zbenye

Another score on utell.com: Ascot hotel in Copenhagen, 7/12/07 2 nights: 3* bids on Priceline were rejected up to $140 ($358 total). Expedia: $409, prepaid, with penalty for cancelation. Hotel's website: $409, no prepayment, cancelable with no penalty. utell.com: $340, no prepayment, cancelable with no penalty. Prices are with all taxes and fees, 1 room 2 adults.

Used "Extend Your Stay". Check-In Date: Friday, March 23, 2007 Check-Out Date: Friday, March 30, 2007 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 7 Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $50.00 Subtotal: $350.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $61.68 Total Charges for Add. Nights Res.: $411.68 $49 for 2.5* rejected in CC, CH

Clarifying as requested (remember it's been a few months since my last stay there though): there is free WiFi service in the public areas (lobby, conference rooms, maybe the bar). The rooms have a wired connection. However, the rooms are not in very good shape and quite a few are missing the connection box, the cable (always carry one) or it just isn't working. So first thing you do when you get into a room (applies in any hotel) is check that the connection works or quickly change room.

The Holiday Inn is pretty crappy, but it *does* have free WiFi (although my information is a few months old -- has this changed?).

Am I the only one who would like us to be referred to as customers, not guests? It's not like I'm coming to visit someone and hoping they will be gracious hosts. I'm a customer renting a room from a business.

Yes, indeed, at $50/night in the city, it is not worth my while to stay in SSF or SFO. While the city has these relative deals (Whitcomb, Monarch, and I wonder why we don't see Opal anymore), the rates in SSF had gone up to the same level as the city or even higher. I suppose I could still get the airport La Quinta or one of the SFO 3-4-stars, but the savings would be offset by transportation cost/time. It's a shame that SSF's Hilton Garden Inn and Larkspur Landing have (apparently) quit Priceline/Hotwire. I expect that summer will bring higher rates to the city, or I will tire of the sloooooow Internet connection at Whitcomb, and will be forced back to SFO. However, seeing as I'm now spending about $1900 a month, instead of around $1300 in the past, I will seriously consider renting an apartment when I return from my planned summer travels.

Check-In Date: Friday, March 16, 2007 Check-Out Date: Friday, March 23, 2007 Hotel Name: Hotel Whitcomb 1231 Market Street San Francisco, California 94103 Your Offer Price: $50.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 7 Subtotal: $350.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $61.41 Total Charges: $411.41 $49 rejected for 2* in CC, CH.

Nice! And if you've been getting all these nights through this site's links, then thereuare must be happy as well.

It would have been nice if the new ownership had meant a new staff as well, because the front desk folks are really unpleasant and slow. And the Internet connection also still sucks big time. Although it's been two weeks since the change, Expedia and other websites are still showing it as the Ramada Plaza and do not recognize the new name. Also, the new name is on the awning over the hotel's entrance, but the Ramada sign is also still there. In short, no noticeable changes.

Check-In Date: Monday, March 12, 2007 Check-Out Date: Friday, March 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: 4 Subtotal: $200.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $37.87 Total Charges: $237.87 $49 for 2* rejected in CC, CH, USE

Le Meridien probably charges $10 for Internet access, making it still much more expensive than the Monarch (free Internet), even at this exhorbitant rate.

Check-In Date: Friday, March 9, 2007 Check-Out Date: Monday, March 12, 2007 Hotel Name: Monarch Hotel 1015 Geary Street San Francisco, California 94109 Your Offer Price: $58.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 3 Subtotal: $174.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $33.69 Total Charges: $207.69 Expensive in SF this weekend! $57 for 2* rejected in CC, CH, FW, USE, USW

The San Francisco Ramada Plaza is now Hotel Whitcomb. Check-In Date: Friday, March 2, 2007 Check-Out Date: Friday, March 9, 2007 Hotel Name: Hotel Whitcomb 1231 Market Street San Francisco, California 94103 Your Offer Price: $50.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 7 Subtotal: $350.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $61.76 Total Charges: $411.76 $49 rejected for 2.5* in CH, CC, FW, USE. $55 rejected in CH. $89 on the hotel's website. No good deal on Hotwire.

According to website descriptions and a phone call to the hotel, there is now free wireless Internet access throughout the property.

Check-In Date: Monday, February 26, 2007 Check-Out Date: Friday, March 2, 2007 Hotel Name: Ramada Plaza Civic Center 1231 Market Street San Francisco, California 94103 Your Offer Price: $50.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 4 Subtotal: $200.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $38.14 Total Charges: $238.14 $48 rejected in CC, CH

Check-In Date: Friday, February 23, 2007 Check-Out Date: Monday, February 26, 2007 Hotel Name: Residence Inn Manhattan Beach 1700 North Sepulveda Boulevard Manhattan Beach, California 90266 Your Offer Price: $46.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 3 Subtotal: $138.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $27.35 Total Charges: $165.35 Bids up to $55 were rejected until yesterday. Today it was accepted for $46 after a bid of $45 was rejected. My usual hotel in SoCal :-)

This is a standard 3* hotel with little character. Average room, bathroom, comfortable but nothing remarkable except the incredibly comfy bed. Pillow-top mattress, down blanket, crisp sheets, really nice. The TV had a small selection of channels. Internet is $10/day, parking is (I think) $13/day. However, I found free street parking on the cross street alondside the Embassy Suites, just some 200 yards from the Doubletree. There is also the parking lots on both sides of the Embassy Suites. These have signs posted warning that parking is at one's own risk, but the signs don't indicate in any way that the parking lots are exclusively for the use of ES guests. Furthermore, at the entrance to one of the lots there's a placard that reads "Public Beach". If you're staying more than overnight, you will need a car. There are only hotels and airport parking lots in the immediate area. No public transportation. 800 phone calls of duration less than one hour are free. There's a coffee maker in the room. Newspaper on weekdays. Free airport shuttle.

Opal Hotel 1050 Van Ness San Francisco, California 94109 Check-in: Mon, Feb 19, 2007 at 3:00 PM Check-out: Fri, Feb 23, 2007 at 12:00 PM 1 room(s) @ $49.00 per night x 4 nights $196.00 Taxes and Fees: $31.20 Hotel Subtotal: $227.20 Amenities were as shown on the hotel list: Complimentary Breakfast, Fitness, Hi-Speed Internet, Business, Laundry. HOTWIRE beat PL again. This has been the case for a couple of weeks now. Feels like perhaps the hotels in CC stopped using PL...

Check-In Date: Friday, February 16, 2007 Check-Out Date: Monday, February 19, 2007 Hotel Name: Doubletree Hotel San Francisco Airport 835 Airport Boulevard Burlingame, California 94010 Your Offer Price: $50.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 3 Subtotal: $150.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $30.39 Total Charges: $180.39 What a disaster! No free parking, no free Internet, dilapidated, far away hotel. How could La Quinta betray me so?! $49 for 2* rejected in SFO, SSF, CH, CC, USE, FW. $99 on Expedia

WillTravel, I already got the answer to this question on the call yesterday, as I've posted above: ... they specifically confirmed that this includes rentals through Hotwire and Priceline. In essence, they said, it doesn't matter whom I pay as long as the entire rental is charged to the card ... The CC company doesn't care if I pay a rental car company directly, or pay a 3rd-party who in turn pays the rental car company. I, the customer and cardholder, rented a car and paid *my provider* with my card, thereby fulfilling the requirement as specified in the cardholder agreement relative to payment: Initiate and pay for the entire rental agreement/contract (tax, gasoline,and airport fees are not considered rental charges) with your World MasterCard card. If a rental company promotion/discount of any kind is initially applied toward payment of the rental vehicle, at least one (1) day of rental must be billed to your World MasterCard card. Also note that: 1. Your car rental purchase confirmation document from Priceline carries your credit card number (last 4 digits); 2. The same credit card number (or digits) appears on the rental agreement you get when you pick up, since you give them this card as security. With these two official documents, it should be hard, zbenye thinks, for anyone to argue that the rental was not paid for with your card.

Thanks, thereuare, but I think I'll pass on that one... Called MC again today and spoke to someone else. Asked for a definitive answer and got one. The lady assured me that Mastercard's rental car coverage applies just the same when a car rental is part of a package (such as flight+car), so long as the entire package is paid for with the card, and the same card is also used to pay for any additional related charges payable to the rental car company during or at the conclusion of the rental. Sweet.

See this CAR RENTAL INSURANCE thread.

I have just phoned and checked with Amex, Visa and MC and they confirmed that rental car coverage offered by my credit cards does extend to rentals through online travel agencies, and they specifically confirmed that this includes rentals through Hotwire and Priceline. In essence, they said, it doesn't matter whom I pay as long as the entire rental is charged to the card and the car is obtained from a commercial rental company. They were unsure about something that often applies to my rentals: whether there is coverage from the card when the car rental is part of a package. I often purchase flight+car packages from site59.com. I don't know how to go about getting a definitive answer about this.

I don't own a car, but I rent one for some 40-50 days each year. Rather than paying about $13/day for the car rental company's liability insurance, which would be $520 or more, I got my own insurance. AAA sells "non-owner" liability insurance. It's not advertised much on their website but you can call and ask about it. I got a $500,000 liability policy for an annual premium of $175 and it covers me when I drive any car I don't own, not just rental cars. This covers only liability, it does not cover the car itself. For damage to the rental car, I rely on the coverage provided by my credit cards. Having no comprehensive/collision automobile insurance of my own, the coverage by the credit card becomes primary. Of course I must not rent a car priced more than $50,000 or for more than 15 days. Last time I rented a car (at SFO, Hertz) the agent insisted that I need to get their LDW because, he claimed, the credit cards do not cover rentals through Priceline. I refused. I've read the T&C of the coverage of my Visa, MC and AMEX and they all say that the card must be used to reserve and pay for the rental. Nowhere does it say that reservation or payment must be directly to a car rental company. Otherwise it would exclude not only Priceline but also Expedia, Travelocity and all other travel agency websites. It shouldn't matter to the credit card company if I accepted a set price on some website or named my own on Priceline. Right?

Check-In Date: Monday, February 12, 2007 Check-Out Date: Friday, February 16, 2007 Hotel Name: Ramada Plaza Civic Center 1231 Market Street San Francisco, California 94103 Your Offer Price: $50.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 4 Subtotal: $200.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $38.33 Total Charges: $238.33 Rates for these dates on Expedia and hotels' websites are low, so I am surprised that for the last couple of weeks I havn't been able to get anything in Cathedral Hill for up to $55, not even 2*! Even Hotwire has the Opal for $59. What's going on with Priceline? So I bid in Civic Center instead, thinking I would get the 2* Britton ($77 on Expedia). Rejected up to $49 and then got upgraded to this. $79 on Expedia $71 on ramada.com after AAA discount $59 on Hotwire