jmeggs

The $74.00 3-star hotel in the Downtown Windsor location had a pool, free internet, fitness center, restaurant, and was pet friendly. When I won, it was the Riverside Inn, formerly the Raddisson. However, when I arrived, I was directed to the Hilton, which is right next door. There I was informed that the Riverside Inn no longer exists, that it's now a student dormitory. I was told that, consequently, my reservation was now with the Hilton, and I was given a room on the 16th floor of the Hilton with a gorgeous view over the river of Detroit. I was told that the Riverside Inn has been student housing since the start of September. Yet all the usual sites, like Expedia, Travelocity, Tripadvisor, etc. still have it listed. Meanwhile, Hotwire clearly has it there for its only 3-star in the area PLUS it has the 3.5-star Hilton for over $20 more a night! So, all-and-all, a pleasant surprise! Started my search with the Quote boxes on betterbidding.com

Had been bidding in $5 increments, and finally got to $80 when I received a counteroffer: If you are willing to raise your price by $16, you can bid again right now. I always took that to mean, up the bid price by at least $16 or you have to wait 24 hours to bid again. But I got that message and tried bidding again right away and increased only $6, and lo and behold, I won! I also had a 24-hour hotel coupon that took another 7% off. And, as always, I began my search using betterbidding's PRICELINE Quick Quote box!

Started bidding at $50 for 3* and $48 for *2.5, and inched up $2 each day until I finally got the Hilton Windsor for $60.00. And of course I began my search by using Betterbidding's PRICELINE Quickquote Box in the righthand corner.

Is there any worse feeling in the world than getting your lowball offer accepted? Makes you wonder what you could have gotten the hotel at. Mind you, $48 for this property is pretty darn good, esp. for Canadian Thanksgiving. Used betterbidding's PRICELINE box in the upper righthand corner to begin my search.

This is the downtown zone.

To answer my own question, I was not getting a counteroffer, and I suspected I was way off. But since I had lots of time, I kept upping my bids in tiny increments. Ultimately I ended up getting the hotel without ever getting a counteroffer, and my accepted bid was only $2 more than a rejected bid. So don't let the lack of a counteroffer throw ya! And, as has been said many a time, don't ever accept the counteroffer (unless you're really in a bind)!

Went through about eight bids, using the Dartmouth and Bedford areas to rebid (they have no 4 stars) upping my bid by $2.00 each time. Started my search using the BetterBidding PRICELINE link. Also had $5 per nite Bonus Cash so total bill came in as follows: Room Cost (avg. per room, per night):$85.00 (USD) Number of Rooms:1 Number of Nights:2 Room Subtotal:$170.00 (USD) Taxes and Fees:$39.76 (USD) Total Room Cost:$209.76 (USD)

What about when you DON'T get the counteroffer?? Does that mean you are waaaay off?!

I thought i had put it in my earlier post, but just for clarification, this is the Comfort Inn on Douglas Ave; there are, I believe, two other Comfort Inns on Hurron Church Road.

Bid $40, was rejected, bid $45, was rejected, bid $48, won. Actually quite nice property, ways out of downtown core (which can be good, esp on weekends). Overall, clean, quiet, comfy... very happy. Skip 2.5 ( Quality Suites) unless you need to be central.

The Dearborn Hyatt is a huge but dependable property. Little aging, I would put it at more like a 3.5 star, but terrific value. Just know that it caters to conferences and big weddings, so don't be surprised by hordes of people in lobby (esp. in morning). Bottom line, great value great staff. If you care, based on my bidding, Priceline wasnt going to give me this property for these dates for less than $52.00/night. Used BB PRICELINE links for bids

New feature on Priceline claims to send you an email alert when someone gets a winning bid in whatever city you've set up the alerts for. I assume this is for hotels, but details on PL's website are scant. My question is, do you think they're giving you EVERY winning bid? Or (much more likely) they're giving you winning bids that are higher than what you could potentially win. I know this is what they do with the sidebar wins.* *how do I know this?? Cause time and time again, I see someone has had a succesful bid for so much money in some city, and I then bid much lower and win.

Not much else to add... prices are a little inflated likely because it's the Easter weekend, but still a great price for a quality property. Was bidding in $1 increments, so I know this is the basement price for those two nights.

Good point... I was speaking very specifically to the hotels in Windsor (I've booked a ton of stays in Windsor through both HOTWIRE and PRICELINE... always making sure to use the betterbidding links!)

At 3 stars, you definitely won't end up in a motel. You'll most likely get the Raddisson... and you're way better off booking through Priceline, cause the Hotwire prices for Windsor are too high for what you get. I can tell you with certainty that Hotwire's 3.5 star hotel is the Hilton, which is NOT a 3.5 star hotel. At 3 stars, you might also end up with Holiday Inn Select.

My stay there was, as always, flawless. To the point where you almost feel guilty for paying so little for such a great property. I will say, though, that they always have you sign a disclamer that you aren't to have any parties in your room (vague) or in the pool area, and there's no smoking on premises. Yet, unfortunately, the initial room we were given clearly had been smoked in recently. We mentioned this, and they moved us to the Starwood Preferred floor (12), which was great. Amazing hotel, amazing service, amazing staff.

Bid $48, was rejected, added Taylor region (which has no 4-stars) and got Westin at $50. Beautiful hotel in a nice suburb of Detroit... stayed here a few times now, and am never disappointed.

The weekend I needed the car for has got high demand, so after bidding up to 18, I gave up and booked through Costco travel (Budget) for $18 a day, Mid-size. I will say that Priceline has bonus bucks on right now for car rentals. http://travela.priceline.com/promo/cash/QT...kID=10592070SID

Nevermind, it was a price error that's since been corrected.

I've never encountered this one before... I've been patiently upping my bids for a car rental at Pearson (Toronto) airport on Priceline and every time getting shot down. Priceline tells me "Price too low" then quotes what their lowest retail prices are for each car type. What's odd is that it isn't accurate... they've got retail prices on their site for as low as $11 with Budget, and I'm already way over that with my bids. Truthfully, I don't really trust Budget, so I'm apt to keep bidding in the hopes I get a different company (Priceline at YYZ usually gives me Avis or Hertz), but has anyone ever encountered this before?

I know it's either Byward Blue or Quality Hotel, but both have the same amenities (Restaurant, High Speed Internet, Business Centre). Both have been won by others on here at similar prices. ONLY difference is the Tripadvisor rating, as far as I can tell (you can see it once you click "See Details" button and scroll down to Customer Reviews section). On Tripadvisor, Byward Blue has a 3.5 out of 4 rating, and Quality Hotel has 4 out of 4. The one on Hotwire right now is showing a TripAdvisor rating of 4 out of 4, but how dependable is that?? Can I trust that I will actually be getting the Quality Hotel and not the crumby Byward Blue??? Any help would be greatly GREATLY appreciated!!!

Hotwire now gives you the Tripadvisor rating for a lot of hotels (you have to click on the "See Details" button, and it appears under the "Customer Reviews" box). My question is, how dependable is it? If the hotel was listed on Hotwire in 2009, did they take the Tripadvisor rating from the day it was listed, or will it change as new reviews are posted on Tripadvisor? For instance, booking a hotel in Ottawa, I see there are two 2.5-star hotels with the same amenities but one has a Tripadvisor rating of 3.5 and the other 4 out of 5. If that were matching exactly what's on Tripadvisor, I would know for certain that one is Quality Suites and one is Byward Blue. However, I'm pretty sure that it's Byward Blue (based on others' experience) yet Byward Blue does not have a 4 out of 5 rating on Tripadvisor... but maybe it did at one time? Anyone got any answers on this? Any insights would be greatly appreciated!

I always use HOTWIRE as my guide for what to bid on PRICELINE for cars, but it seems really random. It seems to jump substantially from one weekend to the next (no, not including long weekends)... is there a strategy I should be following for when to bid on car rentals?

Thanks Sheikyerbooty for your reply. The tip on the street parking is greatly appreciated!

I meant "exorbitant". Specifically, parking $22 a day and internet $15 a day.