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Check-In Date: Tuesday, June 26, 2007 Check-Out Date: Friday, June 29, 2007 Hotel Name: Holiday Inn Civic Center 50 Eighth Street San Francisco, California 94103 Your Offer Price: $52.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 3 Subtotal: $156.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $30.59 Total Charges: $186.59 $50 rejected for 2* in Civic Center and Cathedral Hill. $59 on Hotwire. $104 on the hotel's website after AAA discount.

Check-In Date: Saturday, June 23, 2007 Check-Out Date: Sunday, June 24, 2007 Hotel Name: Candlewood Suites Silicon Valley San Jose 481 El Camino Real Santa Clara, California 95050 Your Offer Price: $38.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $38.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $11.52 Total Charges: $49.52 $37 rejected for 2* in San Jose, Milpitas, Sunnyvale, Cupertino $116 on the hotel's website.

Booked for a friend who wanted WeHo. Unfortunately got this one which would require some driving. First attempt at $80 was rejected. He is amazed that he got a room for $90 when the hotel's website lists $360. Check-In Date: Sunday, June 24, 2007 Check-Out Date: Monday, June 25, 2007 Hotel Name: Intercontinental Los Angeles Century City 2151 Avenue Of The Stars Los Angeles, California 90067 Your Offer Price: $90.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $90.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $20.56 Total Charges: $110.56

Check-In Date: Saturday, June 16, 2007 Check-Out Date: Sunday, June 17, 2007 Hotel Name: Esa San Jose-Milpitas 1000 Hillview Court Milpitas, California 95035 Your Offer Price: $34.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $34.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $11.03 Total Charges: $45.03 2.5* bids up to $40 rejected in Sunnvale, Milpitas, Cupertino 2* bids up to $33 rejected in Sunnyvale, Milpitas

Just last night I tried to get this hotel for 6/16 for $38 and got rejected...! :)

You just haven't had this happen to you before. It's not new at all. I hate when they do that. At SFO, the 2.5* hotels have free parking and internet while the 3* hotels (except Holiday Inn) charge an arm and a leg for those amentities.

Check-In Date: Friday, June 1, 2007 Check-Out Date: Sunday, June 3, 2007 Hotel Name: Esa San Jose-Milpitas 1000 Hillview Court Milpitas, California 95035 Your Offer Price: $34.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 2 Subtotal: $68.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $15.30 Total Charges: $83.30 Bids for 2.5* up to $42 failed in Sunnyvale and Milpitas. Bids for 2* up to $33 failed in Sunnyvale, Milpitas and Cupertino. $60 on the hotel's website.

Renting a car through Hotwire is no different than renting directly from the car rental company, as far as insurance is concerned (unless your direct booking uses a specific negotiated rate that explicitly includes insurance). Loss of or damage to the rental vehicle: no coverage is provided. Your options: Purchase a waiver from the car rental company; or If you have your own car insurance in the U.S., it will probably cover the rental car. Check your policy; or Your credit card probably covers loss/damage to rental cars. There are limitations and stipulations, so check your credit card agreement. This coverage is secondary to your own car insurance if you have one. Outside the U.S. it is primary (but some countries are excluded). Liability: In some states, state law requires the car rental company to provide a state-specific minimum liability coverage. In other states, they are not required to and provide no coverage. Your own car insurance will probably cover you. Otherwise you will need to purchase coverage from the car rental company. If you're using coverage from your own car's insurance, and there are additional drivers using the rental car, then those drivers' respective policies must cover them. Your own policy's coverage does not extend to others driving your rental car (unless these people are Named Insureds on your own car insurance policy, such as your spouse). For people who do not own a car and have no insurance, but rent a car at least 15 days a year, I recommend what I do: Loss/damage to the rental car: use a credit card that provides coverage. Visa/MC usually cover rentals of up to 15 days, Amex up to 30 days (these vary, so check your CC agreement). Since you don't have your own car insurance, this coverage becomes primary. Liability: get a "Non Owner" car insurance policy from AAA. I pay $175 a year for this policy that covers me whenever I drive a vehicle that I do not own, up to $500,000.

Holiday Inn 50 8th St. San Francisco, California 94103 1 room(s) @ $54.00 per night x 5 night(s) Subtotal: $270.00 Taxes and fees: $43.34 Hotel total: $313.34 Amenities: Restaurant, Pool, Fitness, Hi-Speed Internet, Business Center $109/night on the hotel's website after AAA discount. Priceline had nothing up to $55 in CC, CH for 2*

At the time of that interview, BetterBidding did not yet exist.

At this time only Marriott still gives me points for PL/HW stays, but I think they are in the process of changing that. On my two next-to-last stays at the Residence Inn LAX-Manhattan Beach they refused to enter my number when I checked in. So prior to my last stay there, I called the 800 number and asked to have my number entered into the record. The agent told me that there is no sense in doing that, because I would not get points. I talked her into entering the number anyway, saying that "I know I won't get points, just that they tend to assign a nicer room if they see my status". She entered the number and I did get points for the stay. A couple of weeks ago I checked into the Courtyard in South San Francisco. Although I booked on Priceline and did not call to add my number, somehow the reservation showed them that I had Silver status. They gave me the usual welcome amenity, but said that they can't add my number into the record. Consequently, I did not get points for that stay. (Now I'm thinking that perhaps they knew I was Silver because I presented my Marriott Visa card. Holders of this card automatically get Silver status.) So it seems that if you can get your Marriott number entered into the record then you'll get points, but personnel are being instructed to not accept numbers for PL/HW reservations. In the past (at least two years ago) I used to submit requests for retroactive credit on Hilton's website for stays at Homewood Suites. But one day I got an email from them informing me that I was exploiting a hole in their system and asking that I do not submit any more requests for PL/HW stays. They threatened to revoke my accumulated points if I did not stop.

Homewood Suites by Hilton-SFO/North 2000 Shoreline Court Brisbane, California 94005 1 room(s) @ $49.00 per night x 2 nights $98.00 Taxes and Fees: $16.33 Hotel Subtotal: $114.33 Amenities: Suite, Shuttle, Breakfast, Fitness Center, Pool, Business Center, Laundry, Internet Priceline had nothing for 2* up to $55 in CC, CH; up to $45 in SSF; up to $40 in SFO. $161/night on the hotel's website after AAA discount.

Amenities: Complimentary Breakfast, Fitness, Hi-Speed Internet, Business, Laundry

Amenities: Complimentary Breakfast, Fitness, Hi-Speed Internet, Business, Laundry

Amenities: Complimentary Breakfast, Fitness, Hi-Speed Internet, Business, Laundry

Opal Hotel 1050 Van Ness San Francisco, California 94109 1 room(s) @ $49.00 per night x 2 nights $98.00 Taxes and Fees: $19.18 Hotel Subtotal: $117.18 Amenities as shown in the hotel list. Priceline had nothing. $71 on the hotel's website after AAA discount.

Check-In Date: Friday, May 25, 2007 Check-Out Date: Monday, May 28, 2007 Hotel Name: Esa San Jose-Milpitas 1000 Hillview Court Milpitas, California 95035 Your Offer Price: $34.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 3 Subtotal: $102.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $19.81 Total Charges: $121.81 $33 rejected for 2* in Milpitas, Sunnyvale, Cupertino $40 rejected for 2.5* in Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Palo Alto

Check-In Date: Sunday, May 20, 2007 Check-Out Date: Wednesday, May 23, 2007 Hotel Name: Courtyard San Francisco Airport Oyster Point Waterfront 1300 Veterans Blvd San Francisco, California 94080 Your Offer Price: $55.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 3 Subtotal: $165.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $32.27 Total Charges: $197.27 $179/night on the hotel's website. Nothing good on Hotwire. $54 rejected for 2* in CC, CH, USE, FW, SSF

Holiday Inn 50 8th St. San Francisco, California 94103 1 room(s) @ $53.00 per night x 2 night(s) Subtotal: $106.00 Taxes and fees: $21.63 Hotel total: $127.63 Amenities as seen on the hotel list. $114 on the hotel's website after AAA discount. Priceline had nothing up to $60 in CC, CH for 2*

Thank you for this notice, gruntlumber. How should a person calculate the tip when taking advantage of a BOGO offer, as a percentage of the bill or as a percentage of what would have been the actual price of the meal without the offer? I suspect the latter, because the staff is still putting in the same effort.

If you can walk 100 yards across the road, you can park free on the side street alongside the Embassy Suites. Just mind the posted signs: you can't park in the stretch nearest the intersection, and there may be a street-cleaning night as well. You can also park in the parking lot adjacent to the Embassy Suites itself: there is no sign limiting parking to hotel guests. In fact, there's a sign "Public Shore". I parked in that lot and had no problem.

On a recent stay at the Whitcomb in San Francisco, I forgot some cards in the desk drawer. Three were easily replaceable (my Marriott and Hilton frequent guest cards, and a club card) and one was a Target gift card worth about $10. Several inquiries with housekeeping yielded nothing. I can't decide which of the following possibilities angers me more: The maid found the cards. These had my name on them except the gift card, so the hotel could have returned them to me. The maid wanted the gift card but couldn't turn in the other cards because then she would be hard-streched to explain how she found those but not the gift card. So she took the gift card and got rid of the others. Or; The next guest in that room found the cards and did not turn them over to the hotel. Fine. My issue here is that if the next guest found the cards, it means that the maid never cleaned the room appropriately. When I go into a hotel room, I expect that it had been carefully inspected and cleaned by housekeeping, including drawers along with anything I might use in the room. Either way, I hold housekeeping responsible for the loss. Therefore, I quickly recovered the small loss by not leaving any tip on my last stay. Also, I came up with this devious idea of how to reward/punish maids for cleaning/not cleaning: I now leave the day-of-departure tip inside the desk drawer if there is one, or the bottom dresser drawer. If the maid inspects the drawers as she should - she finds the tip. If she doesn't - she gets nothing and the next guest enjoys a cash "welcome gift".

Check-In Date: Sunday, May 13, 2007 Check-Out Date: Wednesday, May 16, 2007 Hotel Name: Hotel Whitcomb 1231 Market Street San Francisco, California 94103 Your Offer Price: $50.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 3 Subtotal: $150.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $30.10 Total Charges: $180.10 A $49 bid for 2* for these dates was rejected in CC, CH. A $55 big for 2* for 5/13 - 5/18 or 5/17 was rejected in CC, CH. $99 on Expedia.

Check-In Date: Wednesday, May 9, 2007 Check-Out Date: Friday, May 11, 2007 Hotel Name: Clarion Hotel San Francisco 401 E Millbrae Ave Millbrae, California 94030 Your Offer Price: $53.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 2 Subtotal: $106.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $23.38 Total Charges: $129.38 $60 for 2* rejected in CC, CH $55 for 2* rejected in SSF $52 for 2* rejected in USE, FW, SFO $118 on Expedia. Hotwire was no help this time.

Let me be the first to congratulate you on your upgrade: yesterday you were ranked "newbie", today you are seen as "member"... :) No, it doesn't make much difference in a $40-$44 bid, it's just the fun of finding the lowest bid... for those of us who've made this a hobby (or addiction). In the end I spend the same: the less I pay for the room, the more tip the maid gets...