tigers

:D Bid $70 + $5.00 bonus cash (for $75.00 total) and won a night at the Hyatt House Richmond-West (Short Pump). Bid was accepted on first try. It is a weeknight, but it is a holiday (July 4th), so I don't know if that impacted the accepted price. This Hotel was formerly known as the Hotel Sierra. It is in a prime location and offers many amenities. There was another 3 Star hotel in the same zone that I was less interested in, so I'm quite pleased the Hyatt accepted my bid. I give credit to information on Better Bidding for winning the property I wanted. People who bid less seemed to also win, but at the other 3 star hotel. Thanks to the Better Bidding community!! (Used the BB PRICELINE link) :)

I waited until it was closer to the time of the rental and it paid off. I got a full size car from Hertz for $21/day plus taxes/fees. Of course I used the link to PRICELINE from this site. Thanks for your advice, thereuare. I had a reservation made directly with one of the major car rental companies that I made in May- $50/day including all taxes & fees. Betterbidding is the best!!! Should I post my winning bid elsewhere on this site?

Thanks for the response, thereuare. Barring a serious flight delay, we've finalized the itinerary, arriving in Santa Barbara on July 9th, and staying for 6 nights. I haven't put in my bid in the Goleta zone yet. I was waiting to see if anyone had some more information about the Holiday Inn possibly dropping to a two star property. The very lowest price I found, trying various discount codes, sales, etc. was about $155/day (averaged-some dates higher or lower) at the Ramada in Goleta. Hotwire has the Holiday Inn at $165 when the property's name is identified, and at $142 when the name is not revealed (but it fits the description for the Holiday Inn). Based on this data, when would you suggest serious bidding, and in what price range (with the lowest retail prices noted above)? It would be simple to bid around $140 and get accepted, but times are tough in my household, and I'm hoping to do better. Also, if anyone has feedback on whether they have the Ramada or the H.I. as a 2 &1/2 star in the Goleta zone (if you remember, we prefer the Ramada, but, of course, we bid by zone and not specific property), or any other updated info about the Santa Barbara zone, or the Goleta zone, by all means your advice is most welcome! :) :) PS. We could also bid for a 3 star in the Santa Barbara zone. We stayed at the Mar Monte back when it was the Raddison or the Sheraton and we liked it. I'm presuming that since it is across from the beach, and is a 3 star, it will cost a fair amount more than a Ramada or Holiday Inn off the highway and several miles from the ocean.

As noted in the title, my pickup is July 9th at LAX, and I will return the vehicle in 8 days (7/17). I haven't rented at LAX since 2009, when my bid of $21/day for a week was accepted for a full size car. I just finished bidding on a full size, standard size , and compact SUV with Priceline (via the link found at Better Bidding) with no luck. I bid $25 for the full size, $30 for the standard, and $35 for the compact SUV. I don't know if it means anything, but the (negative) response on the $35 bid took twice as long as the other bids. Priceline touts (on the web site) winning bids of $21/day for both the full size car and the compact SUV, when bidding is placed 5-7 days before pickup. Are those prices only for weekend bookings, or should prices in that range be available at some point for a weekly rental, too? [Most locations drop prices on the weekends and raise them for business travelers during the weekdays]. When I was bidding, Priceline implied that a bid in the $50-60 range was likely to be accepted. Well, yeah, since Hotwire will rent a full size car for $44/day for the same time period, and $15/day when I checked on an early June pickup also for 8 days!. Put another way, an I just bidding too far ahead of my trip? Do the rental companies wait to see what the inventory looks like closer to the rental before accepting a lower price? Other than a huge special event in L.A. I don't know about, I'm guessing that Priceline is like Hotwire. Put in dates 45 days in advance and expect a high price. Put in dates ten days from now and the price goes from $44 to $15. I seem to recall advice (maybe on this site, or maybe from elsewhere-I can't remember) to make a regular reservation with a reputable car rental company first (one that the customer can cancel without any penalty of fee) as early as possible. Then, when it gets to within a couple of weeks before traveling, go to Priceline and bid. If they have unsold inventory, that's when they will accept a lower price. Does that advice make sense to people? Or should I expect that I will have to bid over $35 for the vehicles mentioned at LAX in 2011, no matter if I'm bidding 6 weeks out or 6 days out? Thanks for any advice. My inclination is to stay off Priceline for the car until the end of June. Of course, there's no harm in bidding $20 for my full size every day for a month, too, except for the time and effort involved. Naturally, any rebidding will be done using the link found on Better Bidding. :) I will follow up if/when I have anything to report.

We are traveling to Santa Barbara in mid July (gone before the annual Fiesta special event). Our estimated arrival date is July 9 for six nights, but it's still possible that we may not arrive until the 10th (since weekend rates in SBA are higher). We saw on Priceline a listing for a 2

Sorry- I am considering either the Santa Monica Zone or the Redondo Beach zone, and I am looking both on Hotwire and Priceline. As you mentioned, though, it is for the same dates. I will keep all the updates together on the Priceline page, if that is what you suggest. I did not realize that I was not following the guidlines. Thanks for the heads-up. :) Wow! I didn't expect anyone would give my question this much attention. I'm really grateful, and I hope it helps others on BetterBidding. I'm not trying to quibble with Hotwire or complain concerning the "pool at the Q.I. Hermosa Beach. I mainly brought it up because it confused me in identifying the property. I don't think anyone is trying to fool people. I just wanted to be on the same page as Hotwire. This property seems quite nice for the price. I did see what is likely the 4* Belamar Hotel was available, but that property has gotten several postings on Trip Advisor that are somewhat uncomplimentary on the same issue. Who knows if they are true, so I won't repeat it here. The price ($102) is tempting, though. It is only $13 more that what appears to be the Quality Inn Hermosa Beach ($89). I would have to pay a fair amount more up the road in Santa Monica for a 4* The Belamar is a Hotwire 4* and the Quality Inn is a Hotwire 2.5*; TripAdvisor says the Belamar is a 4* hotel class and the Q.I. is 2* hotel class. But TripAdvisor also gives Traveler Rating of 3.5 (bullets) to the Belamar and 4(bullets) to the Q.I. Hermosa Beach. Obviously, this is something for me to figure out. I would probably be satisfied with either property. Any thoughts on the ID of the 3* in the Redondo Beach zone? As I mentioned, I don't think the Best Western offers breakfast, so, again, I'm confused. Maybe it is the H.I Express in Manhattan Beach. It would fit the amenities, But HI Express is usually 2.5*. Hotwire does not give a TripAdvisor Traveler Rating for the 3* property.

Check in: June 26, 2009 for three nights. I have noted a posting indicating a Hotwire reservation for the Quality Inn & Suites Hermosa Beach. The amenities listed in NCC1701DATA's posting are Breakfast, Fitness, Pool, Laundry. I might be interested in this location, since Hermosa Beach would be a good location for my family, and the Quality Inn seems nice. My understanding, from reviewing the web site for that hotel, is that it has a whirlpool, but not a swimming pool. Does Hotwire consider a whirlpool to be a "pool"? I would be disappointed to bite on this expecting the Quality Inn Hermosa, and end up with something else, with the "pool" being an issue. :) Any thoughts?

I could use help with the identity of 3 hotels in the Redondo/Manhattan Beach Zone. 3*: Shuttle, Breakfast, Pool, Laundry & Internet (I would guess it is an updated description for the BW Sunrise in Redondo Beach, but I don't think they offer breakfast; the Quality Inn Hermosa Beach has a whirlpool but no pool) 2.5*: Breakfast, Fitness Center, Pool, Laundry. Trip Advisor Rating: 4 bullets 2*: Breakfast. Trip Advisor Rating: 3 bullets

I'm posting my rejected bid because there's no 4* activity reported for Santa Monica in recent months. I will be in LAX in June so I thought I would try bidding in this zone. I used the PRICELINE link from the Better Bidding site and started at $110 I used (free) rebids at the 4* level adding the Lawndale, Culver City, and Redondo Beach zones. None of those zones offer a hotel at the 4* level. My highest bid was $146 (per night) for my Fri-Sat-Sun stay and it was rejected. Priceline does currently let you make an initial 4* bid for Santa Monica, which at least implies that it has a participating hotel in this zone (on the opaque side). Who knows how high one has to bid at the 4* level in this zone to win? Hopefully, my unsuccessful experience gives some clue to others. I'm still working on my plans for Los Angeles and I'm mainly looking at the following zones: Santa Monica/Marina del Rey; Redondo Beach/Manhattan Beach; and possibly Brentwood/Westwood. Since I have a Monday MORNING flight, I don't want to be too far from LAX. The first 2 zones I mentioned also let you avoid the 24 hour traffic nightmare that is the 405 freeway. Is it ever not very busy near the airport? Once I tighten up my plans, I will bid using the Better Bidding PRICELINE link, and I'll let people know what happens. Bottom line: 4* in Santa Monica remains a mystery.

Rental Period: June 20, 2009-June 29, 2009 I linked to PRICELINE from the BetterBidding web site. Bid $18 for a Full size and was rejected. Rebid $19 for a Standard size and my price was accepted by Hertz. Subtotal: 171.00 Tax & fees: 73.34 Total: 234.34 By comparison, Hotwire had a full size listed for a TOTAL of $316 (including taxes & fees). My best price on car rental sites was $610 (from Budget). Reviewing the Better Bidding site was a BIG help in determining a reasonable bid. Thanks, BetterBidding. You guys are the best! I'm satisfied that i got a good price. I couldn't believe how expensive rates were directly from the car rental sites. Of course, I only rent from Hertz, Avis, Budget, National, Alamo, or Dollar. Maybe there are better deals from others, but I've had bad experience renting from secondary rental companies. My experience is, for the most part, standard size and full size cars are the same size, though a standard size may have 2 doors instead of 4. If anyone has experience renting a STANDARD size from Hertz at LAX, please reply on the vehicle you got.

Thanks to everybody for all of the advice. I ended up making a reservation with the Ramada Limited in Goleta. I tried bidding (through the link on this site) for fewer days (Sun, Mon, & Tues) with no luck. It appears that 3* hotels in SBA were not interested in Priceline at the time I was traveling. It is a relatively difficult market to get a winning bid through Priceline (compared to other markets I have visited). I knew a weekend booking through Priceline would be tough, but I didn't realize midweek would also be difficult. Hopefully, sharing my experience will help future travelers. Thanks again to everyone at Better Bidding. You guys are the best!

Thanks again for everyone's suggestions. I tried re-bidding through the link on this site, but with no luck. I bid as high as $140. As I noted in my original posting, the lowest rate for my dates at the 3* level Hotel Oceana is $178, according to the hotel's web site. My failed bid was about 80% of their lowest available rate. Colfax, you noted that in Priceline's retail section the Pacifica Suites in Santa Barbara are rated 2.5*. Unfortunately, Pacifica Suites is located in the Goleta zone, not the Santa Barbara zone. Pacifica Suites would be great, but I am concerned that others who had winning bids reported in the Goleta zone at the 2.5* zone got the Holiday Inn. I have stayed at this H.I. property and I didn't care for it for a variety of reasons. If anyone has won at the 2.5* level in the Santa Barbara zone, please share your results.

Thanks for your help, thereuare. You offered some good ideas! I tried rebidding at $125 and $130 without success. I rebid through the link on this site. I would lower my star rating to 2 or 2 1/2, but I hesitate for a couple of reasons. I have no clue what the 2 1/2 star property is in the Santa Barbara Zone. I've done some research and come up nearly empty. Maybe it is a new participant. Is it possible that Priceline lets you bid at that level even if it has no 2 1/ star properties in the Santa Barbara Zone? Also, does anyone have an idea what the hotel/motel might be? I also hesitate to bid at the two star level for one reason. Because I am traveling with children, I require a swimming pool. My understanding is that a there may be a 2 star in the Santa Barbara zone without a pool (Days Inn). Otherwise, I would include 2 stars in my bid. BTW, this applies to the 'mystery' 2 1/2 star property. If I bid successfully on it, and it has no pool, the family would be very unhappy with me. The need for a pool is the only reason I limited my bidding to 3 star properties. I came up with two possibles for the 2 1/2 star. If the 2 1/2 star is the Ramada Limited, I'd gladly bid. It has a pool. It's location on the Priceline map would be in the Santa Barbara Zone even though it really is in Goleta. thereuare, you mentioned this as a possibility in a post dated Aug 19 2008, 04:02 AM. Another site (which I won't mention) has this hotel as a possible 2 star. If it is the Holiday Inn Express (formerly Hotel Virginia), there is no pool. I consider my travel time to be the "shoulder" season. Weekends in SBA are busy year round with so many people visiting SBA form L.A. for the weekend. My midweek travel is AFTER graduation at UCSB (6/11-6/14) and before the annual Fiesta (8/5-8/9). Some properties may include June in their high season, but I'm pretty sure most consider it to be July and August. I agree that the 3 stars may be holding out for now, hoping to sell the rooms on their own sites. But if I wait a few weeks, I may end up getting shut out. I guess that's the chance one takes. Thanks again for your suggestions!!

Bids rejected for 3 Star Hotel in Santa Barbara; Santa Barbara Zone. Check in: Sun., June 21, 2009: check out: Fri., June 26th. Started bids at $105; rebid up to $120 . Maximum willing to bid: $130 Number of rooms needed: 1 3 Star Hotel listed on this site: Hotel Oceana Lowest rate for my dates: Hotel Oceana (hotel's web site), $178 Free rebid Zone for 3 Star: Goleta Priceline would allow bid on 2 1/2 star in the Santa Barbara Zone. Does anyone know what hotel it might be? Might consider2 1/2 star . Priceline would also allow bid on 2 star in the Santa Barbara Zone. Does anyone know what hotel it might be? Would also bid on 2 Star but pool is needed. Friday-Saturday are premium nights in SBA; I'm bidding Sun-Thurs. No special events known; July /August is the peak season. I'm not interested in the Goleta or Solvang Zones. Only the Santa Barbara Zone. Any advice? Thanks!