Gopiku

I wasn't commenting or asking for help on my own stay. I had bid myself for the exact same date, location, and star level, and made a comment about what I thought might get a room for the same criteria that the OP was using since that is what the OP asked about, based on personal experience. I only came to the site to put down a winning bid as I thought that would help people and thought I'd answer a question nobody else had. I can keep it to myself, I guess. Feel free to delete these posts!

I tried till $110. I think $125-130 might start showing something but it's a lot more than I wish I would have had to spend.

I didn't try the 'extend your stay' although I looked at it. My reading was that it is just put in as a new bid to see if you get it or not. That was my experience on a past stay as well. That's why I didn't try it but I guess it wouldn't hurt to try. I still do have to put in a bid for 7/13-7/14.

Tried bidding up to $110 last night in NMA and Loop for a 4* in 07/12-07/14 but didn't get anything. Got Hyatt Regency Chicago for $85 for 07/12-07/13. Still trying to see if I can get 07/13-07/14 separately. I figured why give $125 for 07/12 if it's just the Saturday night which is expensive. Changing hotels is a pain though - maybe should have paid the extra $.

I don't think I'll be doing Priceline for the air trip this time. Thanks for your help anyway.

Thank you - I will post what I end up with and will use the site's PRICELINE links!

I was already using the site's PRICELINE links. Seems a bit much to force people to click like this. or perhaps everytime we use the link we need to say we did.

Perhaps I don't quite understand it as well as I thought I did. It lets me pick airports but I thought it was by city (and we could choose different towns and end up at the same airport.) I'm not sure then how I might be able to rebid.

Hi! I've never tried Priceline's Airfare bidding. I'm looking for Washington Regan National (DCA) to Champaign, IL (CMI) with dates 06/29 to 07/07. I understand that I can choose nearby towns while bidding to rebid but I was wondering how that affected when there were multiple airports in the region. I didn't want Dulles to be included even though that's in Washington D.C. region. I can find $461 before taxes and there's only American which goes to CMI. It's just two days from today, so I don't have lots of days to bid. I'd like to save $100 if I'm buying tickets without knowing the times, etc. I was wondering if that might be possible. Any recommendations? Thanks!

Here's my PRICELINE win. Used BB page to start search. G. Capitol Skyline Hotel 2

I got this on first try of $41/night on Priceline. Holiday Inn Select Saint Louis Downtown Conv Center, 3 Star Downtown St. Louis 811 North Ninth Street Saint Louis, Missouri 63101 314-421-4000 See Hotel Website View Map and Directions Check-In Date: Sun, Dec 12, 2010 / After 04:00 PM Check-Out Date: Wed, Dec 15, 2010 / 12:00 PM Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $41.00 Subtotal: $123.00 Taxes & Fees: $28.23 Total Charges*: $151.23

Hi! Can somebody help me in identifying these Hotwire hotels in St. Louis. I'm thinking of using priceline but am looking to see rates I might start with using Hotwire. I have a conference in Hyatt at the Arch and want something cheap close to it from 12/12 to 12/15 (this weekend). This $44 doesn't look bad to me if it's close enough. Downtown St. Louis area hotel, 3* $44 Fitness Center, Pool, Restaurant, Business Center, High Speed Internet Downtown St. Louis area hotel, 3.5* $59 Fitness Center, Pool, Restaurant, High Speed Internet Thank you! p.s. Using BB PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links for all research and buying!

Overall, I think this was okay if one is looking for a place just to sleep over the nights. There was a nice flat screen TV with an okay number of channels including 2 HBOs. They had installed newer climate control in too though I don't think I got the hang of it and had to manually stop the air when it got too cold. Wallpaper was old and not too pleasing so far as the initial reaction to the room goes. They had a coffee maker with 3 sets of one-use coffees/cups but only one of the lids fit the cups. They a selection of teas too. I drank my 3 cups on day 1 and they didn't replenish the coffee the next day. Shower needed a bit of jiggling to work the first time but worked okay afterwards. Ample towels... some soap/shampoo. Hair dryer, which stopped working after a go. They have free internet, but that wasn't too fast. I couldn't get it to work initially and the lady at the reception said she'd hook me up with tech support but it just started working. They had a safe in the room, which said that there was a charge for using it. So, I didn't use it. However, later I read/heard downstairs at the reception that the charge was already included and if you didn't use it, you could get it take off. I doubt that'd happen through priceline. It was pretty quiet and there were groups and even a conference contingent staying. There was no big issue apart from those minor amenities-type irritants. Perhaps that's part of what the 2* is. Okay for budget-traveling I guess. I'd use it again if I was doing a budget trip.

Yeah, lowest price, a bed, and cheap food somewhere :-) I'll check out the grocery store, thanks! I read that some of the rooms have microwave and a small fridge... it would have been great if I had that but I think I read on their website that there might be a surcharge involved. Their website says room type is "Superior King".. maybe that gets something. I also noticed while looking up reservation on their site that per night rate is 42.99. Since taxes and fees are on top of $47 I'm paying, PRICELINE takes that extra $4 as profit too? I wonder if $43 would have been accepted although I must have tried figures around that value but now can't be sure.

Oh, this was so horrible. Spent like and hour and a half doing all manner of combinations. I essentially tried the following first with 3*, then 2.5* for 6/1 or 6/2 - 6/4 or 6/5. $41 NMA $42 NMA Franklin $44 NMA Hyde Park $41 Loop $42 Loop Franklin $44 Loop Hyde Park $45 NMA and Loop $46 NMA and Loop Franklin $47 NMA and Loop Hyde Park This was after yesterday's attempts up to $40. It's all a bit imprecise but I tried dozens of combinations, so I can't really list everything I did. Then, I tried just NMA and Loop and varied dates for 2* starting from $41. I changed to two nights after hitting $45. I was able to get Red Roof Inn Chicago Downtown for $47 for 6/1-6/3. Thanks a bunch everybody!

Thanks, thereuare. Could you tell me when a closing of the browser and re-logging on to the Priceline site becomes necessary? That's something I haven't figured out. Thanks, G.

Yeah, probably have to up the bids a bit. I tried up to $40 for 2-3 nights Tuesday through Friday over the month of June and the dates you recommended but nothing yet. I see Hotwire has a 3* "North Michigan Avenue - Water Tower - Gold Coast area Hotel" for 6/29-7/2 with Bed choice, business center, smoke free, and restaurant for $67/night. Wonder what that'll go for on priceline. There's not much room for rebidding zones under 3*, so kept varying dates. Will try upping the bids a little - this might take some time! :) --- maybe that was boutique, not business center?

Thanks for responding, Aaron! Good evening to you too! :) I was looking at 6/8-6/11 or 6/15-6/18 (checkout date inclusive) primarily but wouldn't really mind deferring a couple of weeks if it'd afford me decent savings. My dates are flexible except that I probably want in the middle of week to save on transportation costs to Chicago and attend to some work-type stuff. I was thinking that $45 would be before taxes and fees. Of course, it goes without saying that it'd be awesome if it included everything, ha! Who wouldn't like that! But I'd to avoid budget-creep if I could. I saw that a big convention was ending on 6/8, so was wondering if that was going to be a good date since capacity might be created. G.

Hi! I was looking for some general tips/strategy. I want to be in Chicago in June/July for a couple of days (3 night maybe) and needed it to be the dirt cheapest possible. I think I'm looking for a 2*-3* in downtown (Loop/NMA). Since I'd like it to be dirt cheap, I'm flexible with my dates/days. If anyone has answers to the following, please help me out! 1) Around 4th of July - cheaper or more expensive? 2) Might splitting stay result in cheaper rates? 3) Tuesday through Thursday nights generally cheaper, right? 4) Might it be cheaper to start my stay on a day a big convention ends? 5) Does a 2* in Chicago downtown get me into an undesirable/unsafe hotel/area? I'd like to pay $35-45/night. Is this doable? Will appreciate any helpful tips to help me zone in on what/when to bid on. I've used this site in previous years so I'm familiar with the re-bidding strategy. Will remember to use BetterBidding's PRICELINE link! Thanks! G.

Thanks for all your help! I used BB's Hilton link to make the reservation. Check-in: Fri 13 Mar 2009 Check-out: Mon 16 Mar 2009 Rooms: 1 Guests per Room: 1 Adult Room Type Preferences: Non-Smoking; King Rate Type: Rate per night: 87.20 USD Total for Stay per Room: Rate 261.60 USD Taxes 40.73 USD Total 302.33 USD

Thanks, Colfax. No luck there either... I tried up to $77. I guess, I'll just book the Hilton directly seeing how that rate is available directly on their website. Does it help the site to go through the hotel links too or is it just for the travel sites?

Oh, no... it just seems to be the cheapest 4* on offer....

I tried up to $77 and failed :). I can see that the Hilton Financial District is available for those dates at $87 plus change (from Travelocity and such) while the 4* at Hotwire is still available at $83. I'm wondering now if there's any situation in which I might actually want to pay the $87. I'm not really a member, so don't really care for points.

I'm trying to determine what to bid for a 4*. Hotwire shows a 4* in the Embarcadero Area (Restaurant, Fitness, Hi-Speed Internet, Business, Spa) for $83. (It seems like Hilton Financial District?). I tried bidding up to $66 for a 4* in Embarcadero and Union East using re-bid zones. I realize bids have been somewhat higher but I figure Priceline ought to shave some off Hotwire's offer. Any idea how high I might need to go? Probably don't want to pay $80+ - so perhaps will want to downgrade to 3.5*.

I was on the 17th floor. It wasn't that bad but just didn't have a certain "wow factor" that I expect Hilton to have. Since I don't really expect to utilize their restaurants and lounges, I evaluate hotels largely on just the confines of the room (a gym would be nice but it was extra charge at this hotel... at least the run on the lakeshore was free... and they had free gatorade too!). And I can think of better experiences with motel chains. So then I wonder, why not save another $30 or so if I am to get the same level of service/product? This is more of a philosophical issue though :-) Ah well, at least we had lots of fun talking about how our rollaway bed was to cost us an additional 1/3 the price of the room! Haha.