headtrip

I have stayed at the Sahara Hotel twice now in the past year (once on priceline), and I have to disagree with other people that call it a dump. The rooms were clean and quiet, the staff was professional and curtious, and everything on my stay was fine. Compared with Holiday Inn (my least favorite 3* chain), at least this hotel has earned its 3* rating with me. The biggest problem with using priceline is overbidding when choosing a 3* property in Vegas. I did that my last PL bid too, but it's just water under the bridge now. But I have to say that I still felt fortunate because I paid about 50% of the lowest 4* hotel won on the board and at a location with easy access to the rest of the strip on the monorail. My username is headtrip and I personally approved this message.

Thanks for posting your win, even if you were unhappy. Hopefully it will remind others to be very careful when considering what star level and amound to bid. Everyone here on this board has at least 1 bad bidding story where they won a hotel that they would have rather avoided. In the future, especially when hotel rates in Vegas are high, stick to 4* bids and also check places like EasyClickTravel travel for hotel rates to protect yourself from overbidding. That's why almost everyone here usually tries to reserve a room at the best rate without priceline, and then tries to beat that price. That way you will always know what your true saving were.

Malibu is not part of any Priceline zone because there are no chain hotels there and the hotels that are in the area are in the $250 to $600 per night price range. Speaking just for myself, I would probobly rent a car at LAX which has some of the lowest Priceline rates in the country (I've seen many wins in the $8-$13 per day range), pack a tent and sleeping bag and stay at one of the many state parks that have camping just north of Malibu. Zuma and Leo Carillo are both less than 30 minutes north of Malibu and usually have camping sites available during the midweek without a reservation. Unless you can't sleep with the surf crashing just a few yards away, it's a great deal at about $28 a night (approximately). Yes it's true you have to watch out for the Lindsey Lohan's and Paris Hilton's racing around too, but it's really a hassle getting back and forth from Malibu without a car. Shuttle and Bus service are spotty at best with long waits in between. Just food for thought.

Saw louisd's Holiday Inn win for $39 and since I only needed 1 night just to sleep after a long flight, bid Airport IAD with 3*, then adding 2.5* -- $36 with $10 counteroffer, and then winning with $38. Holiday Inn Dulles Dulles Airport (IAD) 1000 Sully Rd Sterling, Virginia 20166 Check-In Date: Wed, Aug 1, 2007 / After 03:00 PM Check-Out Date: Thu, Aug 2, 2007 / 12:00 PM Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $38.00 Subtotal: $38.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $11.11 Total Charges*: $49.11

I went back to priceline and was able to add last night 8/8/07 for $60 without any problem....but now I'm confused because I had bid $60 for 3* and didn't win, but won the hotel bidding 2.5* and was able to add Wednesday night back in at the same price. On my winning bid, one shows the hotel having 2.5* (the first time I won), and then the add on today it shows the hotel with 3*. I'm at a loss to explain what went wrong, but interestingly enough they also misspelled my name in the reservation by adding an "o", I've used priceline for years and always use the same profile with them which has my name spelled correctly in their computer, so I imagine the mistake was created by a manual correction. And since I come from a NFL-less town (Los Angeles), I most certainly will be going to see the Jets-Falcons preseason game accross the road. Tickets for preseason games are usually plentiful, and it makes it much easier to get back that evening since we can ride the event transportation directly from New York to the stadium. Thanks again for your help.

Thanks Dahammer, somehow I missed that thread when I was reviewing the board. The Hotels Web site states that the pool will reopen on July 21, 2007. BTW, this reservation was made through Savingsbarn.com (I usually forget to include that).

Check-In Date: Thursday, August 9, 2007 Check-Out Date: Saturday, August 11, 2007 Hotel Name: Sheraton Meadowlands Hotel 2 Meadowlands Plaza East Rutherford, New Jersey 07073 I had bid a number of times planning for an August New York trip... Actually I need 3 days Aug 8-Aug 11, but decided to split my bid after multiple rejects below: for 3 nights, tried: Jersey City and Elizabeth 3* $70,$75 Seacacus and Jersey City 2.5* $65, $70 Jersey City and Seacacus 2.5* $65, $70 Seacacus and East Ruthorford 3* $60, $65 and finally, for 2 nights, tried: East Rutherford and Seacacus 2.5* $55, $60 the winning bid. Please help me with the transportation, I wasn't planning on driving and this place looks like an orphan accross the freeway from Giants stadium. There isn't much written up on how to get to or from here. The hotel does have a shuttle, but hotel shuttles aren't normally known for their prompt service. Can I get to NYC from here without a car?

Please let us know what Zone/Zones you were bidding?

That is a pretty low price. Was that your first bid? Congratulations on your win and welcome to Betterbidding.com

If you want to keep track, just open up a blank "Note" page or word processing document, then you can select the text if your offer is no accepted from the internet browser window and copy and paste it into the the other document. It's helpful for remembering if you are bidding different amounts for different classes of vehicles.

It can mean 1 of 2 things: 1> Eagle/Vail Airport has no Priceline inventory for all/some of the dates you requested, so it therefore does not show the PRICELINE link. 2> Eagle Vail Airport has no Priceline participating rental companies at that location. After picking a couple of sample days, I tend to believe it is option 2, probobly due to limited rental car availability at a smaller regional airport.

I ended up rebidding 4 times trying to get a Mid-size or above vehicle. Failed bids were: Midsize: $13,14,15,16 bids made from 12/14-12/24 Full Size: $16,20,22 bids made from 12/14-12/20 Premium: $20,24,25 bids made from 12/14-12/20 Pick-Up/Drop-Off: Salt Lake City Intl Rental Car Company: Hertz Car Class: Full-size (unlimited mileage) Pick-Up Date: Wednesday, January 3, 2007 Drop-Off Date: Sunday, January 7, 2007 Summary of Charges: Your Offer Price: $25.00 (per day) Total Rental Days: 4 days Subtotal: $100.00 Taxes and Fees: $32.14 Total Charges: $132.14

No replies yet to my post...and I still didn't get my rental car :)

In researching this a little more, I can see that Priceline shows Hooters Hotel/Casino on it's non-opaque service, however, it does not mean Priceline opaque service has to have Hooters Hotel/Casio as well. Just out of curiosity, where did you hear that Hooter's was won on a Priceline bid?

I've been bidding on rental cars, and then waited 72 hours 3 times so far, and I noticed that after the 3rd bid in the second round of bidding that I got this message regardless of whether I had bid for that car type before or not. The same thing just happened to me again in the third round of bidding. The message is: "Unfortunately, we were unable to process your rental car request because it was identical to one you submitted within the last 3 days (the same pick-up date, drop-off date, car type, and location). Follow instructions below to try your request again. We're sorry, but your offer price of $20.00 per day for a Full-size Car was not accepted. Your credit card has not been charged. A change in price alone is not sufficient to submit a new rental car request. Select the option that works best for you below. " Has anyone else experienced this and is there a way to get around it?

As of this date, the Hooters Casino has never come up on Priceline in this forum. However, we can not guarantee a hotel will or will not come up, as opaque bidding can not show you which hotels are or are not participating at a given time. If you look at the previous wins in the Priceline - Nevada forum, I think you will get a good idea of what to bid and what hotels you will win if you select the Las Vegas Strip area. Remember to use your free rebids which for a 4* hotel would be Henderson, North Las Vegas, and Boulder Strip.

The counter offer of +$17 on your second bid means you were pretty close to the price point of the hotel on priceline, probobly a $70-$75 bid. Remember the counter offer is only a suggestion by priceline, but you can always bid lower than that to win the exact same room.

Thanks for posting your win on Betterbidding.com. Also, Please post each winning stay separately so we can see the different dates for which you each won. Congratulations...

I have tried to book the same thing for 1/3-1/7 at SLC and so far have not been able to get the same deal. I bid $14 for Mid-size and was turned down, along with $16 for Standard, and $22 for Full Size. I haven't started my own thread yet as I will rebid after 72 hours. Hopefully I will get it the next time around. On Hotwire, it lists the price as $23.95 per day for a midsize car. Thanks for the help.

Congratulatons on your win. Priceline shows it can maybe still be a benefit in nitch markets for air travel from smaller airports.

Bidding for New Years Eve in Vegas on 12/31 is your biggest problem as that is one of the most sold out nights of the year. Actually, I think that whole weekend 12/29-12/31 that you won't be able inventory below $200 a night for a 4 star hotel. If you really want to pay below $80 a night, Laughlin, Nevada is on the Colorado river about 90 miles SE of Las Vegas and still has rooms available in that range. If I didn't discourage you and you still want to try for Vegas, I would bid 12/28-12/30 separately because 12/31 prices will be much higher than the other nights. Also, make sure you have a confirmed backup bid so you will not be pressured to bid higher to secure a room.

I thought I had posted this already, but I didn't see it and here is my win. I bid 20, 23, and 25 on consecutive days before winning. Your Offer Price: $25.00 Total Rental Days: 8 Subtotal: $200.00 Taxes & Fees: $32.48 Total Charges: $232.48(USD) Lowest Published Price: $537.88 Total Savings:* $305.40 (You saved 57%)

First, I tried bidding for 2.5* in the Sandy-South Valley-Draper Area bidding $36, 38, and 40 with no success. (Valley, South SLC rebid zones) I then bid 2* in Valley starting at $36.00 and won on the first bid. I like the area (lots of restaurants) and easy access to the canyons for skiing. The triple AAA rate for the same room is $58.65 a night. Check-In Date: Wednesday, January 3, 2007 Check-Out Date: Sunday, January 7, 2007 Hotel Name: La Quinta Inn Midvale Salt Lake 7231 South Catalpa St. Midvale, Utah 84047 801-566-3291 Your Offer Price: $36.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 4 Subtotal: $144.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $27.46 Total Charges*: $171.46

Was $45 your first bid for 2*? Sounds like a great deal. I am planning on going skiing in January and I prefer to stay in Sandy too.

Thanks Dahammer, You know I looked all over Pricelines web site, but couldn't find that...althrough I remember reading it before. Since the 24-hour period is already over, I'm out of luck this time. Thanks again for responding. ~Steve~