gcap05

Thanks. It does look like getting a hotel room is not guaranteed abroad. I'll keep fishing.

Besides Towson, MD I've tried London, Birmingham (England) and Reading (England). I haven't tried Hotwire yet. I have noticed people who have received a room for the same request though. Does it improve the chances if I ask for a Saturday and Sunday night stay??

I've tried bidding for a room at various cities but have not been able to get any counter offers from Priceline. My latest bid was for a 3* Upscale hotel in Towson, MD for 12/4 (checkin) and 12/5 (checkout). I offered $60 in my first bid and there was no counter offer. The response was: "We're sorry, but we couldn't find a hotel willing to accept your offer of $60 for a hotel room in the Baltimore, MD area. Your credit card has not been charged for Request Number......." There's a Marriott in Towson that's giving away rooms for $99 (Expedia). Priceline doesn't make sense on how close one should get to the "retail value". May be there just isn't anyone picking up the line at the other end. Or may be there aren't any rooms available during that stay but could that be the case for every city I chose??? This is really annoying.

Last week, I was able to get a counteroffer for a 5* Mayfair/SOHO hotel for $179.

thereuare, I am looking for a 5* within the Mayfair/SOHO area.

My bids for $100, 105, 110 were all rejected. I just decided to bump it up to $120. I took the risk of picking areas that were "unlikely" to have a 4* in order to rebid but I did observe something very strange. The system randomly allowed me to try my bid immediately without changing anything. That was weird.

I've been trying to bid for a one night stay at a 5* London hotel on 12/18th. I've increased my bid upto $150 per night for a median retail price of $249 for the same day (as indicated by Priceline). I have not been getting any counter-offers so far. what could be the reason for this? I am offering 60% of what the retail value is but why aren't there any counter offers? Any tips/ideas??? Thanks.

One more note: Just looked up the regular rate at this hotel from the hotel's website for the same dates. I've basically received a 60% discount. Expedia doesn't even list the hotel as an option. Hoping it's a good one. :)

FINALLY won a bid with an "unfamiliar" hotel (i.e., not sure if this has been reported in this forum's hotel list). I think I probably overbid :) Here's the info: 4* London $120 - Crowne Plaza London - The City Same dates.

I've been trying various bids for a two-night stay in London. Checking in on 12/16th and checking out on 12/18th. Tried both 4* and 5* hotels in Mayfair/soho. The lowest counter-offer I could get was $190. THere have been no counter offers for a 4*. I've noticed elsewhere on this board that people have been getting 4* hotels in London for around $100. I did offer that but nothing has been accepted. Any tips of how to improve my chances without significantly increasing the bid? I am willing to go up to $140 per night. (Btw, I did try $140 but no offers) Thanks in advance.

Great - I'll just show up and make a humble request. Next stop is to hunt for a room in London for Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday!

Thanks. What can I do about the checkin time? I'd like to prepone it by a couple of hours. Do hotels entertain such requests?

Btw, the dates are checkin on 12/11th and checkout on 12/13th.

Yes I accepted the counter offer. It was for Sheraton Skyline Hotel in the Heathrow area.

Hi, My first attemp to bid for a room at a 4* heathrow airport for $60 per night was not accepted. I received a counter offer for $69 per night instead, which is not that bad either. What do people think of this offer price for this hotel? The receipt says that checkin is after 2:00 PM. Is it possible to change this to - say - 12:00 noon instead - you think? Thanks!

Thanks for the info. Will try to be more specific from now on as I have all the data I need to make an informed decision on my travel. Thanks!

If I have an active bid and no takers for it, how is it possible to cancel the bid all together using priceline? And also, is it possible to cancel the bid even before a hotel attempts to look at it??

Are there any examples of 4* and 5* hotels around manhattan NYC that people are getting?

Thanks!

I looked at the following link and do not find New Delhi or Mumbai as options in the drop down list. http: //www.priceline.com.hk/eng/Default_hotel.asp

Thanks

Thanks for all the inputs - I'll checkout Priceline Hong Kong.

Is it possible to bid for hotels in India using priceline??

On 2nd thought - is it legally okay to do this?? If i use a cancellable reservation for a London hotel through a non-Priceline method and then cancel after the visa is obtained and use priceline, isn't it like lying on the visa application??

Good point. Thanks.