j38129

Helping my sister to try to find a room, she landed this on the first bid. With a current rate of $139, I told her I was entitled to 50% of her savings. That said, I don't think I'll camp out by the mailbox waiting for the check.

Featured Free Parking, Free Internet, Casino, Smoke Free Rooms, Restaurants, Business Center, High-Speed Internet Access, In-Room Accessibility. And, of course, I used the HOTWIRE link from here!

Unfortunately the hotel I won is physically at the airport, which means I don't just get to pay for parking, I get to pay for *airport* parking! At least if we stay downtown, I don't have to worry about in-and-out privileges: I can just walk or cab it to our event. I have two theories: 1. The bid that won would not have won the zone I wanted, so they couldn't just transfer it, and 2. they saw the winning bid was a second bid with a zone that did not have the 4*, which tipped them off that someone was gaming the system. In all likelihood I'm going to make one more call after I win downtown and beg again. If worst comes to worst, I'll just eat it.

Duh. Sorry. Posted the priceline win HERE. We're actually driving in, but the event we're going to is downtown. It just becomes a pain to drive downtown and back (30 minutes each way), and staying downtown gives my wife a little bit of ease.

Initial bid at 70. They countered with 89. I rebid at 75 and won.

For the first time, I made a screwup on a Priceline bid and it bit me in the behind. I was trying for a hotel in Detroit. I was trying to bid for the Downtown zone, but inadvertently clicked on the Airport (DTW) zone. When the first bid didn't go through, I added a second zone, and got the win, but saw the hotel and immediately knew I had screwed up. I called Priceline to beg for mercy, but they refused (likely since the zone I wanted was higher priced than what I got). Because of the nature of the trip (and the lack of mass transit options from the airport to downtown), I need to stay downtown. So the question becomes: what do I do with the two-night stay I can't use? I've read that PL will reconsider once you've placed a winning bid in the correct zone, but thanks to the quirky nature of the Detroit area, four of the five zones have 4-star properties, which means I can only bid twice a day, so it may take a couple days to get a winning bid (I'm up to $75). Could I put it up on, say, Craigslist or eBay (since I will be there to be able to check in/out, but just can't use the room)? I'm sure I'm not the first person around here that's had this happen to them. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

One bid did it (based off what the Ann Arbor Marriott Ypsilanti at Eagle Crest was going for). Current refundable rate is $149, so I'll keep the $90 thank you very much! Note that this is a hotel not listed in the Priceline Hotel List.

Rejected at 50, 55, and 60. Countered 65 with 78. Accepted at 70. I will admit I'm a little nervous, as it was listed here as 3.5, but the hotel was "recently renovated", so we'll see. There's quite a mixed bag of reviews on Trip Advisor. And where did I start everyone of those five bids? Right here on betterbidding.com. Mods: I screwed up cutting-and-pasting the hotel name. It was the Sheraton Indianapolis Hotel at Keystone Crossing. Can you correct for me? My apologies.

Tried $50 and $55 before hitting on $60. The listed rate for the night: $129, so I'll take the 53% discount, thank you very much! This was actually a second choice. Looked downtown at 4*, but they didn't have anything up to $110 (at which point they offered a rebid to $129). I'll just plan on taking the light rail downtown from the hotel. And, of course, I used the PRICELINE links from the site. Thanks again!

November 15-19 (the race itself is on the 18th). Obviously I have tons of time (they haven't even announced ticket sale dates yet), but I was doing some thinking and dreaming. They're expecting 100K in town for the race, so I'll probably start looking once I purchase the tickets.

I'm looking at trying to get a hotel for the 2012 US Grand Prix in November in Austin, Texas. Obviously, trying to find a room that hasn't been marked up to rack rate plus 20% in the Austin area will likely be impossible. So I want to use Priceline to get an excellent rate, but with the understanding that I'm going to have to look outside of the Austin area. Based on other people's luck at trying to get rooms at known-in-advance major events (Super Bowls, auto races, Kentucky Derby, etc.), how far out (in miles) from the event site do you start to see deals becoming available? To use Austin for example: do I bother to look in Killeen (50 miles away)? San Antonio (60 miles)? College Station (80 miles)? Houston (120 miles)?

After my friend tried calling a boatload of hotels (including this very one) while stranded at PHL and being told nothing was available, I saw her desperate Facebook post and went to work. Amenities: Airport Shuttle Complimentary Breakfast Fitness Center Business Center High-Speed Internet Access Don't see this on the current list of possible hotels (I took a guess that it might be the Four Points), but at least she's sleeping on a mattress instead of airport chairs. And where did I start? Of course: using the Better Bidding link. I forgot to add that this was using the "Philly Airport South - Chester" region.

Airsniper: I've found that waiting for the last minute means you roll the dice on whether there's anything left for you. Inevitably it's a personal risk situation. I don't know how familiar or comfortable you are with rebids, but with that situation, you have only one four rebid zones available (DC Suburbs, Georgetown N, Mt Vernon, and Silver Springs), so you're limited as to how frequently you can bid if you're sticking with a 3.5*. could do some serious rebidding if you were committed to it (for more info, see this thread). A quick look at the rates for 3.5* hotels in each zone for those dates: Arlington: $127 for Hilton Arlington, $119 for Key Bridge Marriott, $186 for Sheraton National Crystal City: $129 for Doubletree Airport, $144 for Hyatt, $139 for Marriott Crystal City DuPont: $169 for Churchill, $135 for Hilton Embassy, $119 for Hilton Washington. Figuring a 30% discount, go with Arlington $83, Crystal City $90, and DuPont $83. Consider increasing your bid by $5/day. Good luck!

This was a battle! 35 bids in all. Rejected at (deep breath) $60 (lowest number that didn't draw the red box), $62, $64, $66, $68, $70, $72, $74, $76, $78, $80, $83, $85, $87, $89, $91, $93, $95, $97, $99, $101, $103, $105, $107, $109. Started getting counters at $111 ($141), $113 ($143), $115 ($145), $117 ($147), $119 ($149), $121 ($151), $123 ($153), $126 ($161, $35 increase instead of $30), $128 ($163). Finally won at $130. The current best rate is $190, so I'll pocket that $120, thank you much! Worth noting: The "estimated amount" that's shown to the right of the bid box kept jumping around, from as low as $169 to as high as $255. Also learned the very important lesson about having to spread out your rebid zones (so you can't just keep adding zones, then restart with a single rebid zone, etc.). As an added bonus, this was the hotel I wanted, as my sister is holding her wedding nearby! Of course, I started my bidding by using the PRICELINE link up top.

Priceline customer service confirmed that this does not apply to individual flight bidding.

Somewhere in my brain I recall seeing Priceline saying that for short stays, you would be guaranteed a certain amount of time "on the ground" (between the arrival time of your inbound flight and the departure time of your outbound flight). In other words, if you booked in on Friday and out on Saturday, you would be guaranteed not to be on the last flight in Friday and the first flight out Saturday. I can't seem to find that guarantee anywhere on the site now. Can anyone help me recall if that's still the case and what those minimum time windows are?

Bids of $60, $65, and $70 rejected, and $75 is accepted + $19.15 in taxes = $94.15 Current rate: $269, so I'll take 72% off! And, of course, I used the PRICELINE link in the top right corner to help a website out.

Opened at $31 (the lowest without the red box). Rebid at $34 and $37, then was bumped out to the "maybe you'd like to check these hotels" page. Rebid at $40 and was given a counter offer of $55. Rebid at $43 and $46. Current low rate is $99 a night. And, of course, I started (and resumed) my bidding using the PRICELINE link up there!

Bayless has a few restaurants downtown. Which one? To support AaronJB, if you find something now, I'd lock it in. The Chicago downtown market can tighten up quickly.

First bid at $75 was accepted! I'm really surprised. Current best rate is $179. As usual, started my bidding at PRICELINE link from Better Bidding. Thanks, all!

Bid $45, was offered an immediate rebid at $55, took it, and landed the Sheraton. FYI: Tried going 4* for Carmel, bid $45 (lowest amount without the red box warning), $48, $51, $54, $57, and $60, and was rejected each time. Stopped at $60 only because that was my beloved's limit. Bid through the PRICELINE link at Betterbidding, because that's how you show some love! Thanks all!

Using the board's Priceline link. :) The lowest offer that didn't get the red warning box was $35. Declined, but was offered to immediately rebid at $44. Did so and won. Subtotal: $44.00 Taxes & Fees: $12.34 Total Charges*: $56.34

Rejected $29 for Troy (lowest number to not get an "unlikely to win" message), but was offered an "increase by $7 for a free rebid." Rejected $30 adding Warren. Rejected $33 adding Bloomfield Hills. Won at $36 adding Sterling Heights/Utica. As usual, used the PRICELINE link to score it. Thanks again!

Got it on the first try. Taxes/fees were $13.12. Booked through the PRICELINE link. Thanks again!

Bid $60/nite and accepted on the first try. Not aggressive enough. :) Taxes were $14.52 But this site is great, and I booked through the PRICELINE link! Thanks for your help!