Started bidding 3* for zone 8 (Naples Central) using zones 2, 7 and 9 as re-bid zones. Zone 7 (Marco Island) only has Resort level so unlikely to come up at low bids.
First bid $39 and got an offer to immediately rebid if I increase by $11. Refused but then increased in small $1 or $2 steps. After each bid, I got offer to re-bid if I increase by $16, which I also refused.
$44 was still rejected, but $45 was accepted and I got the Ramada Inn as expected.
Tried to get a 4* for 6 nights on St. Pete Beach. I bid up to $110 (i.e. $127 incl taxes) and did not get accepted. Not even a "raise your bid" counteroffer.
I gave up at $110 since I could get the Tradewinds IG for EUR 550 ($128 per night) incl taxes at lastminute.de. I saw later that they also incude the ~$25 resort fee, so I overbid by $24 (incl taxes).
Since we preferred the Don Cesar Hotel, we ended up booking the Don Cesar incl breakfast and taxes (but excluding resort fee) for EUR 790 on GTA Hotels. This corresponds to $183 per night. I guess breakfast for 2 is worth around $40 per night, so we ended up not paying much more than my bid at Priceline, but we got our preferred hotel, and there is some flexibility.
I guess I will try Priceline again in a week, and if I get it lower than $85, I will cancel my reservation at the Don Cesar.
Now off trying to Priceline the hotels for the rest of our trip!
I won the Hyatt Grand Cypress yesterday for $102.
This is quite a bit above the ~$60 others have been getting, and still above a previous poster who bid two weeks ago for almost the same dates and paid $85.
I started bidding at $60 and increased my bids in $2 or $3 steps. Starting from $85, I got offers to bid again if I add $20 or $30. I ignored those. I was still rejected at $99, but accepted at $102.
One reason for the higher price could be the Space Shuttle launch on 1 November. I had originally planned to stay around Cape Canaveral for three days and spend only three days in Orlando. However, almost all hotels there were sold out on normal booking sites so I didn't even try Priceline. So I guess that the increased demand around Cape Canaveral somehow spills over into Orlando as well.
Budapest appears to be split into two zones now: Buda and Pest. 5* is only available in Pest.
Bid 5* Pest
Made a big mistake here, wanted the 4* Westin but forgot that they "upgrade" you from a 4* to a Resort. :)
First bid of
Got this with the first try.
Room Cost (avg. per room, per night): $95.00 (USD)
Number of Rooms: 1
Number of Nights: 9
Room Subtotal: $855.00 (USD)
Taxes and Fees: $129.58 (USD)
Total Room Cost: $984.58 (USD)
Good deal, the cheapest room sells $229 on the Marriott website.
Possibly overbid here as I expected the Steigenberger, for which $75 would have been a low bid.
Got the Sheraton Congress Hotel in the first bid at $75 (this is for a Sunday night):
Room Cost (avg. per room, per night): $75.00 (USD)
Number of Rooms: 1
Number of Nights: 1
Room Subtotal: $75.00 (USD)
Taxes and Fees: $21.89 (USD)
Total Room Cost: $96.89 (USD)
The retail price for a non-refundable reservation would have been
!Note!
This seems to be a 3.5* property now. At least that is what it shows when I go into My Trips.
I bid on the day when I made my OP, and it was definitely 3* then.
Going into My Trips, on the overview it is listed as 3*, but when I click on the number next to it it says "You got your price of
Just to report back:
This was a great hotel, and I got a great kingsize bedroom. Definitely recommended!
Just to report back:
Fancy hotel, of course (as every one of the large Las Vegas resorts I guess), but the room was only average. 15th floor, two queen beds. Unfortunately they were rebuilding the back entrance (where the taxi queue and valet parking is located), and a 5-story parking right below our room. This would have been acceptable had they not started working with pneumatic hammers at 7am. The windows did not let too much sound through, but it was more than noticeable.
We were probably still lucky since getting a room to the Northern Side would have meant building noise of the mega project CityCenter, which is located in between the Monte Carlo and the Bellagio. Facing the strip would have been the best choice (if we had any).
Value was not great either since I checked a month before departing that we could have gotten a lower price by just booking with the Monte Carlo directly (for one night a lot lower, the other night slightly higher). With its 4* rating, the Monte Carlo was definitely overrated compared to the Lodge at Sonoma, which had a 3.5* rating.
So, for the future, do not bid too early in Las Vegas, check the hotel websites, and consider 5*.
Just to report back:
This is a perfectly fine hotel, not a bad location we found (although not great either for tourists). Of course the area is very empty during weekends.
Large bathroom, but a small hotel room, and especially only one small bed. This was just tolerable for us Europeans, but I think a 1.30m (4'7") wide bed would not necessarily count as "sleeps two" in America.
Positive: Free chilled filtered water bottles at the elevator.
So my verdict is: acceptable if the price is right, but if you need a wider bed, don't risk bidding for this.
Just to report back:
The room was a nice room with two queen beds, and a little patio towards the pool. Hilton standard really, nothing bad, but nothing exciting either. Only negative was that we were almost opposite the ice machine which made a loud humming noise throughout the night.
This gets the best price/value ratio for our two week trip through CA, NV, AZ, and is highly recommended at this price!
Just to report back:
The room was very nice and modern, decent size, and a huge kingsize bed. The bathroom was for handicapped people, but it didn't matter, it was just fine. View was on freeway though, and it could also be heard.
Hyatt was very cheeky: At checkout they added a $12 resort fee (came to $13.20 incl taxes). Claimed it was for parking and two bottles of water in the room (which we did not use of course), and that Priceline should have informed me about it (which clearly cannot be true since I did not even know I would get the Hyatt when submitting my bid).
So: If you think you are bidding for the Hyatt, bid $12 less.
Just to report back:
We stuck with our backup (Hollywood Celebrity Hotel) since nothing came up on Priceline.
It was basic, clean, very big room with two queen beds, kitchenette, and breakfast to take away. And free parking. Location was basically at the rear exit of the Kodak theatre. I can recommend this if the price looks good and you want to stay in a good location in Hollywood.
However, generally, Beverly Hills looked a lot nicer than Hollywood when we drove through it. So would not stay in Hollywood again.
Just to report back:
We got a very nice room in a building South-East from the main complex. Huge room, maybe 400 square feet. Huge, nice, kingsize bed. Big bathroom with separate toilet. Flatscreen where you could adjust the aspect ratio of the TV picture (!) (my pet peeve, in almost all hotels it is set fixed so most of the time something is cut off or distorted). Empty fridge for the wine.
Unfortunately, we did not have time to sample anything the hotel has to offer except breakfast, which was good.
Overall, best hotel in our 2-week vacation in CA, NV, AZ.
Success. Bid 3.5* in Sonoma with 1 free rebid in Fairfield.
Was still rejected yesterday at
I have kept on bidding between 113 and 125 USD every day or three, but am always rejected. No counteroffers either. Will continue trying.
Have started bidding now for 3.5* in Sonoma. No success with GBP 64 and GBP 68 (~118 USD). Will increase bids slowly every day or two.
Interestingly, I can look up my reservation on marriott.com on my Marriott account using the confirmation number given by PL. I can't add my MR number or change room preference, but I thought this is an interesting remark in the booking:
PRICELINE.COM * DELUXE ROOM (1KING,1QUEEN,1TWIN) *MAX 3 PEOPLE ** THIS RATE TO BE BOOKED ONLY VIA WORLDSPAN * W/RESTRICTIONS **
OP here. Just to update you that I haven't started bidding on this since out itinerary isn't quite fixed yet. Will let you know here as soon as I start bidding or if I find something else.
Thanks for the advice. I realised I went a bit too high since the backup option is actually quite good. So decided that I would be happy to get a 4* up to $120.
Just to update you - I keep bidding for a 4* every one or two days, with around $115-$120, usually using just one free rebid. Not accepted until now, and no counter-offers.
Was bidding for about ten days on this, starting from I think $70. I increased it every day a bit so that on the day of departure, I would arrive at the same price as my 3* back-up booking. $97 was rejected yesterday, $100 today was accepted. (Actually
Everything up to $120 would be fine I guess. Given that we will only stay for a night, it is not really that important, but I think ending up in Santa Rosa (which is a fairly big city if I understand correctly) might not be the best because we are there for the rural experience...
4* Miami (South Beach Central) Mondrian
in Priceline Hotels - Florida
Posted
Started bidding 4* for zone 12 (South Beach Central) using zones 1, 3, 8, 9, 10 and 15 as re-bid zones.
First bid $100, increased in ~$4-5 steps until - at $129 - I got an offer to rebid if I increase by $32. I then only increased in $2 and then only $1 steps until I got accepted at $142. After each unsuccessful bid from $129 to $141, I got offer to re-bid if I increase by $32.
I got the Mondrian as expected. It was available for $169 on Hotwire and for $250 on other booking sites.