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Allow me to take this theory one step further. Over the years, it's allowed me to make unlimited rebids in Priceline airfare bidding. So much so, that I've been able to increase bid increments of $1 with each bid, thus hitting Priceline's target price without overbidding by so much as $1. Using Thereuare's example of bidding from EWR to LAX, consider the following: On the Priceline home page for airfare, notice under the "from" and "to" box it says "city or airport." Rather than only typing in an airport (EWR, JFK, LGA, etc) you can type any city within the metro Newark area. For example, entering Elizabeth, NJ will display all the NY-area airports, and you simply select EWR and LAX if those are your choices of airports to fly into/out of. If your Elizabeth, NJ bid is rejected, start from scratch on the Priceline home page, only this time enter: Rahway, NJ. Again, Priceline will display all the NY-area airports. The same theory applies if you enter Van Nuys, Pasadena, Santa Monica, CA, etc, as either your origin/destination city. All the LAX-area airports will display. Entering any city within the metropolitan area of the airport you're flying into/out of will afford you unlimited rebid possibilities. The key is to start every bid from scratch after each rejection of your previous bid. I used the above theory in the following situations. Notice in the first thread I bid 17 times ($1 at a time) from $160 before hitting at $177. Orlando Priceline Bidding In the below example, I placed 20 bids in $1 increments by simply entering 20 different cities/towns within the metropolitan areas of SFO and DEN to acheive a win: Priceline Denver Bidding

First bid of $75 accepted. Hyatt Regency San Francisco Union Square East - Embarcadero Check-In Date: Fri, Jul 6, 2007 Check-Out Date: Sat, Jul 7, 2007 Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $75.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $18.35 Total Charges*: $93.35 Bid placed through Savings Barn link to PRICELINE.

Congratulations on your winning bid. Obtaining a winning bid for a 7 night consecutive stay is often not easily accomplished! The Crowne Plaza is very centrally located within the Union Square area of San Francisco. It is definitely a premium location. Thanks also for posting your bid history. If you're new to Priceline bidding, I would offer the suggestion that it's generally not advised to lower your quality level (4 stars to 3 stars) while simultaneously raising your bid price ($70 to $75). Although it might not have changed the outcome with this particular bid, this practice in general can cause an unnecessary overbid in the lower category you're bidding. Enjoy your week in San Francisco!

The Thousand Oaks zone isn't too far from Pepperdine either. I've been successful a number of times bidding this zone, always winning the 3* Hyatt Westlake Village in the $60-$70 range.

HOTWIRE's vacation package is often a good tool to identify hotels. Give it a try...

Travelzoo special for Harbor Court hotel in San Francisco. This is a Kimpton hotel located near the San Francisco waterfront. http://hotels.travelzoo.com/california-hotels/291576

$67 accepted on first bid. Hyatt Westlake Village Thousand Oaks 880 S Westlake Village Blvd Westlake Village, CA Your Offer Price: $67.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $67.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $14.82 Total Charges: $81.82 Bid placed via link to PRICELINE from SavingsBarn.com

Just curious .... have you been staying downtown lately because you can no longer get lower rates (in general) in the airport zone? Last weekend I attended an event near the airport. I bid up to $55 for 2.5 star in the South SF zone and got nothing. Since I could get 4 star in the South Bay for just a few bucks more, I went that route and just drove up to the event the following morning. Wondering why the good prices have dried up in the airport area, especially on a Friday night when supposedly there is lots of inventory. ???

New hotel for your list. Bids of $60 and $63 rejected. Accepted at $65. Moorpark Hotel Cupertino - Campbell 4241 Moorpark Avenue San Jose, California 95129 408-864-0300 Check-In Date: Friday, March 9, 2007 Check-Out Date: Saturday, March 10, 2007 Your Offer Price: $65.00 Extend Your Stay Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $65.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $15.14 Total Charges*: $80.14 http://www.jdvhospitality.com/hotels/hotel/19 Bid placed via SavingsBarn.com link to PRICELINE.

Sounds great. Kidding, of course about drinks (buying, that is, not consuming :) ). We're East Bay locals, only a 40 minute BART ride away. We can PM or email closer to the date. And congrats on nailing the magic number of $88.

P.S. It was too good a deal to only bid for one night. Used Priceline's add-a-night feature and got the hotel for the same price ($89) for the night of June 21 (Thursday). I see slruud beat me out by a lousy buck. Priceline win Le Meridien So he or she can buy drinks! :) To thereuare: Feel free to edit the title of the post to include 6/21 if you wish.

I wanted to try and "cash in" on the run we're currently seeing at the Le Meridien. I figure it's only a matter of time before another 4* property in the zone lowers their Priceline rate and we won't see many more wins at this terrific hotel. It was great when it was the Park Hyatt, and I suspect will be the same under the Starwood banner. Initial bid of $85 rejected. Increased to $89 and accepted. Le Meridien San Francisco Check-In Date: Friday, June 22, 2007 Check-Out Date: Saturday, June 23, 2007 Union Square East - Embarcadero 333 Battery Street San Francisco Your Offer Price: $89.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $20.61 Total Charges*: $109.61 Bid placed via link to PRICELINE from SavingsBarn.com

First off, Priceline will usually beat HOTWIRE's prices. Often times, we'll see the 3* Napa Marriott come in at $60-$80 on Priceline. If you're trying to get as close to Calistoga as possible, Napa will be your closest zone, followed by Sonoma then Santa Rosa. Good luck!

Bids of $145, $150, $155 and $160 rejected. Accepted at $170. Had tried bidding 4* Miami downtown up to $200, but rejected. Also bid 4* Coral Gables up to $150, rejected as well. Saturday only stay during Spring Break difficult, but not impossible! Sheraton Bal Harbour Check-In Date: Saturday, March 24, 2007 Check-Out Date: Sunday, March 25, 2007 Miami Beach 9701 Collins Avenue Bal Harbour, Florida 33154 Your Offer Price: $170.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $170.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $31.95 Total Charges: $201.95 Rate @ Sheraton.com $309.00 Bid placed through link to PRICELINE from SavingsBarm.com

After checking taxes/fees on conventional car rates in Palm Springs, it would appear Hotwire isn't factoring both an 11% concession recovery charge or a 2% tourism tax. If true, Hotwire would obviously have to "eat" those costs when it came time for them to pay for the rental.

While checking car rental prices in Palm Springs, I came across the following: For a 3-day rental, HOTWIRE wanted $44.95 per day for a premium car. Their breakdown as follows: $44.95 per day for 3 days = $134.85 Taxes/Fees $14.40 Total Rental: $149.25 For Priceline, the breakdown was as follows: $38.00 per day for 3 days = $114.00 Taxes/Fees $35.97 Total Rental: $149.97 So the taxes/fees on a $134.85 Hotwire rental are $14.40, while they are $35.97 for a Priceline rental of $114. Has anyone else ever ran into this before?

Don't expect too much feedback on your questions because these bargain (mistake!) rates were for travel dates Feb 1, 2007 until sometime in June 2007. Myself, as well as a number of other people tried bidding for January 2007 when this frenzy was going on back last August. Nobody reported wins prior to February 1, so I think your stay next weekend will be the beginning of all the check-ins over the next few months. Good luck and enjoy your stay!

Good job hanging in there. The problem earlier this week could have been the dreaded "Saturday night check-in" problem. No doubt hotels aren't releasing space to Priceline until the last minute for Saturday check-ins.

Funny you should mention "problems" with double the difference. Hotwire promises to respond with an answer to your claim within 72 hours. My claim was approved (pretty much a slam dunk), but not before first sending a couple of emails and eventually a phone call to them. In the past, they have always responded within about 24 hours. After 72 hours came and went, I wrote an email asking for the status of my claim. At 94 hours, I called Hotwire asking for the same. The representative, after putting me on hold for awhile, came back and told me that 72 hours was more or less a guideline. I said that was unacceptable, as Hotwire expects the customer to file the claim in a clearly specified amount of time and that expectation should be a two way street. She then said Hotwire still had two hours to reply, thinking it had been 70 hours since my claiim was filed. I had to point out that 72 hours from Monday at 4:00pm is Thursday at 4:00pm, and this conversation was taking place on Friday! Finally, she put me on hold again, went to a supervisor who approved my claim on the spot. I've had great luck with Hotwire's double-the-difference program in the past, but this time their customer service left a little to be desired. You can bet if I had filed a claim merely minutes after their 48 hour deadline they would have denied my claim on grounds of late filing. So I expect the same in return from them when they promise an answer within 72 hours.

Although it's off season, this is still an excellent price for a Saturday night stay in the Wine Country. Thanks for the follow-up as I was curious if this rate was for midweek or weekend. You snagged a good deal.

What are the dates of your stay?

I believe this thread needs to be moved to the SF Priceline section. Thanks!

Initial bid of $65 produced counteroffer to add $17 ($82). Added free rebid zone, increased by $4 to $69 and accepted. Sheraton Grand Hotel 1230 J St Sacramento, CA Your offer price: $69.00 Taxes/fees $17.90 Total: $86.90 Accessed Priceline via link from SavingsBarn.com

Per Hotwire vacation package 1/21-1/24/07, the Hilton SF Financial District no longer lists "LAUNDRY" amenity. Hotel is still listed as 4*. Current amenities are: Fitness Restaurant Business Hi-Speed Internet Spa

HOTWIRE's vacation package can often be a big asset when trying to identify a hotel. If you plug in SF for Jan 21-24 on their vacation package product, you'll see the Hilton Financial District is displaying the same amenities you're seeing in the hotel-only display. As the previous poster said, this hotel used to display a Laundry facility, but that amenity has also been dropped from the vacation package listing. So my guess is this is the Hilton Financial District. As to Hotwire's trying to convince you the rack rate is $299 for this hotel, if you go to the Hilton Financial website, you'll find these dates available for $209. Obviously, you can't place too much emphasis on what HOTWIRE is trying to convince you you're saving! Good luck to you!