BLI-Flyer

I need to take my son to Seattle so he can catch a flight to Australia on Christmas Day. We decided to go the night before and stay at a SeaTac area hotel. I bid $45 on two rooms and got it on my first bid. Total cost was $111.92 ($90 for the rooms, $21.92 for taxes and fees.) I did use the PRICELINE link to make my bid.

Based on previous posts and because Seattle now only has one "free re-bid" zone less than 3*, I bid $45 for two rooms at SeaTac and got it on the first bid. I probably could have bid a few $$ less, but I'm very happy with $45 for a $165 room. Total for two rooms for one night was $90 + $20.96 taxes and fees for a total of $110.96 I did use the PRICELINE link to support this forum.

Bid $45 and got two rooms on my first bid. Total cost is $90 plus $21.06 taxes and fees, for a total cost of $111.06 ($55.53/room) I did use the PRICELINE link to make the bid.

I did my research, was prepared with free rebid zones, and got 2 rooms at the Doubletree at SeaTac for $45 each on my first bid. Total cost is $90 plus $21.06 taxes and fees, for a total cost of $111.06 ($55.53/room) I did use the PRICELINE link to make the bid.

I started bidding at $65 for a 4* hotel in downtown Seattle, Friday night, June 5 for one night. I added two free rebid zones and gradually upped my bid to $75. Total accepted bid was $75 plus $18.67 taxes and fees for a total of $93.67. I did use the PRICELINE link here to make my bid.

In the future, you can currently rebid the same day by adding Yakima as a zone. It's 110 miles away, but it's included in the "Wenatchee" area and doesn't have any 3* hotels so it's a safe zone to add if you're only looking at 3* hotels in Wenatchee.

I second the recommendation to go without a car for a few days while you're downtown and then rent a car for the weekend. You should be able to find a downtown rental office for most of the major car rental companies. Renting a car for the whole week will add $20/day to the cost of your hotel bill for parking. I could easily see spending a week in Seattle without a car. A drive/hike up to Snoqualmie falls would be fun. You can also walk down to the ferry dock, take the ferry to Bainbridge Island, and walk the short walk to town for lunch. (Visit the local independent bookstore while you're there.) The return trip will be the best view of downtown Seattle you can imagine. A previous poster recommended the Summerfield Suites. I've stayed there and they're good. The nice thing is you get a refrigerator and microwave, plus a separate bedroom/livingroom in your suite. Check it out on a locator map though, it may be farther from the areas you want to visit than you want.

I had the same issue for a 3* room in downtown Spokane on 4/27. I can generally get these for around $45, but had to go up to $57/night for this stay. I suspect there's something going on that's reduced the supply somewhat since there are a limited number of 3* rooms in Spokane.

If it's the Red Lion River Inn, yes, that's the one at 700 N. Division. There's another one right across the street, the Red Lion Hotel at the Park at W. 303 North River Drive.

This is a good price for a 3* downtown Spokane Hotel. Generally though, getting it on your first bid means that you might have been able to get it for even less. I usually start my bidding for 3* hotels in Spokane at $40 or $45/night and increase my bid by $3 at a time using the 3 free rebid zones. This is especially effective now that you can rebid in 24 hours. Enjoy your stay, the Doubletree is a nice hotel, recently remodeled, and within walking distance of most of downtown.

I bid on SeaTac airport hotels frequently. The general price range I get is $40 - $50/night for 3* hotels (Doubletree, Hilton, Hoilday Inn, Marriott) in the immediate SeaTac area (i.e., within 4 or 5 blocks of SeaTac.) Hotels in Renton and Kent will be MUCH farther away, I wouldn't put them in the airport hotel caregory at all. As was mentioned earlier, rush hour traffic may be an issue depending on the time of your flight. If you're planning to leave your car at the hotel, the Renton and Kent hotels may not not have an airport shuttle. In addition, it's been my experience that airport hotels in the immediate SeaTac area do not offer free parking, especially on Priceline rates. You can get discount coupons online (do the Google search recommended above), but expect to pay $9 - $12/day for parking near the airport. I think it's going to be a trade-off for you, close to the airport and pay for secure parking, or farther away and find free unsecure parking but possibly no shuttle so you'll have to take a cab to the airport. Finally, bidding in February and March on a hotel you're going to stay at in June is not a particularly good strategy. You'll have much better luck if you wait to within 30 days of your trip. Have you checked Hotwire to get an idea of prices that might be available? Do you have a back-up in case Priceline doesn't come through for you? There's a Holiday Inn Express near SeaTac that has a shuttle and usually has pretty good rates. Good Luck.

I bid on two rooms at a 3* hotel in downtown Spokane. Started bid at $40, rejected. Added a free rebid zone and bid $43. Rejected again. Added free rebid zone and bid $45. Rejected. Added last free rebid zone and bid $47. Rejected again. Waited 24 hours Started bidding at $50. Bid was rejected but Priceline made a counter offer that I could get the room if I increased my bid by $14. I ignored their offer, added a free rebid zone and bid $55. Bid was rejected so I added another free rebid zone and bid $57. Bid was accepted at $57/room for two rooms at the Red Lion River Inn. Your offer Price: $57.00 Number of rooms: 2 Number of nights: 1 Subtotal: $114.00 Taxes and service fees: $24.74 Total Charges: $138.74 Rate on the Red Lion web site for the same night is $105/night per room plus tax.

I was looking for a 3* hotel near the airport in Austin for two nights. I opened my bidding at $45 and was rejected. I added a free re-bid zone, bid $50, and was accepted at the Omni Southpark. The Omni web site shows rooms available on the same two nights for $119/night plus tax, so I

One night, Hyatt Regency O'Hare. After researching other bids, I bid $50 thinking it was low but was accepted on the first bid. $64.73 total charge.

I've stayed at this hotel fairly often and think it's a nice property. I'm sure you'll have a great stay.

I initially bid $40 for a 3* hotel at SeaTac on January 1 and was rejected. I was offered an immediate rebid by Priceline if I added $12. I ignored them, added Bothel as a free rebid zone and increased my bid by $5 to $45. The bid was accepted at the Doubletree Hotel, their web site shows an $89 rate for the same night. Total including taxes and fees is $58.72.

I use Priceline frequently to book hotel stays at SeaTac the night before early morning flights. I can usually get a 3* hotel for $35 - $45/night. In my experience, all of the 3* hotels next to SeaTac (Hilton, Marriott, Doubletree, Radison) except the Coast Gateway charge for parking if you are a guest. 2* hotels a little farther away (Holiday Inn Express, Hampton Inn, etc.) have free parking. The Doubletree is decent. Many of the rooms are recently remodeled, and it has a 24 hour shuttle to the airport acctoss the street.

This is a VERY nice property and $65/night is a spectacular price. I paid twice as much for a non-Priceline stay and enjoyed every minute.

I found three bids for the San Antonio Airport for around the same time, $42 for 10/5, $47 for 10/6, and $60 (Holiday Inn Select) for 10/13 - 10/19. Since the 10/13 - 10/19 most closely matched the time frame I was looking for (10/12 - 10/16), I thought starting my bid $10 lower at $50 was a decent strategy and would allow me a few rebids using zones with only 2* hotels. In retrospect, I probably could have started at $40 or $45. Anyway, I'm happy with $50. I'm traveling on business and the company I'm consulting with will reimburse me up to $95/night in San Antonio. They're happy I saved them around $400.

$50/night for 2 rooms for 4 nights. Total cost was $479.66. Current cost on the Doubletree web site is $139/room. Not a bad price considering the lowered hotel room inventory in Texas recently because of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. I started bidding at $50/night based on recent successes posted here, and got it on my first bid. I wish I had started at $40/night!

Summer weekends are tough in Seattle, it seems like there's something big going on every weekend. Are you willing to stay anywhere other than downtown? You might have better luck a little ways out.

Based on my experience 5 minutes earlier (3* SEA 7/16) not getting a bid accepted until I hit $55, I started at $40 and the bid was accepted immediately. What fun is that? Total for one night, including taxes and fees, is $52.84.

Started bidding at $35, used free bid zones to increase in $5 steps to $55. Total cost including taxes and fees = $70.15.

Check-In Date: Thursday, January 20, 2005 Check-Out Date: Friday, January 21, 2005 Hotel Name: Doubletree Hotel Seattle Airport 18740 Pacific Highway South Se Seattle, Washington 98188 Your Offer Price: $35.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $35.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $12.21 Total Charges: $47.21

Thanks Hootie, I'm doing some contract work for a state agency in Texas and they've asked me to book a hotel as close as possible to the state/federal rate of $87/night for Houston. Priceline lets me get a much better hotel for that rate than going through hotel web sites where I *might* be able to afford a 2* for $87 in downtown Houston. They should be very happy with this rate!