fastmiele

I didn't bid/buy on this property because of the 3 adults needing at least 2 beds. I ended up purchasing the Delta Bow Valley site via another site. The price was the same as Hot.wire, except I knew for sure which hotel I was getting. I also tried bidding up to $100 for 4 star hotel, but no sign of success so I gave up that one. With Pric.eline I didn't see the option of entering 3 people so I could of been stuck with one bed. Thanks again for your help. Hopefully, next time I will get one through Hotwire/Priceline. I started my search by hitting the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links

thank you for your reply, I see what you mean by its just a reference to the last person who a hotel in that star rating. Is it possible the Delta Bow Hotel has slipped half a star ? In the hotel list its listed as 4 star but in the last won hotel, Delta Bow is listed as 3.5 star I need a room with 2 beds so I put down 3 adults (I assume if I put 3 people I will at least get 1 bed and some type of roll out sofa bed) ? There is this one other hotel at 3.5 star hotel: amenities: free internet, pet friendly, indoor pool, fitness centre, business centre, nearby golf and restaurant. Is it possible, this can be also the Delta Bow ? I was going over the hotel list and it really could be any of the 3 big hotels listed (Hyatt, Westin and Delta) because the amenities are not definitive. thanks

Hello, I have a question about the header for a Hotwire hotel. I am looking at buying a 3.5 star hotel in downtown Calgary on Hotwire, when I select the hotel the header says "Book soon! The last person got the Delta Bow Valley". Is it guaranteed you will get this specific hotel ? I think if it is I will buy it because of the location, but if it isn't I will severly disappointed. What is up with the header anyways ? Does the hotel give incentive to us by listing the name ? Also I checked the hotel list rating and it is listed as 4 star, did it go down half a star ? Thanks,

I thought I would give a quick update on my trip/hotel experience. Beautiful historical building with nice and helpful staff. My only beef and potential warning to future hotel stayers is "smoking". Staff told me there is a loop hole in the system which allows smoking in the Arcade. Although I got a room with no smoking, a small amount smoke still gets in. It bothered me a bit, this may not be suitable for people who are highly sensitive to smoke. http://img28.no_hotlink_or_screenshots_please.us/i/dsc0343en.jpg/ http://img638.no_hotlink_or_screenshots_please.us/i/dsc0434t.jpg/

oh ok, I think that answer's another one of my questions regarding the hotel in question. would it be safe to assume there is no other 2.5 * hotel in Hamilton or another possible scenario is Hamilton Courtyard categorized as both 2.5 and 3 star hotels ? well just guessing.

Sorry to hear about your auction bid/win did not turn out as hopped. On the brighter side of things you have given other members new information to consider when bidding in the future. thanx. I have some comments to make: 1) did you look up and Hamilton hotels and found only one 2.5* star hotel (Stay Bridge Suites) ? To be honest, I think that is great strategy, but after some research I think that was a bit risky. Why do I say that ? I was looking at the history of wins for Hamilton and I never saw the hotel "Stay Bridge Suites" pop up so it may be possible that it was never in the system. What I do see is see Hamilton Courtyard 2.5 * and Hamilton Courtyard 3 *. Who knows what is going on there ? Why does Hamilton Courtyard appear in both 2.5 and 3 star ? It looks like its going back and forth or possibly listed in both categories. 2) Based on the history of wins, I would say you had a high chance of getting Hamilton Courtyard which is not good for your situation. If you could re-do the situation my recommendation is to try and go 3.5 star and hopefully you get Hamilton Sheraton. But then again you keep seeing varying star levels. Hamilton Sheraton was given both 3 and 3.5 star. 3) I usually look at the history of wins in an area and predict which hotels could possibly be drawn/selected. From the history of wins for Hamilton there is only 2 hotels (Sheraton and Courtyard). 4) Is there any possible way of having the hotel list updated ? Thanks for the info and help.

I read the forum and looked at the price range for 3.5* in Downtown Cleveland. The threshold seemed to be somewhere around $35-$60 so I started at $35 and continued to add zones (that did not have 3.5 star) for free re-bids at $35,$37,$39 and $42. I eventually won the bid at $45 plus taxes and fees, so I am pretty happy. I made note of some other postings on much later dates in 2010 were getting winning bids close to the $60 range which made me a bit nervous. Funny thing is that I read up on the list of 3.5* hotels and mapped them out prior to bidding. I also went to tripadvisor to read reviews. The Cleveland Arcade caught my attention in that its an old historical converted shopping mall. Looks pretty nice and interesting, just a bit concerned about the potential noise from below. If I was really against this hotel/small potential amount of noise, I would not have bid in the 3.5* zone and gone to 4* or 3* instead. I used the PRICELINE link to begin my bidding. Thanks.

I read the forum and looked at the price range for 3* in Downtown Pittsburgh. The threshold seemed to be somewhere around $45-60 so I started at $45 and continued to add zones (that did not have 3 star) for free re-bids. I eventually won the bid at $53 plus taxes and fees, so I am pretty happy. I used the PRICELINE link to begin my bidding. Thanks.

thanks for helping out.

Hello, me and another couple are planning to book 2 seperate rooms at a hotel. I was going through the priceline booking and under "Rerservation Name" it says "Please enter the name of the person who will be reserving each room. They must present a valid photo ID and credit card". So, I enter my own name and my friend's name for our seperate room's. If we win our bid, will we be prompted to pay each room room by seperate credit cards ? I went as far as the page where I enter my credit card info but I did not see any section for entering the other room/credit card info. My question is "are both rooms charged to 1 credit card" ? I sure hope everything is booked to 1 credit card because its going to be a bit of a hassel to drag my friend all the way down to the same computer to book 2 rooms. Thanks.

wow, I can't believe you have the flexibility to wait for this long. High risk and high reward in my opinion.

just out of curiousity when did you bid ? A month ago ?

okay, your pep talk gave me the courage to continue on. Also curiousity got the better of me. I believe I understand how the zones works and getting free re-bids, but I just didn't have the confidence as a newbie. I continued on with the bidding through the PRICELINE link. I put in a bid of $80 and got the message to increase my bid by an additional $22 to secure my hotel. At this time I knew I was close so I declined and added another zone for $82 and got rejected again. I put in a final bid of $85 and my offer was accepted. :) Winning hotel name - Le Centre Sheraton Montreal Hotel Thank you all for your patience and help in my first PRICELINE win. :) Hopefully more in the future. Cheers.

Thank you for the replies. I think I understand the re-bidding process of selecting a zone to see if it has a 4 star or not. Only downtown Montreal has 4 star hotels so I have another 4 rebids, but I am fearful of some accident where if I include an area which doesn't have one but then mysteriously I get a hotel there. That would be absolutely disasterous. I am not sure if I really understand what truely happened to dougiew444 but that's exactly what I am afraid of. Okay I made another bid today for downtown Montreal - $74 - rejected again. That's okay I have another couple of weeks to book a hotel, so I going to take the slow but safe way on bidding. Some people may call me a chicken, but I can't afford any problems. I am simply going to keep putting an increase of $2 a day until I reach up to say $84-$86. At that point if I don't get anything I am thinking of booking the $89 or $94 hotwire 4 star special. From my readings I think you guessed the $94 special is Delta Center-ville. The reviews are not that good. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g1...eal_Quebec.html sleepless in Montreal :)

well I ended up going to New York but pretty much struck out with Priceline. I kept on bidding to around $200 between 3 or 4 star hotels. I got nothing so my family in New York set me up at the Gerswhin Hotel. Okay place, 1.5 star place. My family ended up taking care of the bill so I can't tell how much they paid. Its a pity because I was really hoping to get a hotel through the PRICELINE link. I am hoping to get something on priceline on my next trip. oh some people told me that if I really wanted to get something in Manhatten for cheap I would of have to make my bid many more months ahead of time.

I guess I am somewhat in the same boat. I think I understand the zones but for this member its almost useless trying to adding zones outside of downtown. and consequently getting something in Scarborough or Markham (too far). I wish there was a way to tell what the threshold is and that way you can bid accordingly. For example, one member said he was not going to get anything less than $110 during the weekday. If that's the case, then there is no point bidding $88.

Hi, I used the PRICELINE link and tried a one time bid of $72 a night. Got rejected. I need to stay somewhere downtown so I don't want to start adding other areas. Any advice on bidding tips or what the threshold might be ? I read through prior postings and guessing that it may be between $72-88. Thanks.

Do you think if I keep trying everyday that I will eventually win one between $150-$170 for 3 star ? Some say I won't win. I have read many of the threads and people's techniques. Some people say to wait until the last few days and they may drop the rates, but then again I am playing a dangerous game because I am going to NY for sure in a couple of weeks and its not going to be very good landing and having no place to stay. Thanks for your advice.

Thank you for your reply. I think I would be willing to pay up to $225 for 4* but I really would not like to that route unless if I had no choice. Ideally and realistically I want to pay around $160-170 for 3* hotel. I will be out and around Manhatten most of the day and probably only in the hotel at night for sleeping. So 3 or 4* does not matter much, in fact 2 or 2.5 * would probably be fine. I am still wondering how people are able to get the same quality star hotel at lower prices than me when I bid higher and still rejected. Thanks. sleepless in Toronto

HI, I Have been reading some of the threads of bidding so I tried yesterday. I am willing pretty well much to stay in most of the zones in Manhatten as long as its close to the subway. So I tried out at MTS - 4* - $150 (no luck) continued on with MTE, MTW, TS, SOHO (each time raising my price up to $180) - still no luck. I then tried going down to 3* - $150 (no luck), worked up to $170 and still no luck. Do you have any tips ? Also, I keep reading about using/hitting the links (which I tried). Thanks