LoneStar

Yeah, as I mentioned earlier, it's "beach bugs" and not "bed bugs" that are likely to be a problem for you in Puerto Rico. :) If anyone knows an effective spray or lotion to avoid them, I'd sure like to know for the next time.

It sure looks nice, and the price seems more than fair. I don't really remember Venetian breakfasts (I think I never had one included in my room rate). I'd guess they're minimal, in the French tradition (as opposed to the "eat enough to avoid lunch" spreads you get in the Germanic world.

Ok, so it looks like Priceline changed its interface, but not the underlying "extend your stay" rules! :)

If you do a search, I suspect you will find previous discussion on this topic. Basically, priceline only guarantees double occupancy. While many, many people successfully bring more than 2 people (usually their kids), the hotel is under no obligation to accomodate. And I think the risk of "a problem" with more than 2 adults is much higher than with children. I'd personally adopt a "don't ask, don't tell" approach.

It had been a few years since my last Residence Inn stay, so I was a little unfamilar with the brand. They seem to be trying to take it a little bit more upscale, and this hotel certainly has some nice features -- most of them free, which is great on a priceline stay! The freebie breakfast buffet seemed competitive to that of Embassy Suites (alas, I was only able to grab the cold stuff because I had to leave for the airport before the buffet's official 6:30 am opening). Monday thru Thursdays they also offer a free evening manager's reception, and on Wednesday nights, they throw in dinner, too (that would be a heck of a great priceline stay -- free breakfast and dinner!). They offered me free packaged cookies upon arrival, and popcorn in the room. Internet access is free too, with a land line in your room and two terminals downstairs in the lounge. The hotel itself is very close to the airport but, alas, they don't offer a shuttle. The fixed rate taxi fee is $10 + tip. The Hilton is directly next door, though, so maybe you could get on that one? :) The furnishing in the rooms are OK -- I'd say the atmosphere exudes early 90's cheap corporate apartment. My bed was surprisingly saggy, hidden under decorative linens and at least a half dozen pillows. It also seemed like they might have a towel-theft problem (do people relocating steal towels?), because they reminded me of 70's-era Holiday Inn towels. Also surprised that there wasn't that much sleeping space for a suite -- one queen and a single pullout in a "studio" apartment. If you're travelling with your family, it might be wise to call ahead and, presumably, get a room with more beds. Rooms have kitchenettes with burners, full-sized fridge, microwave and dishwasher. Can't imagine the typical short-stay priceline customer valuing these much, but they're there. Pool was small, but pleasant enough. Overall hotel decor not as nice as a typical Marriott, but significantly nicer than a 2-star property. Bottomline is that if you want posh style, this ain't it. But if you want a half-way decent place with free amenities that you can use, it would be hard to do better on priceline. In fact, if I bid for this property again (and I probably will), I hope I don't get upgraded to 3 stars where I'll have to buy my own breakfast.

Yes, those fees are annoying, but do you realize you got a fantastic deal on this hotel -- significantly better than recent priceline reports? :) BTW, when did you bid? Was this some sort of "last minute" reduced priceline price?

I strongly recommend a "don't ask, don't tell" policy regarding the occupancy level of your room. Obviously, if the room has two double or queen beds, you'll all "fit" (although I make no guarantee about your comfort!). Once you have a successful bid, call the hotel and ask for the 2-bedded room and, if you like, whether they offer complimentary cribs (some do, some don't). I always brought my pack-and-play if there was a crib charge. BTW, when I was travelling with an infant, I always thought we hit a home run when we got a room with a walk-in closet large enough for a crib to fit in (this way everyone didn't have to go to bed when baby did). Of course, some parents are aghast at the idea of putting their precious bundle of joy in a closet. Those are usually first-time parents. :)

Hmmm. Sounds like this new feature is still a bit mysterious. I guess we'll all await more real world experiences.

A little surprised that an econolodge would be 2 stars. Isn't that a classic 1-star hotel chain. That said, you really take your chances bidding below 2 1/2 stars in a major metropolitan area (indeed, anywhere, but I've found 2 stars to be generally more acceptable in small towns.

Yeah, there are lots of good things about living in America, but as far as "vacation days" goes for most folks, well, let's just say we as a nation value money over free time. To get the "Entertainment Card" rate at the Gellert, just ask for it at the following email address: [email protected]. If you don't get a response, call or fax them. My recollection last year was that their email system was a little dodgy.

How do you get that extra 15%? Is it a special promo or does it just price that way? In your case, taking another 15% off would take you to a very good rate that even priceline (on its best days!) would have difficulty matching in Europe.

Well, it depends. In this situation it would be a bid that matches the availability of a resort hotel on hotwire. While nothing is totally predictable with priceline, if the resort is available at a constant price for all the nights on hotwire, the odds that it will be available for a constant price on priceline for the remaining nights are extremely high. Looking at the screen shot from the related link, it does look like priceline has indeed now changed the "Extend your stay" feature to be more customer friendly (and bring in more dough!). As long as your stay does not exceed 21 days, I see no restriction that indicates your additional days have to be no more numerous than your original booking. So I think this "trick" would work, albeit one that has limited utility. In addition to my situation, I could see using it where there's a hotel in a zone that you really don't want to spend your entire vacation at. This way you could "test bid." Also, you could conceivably use priceline vacations and hotwire to see if you could figure out which night(s) during your prospective stay the "bad hotel" was unavailable and bid those nights on priceline hoping to then "extend your stay" at the "good" hotel.

Has anyone fiddled around with this yet? It used to be that you could only add nights up to the number you were already booked (like a 1 night stay couldn't add 2 additional nights). Have they changed that? And is priceline fair about its additional fees when you use this service? The reason I ask is that I've got some family members thinking about booking a 9-night resort stay in Arizona. I'm pretty confident I know what hotel they're going to get (or at least that it will be very nice!) but, as everyone knows, you can never be 100% sure about anything on priceline. I'd like to offer them the option of booking 1 night to make sure it's what I think it is. If I could then add the additional 8 nights for, say, only $5 or $10 more in fees than it would have cost me to initially book a 9-night stay, this may be an attractive "insurance policy" for them. Thanks for the help.

BTW, in comparison shopping, don't forget to contact the hotel directly. Once you get above the lowball prices of priceline, sometimes the property itself can beat a site like Hotels.com. I might even tell the hotel what you found "out there." Nothing like eliminating the middle man! Also, I vaguely recall that Hotels.com offers rebates for multi-night stays. Maybe it was through entertainment.com. Not sure. Look around, or maybe somebody else who has done this has the info.

I certainly wouldn't count on priceline to deliver a "fantastic" hotel deal for you in Venice. Indeed, I've never seen a bid accepted for under $100, and most go for considerably more than that (especially when you have to add in the VAT and priceline fee). I don't know this hotel, but if the online reviews are THAT favorable, it's probably a winner. And I like the idea of being a little off-the-beaten-path in Venice. God knows, there's very little of that left, and the tourist hordes are probably the worst thing about the place. :) As Willtravel notes, AC could be an issue. I guess there's a breeze in Venice, but I personally try to avoid Italy in summer because it really IS hot! I'd be reluctant to stay anywhere in Italy in summer without AC. So you might want to check on that before booking. As final advice, I'd make sure you can't beat that Hotels.com rate. From my experience, Hotels.com is the cheapest less than 5% of the time. I think Venere is still the big hotel consolidator in Italy, http://www.venere.com/, but there are lots of players in that game.

Nothing wrong with this property, but a Holiday Inn EXPRESS being a 3 star? Don't they lack the necessary amenities (aside from not being what most would consider a 3-star type property)?

I need a night in Boise in mid-June and bid up to $42 for a 3-star, $40 for a 2 1/2 star (only up to $35 for a 2 1/2 star in West Boise), and $35 for a 2 star at Boise Airport. Nuthin'. I'll wait to see if prices inch lower to their more "historical" priceline levels. I frankly would be happy to pay $49 for the Residence Inn (for the extra room and free breakfast), but I have a sneaking suspicion that if I bid that high, I might get upgraded to a less desirable 3-star property for more than I could get it (or its equivalent) for later.

As veteran bidders know, Priceline tends to make urban hotels quite affordable, but is usually of little help when you're out "in the boonies." Targhee is an obvious exception to that rule. This place is REALLY remote. It's part of the Jackson Hole, WY bidding area but it's about 35 miles northwest of town (you have to go through Idaho to get there). That was OK for me, because I'll be arriving from Idaho, but folks visiting Jackson Hole or Grand Teton Nat'l Park have to realize that it's on the other side of the mountain from the main tourist region, and there's no road across the Tetons. This is the lowest price I've seen accepted for this hotel. That may be because mid-June is still considered shoulder season and the slightly higher published summer rates haven't kicked in yet. So I obviously don't know if you could get this rate for July or August. $36 should be rock bottom because I initially bid $35 and got a message to rebid for $9 more. I just waited a day and went up a buck. Targhee seems to be your typical beautiful western ski resort that makes an effort to attract a summer crowd with activities and lower prices. Not sure if they also offer 2-star rooms, but they house the 2 1/2 star guests in the Teewinot Lodge, which is their upgraded facility (the Targhee Lodge is significantly cheaper than Teewinot when booked direct). As an FYI, I am also going to spend some time in Grand Teton Nat'l Park, and this hotel is really not adequately situated to see the Park (more than an hour's drive). I was willing to stay in Jackson itself for that visit (Jackson is 20 minutes south of the park), but hotel prices in Jackson are extremely expensive. I bid on Priceline up to $75 for a 3 star and $55 for a 2 star in Jackson/Teton Village with no success. Above those prices, it makes more sense for me to stay at an "official" Grand Teton Park lodge (where the gov't sets the maximum rates). The "best value" resort in the park appears to be Colter Bay Village, and cabins cost $95 and up. Painfully more than Targhee on Priceline, but significantly cheaper than non-opaque rates in Jackson Hole. Since Colter Bay charges a $15 cancellation fee and the odds are low that any better value will spring up in Jackson Hole on priceline, my Wyoming bidding is now complete. :)

Look at hotwire and priceline vacations for an idea as to what might be available. It will probably take some luck to get something a week from now in Hawaii, but it's certainly possible.

An FYI -- I think this "mistake" has been caught and the deal is no longer available. I looked at my nights again on Hotwire and it shows the cheapest 3.5 star hotel costing $237.

Theoretically, you could travel for about $100 one way from Vegas to Detroit. But that's pretty theoretical at the moment with only 2 weeks advance notice in high season. The two "discount" airlines that dominate Vegas travel -- Southwest and America West (now officially USAirways) have been raising fares like crazy of late because demand exceeds supply, and they've decided to make some money. Obviously, the closer you get to "midweek" the cheaper a Vegas ticket is likely to be. I would punch your possible days into Kayak.com -- and then double check the results by searching Southwest.com, americawest.com and spiritair.com -- and decide which flight works best for you balancing convenience vs. price. I would also buy it sooner rather than later, because the cheaper seats will keep selling out. My guess is that it will be difficult to find something much below $172 at this point -- especially on a nonstop -- but you never know for sure.

One way fares aren't the bear they used to be in the US, but unfortunately we no longer have an oversupply of domestic airline seats. This means that on popular routes you will sometimes have to pay high fares if you don't book months in advance. That seems to be true in your particular situation. LAS-DTW is not a high fare market, but all the cheap seats are gone that day. Your choices are either pay the fare (about $260, not insane), fly another day that week (like Thursday), or try to find a reasonable fare to a nearby city and rent a car one way (probably won't save money, but it's possible).

And the downtown Seattle holiday inn is misrated, too! :) But at least it's only 3 and not 4 stars. It does seem that there almost a 1-star "grade inflation" in Europe. Only "5 stars" guarantees you a truly upscale property. "Four Stars" obviously has much more risk in the UK than on US bids.

You will most likely have to raise your budget. Hotel prices are generally increasing and it's not possible to get a 3 star in downtown Miami for "$40 to $60." Always pays to start low (if you are a priceline newbie, make sure you read the section on bidding techniques), but your odds of getting hit below $70 are low. Indeed, I think you'll likely have to pay around $100 -- if there's availability at all. Your outbound date is still within peak season for Florida. If price is more important than location, I would consider also bidding the Miami airport zone, where you generally can find lower prices (and more availability) than downtown. Miami Beach has more hotels than either, but some of the hotels there can be rather funky at the lower price points.

Yeah, the Holiday Inn sounds like a more than decent hotel, but it's not a 4-star property. In fact, even priceline used to classify it as 3 stars! Not sure what they're trying to accomplish by "upgrading" most of the 3 star Kensington properties to 4 stars. I would think that the typical American tourist is going to say "what the heck is a Holiday Inn doing as 4 stars?" But, then again, priceline isn't the most customer-driven business I've come across.