fly_up_front

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Yeah, you can generally get a full size for that amount but it will take a few more dollars (at least $25) to score one of those vehicle types.

Nice job on undercutting the counteroffer.

Using my own previous post, I bid $26 for ORD planning on getting the Candlewood. Rejected with an add $7 counteroffer so added N. Michigan and bid $28. This place has a shuttle so it's fine.

Used the Barn.

Congratulations, you got your price of $28 for a 2-star hotel room.

Ramada Inn Ohare Airport Hotel

O'hare Airport (ORD)

6600 North Mannheim Road

Rosemont, Illinois 60018

847-827-5131

Check-In Date: Sat, Aug 30, 2003

Check-In Time: After 03:00 PM

Check-Out Date: Sun, Aug 31, 2003

Check-Out Time: 12:00 PM

Your Offer Price: $28.00

Number of Rooms: 1

Number of Nights: 1

Subtotal: $28.00

Taxes and Service Fees: $9.65

Total Charges: $37.65

I got this email at 2am after winning a KC hotel about 5pm.

Tips 1 and 2 I understand but what's up with 3?

Dear xxxxx,

We are writing to confirm your priceline.com hotel reservation for Hotel Request Number XXXXX checking in on Aug-12-2003 at the following location: AMERISUITES KANSAS CITY AIRPORT in Kansas City, MO.

This e-mail contains helpful travel tips for your upcoming hotel stay:

1. Itinerary Retrieval

2. Special Requests

3. Guaranteed Late Arrival

1. Itinerary Retrieval:

Your current itinerary can be viewed at: http://www.priceline.com/hotels/checkstatus/default.asp?id=XXXX.

You should print out the itinerary web page and bring a copy with you to the hotel, as well as a valid photo ID, to verify your reservation. The hotel will also require you to provide a credit card to guarantee any charges that were not included in your offer price such as additional local occupancy taxes and incidental charges (phone calls, room service, parking, resort fees, etc.).

Please Note: If clicking on the link above does not work, please cut and paste directly into your browser.

2. Special Requests:

Special requests (such as: specific bed type, room location, smoking or non-smoking room, etc) are at the discretion of the individual property. Priceline rooms are guaranteed to accommodate two adults, however the bed type is not guaranteed. In addition, while rooms are requested non-smoking, availability is based on hotel inventory. We are not able to guarantee that your hotel can accommodate your special need or request, and any considerations made by the hotel may require an additional charge or fee payable directly to the hotel upon your arrival or departure.

3. Guaranteed Late Arrival:

Rooms are guaranteed for late arrival. However, if you will not be checking in until after 6:00 p.m. local time, you must contact the hotel to guarantee your room. If you do not check in by 6:00 p.m., the hotel may assume you are not going to arrive and may open up your reservation to other guests. The hotel contact information can be found in your itinerary.

Thank you for using priceline.com and please enjoy your trip!

Sincerely,

The priceline.com Customer Service Team

My sister & her family are also going to California and needed an airport hotel. First bid of $32 rejected with an add $8 counter suggesting no Homewood Suites. Thought about trying $33 but just went ahead for $34 to get the Amerisuites again. All numbers are the same for a total of $44.54.

Wanted to post this as I think during the weekdays, this zone is kind of predictable except for the possibility of Chase Suites popping up again.

I used 'the Barn' for her bid.

Got a $10 bonus (up to $50; good till 12/31/03) as compensation in response to my email. I've had nothing but good experiences in dealing with Priceline.

Maybe I'm the $37 Hyatt traveler. A near-brush with fame :)

You're certainly getting good at those exclusives!

Thanks - it's kind of a dubious distinction in that I'm going places no one would ever want to (Quincy, IL, Wayne, NJ, etc.) or making offbeat lowball bids (2*PHL, 4* AMS, 2.5* KC DT).

But if they're only here or here first, it does make BetterBidding a required stop for informed bidders.

Congratulations on your win! Can't give up on Priceline :)

There were two criterion for this bid: airport zone for next day flight and cheapest available. Nailed it.

Bid $35 for a 2* and rejected with an add $9 counter. When bottom-fishing on 2*s, I've had good luck with using 1*s for a quality-level rebid and it worked here. Bid $38 for a 1* and accepted and upgraded. It has an airport shuttle.

Used SavingsBarn.com (I'm finally in the habit of remembering to use it each time).

Another hotel first reported by fly_up_front and only found at BetterBidding.com!

Congratulations, you got your price of $38 for a hotel room, and we've upgraded your hotel quality level to a 2-star hotel!

Four Points By Sheraton Philadelphia

Philadelphia Airport (PHL)

4101a Island Avenue

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19153

215-492-0400

Check-In Date: Fri, Aug 8, 2003

Check-In Time: After 02:00 PM

Check-Out Date: Sat, Aug 9, 2003

Check-Out Time: 12:00 PM

Your Offer Price: $38.00

Number of Rooms: 1

Number of Nights: 1

Subtotal: $38.00

Taxes and

Service Fees: $11.15

Total Charges: $49.15

Probably everyone on this board except me knows better than to bid less than 3* in a downtown zone but let me just say this hotel is very, very bad.

This hotel was formerly the Aladdin Hotel and while I generally like historic hotels, in this case there are all of the negatives with none of the positives.

This hotel is worn with low standards of cleanliness, some floors in considerable disrepair, poor ventilation, predictably small rooms, very loud, and to be honest, a little scary.

I've sent Priceline an email that this hotel should not be in their inventory.

and they always do breakfast right at a diner!

There's something funky going on with the home fries up here though. I don't know if it's Oleo they put in there or what but it's bad. And it seems consistent - the place last night's tasted the same as that diner in the EWR airport.

Kind of a quintessential NJ diner experience last night - it was about 3am due to a weather-delayed flight and long drive, a bunch of guys in there were talking about a strip club they'd just been to and the waitress was talking about an upcoming vacation to Wildwood. I'd say the over/under on my number of visits to diners this week is 6.

BTW, a big thanks to our Admin for doing outside research for me for this trip - his suggestions on transportation alone are saving me at least $100 and greatly improving this trip.

I forgot what a big deal 'diners' are up here. Must have seen 20 of them on the drive up through the Garden State.

First bid of $33 was rejected. Rebid at $35 accepted. Our Admin will probably disagree with my choice of 3 days in PHL rather than NY/NJ - lol. Used SavingsBarn.com.

Congratulations, you got your price of $35 for a 3-star hotel room.

Wyndham Franklin Plaza Hotel

Downtown Philadelphia

17th And Race Sts

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103

215-448-2000

Check-In Date: Sun, Aug 3, 2003

Check-In Time: After 03:00 PM

Check-Out Date: Wed, Aug 6, 2003

Check-Out Time: 12:00 PM

Your Offer Price: $35.00

Number of Rooms: 1

Number of Nights: 3

Subtotal: $105.00

Taxes and

Service Fees: $22.03

Total Charges: $127.03

Just to beat this to death, the Amerisuite parking policy is $20 to park for up to 2 weeks with any stay (PL is OK). The stay can be any time during the two weeks. Airport parking is $5/day so not a bad deal if you're gone a while.

New for me, yes. It's been reported 'elsewhere' though.

I'm hoping they have liberal park and fly rules and will call and check tomorrow. Although the policies vary widely among hotels in this zone, none of them discriminate against PLers that I can tell.

To summarize what I've found so far, Hilton 3* is $5/day (which is the same as the airport so no savings), Chase Suites 2.5* is a flat $10 per trip no matter how long and requires a one night stay on either side of the trip, and Homewood Suites 2.5* doesn't charge anything if you stay a night. I'm hoping Amerisuites is competitive with the other 2.5*. There are several other PL hotels in this zone.

The parking issue is just a nice thing though; I needed a room no matter what as I have a 6:30am flight to LA.

First bid of $30 reject with a counteroffer of add $8. Re-bid at $32 thinking Homewood Suites but also rejected. Didn't want to bid $35 in fear of getting upgraded to the Hilton (they charge $5 a day for park and fly) so bid $34 and got this. Used SavingsBarn.com.

Congratulations, you got your price of $34 for a 2

This was a first bid and probably an overbid. Free high speed Internet.

Another hotel you'll only find reported at BetterBidding.com!

Congratulations, you got your price of $40 for a 2

Tried bidding this up to $75/night to include Friday night the 9th but rejected. Dropped the Friday night for a T-Th stay and first bid of $65 accepted. Many thanks to 'squeege' for his detailed bid - it was very helpful.

Used SavingsBarn.com

Congratulations, you got your price of $65 for a 3-star hotel room.

Sheraton Atlantic City Convention Center

Atlantic City Area

2 Ocean Way

Atlantic City, New Jersey 08401

609-344-3535

Check-In Date: Wed, Aug 6, 2003

Check-In Time: After 03:00 PM

Check-Out Date: Fri, Aug 8, 2003

Check-Out Time: 12:00 PM

Your Offer Price: $65.00

Number of Rooms: 1

Number of Nights: 2

Subtotal: $130.00

Taxes and

Service Fees: $22.38

Total Charges: $152.38

Started at $60 and rebid in $5 increments. Best web rate for this hotel for these days is $161.

Congratulations, you got your price of $70 for a 4-star hotel room.

Park Hyatt Los Angeles

Beverly Hills & Westwood

2151 Avenue Of The Stars

Los Angeles, California 90067

310-277-2777

Check-In Date: Fri, Aug 15, 2003

Check-In Time: After 03:00 PM

Check-Out Date: Sun, Aug 17, 2003

Check-Out Time: 12:00 PM

Your Offer Price: $70.00

Number of Rooms: 1

Number of Nights: 2

Subtotal: $140.00

Taxes and

Service Fees: $27.57

Total Charges: $167.57

Started at $55 and rebid in $5 increments.

Congratulations, you got your price of $65 for a 4-star hotel room.

The Westin St. Francis

Union Square East - Embarcadero

335 Powell Street

San Francisco, California 94102

415-397-7000

Check-In Date: Sun, Aug 10, 2003

Check-In Time: After 03:00 PM

Check-Out Date: Tue, Aug 12, 2003

Check-Out Time: 12:00 PM

Your Offer Price: $65.00

Number of Rooms: 1

Number of Nights: 2

Subtotal: $130.00

Taxes and Service Fees: $25.02

Total Charges: $155.02

First bid of $37 was rejected with a counteroffer of adding $10. Started over at $40 and accepted.

Used SavingsBarn.com.

Another hotel you'll only find reported at BetterBidding.com!

Congratulations, you got your price of $40 for a 3-star hotel room.

Radisson Hotel And Suites Fairfield

Wayne - Fairfield - Totowa

690 Route 46 East

Fairfield, New Jersey 07004

973-227-9200

Check-In Date: Fri, Aug 1, 2003

Check-In Time: After 03:00 PM

Check-Out Date: Sun, Aug 3, 2003

Check-Out Time: 12:00 PM

Your Offer Price: $40.00

Number of Rooms: 1

Number of Nights: 2

Subtotal: $80.00

Taxes and

Service Fees: $11.79

Total Charges: $91.79

I got this same deal set up for 7/22. Bid 4* downtown up to $60 and decided I'd just go with the $25 at the airport.

PS - Hello from Singapore.

Another mention (with first billing) in this weekend's USA Today (7/11/03).

The online version is at:

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/vacations/d...-07-11-euro.htm

July 20-25 2003?