howie1967

Got The Holiday Inn Express for $44 per night. Dates: Friday, 9/4/09 for three nights. Check-out = Monday, 9/7/09. This is listed as a two star hotel. Bidding History: First bid: $42 per night in Drums/Hazleton, PA Result: Counteroffer to raise price $12 per night to $54 per night. Second bid: Added Frankville/Pottsville, PA area for $43 per night. Result: rejected. Third bid: Added Stroudsburg, PA Bid 44 per night Result: bid accepted. Hotel Information: The Holiday Inn Express One Corporate Drive Drums, PA 18222 (570) 788-8081 Offer Price= $44 Subtotal=$132 Taxes and Fees=$23.16 Total=$155.16 Satisfied with hotel and price. Very nice hotel. Stayed there earlier in the month. Made my purchase through the betterbidding.com link for PRICELINE. The feedback and advice from this web site was very helpful in that I always used to accept the Priceline counteroffer as the best possible price. I now know that this is not the case. It appears that I saved $10 a night on this booking by not accepting the $54 counteroffer.

Hotel: 5000 Seminary Road Alexandria, VA 22311 (703) 845-1010 First Bid= $39 for a 2.5 star level hotel in Alexandria, VA. Rejected. Second Bid=$44 for same star level hotel adding Arlington, VA area. Rejected. Third Bid=$49. Added free rebid for 2.5 star hotel in the area of Mt Vernon. Bid accepted. Upgraded to a 3.5 star level hotel. Accepted bid: $49.00 Taxes and Service Fees=$14.16 Total=$63.16 I found the information on this forum to be very helpful in making an informed bid. Purchase completed on 8/6/09. Satisfied with the purchase and the price I got. Retail advance purchase price is $143.

Hotel: Holiday Inn Scranton East (Dunmore) 200 Tigue Street, Dunmore, PA 18512 (570) 343-4771 Date: Saturday, August 22, 2009 Nights: One First Bid: $45 Accepted Bid: $45 Taxes and Service Fees: $12.32 Total: $57.32 Purchased on 8/5/09. Satisfied with purchase. :)

Hotel: Holiday Inn Express. 2717 Ocean Gateway Cambridge, MD 21613. (410) 221-9900. This is in the Eastern Shore are of Maryland. Date: Saturday, August 8, 2009. Listed as a 2.5 star hotel on Priceline. Nights: Three Rooms: One First bid: $81 for Easton, MD Result: First bid not accepted Accepted bid: $85 when Cambridge, MD was added. This was the second attempt. Taxes and service fees: $39.83 Total: $294.83 Satisfied with purchase due to peak season and reservation taking place over a weekend. Won this hotel last night (7/30/09) at around 8:00 PM EDT.

Hotel: Holiday Inn Tom's River, NJ. 290 Highway 37 East. Tom's River, NJ 08753. (732) 244-4000. Date: Tuesday, August 11, 2009. Listed as a two star hotel on PRICELINE. Nights: Three Rooms: One First bid: $84 Accepted bid: $84 Taxes and service fees: $41.96 Total: $293.96 Bid was based on the Hotwire price for a 2 star hotel in the area which was going for $99. I subtracted 15-20% from the Hotwire price. I checked the retail prices of hotels with a 2 star rating in Tom's River, NJ and subtracted 25-30%. This approach worked for me, but there may be better strategies.

Hotel: Comfort Inn Beacon Marina. 255 Lore Road. Solomons, MD 20688. (410) 326-6303. Date: Saturday, 8/15/2009. Listed as a two star hotel on PRICELINE. Nights: Three Rooms: One First bid: $67 Counteroffer after first bid: Raise bid $17 per night. Accepted bid: $84.00 Taxes and service fees: $39.71 Total: $291.71 I saved about $30 off of the price on the choicehotels.com web site for the same dates. I was satisfied with my purchase.

I am pleased with this purchase. Hotel: Holiday Inn Express. One Corporate Drive Drums, PA 18222. (570) 788-8081. This is in the Pocono Mountain Region of PA. Date: Friday, August 21, 2009. Listed as a two star hotel on PRICELINE. Nights: One Rooms: One First bid: $49 Accepted bid: $49 Taxes and service fees: $12.84 Total: $61.84 Bid was based on the Hotwire price for a 2.5 star hotel in the area which was going for $60. I subtracted 15-20% from the Hotwire price. I also checked out the retail prices of hotels in the area and went down by 30% as this is peak season. This approach worked for me, but there may be better strategies.

I bid for a 2.5 Star Level hotel in Wilkes-Barre. First bid was $41 per night. Rejected. Counteroffer was to increase by $12. Changed bid to $53. Bid accepted for the Holiday Inn Express Wikes-Barre East, 1063 Highway 315, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702.