jwl3

Thanks a lot for the thorough response. I think you're totally correct on how the bidding system works. I've sorta given up on Hotwire because the prices are a bit deceptive - their fees are very high for the few hotels that I've had my eye on. Love the site and I've always linked directly to the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE sites from here!

Hi, have you ever encountered this problem with Priceline Express: It seems international deals either never get updated or something sketchy is going on. I've had my eye on the 4.5 star hotel in Beijing (Forbidden City district) for the dates of 3/24 - 3/26. Tried to book it with multiple browsers and every single time, it says that it is sold out after I click Book. Tried every different type of room available with the same result. Must have tried at least 15x over the course of 2 weeks. If it is sold out, why on earth does it keep showing up in search results??? I've called them twice and all they can give me is canned answers that don't address the problem. (I know the hotel is the Crowne Plaza by the way.) I'm wondering if it's because I'm using a 10% Priceline Express coupon and somehow the hotel is deciding that the cost is too low. What's really odd is that I tried booking a different hotel for a different date in Shanghai and had the same exact result. That one too was the Crowne Plaza Shanghai.

Got this hotel after studying Betterbidding's Priceline list and the options available on Priceline for an hour. Was almost positive I was going to get the Westin in Foggy Bottom but deeply disappointed that it turned out to be a hotel that was NOT ON THE LIST. This has happened to me only once in at least 30-40 bids (over 15 years) on Priceline and Priceline Express. Trying hard to look at the bright side of things here, but the name itself sounds absurd and tailored to a clientele different from that for a family vacation. Only amenity listed was "Bed Choice. "

Express Deal. I stay in Chicago for work a lot so I like how Priceline tells me whether I've stayed at a place or not. There was another 5-star Express Deal for cheaper ($200) but I've stayed there before (assumed that one was Trump International) and I wanted to try a new hotel this time. Thanks to Betterbidding's list, I knew it was most likely the Park Hyatt because the Langham is always nearly double in price. Same Park Hyatt deal through Orbitz would have been $375. Dunno why I'm trying so hard to save my company money but I still get a warm fuzzy feeling about getting a good deal. Used the BTRBIDSEP promotional code and through PRICELINE links on this site. Thanks Betterbidding!

Got this hotel after trying multiple days for 5 stars and 4 stars. Have to say that I'm disappointed with Priceline this time. This hotel is $620.46 without blind bidding after taxes. I paid $590.53. That's not anything. I could have used an Orbitz coupon and gotten a much better deal. Not to mention I would not have chosen this hotel. I managed the bidding process poorly I suppose. I based my bids on what Priceline Express deals were going for. So I overbid for 4 star hotels that I didn't realize were low priced on the regular Priceline website. (I forgot to check the cheapest 4 stars in the areas I was bidding in.) Oh well. It's only 3 nights.

Yes, they stayed at the Langham Place/Cordis hotel 10 years ago and have been raving about how good it was since. Had been waiting for months for the price to drop. Thanks to your list, when this 5 star showed up on Priceline Express, I knew exactly what it was because there's only one 5-star listed in the Mongkok area.

I saw this hotel on PRICELINE EXPRESS yesterday and combined with the 5% coupon from Betterbidding, was $2130.96. Because my dad wanted to clear up some health issue with his doctor before traveling, I couldn't act on booking it. Today, I checked and it was no longer on Priceline Express. So I tried bidding $163/night on PRICELINE Name your price. Got it on the first shot. Total was $2205.12. Problem was, as soon as I booked it, I refreshed the PRICELINE EXPRESS search and that same previous combo showed up at the same price of $2130.96!!!! This was the exact hotel I wanted and I got a really good deal but all I can think about is the $74 I could have saved if I had refreshed just one more time!!!

Total with taxes came to $105.22 but I used the weekend extra discount for a $96 all-in win. Not bad I guess. Wish it were closer to Longwood Gardens but I'm saving $60 here. Clicked through from the PRICELINE links here of course.

Just won this bid for a 4 night stay. Worked my way up from $175 by $10 increments, trying 3 different zones for a 5-star only. I'm still a little hesitant about choosing a bad zone (like near airports) to increase my number of bids, even though this site says there are no 5-stars in that new zone. What if I get stuck with a 5-star near the airport??? It'd ruin my vacation! Anyway, the same rate went for $269 per night (all-in) on Orbitz while I paid $233 (all-in) on Priceline. Not bad but not a spectacular win. Still, I'm pretty satisfied. As always, clicked through your links. Thanks Betterbidding!

Used links here. Love your site. Started bidding $195 for a 5 star in North Michigan Ave. Then Millenium Park zone. Did not get them. Moved to a 4.5 star hotel in N Michigan Ave and upped the bid to $215. Got the Omni, which I'm happy about. This is a business trip paid for by my company, so I didn't care too much where I stayed or the bid increments. For personal and pleasure, I have to say that I doubt I will use Price.line or Hot.wire again. I got some pretty bad hotels in Italy (Rome, Milan, Venice) through Priceline and Hotwire last month.

Ugh. I think I'm done with Price.line and Hot.wire. They used to work out very well for me but the last 3 bids I won were with hotels that were barely acceptable. I only saved an average of 20% off the cost of booking the hotel on the same dates. That's not enough savings to justify a blind auction and being committed to the hotel with no cancellation for any reasons at all. Nothing against this site at all (love you guys and used the links) but I don't think I'll be using Priceline or Hotwire anymore unless I'm traveling by myself and REALLY don't care where I'm staying. Anyway, I started the bid at $101 and it won right away. Reviews on Tripadvisor for this hotel are not kind. The only redeeming factor is that I will only be staying here for 2 nights.

Used the PRICELINE links from betterbidding of course! Tried for 2 weeks to get a 4 star hotel in Venice (St. Mark's Square) for up to $225 but no deal. So I went down to 3 stars for $150 and got this place. Seems ok from Tripadvisor reviews but never heard of them before. Only saved about 28% from listed prices for the same dates so this wasn't an amazing deal, just ok. Especially for the non-cancellation clause.

Used the links on betterbidding. Features were: pet friendly, free breakfast, internet I'm kind of disappointed because I was expecting the NH Vittorio Veneto. It was the only hotel on the betterbidding list that had pet friendly on it. People on tripadvisor seem to like it ok, but some of the pics make this hotel look like it's in an alleyway and away from the main streets.

LOL, as for comparing the percentage thumbs up on Hotwire v Tripadvisor, the only reason I thought it was related was the green thumbs-up icon looked very similar in color and shape. HAHA. I thought somehow the two sites were linked.

Thanks a lot. You run a great website! The amenities listed were: Boutique Hotel Indoor pool(s) Fitness Center Pool(s) Restaurant(s) Business Center Self service laundry Internet access Spa Services Accessibility Accessible path of travel In-room accessibility Wheelchair accessible Accessible bathroom I guess the one tipoff like you said was the indoor pool and also the self-service laundry. If I hadn't gotten overly excited and jumped the gun, I might have checked to see if the Standard has an indoor pool. Either way, I'm not too dissatisfied with the Biltmore. It's got a great lobby for photo taking!

Bid for 2 days in a row, each day trying 6 different searches by adding locations. Complete surprise that I got Le Montrose. Never heard of them before but it sounds like a nice boutique hotel. 82% thumbs up on Tripadvisor. Bid through the PRICELINE links on this page of course. Thanks Betterbidding!

Just bought this hotel thinking it was going to be The Standard. Kind of disappointed. Hotwire tricked me by listing it as a "BOUTIQUE" hotel. On the Betterbidding lists, the only 4 star Downtown BOUTIQUE hotel was The Standard. There's nothing BOUTIQUE about the Biltmore. Also, the ratings were similar (Hotwire listed 65% positive, Tripadvisor listed the Standard at 62% positive). You can imagine my disappointment when I got this Biltmore, which Tripadvisor ranks at 57% positive. That's pretty crummy for a 4 star hotel. Oh well. I guess I can't complain at $137.

Just won this hotel through PRICELINE. Used your link of course. The hotel seems to be a bit far from where all the major attractions are, but other than that, I'm happy with the win.

Sorry that I forgot to list the date we'll be there. We're staying at the Westgate from 5/13 to 5/17.

Much love to this site always. I would have never felt secure using PRICELINE or HOTWIRE without being able to narrow down the possibilities. I got this hotel on the second try. First try was $102 5* (hoping to get the US Grant) in San Diego (Downtown & Harbor Island). That was denied so I tried $74 4* and got the Westgate Hotel. Tripadvisor reviews say it's very good. Retail price for the same stay is $202. Used the PRICELINE link from this site of course. Thanks!

By the way, why is the tax + fee unusually high? My hotel cost was $51, but Priceline charged me an additional $15.17. Of this, $6.85 was tax and $8.32 was fees. Whose fees are these, Priceline's or the Hilton's? And is that normal?

Booked through PRICELINE link of course. This hotel was listed at $110 at Hotels.com. Same hotel for $60 on Hotwire.com. So I decided to try to lowball priceline at $51. Got it on the first try. Thanks for the great work guys!

Used the PRICELINE links of course. Tried 3* $61 with Lancaster East. Then $63 including Lancaster West. Then Morgantown. And finally with Reading and got this hotel. Pretty happy with the results. rice with tax came to $82.47 while Expedia lists the hotel at $109.20 for the same day. Thanks Betterbidding! P.S. When you get a chance, please add this hotel to your list and update the headings for Lancaster East, West, and Morgantown.

Booked through this site's PRICELINE link of course! Won the hotel after trying for a 5* for several days up to $114. Gave up on the five star and decided to bid $68 with City Center North selected. Guess I'll just have to use the $46 I saved to have a free breakfast every day! Expedia lists the same hotel at $137/night. Thanks betterbidding!

Just won this hotel on Priceline. Tried $81 for 5-star, then $91, and finally won it at $100. Quite a deep discount from the $215 that Expedia lists it for. However, wish Berlin had more regions so I could have re-bid in smaller increments from $91. Now, I need a 5* hotel for Munich. Thinking of just booking Le Meridien through Hotels.com for $118 (Hotels.com 10% off coupon + Le Meridien's 30% off). I wonder what the chance is of getting a 5* hotel in Munich for around $100. Love this site!