zbenye

Just as I was thinking "too bad all 2* bids in CH now go to the Monarch hotel"... This BW is far better. Monarch should be rated 1*. Check-In Date: Tuesday, December 26, 2006 Check-Out Date: Friday, December 29, 2006 Hotel Name: Best Western Miyako Inn 1800 Sutter Street San Francisco, California 94115 Your Offer Price: $49.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 3 Subtotal: $147.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $30.02 Total Charges: $177.02 $48 rejected in CH, CC, FW, USE $53 on Hotwire $60 on Travelocity and on the hotel's website

Look on the screen below the "Search Rental Cars" button, a bit to the right, you'll find an inconspicuous link "Name Your Own Price". Clicking it pops up another window where you would enter your location and dates. Be sure to have pop-ups enabled for Priceline's website.

Check-In Date: Sunday, December 24, 2006 Check-Out Date: Tuesday, December 26, 2006 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 2 Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $46.00 Subtotal: $92.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $21.02 Total Charges for Add. Nights Res.: $113.02 Two days ago I attempted to book 4 nights but Priceline would only give me 2. This evening Priceline accepted my request to extend by 2 additional nights. I first tried to get these 2 nights for $43, but rejected.

No. Priceline only guarantees accommodations for two adults.

Check-In Date: Friday, December 22, 2006 Check-Out Date: Sunday, December 24, 2006 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: 2 Subtotal: $92.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $21.03 Total Charges: $113.03 Wanted four nights but failed up to $50. Same for three nights. Started two night bid with $45. I like this hotel and aimed for it.

I've bid for 2-3* hotels on Priceline in London, Paris and Berlin and they were perfectly suitable. However, for Europe, I often find better or just-as-good deals on utell, octopus travel, Expedia, etc.

Check-In Date: Sunday, December 17, 2006 Check-Out Date: Friday, December 22, 2006 Hotel Name: The Opal San Francisco 1050 Van Ness Avenue San Francisco, California 94109 Your Offer Price: $46.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 5 Subtotal: $230.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $43.07 Total Charges: $273.07 $45 rejected. $49 on Hotwire. $55 on Expedia/Travelocity. $69 on the hotel's website.

Check-In Date: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 Check-Out Date: Friday, December 15, 2006 Hotel Name: Monarch Hotel 1015 Geary Street San Francisco, California 94109 Your Offer Price: $49.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 3 Subtotal: $147.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $29.97 Total Charges: $176.97 Hotels for these dates are very cheap on Expedia & Travelocity, yet this is the best Priceline could do. $48 rejected in CC, CH, USE, SSF

Pick-Up/Drop-Off: San Francisco Intl Rental Car Company: Hertz Car Class: Economy (unlimited mileage) Pick-Up Date: Friday, December 15, 2006 Pick-Up Time: 7:00 PM Drop-Off Date: Sunday, December 17, 2006 Drop-Off Time: 7:00 PM Your Offer Price: $8.00 (per day) Total Rental Days: 2 days Subtotal: $16.00 Taxes and Fees: $17.21 Total Charges: $33.21 $7 rejected. $11.95/day on Hotwire. $33.99/day on hertz.com

Is this new, or did I just not notice it before? If you click on a Hotwire hotel as if to book it, the next page has the TripAdvisor Traveler Rating for the hotel. If you have a suspicion which hotel it is, you can look it up on TripAdvisor and see if it has the same rating there. For example, searched for hotels in San Francisco, saw a 3* in Japantown/CivicCenterNorth with amenities that suggest it's the Opal. Clicked it and the next page showed a TripAdvisor Traveler Rating of 3.5. Looked up the Opal on TripAdvisor and indeed it has a 3.5 rating there.

Yes, breakfast is still free. See the review.

Check-In Date: Friday, December 8, 2006 Check-Out Date: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 4 Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $48.00 Subtotal: $192.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $36.87 Total Charges for Add. Nights Res.: $228.87 Used the Add Nights offer to extend my current stay. Attempts to win 7,6,5 nights at $45 failed.

Second stay here. Got a similarly small room, but there was a problem with the air conditioner so I went back and got another room. This time it was a large room with a king bed. Much more spacious than the previous rooms, so I guess the former were what they give out to Priceline customers. This room is well lit. Other than that, I have the same comments as above: bathroom cramped with no room for toiletries; light comes in from the sides of the drapes; bed a bit too hard.

How infuriating that I had to bid up to $48 for this hotel for the very same dates.

Priceline zone: Cathedral Hill Hotwire zone: Japantown / Civic Center North This hotel is close to the seedy Tenderloin, but on presumably safer Van Ness Ave. There were some street people but they didn't bother anyone, and I did not feel unsafe. Avoid trouble at night by not wandering unnecessarily east or south of the hotel. North and west are fine. The building is old but soundproofing was quite good. I had a room facing the busy Van Ness / Geary intersection and the double-paned windows kept most of the noise out. The lobby was nice with a piano and a dining area where the free breakfast was served. This hotel was formerly a La Quinta; breakfast was kept with the same ingredients. There are two modern elevators. In the basement there is a small workout facility and a guest laundry. The dryer is missing the tumbler bars so it doesn't dry very well. I asked the front desk to have this repaired; will see next time if they did. The room was small and had one queen bed. There were a desk, one chair, three drawers and one nightstand. A small closet. Iron+board. The TV was quite large, with an impressive selection of channels. Lighting was too dim. There was only one available power outlet by the desk. Coffee maker and supplies were provided. Everything was clean. The bed was a bit too hard for me. The drapes on the windows were mounted such that some outside light could come in, so it wasn't dark enough for me at night to get good sleep. The bathroom was cramped. A seashell-shaped sink did not have any room around it to place toiletries. A small shelf over the toilet was the only place to park stuff. The water in the sink and shower had to be let to run for a few minutes before they became hot. Water pressure was good. Towels were of good quality. Reasonable soap and shampoo. The windows could be opened for natural air-conditioning and there also was a modern air-conditioning system installed. The free wired Internet connection worked fine. Wireless access is available in the lobby. No newspaper, no free local calls, no additional charges on checkout.

Check-In Date: Monday, December 4, 2006 Check-Out Date: Friday, December 8, 2006 Hotel Name: The Opal San Francisco 1050 Van Ness Avenue San Francisco, California 94109 Your Offer Price: $48.00 ($47 rejected) Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 4 Subtotal: $192.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $36.61 Total Charges: $228.61

After spending one night here, I used "Extend your stay" to add 5 more nights. Good place. The dates are now 11/10/06-11/22/06.

This hotel is quite close to the seedy Tenderloin, but only a block off Van Ness. There were some street people but they didn't bother anyone, and I did not feel unsafe. Even my motorcycle fared well parked on the street. The building is very old, so I suspected soundproofing would not be good, and some of its rooms face the busy Geary street. I asked for a room facing the back, and got one. My view was of an ugly concrete-paved and fenced-off courtyard and the kitchen and bathroom windows of the low-end apartments in the adjacent building. But I didn't come here for the view. The lobby was nice with a piano and a dining area where I presume breakfast was served. I did not eat there and only once during the stay did I see someone seated there, so I can't tell you anything about the food. There's an old elevator with an expired posted permit. It worked fine. The room was small (the queen bed occupied more than half the space). There were a desk, two chairs, two large drawers and two nightstands. A large closet. Iron+board in poor shape. The carpeted wooden floor squeeked. The TV was small, with a reasonable number of channels. Lighting was sufficient. There was only one available power outlet. No coffee maker (coffee available in the lobby). Everything was clean. The bed was very comfortable. It was quiet and dark at night so I slept very well here and that's all that matters. The bathroom was just large enough. It was clean but could use some updating. The soap provided was nasty, but I read about that beforehand and arrived with my own soap and shampoo. The shower/tub had good hot water pressure. The towels were very poor quality. Natural air-conditioning (windows). A wall-mounted heater did not have a temperature contol button so whenever the room got hot the heater had to be turned off. The free wireless Internet connection worked great and was very fast. No newspaper, no free local calls, no self-service guest laundry, no additional charges on checkout. Priceline rates this hotel 2*. I'd say it is the very low end of 2*. Yet I had a very good stay here and would not hesitate to stay here again if I can't get something better.

Check-In Date: Friday, November 10, 2006 Check-Out Date: Friday, November 17, 2006 Hotel Name: The Opal San Francisco 1050 Van Ness Avenue San Francisco, California 94109 Your Offer Price: $49.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 7 Subtotal: $343.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $61.19 Total Charges: $404.19 $48 for 2.5* rejected in CH, FW, USE $86 on the hotel's website. Rain forecast for most of next week, so I'm glad I got a hotel in the city, for a good price and the whole week! Got exactly the hotel I wanted -- was worried I might get the ugly and Internetless Cathedral Hill hotel.

Received an email from this La Quinta's GM: Hello zbenye, First, I wanted to thank you for contacting us regarding your stay and helping us improve our operations. Second, I wanted to apologize to you for the problems you experienced while you were staying with us here in South San Francisco. We here at La Quinta have a 100% satisfaction guarantee, and being that you were not completely satisfied with your stay I would like to send you a Free Night Certificate. Please forward me a current address so that I can mail this certificate to you and again I would like to apologize for the poor shape your room was in. This is not the standard for La Quinta and I can assure you these issues have been addressed. I hope that you accept this peace offering, forgive us our mistake, and continue to support La Quinta Inn. If there is any other way that I can be of service to you then please do not hesitate to contact me at 650-xxx-xxxx. Sincerely, Chris Hill I phoned Mr. Hill and he explained what actions were taken to clean the room. He also told me in great detail the improvements he will be implementing in the hotel, and indicated that a significant renovation is in the foreseeable future. I might check out the hotel again in a few months.

Yesterday when I got out of bed in room 324, I saw some blood on the sheet and thought to myself "ticks again, or bed bugs"? But I didn't find anything on my body. The room has two beds, so last night I got into the other one. Not ten minutes later, I felt something tickling my forehead. Quickly grabbed it and sure enough - a bed bug, flat dark brown about 4mm long and 3mm across. Found another one touring the sheet and a few small babies on the wall, coming and going behind the headboard. Packed up and went to the front desk to change rooms. Gave the guy a ziploc bag with three sample bugs... The new room was clean of critters as far as I could tell, and my stay here ended this morning anyway. I will not be returning to this hotel. This means no more bidding in the 2-star level in the SFO zone.

Check-In Date: Wednesday, November 1, 2006 Check-Out Date: Friday, November 10, 2006 Hotel Name: Monarch Hotel 1015 Geary Street San Francisco, California 94109 Your Offer Price: $50.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 9 Subtotal: $450.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $77.51 Total Charges: $527.51 I was in the mood for experimenting. Wanted to stay in the city due to the forecast of rain and a couple of parties I'll be going to. Last winter I frequently got the nice Miyako Inn in this zone. Maybe I should have first tried fewer nights. The reviews of this hotel are not good. $48 for 2* rejected in CC, CH, USE $64 on Expedia

No book, but the local FOX affiliate interviewed me back in 2002 for the evening news, when rates were oh-so-low. The clip can be seen at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7506772443435075690 (click the little triangle button and choose "Original Size" or the large picture will be very blurry). My domestic stuff is all in storage. The little furniture I had I gave away to friends who needed it. Until a couple of years ago, I had two suitcases in the trunk of my car filled with clothes and that was pretty much all I needed. But then with congestion on the roads and $14/day parking in SF, I dumped the car and got a motorcycle. So now I keep my clothes in a big cabinet I have at the office, and take in my backpack just what I need for the next days. Fortunately there's a laundry place right here in the office building so that's easy. Yes, I have to agree that this lifestyle is bizarre, but evidently I'm not the only one doing this. Some on this board have spent long terms in Priceline hotels, though not quite this long.

Check-In Date: Sunday, October 29, 2006 Check-Out Date: Wednesday, November 1, 2006 Hotel Name: La Quinta Inn San Francisco Airport 20 Airport Boulevard San Francisco, California 94080 Your Offer Price: $43.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 3 Subtotal: $129.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $26.88 Total Charges*: $155.88 $42 for 2* was rejected in SFO, CC, CH $69 on the hotel's website.

This Saturday will mark the 5th anniversary of my living in hotels. It all began soon after 9/11 when hotel occupancy rates tumbled and room rates on Priceline and Hotwire were very low. Five years later, rates have creeped up a bit in some areas, and a lot in others. Nonetheless, the cost of living at the Hyatt Regency or the Hilton in downtown San Francisco (now going for about $70) would still be comparable to what rent+utilities+maid would cost for a rental luxury studio. However, I'm stingy so I now live in South San Francisco (La Quinta, Homewood Suites, Courtyard) where I'm paying between $42 and $55. I had a period of 7 months in St. Louis where I was able to negotiate to rent a 1-BR suite at a hotel at a monthly rate identical to Priceline's, so did not use Priceline or Hotwire all that time. I also had a period of 8 months in San Francisco during which I subleased someone's apartment. And now I am again looking for a sublet situation for the winter months, but the asking rates are so high that I might as well continue in hotels, and maybe get over myself and proceed to book 4* on Priceline in downtown SF. I find hotels more comfortable than apartments and I really don't need a kitchen. According to my Excel spreadsheet, I've paid Priceline and Hotwire a total of $41,175 for 961 nights (taxes/fees included). This does not include some 400 nights spent in hotels during travel away from "home", even when those nights were booked on PL/HW. I also had many free nights through the use of hotel points and FasterFreeNights earned during PL stays. The low average rate of $42.85 per night was helped significantly by some outragous promotions on PL during 2002-2003.