betsybug

Please teach me how to use Easy Click Travel. I tried to use Easy Click Travel for Chicago July 28-30 (2 nights). I couldn't figure out how to use the Easy Click Reverse Tool. I pasted the URL link for the whole list of 40 hotels. The message seemed to say I was supposed to e-mail the URL to you. Is that right? I'm trying to identify two hotels: Chicago $132 and River North/Mag Mile $153.

Belle - did you get a room? What is your price limit? Another good source for Chicago discounted rooms is hotrooms.com. But they are not nearly as cheap as PL or HW on a good day.

I would not stay in the suburbs and commute to downtown from O'Hare, Northbrook, or anywhere else. You want to be in this great city 100% of the time and not stuck in traffic in your car or a cab - or even on the Blue Line subway from 0'Hare. Your problem is with your $95 spending limit for an August weekend. Every weekend right now has high rates because there's a big festival or music every weekend and it's tourist season. Here are two suggestions to stay within your budget now that you've dropped the kids - provided the four adults are willing to stay in one suite room. There are several 2 room suite hotels downtown with a separate bedroom and a sofa bed in the living room - Homewood Suites, 2 Embassy Suites, Doubletree Guest Suites. All are Hilton hotels so check their rates on hiltonhhonors.com. Splitting the lowest rate there between two couples gets you to close to $100 a couple. Or you could look at Hotwire.com for your dates because (1) you can get for a room that will fit 4 people (unlike PL that only guarantees 2) and (2) the amenities listed include suite hotels - a box with a big "S". I can help you if you want to try a PL bid for two rooms - but you will have to raise your limit to $120. And tell me what you plan to do that weekend - museums, shopping, waterfront actvities, architectural tours, etc. That way I can advise you on the zones to bid.

You are very lucky. The Palmer House is showing lowest rate of $217. A few days later I bid this same zone and NMA up to $140 and from 2.5* to 4* and got nothing. I was just assuming (wrongly) that the hotels were imposing a 3 night minimum that weekend due to Venetian nights - not the baseball game.

What date did you win this bid? I was unsucessful bidding up to $140 for NMA & MP 2.5*-4* for the same dates bidding 7/13 & 7/14. This is wierd. The Palmer House has lowest rate now of $217 so you did just fine for an apparently busy weekend in Chicago. I did a cancellable backup at Hilton Chicago for $189 and will keep bidding.

The lowest rate was $161. Rates were higher elsewhere in Houston Easter week - $200 +. I rejected counteroffer that would have been $76. But I had to close out and start new bid to get out of the counteroffer cycle.

New hotel for the list for Airport-Midway area. Hotwire tells you in the Airport zone if it's an O-Hare or Midway hotel. Also, unlike Priceline, Hotwire does not include the 10 mile distant town of Aslip in the Midway region. Because of PL's large area that includes Aslip, some folks recommend avoiding PL for a Midway hotel and going with Hotwire even if it means more money. This time it was more money. This hotel is a 2* on PL and has been gotten for $45. It was worth it to me to pay the possibly $35 higher price to get easy access to the airport and the subway to go into town- but it may not be so for others. 3* Aiport - Oak Lawn Midway Airport Four Points by Sheraton Amenities: Shuttle, Pool, Restaurant, Fitness, Business This is in the hotel zone cluster on Cicero Ave just south of the airport. My research did not guess the hotel because I did not anticipate Hotwire's high rating of this 2* PL hotel as a 3* HW. From amenities and "Oak Lawn" in the name I guessed it was these 3* (Hilton Oak Lawn, Marriott Chicago Midway) or this 2.5* (Hilton Garden Inn).

A suggestion to our moderator. Because the new PL re-bid in 24 hours is so huge, should it be posted somewhere as a new topic or otherwise prominently marked? I saw the thread later on in this topic, but it could be missed by not putting it at the top some place.

I wanted a 2.5* to get free breakfast and parking. I started at $35 and took the offer to incrase by $9 because there are no free rebids. I was upgraded to teh 3* Sheraton downtown. I really wanted to see what PL would have at a 2.5* level - but no luck. The Sheraton rate was $125. So it's still a great deal. Note for all PL bidders. Anchorage now has only one zone. Without free rebids, I might change the general rule and seriously consider the offered increase, unless you are willing and have time to keep bidding every 72 hours.

This is a NEW hotel for Priceline in this zone. Please add to list. I needed NMA for weekend shopping trip. No luck at $65 for 3* and 4*. I like the 2.5* known hotels in this zone. So I increased bid to $70 (since I had no free re-bids) and was thrilled to get this great hotel. Lowest rate was $143 on hotel web site. I stayed there before at regular rate. Great location between red line Grand station and Michigan Ave across from Nordstroms. And it has hot free breakfast in the beautiful lobby bar. I read elsewhere that on Mon-Thu there is free "business" reception with hot food, too. The rooms are larger suite style - sofa bed in living room. There's a mini-kitchen with microwave and a refrigerator. And views! IMO all the 2.5* in this zone are acceptable to great already and most have breakfast and larger rooms. With this hotel there now I will bid this star level more often. The only problem is there are no free-rebids and you can't add MP/Loop unless you will accept the "upgrade" to the Club Quarters there. So bid early enough to bid often.

2 night stay over Thanksgiving. The lowest rate was $109. Rates for this zone and Millenium/Grant Park were pretty low ranging $89 (Hyatt Regency) to $169 (Westin) so I started low on the bids and hoped to pay only $55. But I like this hotel and the hotel parking garage across the street is relatively inexpensive. Bidding strategy was two separate bids for NMA/RN and Millenium/Grant Park because either zone was OK. I closed browser between bids. All bids on SavingsBarn. First Bid: MP/GP $40 + NMA/RN $45 + Skokie $50 Second Bid: NMA + MDW $55 + Skokie $60 +MP/GP $65

I am using Hotwire more because I can get suite hotels or other special properties there that I cannot get on PL. Also, the fees are lower. Usually around $6. Two examples from this week's trip to Dallas that covered two weekends. I got the Hilton Lakes at DFW Airport (Grapevine) for $70. A solid 4* resort like property with woods and trails. I wanted some place nice for a 3 day stay - better than the 3* Harvey Hotel that PL has for $35-40. This Hilton is no longer available on PL probably because Hilton pulled it to avoid being identified - it was the only 4* at the airport. The HW description let me know that I was either getting this hotel or equally nice hotels at Las Colinas. I did two bookings just to make sure it was this hotel for the first night. The fees were $6.21 and $6.68. The savings off the lowest rate ($109) was 35%. I got the 3.5* Sheraton Suites Market Center for $63. I wanted a suite in case my teen decided to stay with us instead of a relative. HW told me this was a suite. The lowest rate was $119 and that was also pre-paid on spg.com. This was almost a 50% savings. Again the fee was a low $6.10. Priceline fees have been more unpredictable and trending much higher in the $12-15 range.

I thought I was getting the Embassy Suites Love Field because the description said "adjacent to Love Field" - exact location of ES. If I had checked your list I would have realized it was this property. I am very pleased. I needed a suite in case my teen decided not to stay with her cousin. Lowest price on spg.com $119 (pre-paid internet). A 50% savings on Hotwire. The amenities for the Sheraton Suites Market Center are: Suite, Restaurant, Pool, Fitness, Business

It is in Grapevine just outside the north entrance of DFW airport. It is at 1800 Hwy 26 East - I think that's another name for Bass Pro Drive. Across the street from Bass Pro Shop and next door to Grapevine Mall.

This is a new hotel for Hotwire list. Amenities: Tennis, Pool, Business Center, Restaurant, Airport Shuttle Customer Favorite It did not show up on the Hotwire vacation list for these dates. I was almost certain I identified the hotel with my AAA book. The only other 4* in Grapevine or Las Colinas with this list was Embassy Suites Outdoor World but I thought HW would show it as "suites". It used to come up on Priceline in DFW-North as a 4* but no more - or there's speculation that it's been downgraded to 3* to maintain opacity for PL. Lowest rate Hotel web site $129 (hiltonhhonors.com)

First bid for concert night at the Palace - Paul McCartney. Lowest web rate was $99. I think this is a new hotel on this board.

Unsuccessful bid for 4* in airport zone up to $65 although lowest rate on hotel web site was $95 for Westin at the airport. Started new 3* bid at $37 and re-bid to $41 - common winning bids for this hotel. Lowest rate was $161. I got three of those pesky messages at $41 to bid $10 more. I only added a couple dollars and everytime the message reappeared. I finally got it to process the bid of $48.

The lowest web rate on Hilton site was $229. All other 3* hotels were around $250. I don't know why this Monday was so high. I was able to beat the $143 on the Best Western back-up I booked. It's in Spenard near the airport. When I lived in Anchorage we called domestic violence shootings a "Spenard divorce" so you can see what an upgrade the downtown Hilton is by comparison. Thank you, Priceline.

You are trying for a Saturday night only? There's a known Saturday night check-in problem in Chicago. It is rare to find a PL hotel in Chicago that allows a Saturday night as the first night or only night - at least at the 3* and 4* levels. I have seen myself when researching rates that hotels will show "sold out" for Saturday night on their web sites - when they have that night available for part of a stay that started earlier in the week. I know it sounds crazy since occupancy should be lower on the weekend. Have you tried Hotwire? I don't know if HW has the same Saturday problem.

I've noticed with Chicago in the past year that PL availability is getting tighter and rates are getting higher the closer to my trip. So for Chicago I have started following Theruare's advice - bid early as soon as when your dates are firm. I've seen other experienced users who recommend checking with convention web sites to see when blocked rooms are released. That's really time consuming. I have another hotel source for Chicago hotels only when PL and HW aren't working for you. It's hot Rooms

Over a three week period with the lowest rate remaining about $65 I made these 2* bids: $34, $40, $48 In this town there is only one 2* hotel - the Comfort Inn and no free rebids. Hence the high bid amounts to save a few dollars. PL still ended up getting me 3 nights for the price of 2.

This is a new Illinois city. Lucky for me only my husband has to go there for a family reunion. I get to be in NYC putting my daughter in acting school. Way better. $63 was the lowest web rate.

Without getting into too many details: 1. I have a copy of my actual bidding form for this $700 bid. The 3* and 4* were checked because I bid a 3*. The resort box was on the form but it was greyed out - and not checked. That's the evidence I have that I did not bid for a resort. 2. PL web site in the FAQ section makes it clear that resorts are not in the star level system. Resorts are in the "other classifications" section with boutique hotels. 3. The T&C you quoted warns of star level upgrades only. It does not mention changes to "other classifications". At any rate I have never lost a jury trial and see little to no risk of losing a case in my home town where I have written proof that I was stuck with a hotel type that PL did not tell me I could get. So my questions on where to sue PL still stands.

I am definitely going to check out HW for all future hotels because: 1. HW customer service actually exists. HW will talk to you on the phone and try to fix the problem. No cryptic and inapplicable e-mails from India. 2. HW posts sometimes show better properties 0r lower rates in some high priced cities (e.g. NYC, Chicago) or resorts (Las Vegas, Hawaii, Sandusky,OH). The beachfront properties are rarer on PL 3. I have never read a post on this or TOBB that said HW cheated them vs. numerous complaints by PL customers. 4. In some cities HW zones are smaller or better for tourists.

Interesting that the fraud unit of PL recommended a lawsuit. I am thinking of a small claim suit on a bid because I do have proof I did not bid for the hotel type (resort) that I "won". To you other lawyers out there: Is there personal jurisdiction over PL in all state courts because they did business with me via the web in my state (Michigan)? Or do they have to be sued in PL.com home state? And what state would that be? Anybody sue them and collect? In my case the loss is high enough, especially with Michigan's triple damages for cheated consumers, to entice me to take PL to court. And, yes, I know that I risk a ban for life from PL.