Debjapan

Complimentary Amenities: Free Internet, Free parking, Business center, Fitness center, Pool, Restaurant, Self-service laundry I checked booking direct at the Doubletree prior to getting room on Hotwire. Saved $6 on nightly fee, which resulted in $7 saved when taxes were added. Given my Hilton Honors Card would have resulted in 7x points bonus, I might have lost by talking this deal. Had I gotten the Miyako hotel, I would have saved more / enjoyed stay more, so I took the gamble. At least I saved a bit, and the location of this hotel next to restaurant row is appreciated.

I was very flexible in my bidding areas starting with 4 star hotel in every area except northern San Diego regions and San Ysidro at $50. Tried again with 3.5 stars and still had no luck. Then changed to 3 stars and $47 bid which I still had no luck. Finally rebid with freebie add of San Ysidro and upped my bid to $50 which won. I then talked to friend who decided to tag along so I needed an extra room. Priceline gave me offer of $99 to rebook. Since was twice my bid, I thought No Way. "Chatted" with online help to see if there was another way to add a room at same bid, but she couldn't do it. Tried to bid, but got message that my bid had already been placed so wouldn't process. Finally I booked second room on PRICELINE EXPRESS at $58. Not bad to solve problem for only $8 extra. Immediately I went to Kayak.com to confirm online lowest price offered was $121. In retrospect, the $99 offer from Priceline for the 2nd room would still have been a good deal, but I'm very happy both my rooms were less than one night elsewhere. Thank you Betterbidding. I did use the PRICELINE links from here to book my room, as usual.

First bid was $55. Makes me wonder if I should have started lower, but Express was offering $61 so think we got a good deal. :)

After reviewing HOTWIRE prices, I decided to try PRICELINE to save a few extra dollars. Using Betterbidding links, I tried North Topeka at $29 for 2.5 star hotel. Then I added Topeka-South as free 2nd bid and increased my bid to $36. Finally, I added Topeka-West and increased my bid to $39 which was my winning bid. I expected this would be the hotel to win and it works fine for my needs.

Just wanted to leave an update of my attempted bids to save someone else time :) On July 16: 4* Bids: Cape May / The Wildwoods: $57 Added Somers Point: $63 (free bid) Added West Atlantic City: $68(free bid) Added Vineland: $74 (free bid) Added Downtown AC: $85 Overnight I re-thought where I wanted to be and decided downtown would be better. On July 17: 4* bids Downtown AC: $75 Added West AC: $85 (free bid) Added Vineland: $90 (free bid) Added Somers Point: $95 (free bid) Added Cape May / The Wildwoods: Lowered Bid to $90 Tomorrow is a new day, wish me luck

First bid was 3 1/2 Star for $54.00 and was not accepted. 2nd bid was the one accepted here. Thanks! :D

I was very flexible on location for this trip :) Here is my bidding: $56 for 3* for Columbus West- Hillard (failed) $56 for 3* adding Dublin $52 for 2.5* areas above $54 for 2.5* for areas above and ending up in Colubus West. Total with tax will be $72.00

I was accepted on my first bid, now I'll second guess myself but was happy with $8.00 a day. :) Hotwire started at $13.95 a day and Expedia was almost double.

Selected 4* or Resort hotel, either would be have fine with me. Began with Historic District selected at $80 Slowly added other areas as I increased my bids about $10 for each area. Free re-bid since only the Historic District has 4* or Resort options. Last chance bid was $120, and was accepted at the Westin resort. Comparing to other sites, I think I saved about $200. We had been looking at the Marriott for more money, so happy with better hotel and lower price. Thanks! :)

Thanks for your help. I'm happy with 3.5* and up, so I was using your line of reasoning when I added West Niagara and re-bid higher. I realized West Niagara had no applicable hotels in the category, so it was a free rebid. From past trips around the country and overseas, I do best on priceline about 3 weeks to a week before my arrival date. I suspect that's when hotels have a gist of how many extra rooms they need to move and it comes down the pipes to Priceline. I played around a bit more today. All failed again, but that's really okay. I was just surfing for a real deal. 4* Niagara Falls $65 4* Niagara Falls, Thorold $69 4* Niagara, Welland, Thorold $71 3.5* Niagara Falls, Welland, Thorold, West Niagara $71 Thanks again!

In case it helps the next guy, here is the history of my failed bids. Check-in: 8/2/09 Check out: 8/5/2009 Bid #1 Area selected: Niagara Falls 4* bid: $60 Bid #2 Area selected: Niagara Falls 3.5* bid: $64 Bid #3 Area selected: Niagara Falls, West Niagara Falls 3.5* bid: $67 I did use the Betterbidding PRICELINE links, and will do so when I try again another day in the future.