pmuppet

Looking at the successful winning bids for 5* hotels in Seoul, it appears $145-$155/night is the sweet spot. I am also traveling to Seoul in October. I will be booking four rooms for my family. I plan on reserving rooms that I can cancel without penalty. Then a week before our trip, I will try using betterbidding for priceline/hotwire. If I am successful, I will cancel those held rooms for no penalty. Still haven't decided on our budget, but it looks like we can get the Renaissance for $85/night and InterContinental for $145/night plus fees. Of course, I will start out lower, but that is what you SHOULD expect to pay. I am convinced these hotels have "priceline" operating procedures. Most hotels won't put rooms available priceline until the last minute. I see Priceline as a hotel room liquidator service. They want them rented, so they will eventually become available. They just don't want to saturate the market with cheaper alternatives when they can book rooms 90 days in advance for a premium. I saw this happen locally in Bellevue (just east of Seattle). There was a four star hotel I wanted to book for a visiting guest. I started bidding five days before their arrival. Went all the way up to $140/night and was rejected for three straight days. On the night before arrival, I did one last try on priceline. Since I had been rejected numerous times/days before I started my bidding at $120, and it was accepted on my first bid. Now my guest was happy cause I found a 4 star property for cheaper than the La Quinta (2 stars) was going for. I was mad at myself cause I could have had it even cheaper, I believe...lol Long story short. Maybe as simple as the person who puts the properties into the priceline database was off for a couple days in my scenario described above. I find the later you book via priceline the better the availability/pricing. Just my 0.02 Best wishes

Arrive Nov 5th for two nights (three rooms). Hotwire had this hotel listed at $129/night Ammenities: Condo One Bedroom Fitness Restaurant Internet Pool Spa Business Center Because there are only three hotels in DT Vancouver that are 5 stars and only one has a one bedroom/condo configuration, I was 99.9% confident in getting the room La Grande at Sutton Place. Cheapest price online (Expedia) $1127 total with taxes and fees for 3 rooms/2 nights $951 total hotwire price with very little risk $176 savings by using better bidding. Thanks better bidding for saving me almost $200 for my trip. You are making me a rockstar amongst my friends and family. :)

Started at $75, and PRICELINE countered at $90 if I rebid immediately. I declined the offer and used another zone, rebid at $79 and it was accepted. My bids were for two rooms for two nights (four nights total).

Rebid numerous times starting at $76 and finally won at $88 (total $109 w/taxes and fees) at the Grand Hyatt.

Mark it down as a good learning experience with little lost. Next time, locate the flights you plan to book, then before you book them, use PRICELINE to see if you can get a room. Then go back and book the flight once you have successfully secured a room.

If getting a good deal doesn't give you a lot of utility, then PRICELINE may not be for you. I, for one, love the concept of getting a bargain. Saving $100/night is worth it for me. It probably isn't worth it to someone making $100k/year because they just want to move on. PRICELINE can be tricky. An example that comes to mind for me was I had family coming to visit and they wanted to stay in downtown Bellevue. They booked a room at the La Quinta @$130/night as their backup. I went to work with hotwire/priceline to see what I could get them. Knowing the only two hotels in Bellevue that are four stars are the Westin and Hyatt, I knew the inventory would be limited. I bid all the way up to $140/night (I started at $70 and used the rebid zones) only to be rejected. I was disappointed because they were flying in two days, and I really didn't want them to have to stay a week at the La Quinta. The following day I was able to bid again (after 24 hours had past). I started at $110 and the first bid was accepted. Now you may ask why would they reject $140 and accept $110 only 24 hours later. This is what I think happened. Basically, there are very few, if any, wins at the Bellevue Westin property. So the only hotel offering rooms was the Hyatt. They probably didn't have anything listed on priceline on the previous day. I probably overbid with $110 because they accepted the first offer I made. My inlaws were estatic still. The end price was about a wash when you consider parking and priceline fees. But would you prefer to stay at the Hyatt in the heart of downtown Bellevue, or the La Quinta three miles from downtown when the purpose of your trip is to shop and attend conventions? A no brainer. It does show you how fluid the priceline inventory is though. I recommend keeping the Sheraton reservation as your backup and trying priceline the week of your trip. The closer you get to the dates of travel the better the prices seem to be. The hotels seem to liquidate their rooms at the last minute.

We bid (using the PRICELINE links via betterbidding) and won the Hotel Molino Stucky. We bid $120 and were countered with by priceline with $140. We declined and rebid with the final zone with a bid of $130. We probably could have gotten it for less than $130 but with it being our final bid and the trip being next week, we didn't want to gamble too much. We are excited and wanted to get the Molino Stucky before we bid. It looks absolutely beautiful.

Have you tried looking at HOTWIRE? Because I see a 4.5 star hotel with a ton of ammenity in the main island of Venice. I suspect it is Molino Stucky Hilton Venice Hotel based on previous wins with hotels with the same ammenitys. Also, they seem to have a lot of priceline wins. Once I finalize my dates, I will post my winning bid on this site (probably within a day or two). Good luck!

Sleeping accommodations are exactly what I am afraid of. Since this is a guys weekend with six adult males, we will probably target the Hyatt. Opus is awesome, but it is small and the availability of rooms is limited. Great option for couples, but we aren't matches. Thanks for everything. We will make sure to use the links to bid when we decide to purchase.

Thanks, I see the issue. To simply things, I initially selected one room and two adults. But I will end up having six adults and three rooms (with two adults a room). Any when you do that, Boutique is added as an amenity not previously listed, which is exactly a match for the Opus. Now assuming you can get two doubles, that would rock. Because this hotel is AWESOME. Thanks for the help, and I will make sure I bid correctly through the links on betterbidding when I make my bids whether it is PRICELINE or HOTWIRE.

Can you please help ID 4* hotel in Vancouver's entertainment district. We are arriving June 19th for two nights. The HOTWIRE listed adminities are fitness center, high speed internet, business center, and restaurant. When I go to the hotwired listed hotels, this doesn't match any matches. Can you assist? I will be booking three rooms for these nights. Thanks again for running a great site!

Thanks for the info. There is a huge legal conference in Seattle this week resulting in a run on the top tier/four star hotels. I think you are right that the HOTWIRE hotel was the Westin, and I saw that most of the PRICELINE 4* winning bids in May were also the Westin. So, we decided to try to save some money and bid via priceline since all the 4* hotels were equally desirable to us. We won with a bid of $95 ($228 total with taxes/fees for two nights.) Thanks for your assistance. We were able to save $75 booking with priceline over hotwire. Everyone I know now uses PRICELINE and HOTWIRE (and of course betterbidding) exclusively when traveling to US cities. It is the only way to go. As my father in law said, you end up spending about the same amount of money. But you go from staying at a Holiday Inn to the Westin.

Can you help ID this hotel for me? Arrival date is May 17th for three nights. The hotwire rate is $129/night. The amenities are: With the following ammenties: Fitness Pool Restaurant Business Center High Speed Internet I am thinking it either the Westin or Sheraton. Is there anyway to discern the two? Thanks for running a great site

Thanks for the tips. This is our 1st time in Chicago, so we welcome any and all recommendations!

Location desired was NMA arriving 4/17-4/21. With four zones not having four star hotels, I had 5 bids. Hotwire had unidentified hotel priced at $85, so I knew if bid in $5 increments, I would be able to get a room for max $85/night. I started at $60 and was offered a counter at $77/night. I declined. Since my stay was only a day away, I decided to stick to my original plan of increasing my bid by $5/night. I won @$70/night. Hotel was Sheraton. I would have preferred W, Sofitel, or Westin, but hey, for $70/night you won't catch me complaining. The best hotel that comes close to what I paid was the Holiday Inn by the airport. Thanks for the great site. You saved me a lot of money!

Thanks for the feedback. This is my 1st time visiting Chicago, and I targeted the NMA area because I want to be closest to the restaurants/bars. I hear that is the place to be, but I am definitely open to the Mag Mile/Streeterville area if their bars and restaurants are just as good and plentiful. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks again, you guys have an AWESOME website!

My dates are 4/17-4/21 (4 nights) in the North Michigan Area of Chicago. Hotwire has a four star property for $87 with the following amenities. Can you help me ID the property? fitness center, restaurant, high speed internet, and business center.