slick_gd

You're doing it correctly. It may be that there just aren't any hotels available for those nights, which is very odd. Have you considered going the HOTWIRE route? The 4* hotel that looks to be the Sheraton Fallsview is going for $119/night.

How many rooms and for how many guests are you looking for? Also, what was your bidding process? I'm noticing a 4* on HOTWIRE based on 1 room and 2 guests, which matches the Sheraton Fallsview. Amenities include: Smoke-free Restaurant Pool Fitness Business Internet 4 out 5 tripadvisor traveler review rating And you can check-in at any time during the day like any other reservation.

It is unfortunate that you are unhappy with your win, but I'm not sure you have much recourse. Your best bet is to call PRICELINE and explain what has happened and maybe they will help you out, but I think the chances are slim that it will be overturned. One of the reasons they offer room for such large discounts is the fact that you don't know what you are going to get, and they are non-refundable. Just because others have won a hotel for a specific price does not indicate that you will win the same hotel at the same price for the same date. Hotel rooms and rates change all the time and it's luck of the draw. This is one of the dangers when bidding through PRICELINE, you may end up with a hotel that you did not exactly want.

Congratulations on your win. We have another hotel to add to the list. Can you also post the details of your Amherst HOTWIRE win in a separate thread?

When you are looking for more than 10 rooms on PRICELINE it is a different process than your standard name-your-price. In this case you enter the amount of rooms you want, select a range of star ratings, the max cost you are willing to pay, and the type of room, then hotels will contact you directly. It is free and you are under no obligations to book. You do not need your credit card for this service either. Simply go to PRICELINE and it'll take you to a different page. Fill out the form and wait for hotels to get back to you.

This is how I would bid it: Use this link to get to PRICELINE 4* Downtown Vancouver - $75. add re-bid zone - $80. add re-bid zone - $85. add re-bid zone - $90. add re-bid zone - $95. add re-bid zone - $100. If that doesn't work close browser and start a new bid Use this link to get to PRICELINE 3* Downtown Vancouver - $70. add re-bid zone - $80. add re-bid zone - $90. If you are unsure which re-bid zones are safe you can double check them with the board first. But you need to be able to know how to check this before you bid.

I'm not sure what hotel the one you saw is, however, just checking on HOTWIRE right now a different list of amenities shows up: Fitness Pool Restaurant Business Internet 3.0 out of 5 tripadvisor traveler review rating based on 20+ review with the last one in June 2008. This one seems to be a match to the Holiday Inn. That would be my best guess. Use this HOTWIRE link to start your purchase and let the board know the result.

Just checking HOTWIRE right now, there are no 4* hotels available in downtown Toronto at all, the closest is a 3* in Downtown West, and that is going for $193. Although it's a different site it serves as a good indication of what is available and what price you might be able to get on PRICELINE. Typically you can get a better deal on PRICELINE than on HOTWIRE. The fact that there a no 4* on HOTWIRE makes me think that there is a very slim chance one would be available on PRICELINE. You may get a 3* but even that might be difficult, especially at $75. I don't think $75 going up in $5 increments will get you a hotel. Checking out available hotels on Expedia doesn't turn up many results either. So your choices are becoming slim As another option, there is a 2.5* hotel offered at $137 on HOTWIRE. This is likely the Town Inn and Suites at 620 Church (near Bloor). It's about a 10-15 minute walk to the Phoenix, and is one street away from Yonge, which is pretty much the central street in Toronto. However, you can get this hotel directly from their website for as low as $129. The Econo Lodge at 335 Jarvis (Jarvis and Gerrard) is going for $89 on their website (www.choicehotels.ca) which is about a 10 minute walk from the Phoenix. This is another option you may want to look at.

The strategies for winning a 3* or 4* are different due to the re-bid zones (4* has 5 re-bid zones and 3* only has 2), so before we can recommend a strategy we need to know what your maximum bid is. It looks like there have been some 4* hotel wins reported at less than $80, so I wouldn't necessarily start at $80 as there is a chance at getting one for less. Read this thread Priceline Re-bidding Explained to get a better idea of how the bidding procedure works. If you have any other questions let the board know and we'll help advise a strategy.

Initially I would have said the Westin Market Street, however, the tripadvisor traveler rating doesn't match. After a little searching this one looks like it is the Argent Hotel. Possibly a new addition to the lists on the site. The Argent is my best guess, with the Westin a distant second. Use this HOTWIRE link to start your purchase and let the board know the result. Please add your PRICELINE wins to this board as well

There are a couple major conventions going on this week in Toronto at the convention centre: Heart Failure Society of America and Toronto Tech Week that are likely causing a shortage of hotel rooms in the city. The convention centre is right in the downtown zone. There are also a number or smaller conventions going on at the same time. So this week is definitely an anomaly for hotel rates in the city, as you're right, many people have been quite successful with 4* for under $70. Are there any other zones of Toronto that you would consider? The Don Valley zone is pretty close to downtown by car, and also is very close to public transit that could get you downtown relatively easily. If you have a car, the Vaughan - North York, Markham, North York East, and Airport areas are all options as well. Public transit is available but not the most convenient. I live in Toronto so I can help you out if you have any questions about the city or other areas.

You say you have used PRICELINE before? Did you use the name-your-price method or the conventional method? This is probably the best thread explaining the procedure of re-bidding with PRICELINE: Bidding again before 24 hours. After reading through it you should have a pretty good idea of how the re-bidding process works, but if you still have any questions just let us know and we'd be happy to help guide you to a winning bid. At 7 months pregnant this might be your last weekend away for a while. :) I honestly don't think it's necessary to split your bid since you are only staying for 2 days on a weekend, you may save a few dollars but it likely wouldn't be worth the hassle of changing hotels after each night.. Splitting bids becomes more beneficial for longer stays, say 5 or more days. Let us know if you have any other questions.

I have yet to have a hotel offer reward points for any of my stays, which include: Sheraton Toronto (Downtown) Inter-Continental Montreal (Downtown) Marriott Residence Inn Kalamazoo Hyatt Regency Chicago (Loop) From what I gather it is a rare occurrence that they will actually award the points for a PRICELINE stay. It's seems to be one or the other, which is quite understandable, and if you were to work it out, an average PRICELINE win at 30-60% savings far outweighs any extra night you would get at a hotel chain, or the measely 500 or so points towards your airline partner (in my case, Aeroplan).

This one looks to be a match to the Pelican Grand Beach Resort. That would be my best guess. Use this HOTWIRE link to start your purchase and let the board know the result.

This one looks to be a match to the Kimpton Hotel - 70 Park Avenue. That would be my best guess. Use this HOTWIRE link to start your purchase and let the board know the result.

Generally, when you are referring to the hotel lists you want all the amenities to match and nothing should be left out. However, amenities do change at times and I think this is one of those cases. When I punched your dates into HOTWIRE the same amenities were listed but it also noted the tripadvisor traveler review rating of 3.5 out of 5 based on 120+ reviews with the last one in September. Going to tripadvisor directly and searching hotels in the Burlingame area, only the Embassy Suites matched this criteria. So in this case I would assume it is the Embassy Suites. But keep in mind for the future that this is not often the case. Use this HOTWIRE link to start your purchase and let the board know the result.

It's a pretty good possibility that it could be Le Meridien Etoile as it matches the amenities you listed. However, a new hotel could have been added, so be aware there is a chance it could be another hotel. Use this HOTWIRE link to start your purchase and let the board know the result.

Can you double check the dates you listed? Do you mean 5/22/09-5/28/09? Also, does HOTWIRE list the tripadvisor traveler review rating?

Nobody has reported a 2* in Pensacola to the board, and without any amenities it's virtually impossible to guess which one it could be. I don't know if anybody else on the board has any ideas, but I think this one is definitely a shot in the dark. Use this HOTWIRE link to start your purchase and let the board know the result.

This one looks to be the Empire Hotel. That would be my best guess. With Expedia showing a rate of $490 for your dates at this hotel, I think $256 is a great deal. Use this HOTWIRE link to start your purchase and let the board know the result.

Identifying them might be a little challenge when there is such little information to go on. The latest one in Bloomsbury - Marble Arch looks to match the Hilton Metropole. Refer to this Hotwire Hotel List - Other Countries to help in your identification of hotels on HOTWIRE. Note that this list is by no means comprehensive as hotels can be added (or removed) and amenity icons can change at any time. Use it as a guideline only.

The 4* in The City - Financial District doesn't match any hotel on the pinned lists, but there are other ways to track it down. Was there a tripadvisor traveler review rating listed for these hotels as well? The 4* in Regents Park - Baker Street matches the Holiday Inn Camden Lock, but again, not many hotels have been posted for London so there is a possibility that it could be another hotel. Let us know if there is a tripadvisor traveler review rating for either of these hotels.

This one looks to be a match to the Omni. That would be my best guess. Use this HOTWIRE link to start your purchase and let the board know the result.

This one looks to be the Holiday Inn Doral. That would be my best guess. Use this HOTWIRE link to start your purchase and let the board know the result.

There is no way to choose what you get with HOTWIRE (or PRICELINE for that matter). The only options you have are the location, date, and with HOTWIRE the number of people in the room. Amenities cannot be specified. If no hotel is listed with the amenities you want then your only option is to wait and see if one eventually comes up, but there is never any guarantee. It's probably a good idea to have something booked as a backup just in-case you don't find something on HOTWIRE.