I haven't been charged for two rooms. The Princeline HK web site indicates it's only one room. If Priceline HK is charging the taxes correctly at 17%, the room charge per night (exclusive of the processing charge and taxes) is somewhere around 252 HKD.

It's a 1-star. Just make sure to indicate it's from Priceline HK. I don't know if this is a completely separate entity in terms of inventory from Priceline.

Well, to follow up on myself ... I wrote back to the Priceline agent. She assured me that I would get the 200 HKD refund posted to my credit card by April 30. It apparently is a special promotion (Lucky Money). I agreed to let her resubmit the bid. It took about a half-hour for me to get an email that my bid had been resubmitted. Finally, however, I got the email that the bid had been resubmitted and I would know within 1 hour whether it had been accepted. I checked in a couple of minutes, and got this bid: Accent Inn Victoria 3233 Maple St Saanich, British Columbia V8X 4Y9 Here is the breakdown: Your Offer Price: HK$270 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 2 Subtotal: HK$540 Taxes: HK$88.90 Processing Fee: HK$65 (per offer) Total Lodging Charges: HK$693.90 If I get my 200 HKD back, the total will be HK$493. That works out to about $92 Canadian total for two nights, which I can't argue with. I'm happy with the area of this hotel. My daughter will be thrilled that it's across the street from a major shopping mall. Note that while the hotel address says Saanich, this is in the Victoria zone (not the Airport zone). Regardless, I am fine with it. Web page: http://www.accentinns.com/victoria/index.html

I got this rather odd letter from Priceline HK. Has anyone gotten anything like it? A few days ago, I also tried a rebid on Priceline HK, going up to 180HKD per night, I think. First of all, they started off by calling me Mr, although my name is female :) Is this legitimate? I had never heard of this 200HKD cash refund thing. If I followed their advice and went up to 270HKD for my bid, and had a two-night stay, and I added the 65HKD fee and deducted the refund, then my total expenditure would be (before tax): 270*2 + 65 - 200 = 405 HKD for two nights (about $52 USD, which is very reasonable). But this whole rebate thing just sounds weird. The domain of the agent's email address is hpcln.com, which is indeed Priceline HK. I've never heard of an agent encouraging you to phone him/her either. Subject: Re:Your Priceline Hotel Request for VICTORIA - 09May to 11May Dear Mr [Lastname deleted] Thank you for using Priceline. While we could not find a hotel to accept your offer according to the travel dates, star ratings, price and zones that you specified, if you can be flexible with the (date/star/price/zone), we did find a hotel that meets your requirements. Please call our hotline [telephone number deleted] or reply to this email, our customer care team will assist you in any way we can May I suggest you to up-bid to around HKD270 , then the chance of getting confirm will be very high ! I can also offer a HKD200 cash bonus refund to your credit card if this offer can get success Please let me know if you are interested then I can do the re-submit for you and arrange the cash refund Thanks for using Priceline !! [Name and telephone number of agent deleted]