iwannaroom

This looks to be a case of you-get-what-you-pay-for. The low price (sort of) is the only thing going for it. The biggest disappointment is that this "Airport Hotel" is just a *motel* and does not have an airport shuttle, which kind of blows any "savings" right there! I take the blame for that, since I did note that shuttle was not listed in the amenities, but figured, well, maybe that was just an oversight! Wrong! You're going to have to update your list to include this turkey - the only 2.5 Star entry currently listed in this area for PRICELINE EXPRESS is a much better hotel. I have half a mind to just write this off as a "learning experience". I have time to think about that. At least it's only one night. Amenities (short-ish list - after you know the hotel) Those marked with * are the ones on the "Express offer" block That also includes * Bedding Top Amenities * Free Internet in Public Areas * Business Center * Pets Allowed * No-smoking Rooms/Facilities * Free Parking Cable/Satellite Tv Media/Technology Free Internet In Public Areas Free Local Calls Free Credit Card Access Calls Free Toll Free Calls Direct Dial Telephone TV Parking & Transportation - note NO SHUTTLE! Free Parking Facilities Pets Allowed Business Center No Smoking Rooms/Facilities Air Conditioning Private Bath or Shower Security

Got this one, again, at "retail" with a "loyalty discount" (vs going rate of $95). Of course it's non-refundable. ($95 rate can be cancelled). What appears to be the same hotel is on offer from Priceline Express for $5 cheaper, nevertheless, this appears to be a bargain for anything in the city proper. Probably best to go this route, since it offers free parking, and city hotels can just totally rip you off on parking (can easily be $20-30/day, sometimes more).

This was neither a NYOP nor Express deal -- just a regular open, "this is the hotel" booking, but with a fairly substantial "loyalty" discount. Hey, you book four different rooms the same day, they should give you something! (or maybe it's not such a desirable hotel, but the pictures look ok). More or less going rate from various travel sites for those dates is $84* including the hotel directly so it is a pretty good discount. (*) - non-refundable rate, +$15 for refundable. I wasn't sure if this type of booking should be reported, but it could, in theory, help someone with their bidding in any case.

Well, two out of three ain't bad! I bagged another Courtyard for $75 bid. Again, a trifecta: nice hotel, good location, good price! Other offers for this same hotel: Google/various travel sites: $103 - $110 Priceline (open): a rather astonishing $199! I like Courtyards, and Priceline has granted me two of them after a long dry spell, which kind of takes away the bad taste that overbid Clarion one left.

This one was VERY favorable! Nice hotel, good location, good price. Win - win - win. By contrast ... my other bid today did not go so well

Bad bidding by me - bid too high when I went down from 3* to 2 1/2 *, after failing with 3* Priceline offers this hotel openly at three different price points: $61 non-refundable (ouch!) with "loyalty discount" $75 non-refundable (same as what I paid on Name Your Own Price) $85 with "free" cancellation / pay later. The location is also at the outer reaches of the zone, but I guess that's the risk you take with Name Your Own Price. Oh well, at least there is free breakfast! Live and learn - it could have been better, it could have been worse. I did much better with another bid at the same price

Thanks for the reply. There is no need for "sorry' - I was just considering writing that reservation off, and making another in a more desirable location. In such a situation, it is good to know that I would have that $25 to 'play with', rather than have to pay for the new reservation AND another $25. In other words, a replacement reservation would (in my mental accounting) cost $25 less than it otherwise would. In the end, I decided to scrap that idea and just use the original reservation. Had the base amount been lower, I might have done the switch.

With a Priceline reservation, normally it's an all or nothing deal: You pay the same amount whether you use the reservation or not - that money's gone. With Las Vegas hotels (and perhaps elsewhere), they split the rate into two parts: a) "normal rate" and b) "resort fee". Priceline collects (a), the normal rate up front and for sure that money's gone. Part (b) the "resort fee" is collected by the hotel when you check out. The question is: Suppose I'm a no-show. What happens to the resort fee? Am I still on the hook for it? or does it just vanish into the ether, and too bad for the hotel? I called the hotel and they said "you still have to pay it". I called Priceline and they said, "We don't give your card info to the hotel, so no you don't have to pay it." (but they must give my name to the hotel, so there might still be a way for the hotel to demand the fee). Has anyone been in this situation before and know what happens? If it matters, the hotel is the Sunset Station in Henderson.

You got that right! Looking at the hotel's own website, the best deal for a room (with Senior Discount) is $51 room rate $7 tax $38 "resort fee" Total: $96 ... making Priceline Express about a 33% discount!

Total price: $93 This hotel is offered by name by PRICELINE for about $20 more than the PRICELINE EXPRESS Deal. Amenities: Free Internet Access Free Parking Free Breakfast Pets Allowed Swimming Pool No Smoking Rooms/Facilities Fitness Center Business Center

In this instance, the "mandatory fee" of $34 is a LOT more than the advertised price of $21. The total came to $63. Amenities: Free Parking Swimming Pool No Smoking Rooms/Facilities Fitness Center Casino Restaurant NOTE: this was for a Wednesday night. It seems the price for the preceding Monday was $67 (plus all the fees). This was cheaper than my Monday night deal in Henderson for a lesser stars (3.5 vs 4) property. It seems the different dates make a big difference.

For rooms in Las Vegas, Priceline advertises some really low prices ... as low as $17 for a PRICELINE EXPRESS deal. But there's a catch: almost every hotel adds a "mandatory fee", which can be more than the so-called "price". So this $36 room is actually a $61 room (plus another $12 taxes and fees) for a total of $73. Amenities: Swimming Pool No Smoking Rooms/Facilities Fitness Center Casino Restaurant

I was trying to followup on your suggestion, but when I went back to find that $55 rate, it wasn't there - instead the $63 carried over from the listing. Maybe I got confused and was looking at a different property, or it changed in the mean time.. In any case, it's just a matter of a few dollars, probably not worth any more trouble at this point.

Oops ... it looks I did not bid aggressively enough! Got this hotel for $60 (+$14 fees for a total of $74). On the Priceline Search Hotels list, it is shown for $63 (not Express or anything, just plain) Then if you click on the listing, it is $55! Oh well, I should probably put a little more effort into this in the future (or just skip the whole NYOP foolishness), but nevertheless it's not a TERRIBLE deal - just a little bit annoying to have paid extra for my trouble. Update: but on another page, it's listed at $72 ... so who the hell knows what's going on here!

Well, this one didn't go quite as well as might have been expected :-( I started bidding at a higher level, and wasn't careful enough when adding lower stars and a zone. While not a complete disaster, this was not a particularly satisfying "win". Hotel location is farther away than I would have liked, and the price was no better than what Priceline offers straight up (with the hotel named, not Express). $75 + taxes/fees = $91.80 Hotel itself offers Senior rate of $84.55 + 10.50 = $94.55 (or close to it).

Checking a little more, it appears this same hotel is available as a PricelinePRICELINE EXPRESS deal, for just a bit more ($68 price + $14 fees/taxes ... odd that the fees/taxes are different, no?). Net saving for Bidding Name-Your-Own-Price vs Express? ... $3 While not great, this is not a bad deal by any means.

Name Your Own Price: Bid: $64 + taxes/fees $15 = $79 Took several tries over several days, starting with lower bids and higher stars. Priceline offers the hotel at $85, and what I believe is the hotel website offers a lot of different rates, the lowest, most restricted being $90.

The Priceline "line" about "If you can increase your bid by $XX ..." is just an attempt to get more money out of you. For example on a win I just had: I was bidding in the $70 range ... PRICELINE EXPRESS price was $91. (Regular price close to $200). After saying "Sorry, no room for you" to my low bids PRICELINE came back with "If you can raise to $92 ... you got a room". I ignored that ... and while it took a few re-bids, and then again for a total of 3 days ... I succeeded in getting a 3 1/2 * hotel with a bid of $79. They are negotiating with you ... if you need a room "right away" ... either up your bid as they say, take the express deal, or whatever you can get. But if you have time and patience for more bidding, you'll usually get a lower price eventually. (Subject to the usual caveats about places where rooms are scarce, etc.)

$79 bid + fees = $96 Priceline quotes $189+ for this hotel, and the hotel itself $171+ Took three days of trying, inching up from $70, and on the third day didn't even have to mess with extra zones or lower star levels. Very pleased with this, since this hotel is the closest one to where I'm actually going. As usual, I used the links to get over to PRICELINE site.

Oh boy, just checked "PRICELINE EXPRESS" for the same setup. It's $1 less! $59 + addons. Well I guess that makes my bid an OK deal, but live and learn ... check PRICELINE EXPRESS BEFORE bidding. Might have gotten the room for a few $ less, or just taken the Express deal.

$60 bid - $3 using coupon SUMMER (which they tell you about right on the page where you enter it) +taxes etc $71.69 total Best rate on Sheraton.com (non-refundable, etc) is 119 (+tax), so this is basically half-price. Contrary to expectations, first shot hit the target - bull's eye! I used your PRICELINE link to start the process.

At the time, I thought this deal was not-so-hot, maybe that is the case - waiting to see more wins for those dates. However, I feel a little better about it because now the best price offered by the hotel is 152 + tax = 177 per night! (Up from 139 + tax = 162).

After about 6 days of bidding and some three dozen failed attempts at lower prices and higher star levels, I *finally* got a room. I had to keep increasing my price, finally reaching 86 (although I had bid 87 on 3 Stars at one point) and then came down from 3 1/2 to 3 to 2 1/2 stars, since I was already at or maybe even over my price limit. I also had to play around with the dates, finally bidding on 2 of my 3 nights. Then I was able to add the third night at the same price, but since that is a separate transaction, the fee was slightly higher. Full details: First two nights: 86*2 + 36.50 = 208.50 Third night: 86 + 21.60 = 107.60 Total cost 316.10 or 105.37 per night. Lowest rate offered by the Hotel on its website: 139 (+ tax) = 162 ... which would be 486 for 3 nights ... Savings (so to speak) = 170 over 3 nights, which is about 35% off ... not great, but not terrible either for downtown in a major city in the middle of summer. Roughly equivalent to 3 nights for the price of two. Thanks for the help from here - I used your PRICELINE links and the "re-bid zone" strategy, which eventually paid off.

I guess I should have checked the board more carefully, as this appears to be an overly generous bid. But I guess it's an "OK" deal - about half the hotel's regular rates. Total cost for 3 nights: $215.43 And yeah, I used your link.

I would not have bid $70 for 2.5*, so I think it is misleading to describe this as a $70 bid. Time on this reservation was short, and there weren't any zones to play around with, so I didn't have much available for rebids. Otherwise, I would have started much lower. The "Bonus Cash" is a gimmick, being virtual, not real, money, and I'm sure Priceline is not forking over any extra $30 to the hotel, probably more like $10 or $15, if that, making this, in reality, (maybe) a $50 or $55 bid. On a few occasions I have seen the actual hotel charges, and sometimes they are substantially less than my bid. In such a case, Priceline pockets the difference, in addition to their stated fees, so you can be sure you are not realizing the full "value" of your Bonus Cash.