John Lin

thank you also for detailing your strategy. i'll try that as well (to use PRICELINE EXPRESS to get additional info).

Started at $50 for 3.5* Added zones until win at $72. $18.05 in taxes for $90.05. With hotel parking valet that would be $122/night. Hotel is mediocrely reviewed on Tripadvisor. #57 out of 127 hotels. Actual experience is the room is ok. Bathroom is as bad as indicated on the reviews (no tub, no shower--just a wheelchair friendly bathroom that is still small). Location is good. Parking is $32/day valet, $20 or so for self park. Used Bestparking.com app to find better parking situations for $14 overnight (but no in-out) Could have added more nights, but after seeing my room (bathroom esp--low pressure water), decided to try elsewhere

UNFORTUNATELY--$20 per night resort fee. Overall, though, the property is nice--and the rooms are spacious--living room and kitchen, laundry, etc. So still a good value. Though I just hate those hidden resort fees on PRICELINE. Congress should outlaw this.

PRICELINE: Post: bid history (if first bidding attempt was rejected), taxes paid from the Priceline accepted bid page, date hotel was booked if different than posting date, any other pertinent info Bid History: I knew four stars were only in three regions in Napa. So I had a lot of tries. Started at 80 (they counter offered with 112), 85, 88, 91, 93, 99, 101 Won at 101. They offered two additional which I did not take them up on. I wondered if it's better to just bid for one night. that way--with the off peak timing--they might offer a 2nd/3rd night and I have the option to leave the property if i don't like it. Vino Bello is 9 of 26 hotels in Napa. Just ok, so we will see. I was hoping for any of the other hotels with four stars frankly. But for 101, we will see. Offer Price: avg. per room, per night $101.00 Rooms: 1 Nights: 2 + Add nights for the same rate! Room Subtotal: $202.00 Taxes & Fees: $38.32 Total Charged to Card: $240.32

wanted westwood or maybe downtown LA depending on the deal (since downtown may be deserted over thanksgiving) started at 60 but knew the winning bid would be around 100 given the prior history on the Priceline and Hotwire Calendar of Wins. i knew i could book directly with Omni Downtown LA (#3 ranked hotel on tripadvisor) for $135/night and $20 parking on weekends + tax, so I would go with PRICELINE if I could beat that by a lot. won at 104. Room Cost (avg. per room, per night): $104.00 (USD) Taxes and Fees: $41.52 (USD) Total Room Cost: $249.52 (USD) Apparently I lucked out and got free parking. And no resort fees! So this price is the real price all in. Ranked only 16 of 34 hotels in Santa Monica, but reviews on tripadvisor seem decent. Thanks to better bidding and all the other posters who helped me figure out what strategy to take on.

That IS ridiculous. Same thing happened to me on my last trip to LA. I'm not going to be using priceline anymore just for these reasons. All these hidden fees will be the end of priceline and such sites. And even though $30/night of parking is "normal" for a city, I think that's why I choose motels lately. Free wifi, free parking. Although better bidding is great at holding back the veil of secrecy of these websites, priceline is quickly becoming unwieldy and misleading. Those prices need to be included (resort fees, tax) in the bidding price. Additional fees like parking, internet should be hinted at.

i tried to follow your strategy (except i didn't add mtw), and got all the way up to 140 without success. there is another poster who got about the same dates for 120. so it looks like the 120/130 and even 140 range is not working to get a barclay or 4* in MTE as of 2/28/2012. my dates were 3/1-5. part of the problem could either be i have a thursday and sunday in there. i ended up calling another highly ranked tripadvisor hotel directly and asked them to beat the aaa rate, and they were somehow able to. it's #74 on tripadvisor, so i think that turned out great for me. 147/night+tax, no priceline fees and 24 hour cancellation. i did use the PRICELINE link via better bidding but was not successful. hope this info helps anyone else looking for lodging this coming weekend of 3/2.

Let me just start by saying: "Yes, I used the link to PRICELINE, so need to mention that!" :) Traveling with my mom to show her LA, so I thought I'd get a nicer place than my normal motels outside of LA. I was shooting for the Westin Bonaventure in Downtown LA, which I enjoy if I want something more luxurious. Typically LA Downtown is empty on weekends, so it's priced lower than other areas. So when I strategize my bidding strategy, I can be aggressive. There are 4 areas that don't even have 4* hotels in LA. And then the remaining areas (EXCEPT FOR LAX) have much pricier 4*s. So, I can pretty much bid 7-8 times before giving up for the day. I started my first bid at 65, and they immediately counteroffered at $94. I usually figure a winning bid will be halfway inbetween my bid and theirs (which if you average it in this case would be $79.50. We will see... 7 bids later (in $2-3 increments), finally won at $84/night. Taxes and Fees: 33.68 for a total of $201.68 (or 100.84 per night including taxes/fees). I've stayed here before and am usually confident about getting this specific hotel on Priceline for Downtown LA. I've definitely got this property for cheaper in the past ($72, $80), but I'm ok with it again on this trip, because I believe the Westin Bonaventure tries very hard to deliver a good service. And so I'm excited to see if they continue their upward trend in quality, or if I end up having a bad experience. We will see! If not, i will be sure to post it here and in MANY other places. Muahaha. But so far, it's been excellent. If I didn't mention it at the very top of my post: YES, I DID USE THE PRICELINE link. Thanks for all the info, betterbidding, it is a great service!

STAY RESULTS: The westin bonaventure was as nice as ever. I tipped the front desk $20 and she was able to upgrade me to starwood preferred floors (which I am a low level member of anyway). She also gave me half off the (normally very expensive $35/night) parking, which saved me $50. And I got free wireless (saved $10/night) and two free cocktail coupons (which I didn't use sadly). The front desk person saw that the hotel had space and upgraded me to a suite; and it was lovely. Similarly to Las Vegas, it does pay to tip your front desk person politely at this particular property. (please look up "$20 trick" for etiquette if you're interested). The hotel is doing a great job upgrading each year I go there. The service is great to begin with, the rooms very nicely updated, fitness center great, and the lobby improves with each visit. While this hotel is not near west LA, it is very conveniently located to a major freeway interchange which is very convenient. The ratings in tripadvisor lag behind the improvements management has made in the last 2-3 years. I should also mention as an aside that this hotel is extremely pet friendly. There is no charge for small pets, unlike most other hotels that charge $8-20 per pet. Overall, I am happy if I get this hotel via Priceline. Just as good if not better experience than my time at Omni (which is rated highly on tripadvisor). I feel that this is a 4.5* level hotel given my many experiences with this hotel. A great value.

Thanks to prior poster pamela21, i had a good feeling i could get westin bonaventure for $80. must be empty over labor day! I started at $78 (denied), downtown. They counteroffered for $89. I raised to $80, added culver city, WON! with starwood and a tip to the friendly front desk people, i hope to get upgraded to starwood floor! Too bad parking is $35. However, last time a $20 tip got me free parking, free internet, and starwood floor upgrade. The hotel was quite nice at the starwood floor level! Thank you Better Bidding for sharing info and making this stress free.

8/31 bid 50, 55 (add culver), 60 (add lawndale), 65 (add the third non-4* region). Locked out of PRICELINE for 24 hours. 9/1 tried bid 90 for beverly hills (hoping to get intercontinental), rejected bid 96 added culver city, won Hyatt Regency Your Offer Price: $96.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 2 Subtotal: $192.00 Taxes and Fees: $36.62 Total Charges*: $228.62 Hope it's as nice as the Intercontinental! Tripadvisor can have some scary reviews to crosscheck--but every hotel has bad reviews...