headtrip

I think it is a really good deal...People may fawn over the Venetian, but the Mandalay is just as nice, but without the canals below.

My strategy for bidding/planning during Las Vegas trade shows (especially when it is on my own dime) is actually not to book until about 4-6 weeks out when the hotels adjust their discount rates based on reservation levels. Priceline usually hasn't been a big help since any priceline rate might not be much less than booking the hotel directly and may even cost more considering you won't get rewards card credit for your stay. I consider the risks of waiting not too bad, because if you end up paying full price, you'll know you didn't have any chance of getting a better rate anyway, and if you do get a better rate, it's money in the bank!

With the CES show just finishing up when you check in, you'll know that the people checking out paid at least 3x the price you paid!

12/28-1/2 is one of the busiest weekends in the year (New Years of course), and most hotels will be sold out already for that weekend. I would check with other services first because Hotel prices in Vegas are usually the highest on Friday and Saturday nights. Remember that Priceline is to sell excess room capacity, and Vegas will not have many empty rooms on New Years weekend.

Are you willing to split your bid? 12/28-1/2 is one of the busiest weekends in the year (New Years of course), and most hotels will be sold out already for that weekend, but you might get some good priceline properties for 1/3 to 1/5 if bid separately. I would check with other services first because Hotel prices in Vegas are usually the highest on Friday and Saturday nights. Remember that Priceline is to sell excess room capacity, and Vegas will not have many empty rooms on New Years weekend.

I was a bit surprised when I won this on the first bid during a holiday period, but I'm not complaining. Pick-Up Location: Hertz Corporation Los Angeles International Airport 9000 Airport Blvd Los Angeles,CA 90045 1-800-654-3011 Drop-Off Location: Same as above Pick-Up Date: December 31, 2007 Drop-Off Date: January 10, 2008 Summary of Charges Your Offer Price: $14.00 (per day) Total Rental Days: 10 days Subtotal: $140.00 Taxes and Fees: $61.50 Total Charges: $201.50 Lowest Published Price: $313.24 Total Savings:* $111.74 (You saved 36%) Please Note: Prices are in US dollars * This is your savings on the total cost of your rental car when compared to the lowest published rental car rate available at time of booking for the itinerary and rental car company shown.

Zone is the priceline area where you want to stay. Also, this post explains how you can have multiple bids without having to wait: Priceline Re-Bidding Explained

Yes, I'm curious too to know what exact hotel you were at where it happened. I had plenty of hotel stays this summer and I have yet to have an issue like that come up. I actually think customer service has improved this year as many of the long check in lines have disappeared, and the quality of the hotels and service staffs has been noticeably improved. Or maybe I've just been incredibly lucky???

Yes, you do have time on your side in terms of having many chances to rebid before your travel dates. The important thing is to make a reservation that you can cancel as a backup, then when you have time try to beat the reservation price that you already made. Your bidding so far may be a little low for the areas you are requesting, but I wouldn't go much higher than that and just keep bidding as much as you can as your travel dates get closer. Thereuare is the master of bidding strategy, and you can see he always will try to protect you from overbidding for your hotel. I know sometimes I get lucky and get a low priceline rate quickly, but just as often, it is a waiting game, and it just takes time rebidding week after week until I get the hotel price I want. If you have the time, I'm sure you will be more than happy with your winning bid.

Travelworm has some Vegas deals that don't seem to be duplicated anywhere else. Make sure you use the Betterbidding Travel Links (in Red at top of page) so that Betterbidding gets credit for your reservation.

Congratulations and also welcome. Just curious....any reason you didn't want to stay in the Convention Center area? 4* hotels there are generally less expensive than other areas.

Looking at what you bid and what has been recently won, most likely you will need to bid at least $115 in order to win a 4* hotel in SF for your dates on Priceline. I would suggest bidding 110, 112, 115, 118, and 120 using your rebid zones and if you need to rebid again after 24 hours, start at $120, 122, 125, 128, and 130. Good Luck

Good for you! I tried to bid DC myself for my vacation, but couldn't find any rentals under $26 a day max bid on Priceline (period 8/1-8/4). With booking discount I ended up paying $118 for my 3 day rental, but i did get a free upgrade to a minivan since no compact cars were available at pick-up.

Having just stayed in the Meadowlands Sheraton myself, I thought it was very convenient to NYC, at least from Secaucus Junction with trains leaving for NYC every few minutes. The hotel shuttle also seemed to run ontime in the mornings and althrough crowded (with people needing to double up on occasion), the problem was waiting for pickups at night when shuttle service seemed to be "delayed" to the benefit of the taxi's which charged $22 for the 10 minute ride. Actually, we only needed to take the cab once during our 3 day stay, and compared to the price of staying in the city, it was by far a good bargain.

Judging by my wins on my August trip, Marriott Corp. has been aggressively marketing their hotels on Priceline with me winning a stay at the same Springhill Suites as you in addition to wins at Courtyard, and Renaissance. For any hotel to participate in Priceline (or Hotwire), they have to provide a certain level of inventory and apparently they kept their rates the same even through summer is the peak season. I never complain about a good bargain. However, I do slightly disagree about the complementary breakfast. My kids and I both thought the taste of the breakfast items was bland or greasy, and the selection of items was limited. A Residence inn we stayed at a few weeks ago had a better selection by far.

Actually, using your link, I could not enter my screen name as there was no comment / special instructions field in the form. I guess I could have put it in the item description, but I didn't think about it at the time.

Thanks for all your help and your dedication to the board. I sent $10 by Paypal that was long overdue to keep this board going. Actually sending me back a wink and a smile is optional. ~Steve~

What is the cut off time to book a hotel on Priceline for the same night? I thought it was 6:00pm. I noticed you didn't post till 9:00pm (your time), so I thought I would just ask.

Bid 2.5* Tysons Corner-Falls Church with free rebids for East Falls Church and Leesberg $41 dollars rejected and 2nd bid of $46 won. All hotel bookings booked via Savingabarn.com! Check-In Date: Friday, August 3, 2007 Check-Out Date: Saturday, August 4, 2007 Hotel Name: Courtyard By Marriott Tysons Corner 1960a Chain Bridge Road Mclean, Virginia 22102 703-790-0207 Summary of Charges Your Offer Price: $46.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $46.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $12.01 Total Charges*: $58.01

Yep, I've been a bid thief all summer stealing other peoples' winning bids and I did it again....$41 for Springhill Suites for the last hole in my vacation schedule (thanks to WilsonUCLA). Just sniped his winning bid for a weeknight and it worked.... Regular Room Rate is $159 for a King bed suite, pull out sofa, kitchen, and complementary breakfast. Check-In Date: Thursday, August 2, 2007 Check-Out Date: Friday, August 3, 2007 Hotel Name: Springhill Suites Williamsburg 1644 Richmond Road Williamsburg, Virginia 23185 757-941-3000 Summary of Charges Your Offer Price: $41.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $41.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $12.94 Total Charges*: $53.94

Gary, in my experience, requesting multiple rooms only hurts you slightly in the sense that if the number of available priceline rooms at that price is less than your request, then you will not win your bid. Since I see other recent wins at $45 for 2.5 and $50 for 3.0 (in May), I'd say you have a good chance of winning your bid. You didn't say which dates you needed, so I don't know how many times you will be able to rebid before your stay. If you want to be sure to get the hotel on the first bid, I might consider bidding a few dollars higher "just in case" unless you are willing to rebid the other Williamsburg zone and rebid again. You can technically bid 4 times before you are out of bids by using both zones (if you're willing to stay in either zone). Bid 2.5 Busch gardens Bid 2.5 Busch gardens + add Outlets if you still didn't win, close your browser and open a new session with priceline Bid 2.5 Outlets Bid 2.5 Outlets + Busch gardens After that, you will have to wait 24 hours before you can bid again unless you are willing to lower your star level as well. Good Luck

After I saw larmstrongs win for the same dates, tried $65 and up too. After a $74 bid, I know $75 is definitely the lowest priceline rate at the moment. I decided not to save $20 (over 4 days) with the Omni Shoreham (Dupont Circle) and be closer to the mall. Check-In Date: Saturday, August 4, 2007 Check-Out Date: Wednesday, August 8, 2007 Hotel Name: Renaissance Washington D.C. Hotel 999 9th Street Nw Washington, District Of Columbia 20001 Summary of Charges Your Offer Price: $75.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 4 Subtotal: $300.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $52.39 Total Charges*: $352.39

Tried to find a low Priceline rate for July 18-21 in Las Vegas with no luck. Because I didn't want to win something too far away, I only bid zones for Las Vegas Strip and Fremont Street. Bids were: LVS: $35 +FS: $38 then FS: $40 + LVS: $42 I also rebid 2 days later trying $44, $46 and then $48, $50. At this point, I had found a Four Queens hotel deal through Travelworm.com using the Betterbidding link, and booked the room for $37.00 per night (Weds-Thurs), and $66 Fri with a dining voucher promotion included. I would have preferred the Sahara again, but the savings here are fine for me.

It can't hurt to try priceline for your trip. Priceline does have a surcharge for using their service, roughly around $15 per ticket on top of what you bid. Because the flight can leave first thing in the morning or late in the evening, many people don't want the hassle of getting an inconvenient flight. For preparation, get 3 or 4 conventional fares from Orbitz, Travelocity, Expedia...(Probobly about $1500 RT), then try to bid with 25% off and see what happens. With advance purchase, the ATL-CDG fares are still 1,108. It's still very expensive because it's summer travel, but you can save a few hundred if you have to leave on July 12. Good Luck P.S. my fare check showed the prices were much higher than i originally thought, hence the revise..

It may be a bit early also to bid for October stays on Priceline. It doesn't hurt to try, but I've had the best success with less than 30 days advance notice, even when I bid the same prices weeks earlier and get repeatedly rejected. I think for DC through there is quite a bit of activity in October through (thinking 1st monday in Oct for Supreme Court).