crispylineta

Started my purchase through this site's PRICELINE link. Bid $51 to start, was given the option to rebid at $66, turned that down and added a re-bid zone instead. Increased my bid to $57 and won. Very happy with the result. Thanks and happy holidays!

Used this site's PRICELINE link. Started at $130 with 4* only, was rejected, and then then added 3.5* and took the bid down to $110 and was accepted. Hotel is going for $230 elsewhere so I'm happy.

Used this site's PRICELINE link. Saw the $55 winning bid for the Hyatt Regency for the same dates on this board so just went with that hoping to get the same hotel - and I did. Paying $14.96 in taxes/fees. Very happy with this deal.

Used this site's PRICELINE link. First bid was $45, was offered opportunity to rebid so bid $55 and was accepted; paying $17.10 in taxes/fees. Pretty happy with the outcome.

Thanks! Helpful thoughts. I am comfortable waiting until later on - this is the first day of a roadtrip from NY to SF (I booked a great hotel in Chicago through Priceline for the second night - posted under Illinois), so while I do need a place to stay I'm okay with uncertainty about where exactly in Cleveland that is. The best rate I can find through conventional channels is around $110/night. I'd be will to pay $80 for the 4* and ideally $60 for the 3.5*. So hopefully the rates will come down over the next few weeks and we'll see what happens.

I used this site's PRICELINE link to try to book a hotel in downtown Cleveland for the night of Sep. 1. I first did just 4*, starting at $50 and going up to $80 using rebid zones; rejected every time. I then tried 3.5* starting at $45 and going up to $70 using rebid zones; also rejected every time. From looking at past wins it seems that most people have been winning 3.5* places in the $40-60 range - any ideas? Thanks!

Used this site's PRICELINE link. First bid of $85 was accepted; paying $20.76 in taxes. I guess I could have started a bit lower considering my first bid was accepted, but the hotel is listed at $200+ elsewhere so I'm happy.

RunFarJon, I agree that the game is the reason why rooms are so scarce. Just as an update, this morning I bid up on priceline using rebid zones all the way to $165 for a 4* Inner Harbor. Every bid was rejected, no free rebid offers. So I booked the Renaissance Harborplace for $169 directly from the hotel's website (special full prepayment rate). Pretty happy about it, given it seems that rooms are pretty tough to come by that weekend! Thanks very much for all of your help

thereuare, you are of course quite right about the rebid zones. Not sure what I was thinking there...thanks! Anyway I bid 120 and then 125 today and still nothing - I'm hesitant to go up too much more than that right now, maybe things will open up as it gets closer?

Thanks for the advice. Just to keep you updated, I just bid $115 and was rejected. I guess I'll try $120 tomorrow...

Thanks, AaronJB. I don't think I'd want to go with that hotel for $105. I just bid $110 for a 4* in Inner Harbor and was rejected again. Any other ideas on how high I'll have to go? Is it possible that they really might not have anything available on Priceline, or that it's just too far in advance?

I guess my max budget is around $200 for the night, but I guess I was hoping to keep it much closer to $100 given all the success that people seem to have been having. Do you have any idea what the 3.5* place that hotwire has for $105 is? Thanks.

Hello - if anyone has any ideas on this it would be much appreciated. I'm looking for a 4* room in the Inner Harbor region of Baltimore, MD for one night - check in of 05/01/10 and checking out 05/02/10. Based on what people seemed to be getting, I started bidding at $60 (using the links from this site) but have been continually rejected. I've gone back the next day and increased by $5 or $10 but just bid $105 and was still rejected. Any idea where you think I might have to bid to get a room given that its a weekend night in May? Or am I just bidding too far in advance? I'm not interested in other regions or start levels so can't use rebid zones. Thanks much.

Just for a final update - I continued trying to bid but the price never got under $225 so I stuck with my backup reservation and that was fine. Thanks for all the helpful comments.

First bid was accepted, paid $17.84 in taxes to the hotel, bid today.

Another update - I bid today using the PRICELINE links from here and went up to $225 this time, got a counteroffer of $340, but that's it. Will continue trying every week or so and hopefully as we get closer to the dates some more rooms will free up.

Just to update - I bid today using the PRICELINE links from here and went up to $200, got a counteroffer of $347, but that's it. I'm going to make a backup reservation and continue to try every week around this level, and then a few weeks before the trip probably go up to $225ish and see what happens.

Just tried bidding using the links to Priceline from here. Started at 150 and went up to 180 using the strategy described above. At $170 and $180 was offered a room for $343 / night, obviously quite far out of my price range. I'm going to try again tomorrow or the next day (probably starting a bit higher). In your guys' experience, does the fact that the counteroffer was for $343 (i.e., much higher than my actual bids) mean anything in terms of at what price I am likely to actually find a room?

thereuare - That's a good point, should have thought of that myself. Thanks - going to try later today, using the links from here of course.

Hmm that is very helpful and makes a lot of sense. One question though - is it necessarily better to use the re-bid zones to finish off the bidding? Since I don't need this hotel until October, I could theoretically just continue to go up each day until my bid was accepted. Is there a strategic reason to try to get the bidding done in one sitting? Additionally, do you think that in general the best deals are found closer to the actual date of stay, or in your / the board's experience does that not make a ton of difference? Thanks!

Sorry about that - added the details of my Puerto Rico trip and I'll be sure to do the same here after finding a Rome hotel. Anyone have any ideas / suggestions / advice / etc? Any help or guidance would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Sorry to not follow up on this earlier - I ended up cancelling the Marriott reservation and instead booked a special rate at the El San Juan. The total came to just $120 a night pre-tax after getting a night free which was a pretty good deal. My impressions of the hotel: 1) Lobby - very nice in that old style dark wood kind of way, with great live music at night and quite a dancing scene to go along 2) Rooms - quite unimpressive - dirty, poorly furnished, not that big; if I had paid the full price I would have been quite upset 3) Pool - nice, big, with a swim up bar which is always a big plus... 4) Location - Was good, walk-able to many nearby restaurants etc, and the beach was nice As an aside, we did a one day trip to Culebra, an island off the eastern coast of Puerto Rico that was fantastic - the beach there was a perfect horseshoe shaped with white sand and the water was lovely. We just rented a car, drove the 1.5 hours to the eastern tip of Puerto Rico and then took a ferry. Highly recommended!

I'm planning on using priceline to try to book a double room in a 5* hotel in Rome (Central) for two nights (Oct 22-24). From previous posts, it looks like the three 5* Rome central hotels that have been identified are (prices per night for those dates from the hotel website are in parentheses): Grand Hotel de la Minerva Roma (EUR 310) St George Roma (EUR 239) Intercontinental Rome (EUR 295) If anyone knows of any other 5* Rome (Central) hotels that show up on priceline please let me know. From what I've seen in previous posts, it looks like the range of winning bids has been roughly between $190-230 (though not sure if this includes tax or not). I guess I thinking of starting at $150 (using the board's PRICELINE links of course) and go up from there since I have some time. $230 is probably my upper limit in terms of how high I'd be willing to go. Any thoughts or general advice on whether this all seems reasonable? Thanks!

Got a response back from Marriott - they rejected my claim saying that I had not booked the lowest rate - there was a Sand Dollar promotion available through their website that I guess you had to go through "Specials" to get to - so they modified my reservation for me to reflect that promotion, which is the fifth night free and a $50 resort credit. So the ending rate for this reservation is $198 / night but with the 5th night free which comes to $158.40 a night. So that seems like a good back-up reservation but I may still use PRICELINE, especially because they said there are no rooms with 2 double beds instead of a king available at this time.

This is quite a good idea, I must say. I just made the reservation (through BetterChecker) with Marriott for $185/night, and confirmed it is cancellable. I then submitted a best rate claim form as you suggested below and sent in a screenshot of the website as well. I will let you know what happens - if it does not work, I will probably cancel the reservation and try using the PRICELINE name your price service (and I will use your link for that as well). Thanks much!