lowballer

This isn't Orlando, this is Bozeman, Montana... not only is everything in the terminal, most grocery stores have bigger parking lots than the single lot all the agencies in BZN share.

Only four or five agencies operate in BZN. One is E

Nope, I've tried it. There's something on the reservation that says it's Priceline and they won't give you credit.

That is a great price. I am hunting for a Los Angeles area hotel for 11/30/06 and may book this one. I called the hotel and found out there is a separate charge of $25 for parking per day. That is a lot.

Well, it's half what hotels in San Francisco charge.

On the weekend, you might be able to park on the street for free. I've done it. Just don't move your car for the night and don't keep anything in it. Barring that I believe nearby lots charge much less.

I hope you bought that $227 fare. It wasn't about to get any cheaper.

really don't think that this hotel is as inconvenient as the poster made it sound.

I agree. It's just as far away from, say, the Embarcadero Center as the EconoLodge Hilton (333 O'Farrell) is. It's close enough to the Montgomery BART station and I don't care about Fisherman's Wharf or the cable cars. I'd be happy to get this place.

If you can depart a day earlier or later (11/16 or 11/18), The ITA search engine is showing $377.20 for ORD-DUB-CDG on Aer Lingus.

Priceline was acting a little strange on this one. I had bid up to $82 in both USE and USW separately without any response. Then I combined these two zones and started over at $83. Immediately I received a "raise your bid $22" screen. I still had plenty of time to bid in $1 increments, so I tried $84... and hit. That was the only "raise your bid" screen I received despite several bids in the $70s and $80s in USE alone.

Anyway, I'm quite pleased with the result. This is the Hyatt just off Union Square (345 Stockton), not the one on the Embarcadero Center. Two nights, Saturday and Sunday.

Total = $84*2 + 33 = $201.00

I like to go down there in the fall myself, so out of curiosity I checked rates.

For that weekend, I'm seeing some $85-90 published rates on the Tennessee side. On the NC side it's more like $100. It's the best weekend of the year to be in the Smokies, so I doubt you'd find anything on PL. You wrote you couldn't find "anything in October", but my experience is even in fall, weeknights are wide open and cost about half what weekends do.

Or you could wait until December when everyone drops their rates to $25 :)

Fort Myers... in midweek... right before xmas when many northern schools will have already gotten out... I hope you're booking that Alamo rate as a backup, cuz it sounds pretty good.

belgo is correct: PL goes up to only 3* in South Lake Tahoe. There is 4* on the north side of the lake.

Midweek in October is the definition of low season. You can find published rates in Tahoe for less than $30, and in Reno for less than $20. Not at Harvey's, tho.

you might want to call Southwest Airlines

My goodness, that would be the Pre-Boarding Group From Hell. Thirty kids on WN would block out an entire letter of the alphabet!

There are several small motels around Three Rivers; I've been there. For a weekend when the weather is still nice they probably run around $80-90.

Any savings you achieve by staying in Visalia or elsewhere will almost certainly be canceled out by the extra gasoline and time you burn in getting to the park.

Whoa, a decent-looking 3* in downtown San Francisco? This is an interesting development!

The HGI is a block from the L purple line and Metra stations. This gives you two affordable and relatively fast ways (45 minutes) to get downtown.

The Purple Line express trains run only on weekdays during rush hours. Otherwise count on 90 minutes for the L, including waiting for trains. Also, try to stay off the L south of Addison before and after Cubs games (those are the last three games of the season and they are at home). Unless, of course, you're using the L to actually go to the game.

On the weekends, Metra is a much better option. $5 to ride anywhere in the system all weekend.

Got a "raise your bid $9" screen at $35 and hit it at $37. Also failed at $55 3* Santa Fe Plaza.

For this weekend, I have been unsuccessful up to about $50, but it is normal for weekends to be more expensive in Santa Fe. This stay is for a Sunday, and I have other plans in place for the weekend anyway.

This hotel is at 3347 Cerillos Road, Santa Fe N.M.

Total = $37 + 12.76 = $49.76.

If you feel PL has seriously misrepresented the hotel to you, dispute the charge. If your credit card company wants a reason, tell the truth: nonresponsive customer service and gross misrepresentation of product. Then call PL back and tell them what you've done.

Do not dispute the charge without continuing to attempt a settlement with PL. Also, do not use this option frivolously (like if you messed up a bid and just want to get out of it); worst-case scenario is you're banned from PL like a tube of toothpaste at an airport security checkpoint AND you loose goodwill with your credit card provider.

PL definitely has the power to cancel reservations by itself.

Most weekly car rental rates have a 5-day minimum, and say so somewhere on the contract. More precisely, the rental period must be at least four full 24-hour periods and some part of a fifth. The reason for this is to prevent people renting during the week (business travelers) from booking a weekly rate, which is often lower than four (or even three) weekdays.

If the minimum is stated on the contract, it's cut and dried. If Alamo charges you an extra $30 or whatever, that might be a lot less than four weekdays retroactively at "full rack".

OTOH, if you are on a daily rate and bring the car back early, you are usually not charged for the days you do not use. For example: you rent a car for nine days, which is 1 week + 2 extra days. Bring it back on day seven and you're usually only charged for the week.

I just looked up "peak demand" in the dictionary. It says, "Vail over Christmas".

Only way PL will work is if there are one or two relatively low nights based on the way the calendar falls and/or inventory is released at the last minute.

The way people save money when visiting Vail is by staying around Dillon, but even that won't be cheap.

If you want Vail for a week over Xmas you may want to look at a condo. The smaller ones go for about what the Marriott is quoting, or a bit less (I just checked).

Colorado's kind of a big place. Could you be more specific? You probably wouldn't want to stay in Lamar for a reunion in Grand Junction, for example.

You may want to look at vrbo.com, especially if it's in a touristy area. (I have no connection with said site.)

My wife and I booked flight and motel from Florida to London via Priceline.

You're going to London in a motel room? What more do you want?

Yeah, maybe the 10th (Sunday) and/or the 9th (Saturday) are a lot easier. You may want to try to bolt down those nights first, starting relatively low. Then work the 8th separately, reserving a cancelable backup and staying outside downtown if necessary.

The Bears are *at* Green bay that weekend; were the game in chicago there would be additional hotel demand from Packers fans, but it's not an issue here.

I am not mad, sinceI am still getting a better deal than non-priceline alternatives.

Actually, my whole point was this is NOT a better deal than non-PL alternatives. (My criticism here is of PL, not you.)

For one night, you paid about $44+tax when PL's booking fee is added. But there are tons of hotels all around Denver that advertise rates lower than that and can't be much worse than the Red Lion. There are several hotels near the 70/225 junction that go for $30-35/ night, for example. And these are walkup rates that you're not committed to.

Chicago's convention Web site says 90,000 delegates for this one. That seems a bit high, but we get a handful of 50-60K conventions a year. The actual dates are Sep 6-13, btw.

I never say impossible, and I've gotten hotels during peak periods at other times. But it is going to be very difficult to hit with PL/HW on this one. If you hit for anything decent, it is likely to be at the last minute as people cancel. Might be time to offer my conveniently located Gold Coast couch for $300/night again.

You can still probably stay in the one of the airport zones (ORD or MDW) for under $100. I found some published rates for about that much after a quick check.

I bidded $37 for a 2.5* two days in advance. It was accepted on the first try.

Big mistake, that.

Red Lion Stapleton Hotel Review

Parking's free. Enjoy.

The only way C$95 (about U$84) will hit downtown would be for something at the last minute.

You probably have a decent shot at something in the O'Hare zone, which should still be cheaper even after factoring in parking. Furthermore, if all four are traveling everywhere toghether, taking cabs to and from downtown becomes a decent economic proposition. And yes, I see fourseomes in cabs here all the time.