Counselor4444

I think I understand. So, for this hotel if it says a user rating of 8 and above, I may get the Holiday Inn or Princess royale but I may also get some other hotel which does not come up on their regular hotel search. Thanks.

Sorry I'm still a little confused. So what you are saying is that if the 3 star hotel in the Ocean City North area says it has user reviews of 8 and above and a pool, you are saying I could still get a 3 star hotel without a pool and with a user rating less then 8? I thought once it lists those amenities, it has to give you that in the hotel you are bidding on. Otherwise it is kind of false advertising.

Done! In addition to the above, Priceline Name Your Own Price also offers a 3 star hotel in the Ocean City North area. The description says a guest rating of 8 or better with pool and business center. If I perform a search in the part of their site that does not require bidding, the only two hotels that meet this criteria are the Princess Royale and the Holiday Inn. Any thoughts on which of these I may get? Thanks again!

May I also add that the priceline description for the 3 star hotel says that it will have a guest rating of 9.0 or higher. If I run a priceline search (not name your own price) and narrow down the results by guest rating of 9.0 or higher with a 3 star rating, the only two options that come up are the Courtyard by Marriott or the Hilton. So, how likely is it that I will get one of those? Thanks again!

Hi all, I am looking to travel to Ocean City, MD from 8/26-8/31. I've checked the Better Bidding hotel list and see that 3 star hotels listed are the Courtyard by Marriott and Holiday Inn. I know that it is always possible that something else could come up. I am basically ok with all name brand hotels but don't want some independent hotel (mom and pop shop if you know what I mean). What are the chances that I will end up with a non-chain hotel? And I need a crib, can I request one through the hotel after I win? Thanks. Debbie

Jackpot! 5 days to go before our trip and finally had success on priceline. Got a convertible for OGG from 8/26-8/30 for $30/day= $166.71 with taxes and fees. (ended up being with Alamo) Very happy with this. The best cancelable rate I could get was Enterprise at $210 with tax, so we saved about $43. Thanks all!

Thanks. I think they are primarily interested in Ka'anapali and they are still considering which hotels they are interested in. It does not look like hotwire has any four star inventory for Ka'anapali right now so I guess you are right that they need to wait until at least September or October to work on priceline. I'm also going to suggest that they book a cancelable room in case priceline does not work out.

Hi all, I've had a lot of success on this board and now my sister is interested in using PRICELINE to bid on a hotel in Maui. She and her husband got married a few months ago but due to employment issues they could not take a honeymoon. They are now trying to go during the only week they can take off from work- 12/25-1/1. This is not ideal as it is very expensive to go then. They have enlisted my help in trying to figure out what a Resort level hotel on Ka'anapali beach may be on PRICELINE during this week. Any thoughts here? We're trying to come up with a realistic expectation with what it may cost. The Sheraton and Hyatt in Ka'anapali are listed through conventional means as over $400/nt. Thanks.

Today I bid $28 using BB's PRICELINE link, unsuccessful. Will try $29 tomorrow. (now 6 days til I leave)

So, it is now one week til our trip and I am continuing to see if I can get a convertible for less then our $41/day ($210 total with taxes) cancelable reservation for a convertible through Enterprise. I decided to go low and offer $27 and for the first time, I got a message indicating that if I agreed to spend $41/day ($220 total with taxes) I could get the convertible. Obviously I did not agree as my Enterprise rental is still lower. Any idea what my bottom line might be here? If they are asking me to spend $41/day... does that mean that the bottom line is probably in the middle of 27 and 41? (=$35/day?) Or could it be lower then that? Thanks!

You should also check Enterprise's website and price it there. We are wanted a 2:30pm pickup and a drop off at 2:30pm 4 days later. The rental was like $65/day. Then I went back and chose a 1:30pm pickup and a 1:30pm drop off on the same days (yes, only 1 hour different) and the rental was $41/day. So, we reserved the convertible through Enterprise's site (which is cancellable) and are continuing to look at priceline (but not success so far) My point: fiddle with the the time you pickup and drop off the car. You may see a big difference in price. And Enterprise has the best prices retail wise. If you have a AAA or Costco discount, it's even less.

Hi all, I've been periodically bidding for a convertible on PRICELINE using the link for awhile now. (Pick up and drop off at OGG from 8/26-8/30). My highest bid has been $31, but I have not yet been successful. I know that the Name Your Own Price pricing is based on availability but I see that last year at this same time convertibles were selling at priceline for around $30. So, I don't want to really go beyond this. I have a cancelable reservation through Enterprise for $210 including tax for 4 days just in case PRICELINE does not work out. I'll keep you updated.

We are looking for the Hyatt Regency which according to BB's hotel list offers a tennis amenity. So, we are not going to book this. I am going to keep waiting and seeing if the Hyatt is offered.

I'm going to guess this is the Radisson?

Hi all, Using Better Bidding's HOTWIRE link, I'm looking at a hotel in the Minneapolis Downtown area for 8/19-8/22 for 4 adults. The 4 star hotel that comes up for $109 has the following amenities: smoke free, fitness, restaurant, business center, high speed internet, and golf nearby. Any ideas? Thx.

I think that for some areas in the US, you are correct that you can get a better deal bidding closer to your travel dates. But I don't necessarily think this holds true for the higher end hotels in Hawaii. I successfully bid on the Sheraton in Maui and the Hyatt in Waikiki in around May for our trip in August. Based on my review of this website and the successful bidding history of hotels in Hawaii, I do not think I would have saved much, if anything, if I waited to bid now. This is because the specific hotels I chose to bid on are in high demand. While they may not sell out frequently, they do have a pretty constant flow and they will only go so low at certain times of the year. I think that for most hotels on Maui, the price won't fluctuate much. For hotels on Oahu in Waikiki, there is a slightly better chance to get a better rate closer to your travel date if you are willing to bend and take a lower star rated hotel (not a 4 star or resort) because there are a few more available. It also will vary based on if you are traveling in peak season.

Sabrina, Are you looking at the right hotel list? Look here: Priceline Hotel List The Makena is listed as an option. Plus, you also have to remember that you can get a hotel not on the list too. That is always a possibility. If you bid on a resort level hotel on waikiki beach, you could get the marriott, hyatt, outrigger, or sheraton waikiki. These have been reported on this site. BUT you could get something else not listed. This is a risk you take. I looked and I think you should be able to get a resort level hotel in the ballpark of $105-$120 for the dates you mentioned. BUT remember, you could get any of the hotels I listed above or maybe even something not on the list. (I think the Hilton may also be a possibility) You could try bidding $98 for a resort level hotel on waikiki beach and see how it goes? Do you know how to rebid in the same day adding different hotel zones? Are you familiar with this process? Maybe some of the experts can chime in and give you some advice

I just want to put in my two cents that I stayed at this hotel 3 years ago and loved it. Fabulous pool and lobby area. Great rate for this hotel.

Hi, PRICELINE and HOTWIRE have some similiarities and some differences. For HOTWIRE, they give you a clue as to what you are getting (ie: what amenties are being offered) but for PRICELINE, it is a completely blind bid. For this reason, frequently I find that you can get a better deal on priceline then hotwire. If you are more specific about what hotel you want to stay in, you may want to use hotwire as the experts on this site will be able to narrow down what you are getting using the amenties offered for that hotel on HOTWIRE. Choosing which to use will be based on personal preference in how you will choose a hotel and how picky you will be. You should read the help sections of priceline and hotwire to get a better idea of how they work and read the general instruction threads on this site for more information how they work. If I am understanding you correctly, your bid of $175 for a resort level hotel in Ka'anapali or Wailea was accepted at PRICELINE? And you got the Makena Beach and Golf Resort? If so, then your bid is non-refundable and you cannot now change to another hotel. If I am not understanding you correctly, then please let me know. As far as Waikki, it sounds like you will like any of the resort level hotels that PRICELINE offers in the waikiki beach area. Using your dates of travel, look at the threads on this site and see what other people have gotten their hotels for during your vacation days so you will have a better idea of what to bid. Of course you could still end up getting a hotel not previously reported (but this is unlikely). The experts on this site will chime in (i'm sure) to give you a better explanation of how to proceed. :-)

Today I bid $24 +$3 priceline coupon =$27/day- not accepted. (used better bidding's PRICELINE link) will try again tomorrow.

I'm confused.... Did you use HOTWIRE or PRICELINE? You said "the resort is golf and pretty old"- I take this to mean that you used hotwire and it showed the amenities "resort" and "golf" to you? What other amenities were listed? What area of Maui? what star level? Did you accept the price? If you agreed to purchase it, you cannot change your mind. Please help us help you by giving us more information- what area of Maui do you want to stay in? Ka'anapali? Wailea? somewhere else? what do you want to spend per night? What is important to you? Same for waikiki... if you use HOTWIRE you can post the amenties shown and we can help you figure out what you are looking at. If you use PRICELINE, it is a completely blind bid and you may or may not end up with the hyatt.

I'm looking for a rental car for 4 days- from 8/26-8/30 (pick up and drop off at OGG) We'd like a convertible. Cheapest price we could so far is $47.95 per day (plus taxes) from HOTWIRE. I tried bidding $25 per day using Better Bidding's PRICELINE link, but the bid was not successful. I ran a search in this forum and saw that last year for August travel with same pickup/drop off location people got for $27-$35. I know that this is not necessarily indicative of current pricing Any thoughts as to how much to bid? And how often can you bid? Any tricks to get more bids within a certain time period?

There is an error in the title of this thread. It should say $175 not 178 Thx.

Priceline gave me a $30 coupon ($7.50 per night) to combine with my "name your own price" offer. So, I began bidding again using Better Bidding's PRICELINE link... first at 148 + coupon, then 155 + coupon, then 163 + coupon. No luck. Finally bid $168 + priceline's $7.50 coupon which was accepted for the Sheraton Maui. So, for this website's accounting the room was a total of $175.50 per night. We are again very happy. The lowest price I could find elsewhere for this room was $223 using a AAA membership. Last thing on my list is rental car- working on that now! Thanks again all!

I just realized (of course after the fact) that not all of the rooms at the Hyatt are non-smoking. Do you think I will have a problem getting a non-smoking room? Do you think I can email Hyatt and request it? How long do you think I should wait to send an email? I take it for granted that all rooms are not non-smoking. Thx.