iginlafire

OK, just found this thread: Priceline Las Vegas which answered my question quite well. If anyone has additional info they'd like to share I'd obviously welcome it. Our dates of stay: Wed Mar 7 - Sun Mar 11 (4 nights) Preferred location: 4* or above, on the Strip (5* Strip South and Strip North (but not Strip North Condo), and 4* Strip North).

I am in charge of arranging a trip for 6 guys to Vegas in March, and am currently trying to decide between renting a condo privately that will sleep all 6 of us, or go with 3 rooms at a hotel on the Strip via Priceline. My question is this- if I go the PL route, how difficult will it be to ensure that we can get 2 beds in each of the rooms? I know that typically you get 1 king when you book with PL in LV, and we'd be OK with paying a small upgrade fee each day for a room with 2 queens instead. Does anyone have any info regarding this situation? THX in advance.

Used the PRICELINE link to get this good deal. A couple notes: 1- This property was on HOTWIRE for $89. I was able to ID it using the HOTWIRE forum here as a guide, and figured it could be had for a bit cheaper on PL. It's only $5, but it's still a savings. 2- Rack rate is $239 a night, but they have a sale right now for stays until Sept 5th (booked before June 30th I think) for $129. So it's $45 off even that cheap online rate. 3- This is Taylor Swift concert night in T.O.- didn't expect to get a 4* this cheap. Thanks again BB.

Started at $80 worked our way up in $2 increments using only the Central zone as we are arriving via train and staying in Glattbrugg was not an option as we only have one day there. At $102 yesterday we received the "free counter if you increase your bid by $20" offer, so we knew we were close. Another reminder never to accept that deal if you can afford a few more days bidding- it seems you can always get it for less than what they initially suggest. Happy with this win and with this property, and used the PRICELINE link as usual.

Probably going to look for a bed & breakfast. Save some money on the room and maybe splurge a little more on a few meals or something. Also, this frees up a bit more money for hotel rooms in Reykjavik and Zurich where we could upgrade a little with the money saved. Probably should have started trying earlier, in Feb. or Mar., but live and learn!

Been working at this for a while, hoping for either the Molino Stucky at 5* or the Boscolo at 4*, as per recent winning bids. The Stucky, however, seems to be full during these dates. Not sure if that means they still have PL rooms put aside or not, but I have gone all the way up to $185 with no win at the 5* level. For the 4* category, I just bid up to $160 this morning, and was given the one-time counter offer of increasing my bid by $40 without having to wait 24h. Instead I added the Mestre free re-bid zone, and tried $170, which to be honest is more than I really want to pay for what is likely to be the Boscolo, but it was rejected anyways. I'm pretty sure the Boscolo is just north of $200 on standard booking sites, so I'm not sure why the rates seem to be a little inflated. Must be the dates I guess. Hope this info is useful to a couple people!

Preferred to stay in this zone so that we were close to the train station (arriving at 10:45pm on the 18th via train) and also within a short walking distance to the Marienplatz. Started at $80, was offered a free re-bid if I increased it to $100. Declined that option and instead used the free re-bid South zone to try $85 and it was accepted. Looking at some other recent bids there's a good chance I could've got a 4* room in the City Centre North area for $10-$20 cheaper, but happy with this hotel at $85. Rate through Expedia.ca is $185 CDN per night. Reading over the reviews at Tripadvisor, I think we will be very happy with the Maritim, as it fits all our criteria aside from free breakfast and wi-fi, and even has a swimming pool. Will post a review if I remember when we get back. Used the PRICELINE link to complete the purchase.

Yes, sorry, Westin Market St. And it was Priceline.

Got the Market St. Hilton for $155 per, + taxes. More than I initially thought I would have to spend, but still a tremendous savings over the advertised room rate on their website for that same time period which is over $300 for a room with 2 queen beds. Speaking of the 2 queen beds, I made sure to phone right away and ask if I could have a room with 2 beds (a friend of my Mom's will be joining them for Fri/Sat and staying in the room, making 3 guests total for those two nights) and the clerk was very accommodating and made sure a room with 2 beds would be reserved instead of a single king bed at no extra charge. Thanks again to all who replied, and to this website in general for the outstanding results it has helped me achieve time and again. Woot! :) Edit- Ah man, just noticing now that last post about LMT.com and the Mariott. Damn! Oh well, only a difference of $10 per person per night, but still. We're all here cuz we want the best deal and maybe I didn't get it! haha. Next time. :)

The room is actually for my Mom and my Aunt, and I just got the word from them to increase the bid and get them a 4*. Yeah, we looked at a bunch of 3* places, Pickwick, Executive Court (?), Powell, a few others. After reading some reviews on Tripadvisor they want to stick with 3.5* and up. They're seeing two concerts at the Warfield, and they want to be within walking distance. So the Financial District is a no. Really good tips though, I honestly appreciate it. In any other instance I would consider them strongly! Cheers fellas

Just went up to $130 using only 4*, 9 bids in total, and again no takers. The Sat/Sun dates combined with the 4 night total stay is killing me here, haha. Must be a busy weekend in the city. Seems crazy high to have to go to 120+ for the 3.5* range but it's looking like that's what I'm going to have to do. Will update again when I try again. Thanks for the links, am going to book a backup today just in case.

Tried twice more, both times going with 3.5*, and going to a maximum of $115. Nothing again. Thinking about booking something I can cancel without penalty, just so I have something as a backup in case I don't get a deal via Priceline. Will keep trying though, hopefully as the dates grow nearer somebody will bite. Maybe it's a busy weekend in the city or something. Maybe I'll go to $120 next time.

Tried again today, using the exact same strategy as I outlined earlier, only this time reaching a max. bid of $115. No takers. Thinking about dropping down to the 3.5* range for the next try, although that eliminates some re-bid zones. Wish me luck!

thx a lot for the advice, I will post an update next time I try something. And yes I am using the requested links. Won't let me reply to the PM that was sent to me.

Trying to book four nights in one of USW/USE/SOMA-Moscone from Wed. Apr. 6th to Sun. Apr. 10th 2011 in the 4* category. Used all the 4-star re-bid zones for 9 bids in total, starting at $76 and going up to $100 by the ninth bid. No luck. So my question is this- should I just keep trying this strategy every few nights as the date approaches and hopefully one of the hotels bites? Or will I have better luck (and perhaps get a better overall deal) if I split up the dates and book 2 separate hotels, one for Wed/Thu and the other for Fri/Sat? I've read here that most stays over 3 nights don't usually get the same good rates that a typical 1 or 2 night stay would. Any advice/experience with this type of situation would be appreciated! THX

Started at 3* and $80, rejected, increased to $90 and got Saskatoon Inn. Good location, free internet and parking, good last minute deal since it's $159 off the street.

This hotel was terrific. Free continental breakfast, very new (rooms were extremely clean), great location in the south end of the city right off the highway, free internet, everything we wanted for a quick stopover. Amenities listed: Near Beach Complimentary Breakfast Fitness Center Pool(s) Business Center Laundry Facilities High-speed Internet Access Golf Nearby

Tried twice more, max bid went up to $112 and still nothing. Also, it seems the $109 deal at Hotwire is gone, and I'd prefer to use Priceline anyway. So, Plan B: The 3 parties involved bid separately for one room each, with me guiding them through the process, and we hope at least 2 of us get the same hotel/deal. Worst case scenario I will post our results once we get something- I have to wait till later today. THX for the reply above, helped me make the decision to go this route. And it will be interesting to see what happens given my requirements. :)

Does anyone have any experience booking multiple rooms with Priceline? I am having trouble getting 3 rooms in Toronto for the prices they have been going for recently according to the board, and am wondering if it's due to the fact I am trying to book 3 rooms at once instead of just 1 like I usually do. My specifics: Date: Wed June 2 - Thu June 3 Rooms: 3 Location: Downtown South Toronto I have tried for 3 nights in a row, increasing the bids by $2 each time, using all the re-bid zones. I just finished tonight with my last bid at $102, and am surprised I haven't got anything yet. Is it because I am trying to get multiple rooms? Is it a busy week in Toronto (something going on I am unaware of)? Should I add downtown north even though I'd prefer not to (we are in town for a Jays game and would like to stay closer to the Rogers Centre)? All replies are appreciated, cheers! -Geoff

Tried first bid at $60, then added Brampton and upped bid to $64. Accepted. It is worth noting that after the unsuccessful first bid, I got the message that Priceline was giving me a "one-time special offer" to re-bid without changing anything but my price, "based on the range of hotels you selected." It also stated that if I increased my offer by $17 it would be accepted. It didn't make any sense to do that with all the re-bid zones for downtown, so I didn't. And it saved me $13 over that "guaranteed to be accepted" price. Thanks again BB!

Wanted something close to the airport for cheap, and am happy with what I got. Started at $36 YYZ, then went up in $2 increments, adding a new zone (Brampton) or dropping the star rating each time. Regular room rates start at $96, and it's reasonably close to the airport.

Still not sure if this is an amazing deal or not. I've used Priceline many times to stay in downtown Toronto before, and have always ended up with the Sheraton, as cheap as $65 and no more expensive than $80. This is my third straight night bidding for a hotel in that zone for that particular weekend, and I finally got something accepted tonight. It's the weekend of the Virgin Music Festival (Oasis, Foo Fighters) at Toronto Island Park, so we absolutely had to get something downtown. Anyways, here's how my bidding went: Night #1 - Started at $55 and went up in $2 increments, each time adding a re-bid zone with no *4 hotels. FYI, that is every zone except for Vaughan/North York & Airport/YYZ. I think it ended up being 9 total bids. Nothing. Night #2 - Started at $70 and went up in $3 increments, to a final maximum bid of $95 (the final bid I upped an extra $1 to take it to the nice round number of $95. Woo-hoo, big spender!). Nothing again. Night #3 - This time I started at $80, and went up using the same $3 increments like I did the night before. Finally accepted at $104 per night, after the last possible bid using my strategy. Someone tell me I got a good deal! I am not used to paying this much for a hotel in this zone, but it's gotta be because that weekend is going to be crazy downtown. Also, the cheapest rate on their website is $249 per night, so I still saved over 58%. Pretty happy with the hotel selection also. So yeah, that's my story. Thanks to all who have posted previously and helped me figure out the best strategy for getting a good deal on hotels. Cheers.