pterrell

The wife wanted a 4*, but "accepted" a 3* when I explained Fresno doesn't have any 4*. :) I first tried the poorly named "Pinedale/UC Fresno" zone, hoping for the Residence Inn. But bidding up to $70/night for 3* went nowhere. Started bidding on the Fresno zone with $49/night. Rebid $52/night accepted. This will be my first time staying at the Four Points after years of driving past it. Your Offer Price: $52.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 3 Subtotal: $156.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $28.51 Total Charges*: $184.51 I started my bidding from the BetterBidding PRICELINE links.

Looks like there's a story to my brother's stay at Atlantis. The desk clerk set them up with a Disabled-access room in the motor lodge, but the key would not work. They desk clerk had my brother try three keys before "giving up" and setting them up with a room "on the seventh floor". Not sure how big of an upgrade it was, but the room had "vanilla bath soap". :) And my brother's SO put what was saved on the room into the slots...

Little brother and his SO are taking dad up to Boise, stopping in Reno for the night. So I used Hotwire to get a room at the Atlantis Motorlodge. Dad shuffles along now, so a motor lodge room will be a short walk from the car. And then my brother's SO can go to the casino and enjoy the "lights of Reno". And it looks like I got a $10 better rate than what I got in Nov 2007 when I made the trip with mom. I wonder if it's the last minute thing because when I checked at noon to confirm it was available, the rate was listed at $34. Hotel rate per night: $26.00 Nights: 1 Rooms: 1 Subtotal: $26.00 Tax recovery charges & fees: $9.70 Total price: $35.70 Amenities match the BetterBidding list: Casino, Shuttle, Restaurant, Pool, Fitness, Hi-Speed Internet, Business, Spa, Golf, Tennis I used the HOTWIRE form on Betterbidding to start the bid. And I'll use my Entertainment Book rebate to get a few more $$ back...

$50 opening bid accepted. I used BetterBidding's PRICELINE links to start. My brother and his SO are going to Bakersfield tomorrow to visit my folks, who are staying at the Residence Inn. I was hoping for an Residence Inn win, but got DoubleTree instead. Many TripAdvisor reviews are negative or "average", so I hope that they have a good stay. :) Room Cost (avg. per room, per night): $50.00 (USD) Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Room Subtotal: $50.00 (USD) Taxes and Fees: $13.72 (USD) Total Room Cost: $63.72 (USD)

And I asked for a room with a microwave, sighting the need to heat the babies formula. The clerk had one delivered to the room with no charge. And there was a fridge in the cabinet under the TV. So the dinner leftovers were kept cold and then heated for a late night snack. :)

Whops. Forgot to report that I did use the PRICELINE link to start my bid. Thanks again, thereuare!

$51 opening bid on 3*, accepted at Courtyard by Marriott What's that saying about the hot iron strikes only once? At noon, I tried to extend my previous stay at Residence Inn, but of course the cut off is 11am (shouldn't it be the same time as checkout, which is 1pm at the Residence Inn...). The wife and I took that as I sign we should head out of town. But by the time we said bye to everyone, and stopped for a late lunch, the sun was already going down. So I used the Wi-Fi, rolled the dice, and got a hotel "across the river". Not as great of a savings as AAA rate with tax is $89.60. But the savings will cover breakfast tomorrow with the family. :-) Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $51.00 Subtotal: $51.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $13.87 Total Charges*: $64.87

What good luck!! I was hoping for the Residence Inn and got it. It's one of five 3* in Bakersfield. $51 was opening bid and it was accepted. (A little high, but Bakersfield has no free zones and I was bidding at 7pm, so I didn't want to mess around with rebids...) Mom and Dad's house in Fresno burned down Monday. The insurance company put them up at the Residence Inn in Bakersfield to be close to my sister. Before making the drive down, I saw the hotel showing up in the list and a couple of bids being accepted. But only a few times. I checked on the web and the lowest price was $94/night for AAA. So with the wife's permission, I "rolled the dice" and won. The desk clerk kindly put us next door to my parent's room. So I've trooped the new "grandson" over to see them a couple of times while the wife was doing her thing in the room. And of course there's a fridge and microwave in the room! And the new "grandson" is the reason I haven't posted since July. My little boy came a couple of months early and the wife and I have been busy ever since. The pediatrician OKed him for long trips at the end of Dec. And of course I started my bid using the BetterBidding PRICELINE form. Room Cost (avg. per room, per night): $51.00 (USD) Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 2 Room Subtotal: $102.00 (USD) Taxes and Fees: $21.04 (USD) Total Room Cost: $123.04 (USD)

Okay, had a good night's sleep... Title change is incorrect as the Airport zone no longer exists...Of course, if you're hoping Priceline is going to change it back... My brother brought my father and mother up by Amtrak for an overnight visit. On their return, I Pricelined this hotel. I saw La Quinta was on Hotwire for $106! So I made only one attempt at a 2* for $50. Started a new session for 2.5* at $60, then used the only free rebid for $69 to match the last win. So my little brother got to reminisce about his old hometown with three hotels over the past week. And the Holiday Inn should bring back memories as when we were kids, our next door neighbor would "sneak" my brother and me into the hotel to swim in the pool with her daughter while she enjoyed drinks poolside. As to luck, my brother's was bad. Amtrak lost his checked in baggage. So a downtown hotel would have been better. But then it's only about a 10 minute drive on the new freeway. And of course I used the PRICELINE links to support the board!!

Posting this win to start a thread. I'll post back in the morning with more details and hopefully an amusing story. Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $69.00 Subtotal: $69.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $16.38 Total Charges*: $85.38

As detailed in this Priceline Hotel thread, tried to extend a stay at the La Quinta. Got the Radisson instead on a bid of $54 and a counteroffer of $69. With no free rebid zones and not wanting to send little brother clear across town, I took the counteroffer. Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $69.00 Subtotal: $138.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $26.08 Total Charges*: $164.08 Used the PRICELINE link to start the bidding...

It's hard to negotiate when there's so few zones!! Little brother decided that he'd like to continue his stay in Fresno to Thursday. Since that $48/night price bothered me, I had my wife bid $44/night. No go. Then tried to extend the stay. No go, including no counteroffer. Hmmm... Whipped up an account for little brother and bid $54. Counteroffered at $69. With no free zones to rebid, I took it. ($69 still beat HOTWIRE and website's lowest rates.) Only problem: the hotel is the Radisson, so little brother will need to check out and check in down the street. But knowing him, he'll get a big kick out of staying at the Radisson.

And it was my "little brother" making the journey back to the hometown of Fresno. He too likes to make his travels flexible, so I was waiting to the last minute to make sure he didn't want to camp out with any old friends or stay in Bakersfield with my sister. I told him to request a room with a fridge and microwave and see if La Quinta comped him... I won't be going down to Fresno for a while. As my pregnant wife and I were preparing for a trip the first weekend of August, her OB decided it was best to get the baby out a couple of months early. They are both healthy now, but not fit for traveling until the new year...

Sorry I had to run off before reporting on the zone changes. I believe this will update Fresno... Fresno 3* Four Points 3* Holiday Inn 3* Radisson 2.5* Courtyard Airport REVIEW 2* La Quinta Inn REVIEW Fresno (Fresno West) 2* Crossland Fresno Fresno (Pinedale - UC Fresno) 2.5* Country Inn and Suites 2.5* Courtyard 2* Extended StayAmerica North Notes: The Fresno zone incorporates downtown Fresno with the airport. The Radisson in Visalia (note correct spelling) is now a Marriott. Visalia is no longer part of Fresno search. Three Courtyards were on the old list. There are only two in Fresno. "UC Fresno" is an interesting name for the zone containing CSU Fresno, known by sports fans as FSU or Fresno State. Priceline may want to correct this...

Priceline must have caught on to how easy it was to get the lowest prices on a last minute room in Fresno! Fresno has been remapped to three zones and outlying cities have been dropped! Since I'd only given myself half an hour before the 8pm PST deadline, I started bidding on 2.5* at $46 to see if I could get the Courtyard. No go. So did the "crazy" and went for $48 and dropped to 2*. Got the La Quinta. Hotwire showed the La Quinta at $56, so I figured that it would be unlikely for me to get the La Quinta for one of the rock bottom prices I've scored before. At least I beat the Hotwire rate. Started bidding from the PRICELINE link. (Or at least I hope I did...finding that rezoning threw me off and I switched browsers to confirm what I saw...)

I just discovered a $47.04 charge to the card I handed the desk clerk for "incidentals". I'm kicking myself for not getting a paper receipt when I checked out. I called the Courtyard and they're "checking on it". But my mom was happy that I stayed. It turned out her ears were stuffed with wax and the doctor cleaned them out. Now she can again hear my father and I talking about her across the house.

I was thinking that the raised price might because one day was in higher demand and I was willing to stay at that location for one day at the same price. But the locked counter-offer makes sense from PRICELINE's side. Thanks for the info.

When I tried to extend my $46/night stay at ESA Fresno, I initially selected extending by two days. When Priceline offered the extension at $52/night, I was curious what would happen if I extended by just one night. But everytime I tried to get to the Extend Your Stay page to select one night, it would redirect me to the two night offer. I even switched from Firefox to IE to see if it was a cached cookie, but still the two nights. Once an extended stay is offered at another price, is that it? In addition, when I try to review the "trip" on Priceline, it keeps on repeating that it can't extend the stay and my credit card has not been charged. I can't see the "invoice" information. (As I posted, in the end I started a new bid for two nights and got a better hotel for the $46/night. So I'm glad that one night wasn't offered!)

It also sounds like a problem with the computer you were using as I don't recall ever seeing a message about displaying unsecure information in a Priceline transaction.

I had problems with the Internet on both nights, which delayed me in the morning. So I asked for a late check out and was given to 1:00pm. (I was told the previous visit that noon was the latest late check out.) When I checked out at 1:00pm, the clerk asked about the stay, I commented about the Internet problems, so she refunded the $4.99 charge. And the location being across town again worked out: the wife found a used item on Craigslist that she really wanted and it turned out that the seller lived just a few blocks from the ESA.

Extended my stay by a day. Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $46.00 Subtotal: $46.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $13.12 Total Charges for Add. Night Res.*: $59.12 Momma's hearing went bad last week and I'm going to force her to go see her doctor tomorrow. The Courtyard has a microwave downstairs, so the wife can go heat up her soup, which is now on ice in the ice chest. So not as convenient as ESA or the "upgraded rooms" at the LQ, but much nicer. :)

Tried to extend stay at Extended Stay and was offered only at $52/night. Started from the BetterBidding PRICELINE link and tried a few bids starting at $42 for Pinedale, $44 for Fresno, and $46 for the airport. So I'll save a few bucks, be a bit closer to my parents house, and have an "upgraded" room. Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $46.00 Subtotal: $92.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $19.54 Total Charges*: $111.54

If you're just trying to break up a drive between Las Vegas and San Francisco, then you might not want to go to Los Angeles. It will add another hundred miles and several hours to your drive, especially if you get caught in traffic. Unless you want to go to some particular tourist destination, such as Hollywood, or just want to see the LA skyline, then it would be best to stop somewhere in Central California. Bakersfield has several good 2.5* and 3* hotels that show up in Priceline from $40 to $60. Few would consider Bakersfield a tourist destination, but if that's not your goal in LA, then Bakersfield would be a good stopover.

Time for another trek to the hometown...and a revisit to the ESA. HOTWIRE showed LQ at a higher than usual price, and then it disappeared, so I didn't put much hope on that. The wife didn't like the smaller sized TV in the ESA from the last visit, so I tried to get a 2.5* or 3.0*. The HI and 4 Points were on HOTWIRE for $109. Started bidding at $45 and stopped at $60, using all the rebid zones that Fresno has to offer. I decided to see if I could beat last time bid for ESA and got accepted at $42 after a reject at $40. As to the small TV, I'm upgrading my parents to a new digital HDTV, so maybe I can setup their old analog TV for the two nights. And of course the ESA has that all important fridge and microwave... And of course I used the BetterBidding links to PRICELINE to get things going... :) Your Offer Price: $42.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 2 Subtotal: $84.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $18.39 Total Charges*: $102.39

A new addition to the PRICELINE list for Fresno (Pinedale) Had a hard time picking up a deal this time. Wanted to go over the weekend but HOTWIRE availability was really down, which indicated something big happening in town. I saw that the Courtyard Airport was showing up, but bidding up to $50 for a 2.5* using all available rebids didn't get it. So wanted the LQ, but rebidding is limited, so I thought I'd try adding Pinedale zone as nothing was listed for 2* in Betterbidding. Got the ESA. Irony: It's across the street from my mom's doctor's office, but she decided she didn't want me to take her there on this visit "cause it's too hot". Good points are a guaranteed fridge and microwave for the wife. Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $43.00 Subtotal: $86.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $18.62 Total Charges*: $104.62