Rhine-and-Roses

Thank you for putting this posting up. I am trying to add a night to my booking for Dec 26-29, and was using PL. Now that I see there are two participating hotels, and the price was getting so much higher than I've ever paid for the Marriott before, I may consider not staying the extra night, or booking through the Marriott site for the last night. Madirish70, thank you for posting. I would never have seen this if it hadn't been moved, though. The people on this board do a pretty good job of organizing, so please don't take offense that they moved it.

I bid $140 today with no luck! The hotel site still has the lower price listed, so I am going to wait 24 hours, rather than add a rebid zone and risk having to move to another area. Maybe they are holding rooms for a long new year weekend. I will post if I am ever successful.

Thanks for letting me know- it was showing advance purchase of 179 euro when I looked, 149 for the other dates. I'll try bidding again tonight after my 24 hour "blackout" is over.

I don't know if you saw it, but I did post to another that the Priceline area might not be the ideal location if you are going to be a tourist and not doing business in Istanbul. We got a great deal at the Ferman Hotel, which I thought was a nice place, on Expedia. The price was low, breakfast was included, and we called before we booked and asked them if they would provide transportation to/from the airport. They agreed to that. The were very easy to deal with, and they are definitely agreeable to discussing prices and extras. You might email them directly and see what they can do for you. Do check their TA to make sure they are still well rated. I am sorry, I forget what we paid. It was under $140, because I remember that the most we paid on that trip was $140. Good Luck!

I used your PRICELINE link to bid on a room in Paris for December 26-30. I could not get a room, bidding up to $130. I saw on the Marriott's own site that their prices went up on the night of the 29th, so I changed my bid to check out on the 29th. The bid was accepted at $105. I tried to use the option to add a night, but it was not accepted. I also tried bidding for just the one night at $135, but no luck. If we don't get an extension, we'll just stay for three instead of four nights. This was the hotel I was expecting (and the same one I've 'won' a good number of times in the past.) Thanks again for this great site!

No experience at all with this hotel. I would be a little worried about a 3*, but it could be perfectly fine. The concierge at the hotel we stayed at said that many hotels pay people to review them well. I would think this would be easy enough to figure out. If your hotel has lots of reviews in foreign sounding English, that may be the case, especially if they claim to be from the USA or UK. If people on TA give permission to be contacted about the hotel, you can contact them directly with specific questions. I loved Istanbul, but there was a lot of wheeling and dealing going on. Everybody had a cousin who could do this and that for you, so I tend to believe that there may be irregularities with reviews on TA.

I for one would not use Priceline to bid in Istanbul because of the zone. The zone is the Taksim district, not the old town Sultanamet that many tourists want. It's a pretty good distance from the cultural parts of the city, definitely in the business district. The public transportation is good, though. Four stars in Istanbul can be a huge range. We stayed at three hotels (Iceland Ash Fiasco) while we were there, all 4 star, and none even similar in amenities or quality of furnishings/service/price. At one no one even spoke English. We did not use Priceline/Hotwire for any of the hotels, so no experience there. Good luck.

This was a split bid. I had been trying to get a hotel for under $120 for a special Harvard weekend. I got nothing better than a standard rate, so I finally decided to split the bid and risk two hotels for the 1st-5th of March. Please see separate listing for March 2-5. I started bidding at $120 for March 1st. I was countered with $150. I ignored the counter and added a free rebid zone and $5. It was rejected. I added another free rebid and $130, which was accepted, thankfully by the same hotel I had previously won. So the total for the four nights, including taxes, was about $475 as opposed to about $730 I was going to pay via another hotel's web site. Certainly a great deal when compared with the Marlowe's own web site. I used your PRICELINE link to purchase this room. Thanks again for this great board!

I kept looking and kept getting nothing in my price range until today I decided to try each day separately and saw rates were down on the 2-5 of March. I decided to book those three nights, putting in a low ball bid of $90 for Cambridge, only to have it accepted immediately at the Marlow, which looks great. So I decided to see how high the first night would be. I started at $120 for March 1st. I got a counter of $150. I added a free rebid zone and bid $125, which was not accepted. I tried my maximum of $130, which was ten higher than my previous maximum since I just got such a good deal at the Marlow. The bid was accepted and I will be there all four nights. I was a tiny bit worried I'd get another hotel for that first night, but even if I had, well I would have been at another non-Priceline hotel anyway. I am happy with the results. I used your site for the win, and also for all (I think) the bids up to the win. Yay!

Rizan appears to have identified this as the Novotel Les Halles with this Hotwire purchase. Remarkable guess, thereuare! I think we'll pass on this one, for the moment anyway.

Thanks for the possibility. I will post if we decide to take it, and will use your links for more searches and the purchase, if we take it.

I'm trying to ID a 4* Louvre Place Vendome area hotel for May 28-June 4, 2012. There are only two amenities: HSIA and Restaurant. They do list the Trip Advisor Rating as 4 of 5. There are no ratings or comments from Hotwire. I went to TA and found about eight 4 star hotels and 4 of 5 TA ratings within a 1/2 mile of the Louvre, however that's pretty iffy since I'm not really sure how they measure how far- as the bird flies, walking, or driving. Plus Hotwire often seems more generous than TA with ratings. Any guesses? Thanks!

The trip into Central London on the Piccadilly Line will take you close to an hour each way. The hotels do not all (in fact, I am pretty sure FEW) offer a free shuttle to the airport, so you would have to factor that into your price. I think the shuttle is something like 4 GBP each way for each person to the airport. Then you pay for the tube. I doubt seriously you will get anything within Central London for your price for a 4-5 star. You should try, but don't be disappointed. Some of the postings with very low rates for 4* were at the height of the financial crisis. Try Hotwire and see if you can find something inexpensive, but still on a good public transportation line. A friend of mine stayed at a Holiday Inn Express (3*?), I believe in Earl's Court. Check this forum to try to ID hotels. I've been able to ID all Hotwire hotels I've used by asking and/or by carefully reading reviews on both Hotwire and TA. Other friends stayed in Wandsworth Holiday Inn Express for a great price. It looks like Hotwire has that hotel for your dates for $1450 total. It has 90% approval on Trip Advisor. I was worried they would have transportation problems, but they said it was very easy in and out of the city, and that is expressed in the reviews for what looks like this hotel on Hotwire. Look for the Wandsworth/Merton 3* for $77 (as of today) with Hotwire positive ratings of 100%.

A friend booked this hotel for July 30-Aug 6th for $105 per night. She is happy with the hotel and price. I asked her to use your PRICELINE link. : )

I checked that convention calendar, too. Same thing- nothing in particular going on. Now that I think about it, I believe you are right. It is almost unheard of for that Sheraton not to be on HOTWIRE, and it's pretty easy to ID. My max will be $120. Otherwise, I have a hotel for $149 which gives me points, free breakfast, and a kitchenette, which will make up the $30 difference. There is an event at Harvard that weekend I want to attend, but it is not so big that it should spill over into Back Bay. Thanks for your help! I'll try again when it's only 9 months out.

Using your PRICELINE link, I've bid a number of times and cannot get a bid accepted. Hotwire has very few hotels for my dates, so I suspect something is going on. Westin Copley (which you can normally get rack rate at $250-300) is showing $569 for normal room on those dates. I bid $90-120 for a 4* in either Cambridge (1st choice) or Back Bay. I used all the free rebid zones so I could add $5 increments. I have a very good back-up in Cambridge at $149 which I can cancel, but I don't want to keep going through this if someone knows of a big event. (I checked for marathon-It's a month later.) Thanks!

I started bidding at $65 a few days ago, adding a couple of dollars each day. I was really hoping for the Marriott, which was a great place last time we stayed, so I am a little disappointed. I used your PRICELINE link each time I made a bid.

I'll post a review soon. Hotel was good, but they INSISTED I owed the room tax for each night, 3 euro per night. I paid and faxed Hotwire the bill. They reimbursed me plus gave me $25 Hotwire Dollars.

A friend reports this hotel. I asked him to use your HOTWIRE link- hopefully he did. 3* Holiday Inn Express Wandsworth. Breakfast/Business Center/High Speed Internet Access. He reports 100% recommendation on Hotwire's reviews for this hotel. I believe he said he paid $110 per night.

I got it, BusterGordon! I was able to match up the known Sheraton amenities (Fit, Rest, Bus, HSIA) and 95 % satisfaction rate with the hotel you were looking at! I did this by reading the reviews. I found an identical review at both hotels! (Mention of a baby cot and place to recuperate on Feb 4, 2011) There was also a review on the hotel you have been looking at (the one with just three amenities) mentioning free wifi only in the lobby. Sheraton's site mentions free wifi in the lobby. So there you go, it looks like they are alternating the amenities on this hotel. I found this once before with the Westin Frankfurt, which is why I suspected it this time, too. Of course it could always be some other hotel, but then Hotwire would be guilty of putting the same review on two different hotels. I printed the screen on both as "proof" Good Luck!

I wonder if Bustergordan's CdG hotel could be the Sheraton with amenities changed? If you go into their ratings, it shows all 4.5 and and 95% satisfaction,which is exactly what my recent Sheraton purchase showed. When I was looking (over a three week period) at times other hotels came up, but none had the 95%, and none had the 4.5 rating for "location" like the Sheraton did.

FYI I've stayed in London hotels using Hotwire and Priceline a good many times. I have ALWAYS been granted my bed choice, although it is not guaranteed. Call them either as soon as you get the reservation, or a few days in advance of your stay and give them your request. They usually tell you they will do their best, but not promise.

All in all a mediocre hotel, apart from the great location. Standard Holiday Inn, hardly a 4* by anyone's standards. Teeny tiny room, even smaller bath. On the shabby side. Staff were really great, particularly reception. They charge to check in for your flight. That is the first time I've seen that anywhere. If I am able to id Harrington Hall, Bailys, or Millenium Gloucester, I'll take one of those on Hotwire before I risk this one again. On the other hand, it was not terrible, just not too nice at all. Not sure why they label their pillows firm and soft. They were absolutely identical! Incidentally we were up high- I forget but think around the 20th floor. We could still hear train (tube?) noise in our room. Hall noise was also very loud for about 5 min. one night- as if they were right in our room. Luckily the rest of the time there was quiet. I did love the tea service at this hotel. Great Galaxy chocolate, in addition to a variety of teas and instant coffee.

I've been watching this hotel go up from $95 to $102 today and decided to go ahead a book. The dollar is dropping, probably the biggest reason for the rise. I was hoping for and happy to get the Sheraton Paris Airport Hotel. (The amenities matched with the Hilton as well, but the 95% satisfaction rate seemed to match better with the Sheraton's. Glad my guess turned out to be right!) Amenities: Restaurant, High Speed Internet, Fitness Center, Business Center I thought Priceline would accept $90 for a 4*, but didn't want to risk a hotel that is harder to get to. That RER line right there makes this hotel good for my needs in Paris. I used your HOTWIRE link.

I bid $40, which was not accepted. Added a free rebid zone and got the Westin for $45. I used your PRICELINE link.