MichaelBei

First Hotel West Taipei 63 Nanking East Road Sec 2 Taipei, Taiwan 886-2-25418234 http://www.firsthoteltaipei.com/ Yahooo! First successful Taipei bid. Yes Virginia, Priceline does really have hotels in Taipei. Location is good from what I remember, and this is really like an American 3 star hotel (unlike most European hotels). Bid of $55 for 4 star in this zone was rejected. Bidding history: 2/27 only = $30 2 nights = $35 3 nights = $40 4 nights (2/24-28) = $44 may bid for additional nights, will post if I do. Your Offer Price: $44.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 4 Subtotal: $176.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $28.16 Total Charges: $204.16 their webrate is 2660 NT for these nights.

Yea, you guys got a point (I am not complaining about the overall cost, for sure) - but I'm just a bit frugal. It's true that it is hard to find much lower than $30 these days, but it is also true that Priceline has been steadily increasing their fee behind the scenes - long gone are the days when you paid a flat $6 fee to Priceline regardless of your bid amount. Since a fair amount of my travel is to smaller cities, I also find that Priceline offers a pretty small percentage savings in many such places, which makes one pay more attention to how much the fees add. I have had many cases where the savings available were less than $10 a night. If I were on the board at Priceline, I would probably have voted for increasing the company take on higher dollar bids, but I would cap the take at some percentage, say 8 or 10%, for lower total bids; to wit, if one is buying a hotel for $40 for one night, then I wouldn't charge the customer more than $3 or $4, but I would charge much more if it were $200 for 5 nights (because it is less noticble to the customer in this case). :)

Jessup is south of Baltimore, between Columbia and BWI Airport. Entered Randallstown, got option of Owings Mills or Jessup. Bid on Owings Mills 2.5* @$32, rejected, $27 for 2* rejected. New bid for $28 for Jessup received an offer to rebid at $35, instead added Owings and got Fairfield in Jessup at $30. Your Offer Price: $30.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 2 Subtotal: $60.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $15.12 Total Charges: $75.12 Priceline's fee has become very steep; taxes are $6 (10%) which makes their fee $9.12, or 15%!!

Bid of $56, asked to rebid at $73. Instead tried $63 and then $65. Targetting this zone only, and hoping for this very hotel. Subtotal: $65.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $16.57 Total Charges: $81.57 Taxes are 14.5%, or $9.43 for this reservation. JW Marriott Hotel Pennsylvania Avenue White House - Downtown 1331 Pennsylvania Ave Washington,

Two separate bids, one night each. Offers of $46 and $48 for a 3 star received counteroffers in the Busch Gardens zone, indicating that something like the Marriott (not Courtyard) may be available at a somewhat higher rate. $41 for one of these nights for a 2.5 star was rejected (Note that, however, I have had experiences where Priceline has rejected my offer even when they have availability at the price offered, hopefully not intentional on their part). Your Offer Price: $43.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $43.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $11.99 Total Charges: $54.99

First bid of $42 today ($38 and $40 rejected on other days, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything). Lowest price at Marriott website, $84, AAA rate. Lots of restaurants and F.S. Key Mall are well within a mile of this hotel. Courtyard By Marriott Frederick 5225 Westview Drive Frederick, Maryland 21703 301-631-9030 Subtotal: $84.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $12.96 Total Charges: $96.96 Tax rate is only 5% in Frederick, so Priceline fee was $8.76 on this one.

I have stayed at this hotel. It is a nice middle of the road 3 star hotel. It is situated just off of I-95 and very convenient for getting to Was. or Balt. if you have a car. You will have to find out if the hotel shuttle will drop you off at the nearest metrorail station to get to downtown Washington (I think the closest station is probably a good 5 miles away). Otherwise, you will have to take a city bus and then the metrorail to get to Wash. without a car. More info at: http://www.wmata.com/ If the hotel will drop you off at the Greenbelt metrorail - Washington/ Baltimore commuter train station, there is the B30 bus to BWI from there that is non-stop and only $3 per person. I have to say, that for what you want to do without a car, the Greenbelt Marriott would have been a better choice (but might have cost you a lot more).

Won as 3* property on Priceline. Greenbelt Marriott 6400 Ivy Lane Greenbelt, MD 20770 USA Phone: 1 301-441-3700 Hotel has an indoor pool (20 yards long, large enough for swimming if uncrowded) and a larger outdoor pool that is open summer only. Exercise room is fairly small, but is packed with several aerobic machines and a compact universal weight system. Restaurant serves excellent food, way above normal 3* hotel standards, and is very reasonably priced given the quality (3 course dinner specials for $25). Hotel is less than a mile from the Greenbelt metrorail station and you can take the hotel shuttle there, and ride it into downtown washington and elsewhere (one way fare over $3). Butty Attick city park with jogging / walking / biking trails, picnic areas, fishing is about 3 blocks away, Greenbelt National Park is about 1 mile away. No restaurants that I saw within walking distance, there are many restaurants within 2 or 3 miles away, including those surrounding the University of Maryland, particulary along US route 1. Nicely manicured grounds, located in a modest sized office park.

One night, same day bid, first offer of $48 accepted. Total was $60 and change. Offer of $42 a few days rejected with a offer to rebid immediately at $54 (didn't try again that day.) Don't know specific rate for this day, but the best weekend rate I have ever seen for this property in the last year was $79 prepaid. Very nice hotel, indoor / outdoor pool, excellent chef in restaurant. Will try to post a review soon.

2.5 star or better bidding. Bids of $35 and $38 (offer to rebid at $49) rejected. Added Gustine (no more than 2 star) and bid $41, accepted. (Turlock was the city I entered to start my bidding process). Hotel Name: Red Lion Modesto 1612 Sisk Road Modesto, California 95350 209-521-1612 Subtotal: $41.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $10.35 Total Charges: $51.35

Hotel Name: Fairfield Inn Baton Rouge South 7959 Essen Park Avenue Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70809 225-766-9493 Bids up to $51 for 2.5* rejected without any counter returned. Bid of $35 rejected a few days ago with a $44 counteroffer. This doesn't necessarily mean that you couldn't get a lower bid accepted. This is in the East Baton Rouge zone. Subtotal: $36.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $10.96 Total Charges: $46.96 Tax rate is 12% here.

Best price I could find on line was $48 / day, hotwire was $30 / day. Bid of $24 for full size was rejected. Standard size car Your Offer Price: $27.00 Total Rental Days: 4 Subtotal: $108.00 Taxes & Fees: $35.30 Total Charges: $143.30 **************************************************** I named my price for a rental car in New Orleans Intl, LA at priceline.com and my offer was accepted. Here are the details. Rental Car Company: Budget Rent a Car Pick-Up Date: Wednesday, November 24, 2004 Drop-Off Date: Sunday, November 28, 2004

First Bid $24, offer came back to rebid at $30. Instead added Garden District at $26, rejected; added French Quarter at $28, accepted. Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $28.00 Travel Insurance: $5.00 Subtotal: $28.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $9.81 Total Charges: $37.81 **************************************************** I named my price for a hotel room in Kenner, LA at priceline.com and my offer was accepted. Here are the details on where I'll be staying. Hotel: Fairfield Inn New Orleans Airport 1801 32nd Street Kenner, Louisiana 70065 United States 504-443-9800

Bids of $50 for Nov. 27 only and Nov. 28 only and $48 for Nov. 26 to 28 (two nights) were all rejected immediately prior. Nov. 24 to 28 at $47 rejected also. Bid $40 for Nov. 24 to 27 East Baton Rouge zone and got an offer to rebid w/o changes at $52. Instead, I added Port Allen zone and bid $48 and got accepted at the Residence Inn (Wah Hoo! I love this property, great rooms, great breakfast, near all kinds of shopping). Residence Inn 10333 North Mall Drive Baton Rouge 70809 Total $144 Taxes and fees: $26.61 With a 13% tax rate here, this breaks down to $18.72 in taxes and a Priceline fee of $7.89

Squeejee, You could be on to something here. However, I will note that one time I did use a brand spanking new credit card, got rejected, went to a different computer, added a zone, and got a lower bid accepted for the original zone - bizarre, isn't it? Furthermore, I have gotten at least two bids accepted this year with the same credit card (both rental car bids) after this strange behavior on hotel bids. The problem is, I can't fully test what is going on because I can't always rebid immediately and one can't test the system in other ways because you'd have to spend a lot of money for rooms and stuff you don't need in order to do so. That's why it has taken about a year to figure out that something very strange is going on. Also strange is that I will get offers to rebid at a certain amount (e.g., if you will raise your offer by $8, you can try again right now without changing any parameters of your offer) in sessions for which I discovered later were "Hah! Fooled you! We really don't want your business!!" sessions. I would rebid up to within $1 of the counteroffer and still get rejected. Then I would wait 3 days or immediately go to another computer if rebids were still possble, and get a lower bid accepted. I just wish I could figure out a way to tell when Priceline is in their "we are not really going to accept your offer even if we have availability" mode. I could avoid a lot of wasted time then.

Spender, You are not the only one with the experience of having a lower bid accepted immediately after a higher bid was rejected for the same zone and level. See my posts in the last three weeks under SC and GA hotels. This has happened to me several times in the past several months and I am wondering if Priceline is monkeying with their system so that bidders that meet some sort of trigger in their system are rejected even when their bid is high enough (why in the world they would do this is beyond me - they are turning down business and cutting into their own profits, and I haven't done anything I know of to tick them off - never challenged a charge or anything like that). As best as I can tell, when Priceline starts putting you in this mysterious "We don't want your business" :) mode the only way you are likely to get your bid accepted is waiting 3 days or adding a zone to rebid, PLUS changing computers and as many other parameters as is legally possible (for example, use a new email address), or get someone else to pay for your room. It also may be that if you stay on the same computer and bid high enough on your very first bid on a particular day that they still will accept your bid - there could be something going on about Priceline not liking people to make extensive use of adding dead zones (i.e., don't have as high a star level as your target zone) to get immediate rebid opportunities on the zone you really want.

A good deal - and not just because Priceline recommended that I bid $42 a day if I remember right (yea right!). Beats even Entertainment price with coupon by $20, other rates higher. Standard for $19 rejected ($21 rejected on a previous occasion, however, Priceline has several times rejected my bids even when they had inventory at my offer price - see recent postings in SC and GA hotels). Pick-Up/Drop-Off: Greenville Spartanburg (gsp) Your Offer Price: $17.00 Total Rental Days: 4 Subtotal: $68.00 Taxes & Fees: $35.90 Total Charges: $103.90

I don't know if the computer is it - because it doesn't always happen, and it has happened on 2 of the 4 computers I own. To get a bid accepted I do apparently have to switch computers because I still don't know what is triggering this behavior by Priceline. All of my recent bids that have been accepted have been the first bids I made that day or the first bids I made on a particular computer or computer session that day. I have bid over half the difference in counteroffers several times in recent months, not a single one of these rebids has been accepted. I have never disputed a Priceline charge through my credit card company. I complained to Priceline only once about a hotel quality issue, and got a partial refund. I also complained once about a hotel trying to charge for early check out, and got a good Priceline response (I did not end up, however, needing to ask for any kind of refund). Dozens of other times, I have just been a happy Priceline customer. I am not happy at all about having to deal with the uncertainty of whether Priceline will accept my bid when they have inventory at my price (and having NEVER received any message from Priceline that they rejected my bid because of some problem other than lack of inventory - they always claim it is because of lack of inventory). :) Should I offer a sacrifice to the Priceline gods? :)

Bidding for 2.5* or higher. Rejected at $25 (received offer to rebid at $31) and $30 (add south zone), went to a different computer, changed cards (but this isn't necessarily the key, first card has been accepted before), added gsp airport zone (also acceptable) and rebid at $28, accepted. Don't know why first bid was rejected, same thing happened at Lake Lanier, GA; please see my separate post there. Check-In Date: Thursday, July 29, 2004 Check-Out Date: Friday, July 30, 2004 Greenville 70 Orchard Park Drive Greenville, South Carolina 29615 864-234-0300 Your Offer Price: $28.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $28.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $9.13 Total Charges: $37.13

Won a $65 bid right after a bid of $68 was rejected (yes you read right - the accepted bid was from another travler and with an added zone). This region has several risk free rebid opportunities using other zones that don't have 4 star hotels. In this case, there were also other people trying to get the same hotel for the same night as well. For some reason Priceline has been increasingly often rejecting my bids even when they have availability (I have tested this several times recently as I became more and more suspcious). I can't figure out why or how this is happening, I don't know what it is in my bids that is triggering this behavior by Priceline. But it is clear that quite often I have been wasting my time, because Priceline has several times rejected my bid when it has accepted bids from others at the same or similar times and when rates were similar. But sometimes I can get a bid still accepted - usually only when I get the price right on my very first bid. Strange huh? :) Renaissance Pineisle Resort And Golf Club Check-In Date: Sunday, August 1, 2004 Check-Out Date: Monday, August 2, 2004 Lake Lanier 9000 Holiday Road Lake Lanier Island, Georgia 30518 770-945-8921 Your Offer Price: $65.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $65.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $15.32