bluedevils

Weds Jan 13 2016 - Sat Jan 16 2016 (3 nights). $68 per night. Amenities (as listed on Hotwire website): Free Internet, Restaurant, Boutique Hotel, Business Center, Internet Access. One amenity, Internet Access, was listed only AFTER booking. It also was listed on the BetterBidding 'helper' search site after clicking the green 'show all amenities' button. Same price on the same dates for 2 adults or 3 adults. This property was not previously in the BetterBidding list. This win should help answer the open question from a few recent threads about 4* Downtown/Inner Harbor stays. Based on Hotwire indicating that the property had between 1 and 100 TripAdvisor reviews, and showing the reviews were 4.x out of 5, it seemed very likely that this was the Hotel Indigo. Used the BetterBidding Hotwire link to book. This Hotel Indigo has excellent reviews and looks like a beautiful property. $68 per night plus tax ($254 all in for 3 nights) is a great value.

Amenities Listed: Pet friendly Indoor pool(s) Airport Shuttle Fitness Center Pool(s) Restaurant(s) Business Center High-Speed Internet Access Accessible for the blind Accessible for the deaf Accessible path of travel In-room accessibility Accessible bathroom Handicapped parking Roll-in shower

No 4 star listings for Rochester. Figured it was Radisson or Hyatt. On paper, this Hyatt is a higher caliber property than the Radisson, but Radisson has better reviews on Tripadvisor. Can't complain about the price -- $89 was much cheaper than booking the Hyatt or Radisson directly. Used the betterbidding HOTWIRE link to book.

Expected and got the Hyatt Place. Very nice newer property. Great value. Hyatt.com rate was $104 + taxes. Used the betterbidding PRICELINE link to purchase. If I recall, bid $50 first and was turned down. Suggested immediate re-bid of $58 accepted. Summary of Charges Room Cost (avg. per room, per night): $58.00 (USD) Apply for our new priceline rewards Visa card today. Get cash back. choose your card Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Guests Per Room: 2 Number of Nights: 1 Room Subtotal: $58.00 (USD) Taxes and Fees: $15.86 (USD) Total Room Cost: $73.86 (USD) (All prices are in US dollars)

4.5* New York City (Times Square - Theatre District) InterContinental New York Times Square Amenities: Fitness Center, Restaurant(s), Business Center, High-Speed Internet Access 2 adults + 1 child. $143 per night for 2 nights. Purchased using a HOTWIRE link on this website... I appreciate how helpful this site is for Hotwire and Priceline research. This 4.5* listing was not there in the 2-3 days prior to today. Today, it popped up and was a bit cheaper than the 4* Times Square listings. In the previous 2-3 days, the 4* listings were $144-146 depending on the number of adults/children (combinations totaling 3 or 4 people). Today, the 4* listings were more expensive, but the 4.5* listing showed up @ $143/night. Seems to make sense that the Intercontinental was bumped up from 4* to 4.5*. It had better Tripadvisor ratings than the other three hotels in Hotwire's 4* category having the same amenities (Fitness, Restaurant, Business, High-Speed Internet).

Tonight we bought a hotwire hotel room for February. It was a 4.5* and the hotel was the Intercontinental Times Square. So it appears Hotwire has bumped the Intercontinental up from 4* to 4.5*.

Howie, the bright side for me is that I'm not personally staying on this reservation; it was booked by a family member even though I told him it was possible that this was the Jameson Inn. For $42, they are satisfied so it's not all that bad of a result, but it would have been much nicer if they have Hyatt Place instead.

turns out this was indeed the Jameson Inn :) Can't complain for the price, but it is disappointing to see Jameson Inn billed as a 3* when the Trip Advisor reviews seem to state clearly that it is inferior to Hyatt Place. Sorry the booking was not done via this site; it was made by a relative and I was not able to place it myself.

Very late update -- we really enjoyed our stay at this hotel. Breakfast was good, although the Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches were a letdown (microwave them from refrigerated). Hotel was very sharp, newer, nice. Great location across the street from University of Notre Dame. We were told by staff that Priceline rooms were not allowed to be put in 2 queen bedrooms, but the staffer on the phone took care of us anyway.

Weds April 6, 2 adults. $41 rate. 3* hotel, amenities listed on Hotwire.com are Breakfast, Fitness, Pool, Hi-Speed Internet. Trip Advisor reviews are 3.5 star average. Betterbidding.com lists only one 3* hotel, Hyatt Place, in South Bend - Notre Dame - Mishawaka. But the Trip Advisor ratings average and amenities do not match up with Hyatt Place. They DO match up with Jameson Inn, which is listed on Betterbidding.com as 2.5*. Any guesses on this?

Didn't play this like a pro but it worked out alright. First bid $37 on 2.5* Mishawaka-Granger, hoping for 2.5* Courtyard (has pool AND hot tub, and a newer property) or 3* Hyatt Place. Bid rejected, PL suggested I increase bid by $15 to $52 and re-bid...um, no thanks! Added South Bend zone and bid $42. Was expecting a 3*, either Hyatt Place in Mishawaka-Granger, Marriott in SB, or Residence Inn in SB. Bid accepted for Fairfield Inn & Suites South Bend at Notre Dame which was NOT on the betterbidding pinned hotel list. This looks like a new property, less than 6 months old, across the street from Notre Dame, really good breakfast, indoor pool, and 24 hr gym. Pretty happy with the outcome...just hope we are accommodated in a 2-queen room when I call later. Someonen on tripadvisor.com reported a bad experience with room choice. Used this site's PRICELINE link to start my bid process, even though it costs me a couple bucks in foregone cash back through other sites! Keep up the good work on this site.

**Can the mods delete or update the title of this thread? I find the title thing very confusing when creating a new topic. Do the price and dates go in the Topic Description field?** 3* Detroit (Auburn Hills-Lake Orion) Hyatt Place Auburn Hills $43 ... 12/17 - 12/19/2010 Very happy. Expected Hyatt Place Auburn Hills and got it. This property and dates was $41 a few days ago when I checked, but had gone up to $43 today when I booked. NOTE: Hotwire amenities seem to include 'non-smoking property' when 1 or 2 kids are in the search parameters. When 0 kids, the 'non-smoking property' is not listed in the amenities. Amenities same as listed on betterbidding.com (with no kids in search): Breakfast, internet, business center, fitness, pool. Used the betterbidding.com HOTWIRE link. Love this website!

Booked 3.5* Troy-Madison Heights area on Priceline. Troy Marriott 5/22/09-5/24/09, $46/night. Should I start a new thread since it is a separate data point? First bid $42/night which was the previously accepted price at Ramada Plaza Troy for 5/23/09-5/24/09. Rejected. 2nd bid $46/night and added the Warren zone, which does not have any 3.5* properties. Accepted. $46/night for a Marriott in a nice suburb seems like a GREAT deal. Used Better Bidding's PRICELINE link to book the reservation.

Update to this reservation... got an email from Priceline yesterday advising me that the hotel name had changed and that the hotel no longer serves lunch and has only 'limited' room service. I was planning to go thru with the reservation, but since the email suggested I call Priceline customer service if I had any questions/concerns, I did. The agent ended up saying that Priceline considered this only a 2.5* property now, rather than the 3.5* on which I had bid. They offered me a refund, and I accepted. This seemed like pretty good customer service, and I am happy to report it. Will most likely book another Priceline reservation for same date but have not done so yet. Wonder if Priceline has updated its systems so the Ramada Plaza no longer will be a possibility if bidding on 3.5* in Troy-Madison Heights area.

Yep, I didn't realize until after I booked that I was *assuming* the Pasadena hotel list on BB was comprehensive. I looked at the Sheraton and Westin reviews on Trip Advisor and the data was not a match for what Hotwire showed. I even looked at a few other hotels on TripAdvisor looking for a match based on the reviews, but inexplicably did NOT peek at the Hilton. The room is for someone else, and they are looking forward to trying out the Hilton for comparison purposes, having previously stayed at the Westin and Sheraton.

Went the HOTWIRE route after striking out on Priceline @ $65, 70, 74, and 79 per night. Was surprised not to win something at $79/night thru PRICELINE. Hilton Pasadena is not listed in BetterBidding's Pinned Hotwire Los Angeles list. Perhaps it can be added now? Used this site's HOTWIRE link for purchase. Amenities for the hotel: pool, fitness center, restaurant, business center, high-speed internet. Those amenities were an exact match for the Sheraton (the Westin is the same plus 'non-smoking'), so I figured we'd win the Sheraton, which we enjoyed back in March. Slightly disappointed to win the Hilton instead, since the TripAdvisor reviews are not as good, but $89/night seems like a really good rate for Pasadena on these dates. Expedia was $139/night for Sheraton and $163/night for the Hilton. The Hilton is a very close match for the Trip Advisor review details on the Hotwire page (3.0 out of 5 rating, 40 reviews last review April 2009) and the Sheraton isn't, so I probably should have suspected this listing was the Hilton - serves me right for taking the BB pinned list as 'gospel' :)

Dates must have truncated from the title as in another thread I started. 5/23/09 - 5/24/09 Is the 2nd line or subtitle of the thread entered and maintained by the moderators, or is it populated by the 'Description' field when a user creates the thread? Just want to make sure I am doing things right as I go along. I'm not *extremely* disappointed with the Ramada Plaza, and I knew it was a possibility since I realized a couple weeks back that the property had changed hands from Hilton to Ramada. We aren't too picky, so chances are we'll enjoy the stay. Keep up the good work with the site.

Pretty disappointed with this 'win' :) The Ramada Plaza Troy recently took over the former Hilton Troy. The reviews on Tripadvisor are less than stellar. It sounds like 3.5* is a real stretch for this hotel, based on what I've read. I was hoping this Ramada was NOT in the Priceline list, but it turns out that it is. $42 is a good price and the location is good for our needs, but I was hoping for the Marriott Troy or the Marriott Pontiac Centerpoint. Oh well. Actually, I would have been happier at the same price with the 3* Embassy Suites Troy, which recently completed an $8m total renovation and apparently is extremely nice. Guess I should have spent more time thinking through my bid strategy. Steps: 1. Linked to PRICELINE thru betterbidding's link :) 2. Bid $40 for 3.5* in Auburn Hills - Pontiac zone. Rejected. 3. Added Troy-Madison Heights zone and bid $42. Accepted. As long as we can get a room with 2 double beds and the pool is open while we are there, this hotel will probably do the job for us.

Yes, the plans are firm for those dates. I like the idea of getting a 4* from PRICELINE for the same price range as the HOTWIRE 3* (mid to low $40s/night), but our group probably wouldn't get much added value from the nicer hotel -- especially if parking and/or breakfast aren't free. We're looking for a hotel that is newer and in good shape, with a decent pool and that's about it. Thanks again to all who responded. I'll update the thread as appropriate.

Thanks for the feedback. I will update the thread as things unfold. The need to be in Park Ridge is only for a 3-hour meeting on one day, so having to drive 20-30 min to get there isn't a major issue.

We recently stayed here. 2 rooms -- 1 King room with a nice view overlooking the outdoor pool and 1 two double bed room with a plain-jane view. Overall, we were very pleased especially considering we paid $74/night+tax (average cost of the two rooms) thru a promo and with coupon on Expedia. Relatives normally stay at the Westin and they said while the Sheraton is not quite as nice as the Westin, the location is even better and the value is much greater. Overall, staff were very friendly throughout the hotel. I was nervous since we had booked a very low rate thru Expedia, but we were treated nicely throughout our stay. Rooms were clean. Only issue with 1 room was 1 wand to close the drapes had fallen off. We did not mention this. The HVAC unit in the other room was not blowing cold enough air even with the digital thermostat set down to 70F. The maintenance man arrived promptly after we called the front desk and just as quickly fixed the issue (something to do with a shorted-out relay switch). Beds and bedding very comfortable. Starbucks coffee in room was an unexpectedly nice touch. Fridge in room came in very handy. Nice outdoor pool. Not huge, but plenty big for the kids and 2-3 dozen sunbathers. No hot tub was a bit of a drawback, but not a big deal for us. We did not eat at the restaurant at all so I cannot comment on it. Two nice newer Dell XPS desktop computers at the Sheraton Link. Wish in-room internet was free, but these machines were never busy so we used them instead of paying for in-room internet. I was told there are 3 more computers available in the business center. Nice newer bathroom. On the small side, but very adequate. The room with 2 double beds was much larger than we expected -- noticeably larger than the king room. The king room was decent sized. Parking was fine -- would have liked free parking but we had no problems finding a spot in the attached convention center underground parking deck. $13/day including taxes. The fitness center had decent equipment (higher-end elipticals/treadmills) although with the nice weather I didn't try it out. Overall, we really enjoyed our stay here and would come back again. Very good value for Pasadena area.

Looking for decent 3* or better for weekend Fri and Sat nights 8/7-8/9/09. Need to be in the area of Park Ridge so am looking at O'Hare North. Really have the itch to book the Hyatt Itasca ($46/night) because of great reviews (plus free parking and breakfast), but it's ~ 20 minutes from Park Ridge. Are rates likely to increase between now and August? I'm reluctant to book Priceline or Hotwire room so far in advance because they are nonrefundable, but also don't want to end up paying more $ later. We may or may not venture to downtown Chicago and possibly visit friends near Wrigley. Hotwire shows $45 3-star in O'Hare North with these amenities for the above dates: Shuttle, Fitness, Pool, Restaurant, Laundry, High-Speed Internet, Golf. I don't see an exact amenities match in the pinned hotel list. Any suggestions/ideas? Thanks in advance. Will definitely book via this site's PRICELINE or HOTWIRE link when the time comes.

mods, I did not realize my Thread Title would get truncated. I re-entered it at the beginning of the original post but could not figure out how to edit the thread title as I can do on other forum sites. Is this possible for me to do, or will I need you clean it up for me?

3* Detroit (Auburn Hills - Lake Orion) Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza $64 4/18/09 - 4/19/09 Read many good things about the pool area at this hotel, and that was the major reason we booked it. $64/night + $16 (!) fees. 25% taxes/fees is crazy high. Rate for 2 adults + 2 children. Amenities shown before booking were an exact match for this hotel as reported in the Pinned Hotwire Michigan hotel list: Fitness / Pool / Restaurant / Business Center / Laundry / High-Speed Internet / Golf. Price on Hotwire fluctuated the past 2-3 days for the same 4/18-19 stay dates - starting at $59, $61, $59, $57, $65, and $64. I was at the final part of the booking earlier today @ $57 and pressed 'Book My Trip' only to be told that the specified room/rate was no longer available :) For comparison, I tried Priceline for a 3.5* room in Auburn Hills or Troy areas, but got rejected @ $35, 37, 40, 42, and 44 (plus tax). Re-bidding several times is possible because 3 areas (Sterling Heights/Utica, Warren, and Bloomfield Hills) in Detroit Suburbs lack 3.5 star properties, so you can add one as necessary and re-bid immediately. Probably could have gotten something for $50+tax at Priceline, but unsure which hotel and I was a bit wary of the Hilton Suites Auburn Hills and Ramada Plaza Troy (until days/weeks ago the Hilton Troy) both of which are reported to be pretty worn, dated, and/or dirty. Would have liked to get the Crowne Plaza Auburn Hills (1500 N. Opdyke Road, Auburn Hills MI 48326) at a lower rate thru Priceline, but too many other Priceline 3* hotels made it impossible to know which one I'd get. In the end, it was worth an extra 20 bucks or so to be almost 100% certain I'd get this exact hotel thru Hotwire. I *THINK* I used the TOBB.com HOTWIRE link. If not, my apologies. Ran so many searches for this room and had some website issues with Hotwire, that I may have forgotten to link from BB to Hotwire on the session where I finally booked the room. One other note: same date and area search with 2 adults and ZERO children -- saw a $49 rate in Auburn Hills / Lake Orion. Not sure if the same Crowne Plaza or a different property -- nothing on betterbidding.com was an exact or close match. Amenities for zero children room that I did NOT book: Pool / Fitness / High-Speed Internet / Business / Laundry / Tennis / Breakfast / Kitchenette. Compared with the room I booked, this zero-kid room added tennis, breakfast, and kitchenette and was missing restaurant and golf. Great site, very useful!

the Hilton Troy must have very recently changed hands. There's no Hilton Troy on www.hilton.com any more. The address and phone number now are for Ramada Plaza Troy.