tandemtourer

Sorry I forgot to name the hotel. It has been a while. I have usually been successful at getting the Hilton but in this case it was Harborside Hyatt Conference Center. I prefer the convenience of the Hilton after a long flight but the Hyatt has a complimentary 24 hour shuttle.

Computer hiccup.

Started bidding at $82 added re-bid zones and on the final one $101 was accepted. Taxes of $22.93 brought the total to $123.93. It has been a while since I have had the opportunity to bid on Priceline but once again this site was extremely helpful. Made my bids by using the PRICELINE link to support this site.

3* Portland West: $48 bid rejected but I was given the option of adding $14 to the bid which I rejected. Added Biddeford/Saco zone and raised my bid to $52 which was accepted for the Clarion I was very much hoping for that hotel since I will be arriving at the transportation center late in the evening and it is within easy walking distance.

1st bid 4* Beach $75 2nd bid 4* Downtown $82 3rd bid 3 1/2 * $85 4th bid 3* $87 accepted. Sheraton Yankee Clipper.

1st bid of $55 was rejected. PL counter offer of $70 was accepted. Total with fees: $83.38. Priceline did not permit a different counter offer of less than the $70 which won.

After several weeks of unsuccessful bidding we finally secured a room for a three day stay in January. (There would have been more re-bids available if we had included 4* hotels but since we have previously stayed at the Hyatt Pier 66 we decided that we really prefer to be closer to the beach and confined our bids to 3 * properties. Pier 66 is a lovely hotel. We enjoyed our room and its amenities, the pools were very nice, but unfortunately, the rooftop bar is closed to the public. We never use a rental car and it is a fairly long walk to the beach and restaurants. The water taxi is very pleasant but it really can't be considered as transportation. We tried to use it to get downtown for dinner one night and it completely skipped the stop at the Pier 66.) Our bids on November 24: Beach 3* $100 Downtown 3* $115 Miramar $120 Hollywood $128 Won Sheraton Yankee Clipper Beach Resort Taxes and Service Fees for this three night stay: $56.87

We'd been working on this since March 20. Bids of $50 were being accepted so we felt adventurous. Bidding history: 3/20/05 3* Portland bid of $41 was rejected, Free bid (Westbrook) bid of $49 was rejected. 3/26/05 3* Portland bid of $47 was rejected, Free bid (Westbrook) bid of $49 was rejected. 3/30/05 3* Portland bid of $49 was rejected, Free bid (Westbrook) bid of $50 was rejected. 4/10/05 3* Portland bid of $51 received a counter offer to increase by $14 which we declined, Free bid (Westbrook) of $58 was accepted. Total cost: $58 + $12.21 in taxes and fees = Total $70.21

This was our second time bidding on Priceline. We had a reasonable back-up and were happy to take our time to get the right price. We needed to be near the T so we could get to South Station early in the morning to catch our train. We wanted one night, 4/28/05 and were unsuccessful with low bids never exceeding $54 on 1/6, 1/10, 1/28. 2/2 and 2/11. On 2/16 we were successful doing the following: 1st bid Downtown 4* bid $45 rejected 2nd bid Added Back Bay still 4* $53 rejected 3rd bid changed to 3* bid at $53 rejected 4th bid Added South Boston increased bid to $57 rejected 5th bid Added Medford increased bid to $59 accepted. Total cost for one night at Boston Park Plaza including taxes and Priceline fee $74. Thanks to all who posted their experiences bidding on Boston hotels.

On January 2 we bid on a pre-cruise hotel for a two day stay for 4/29-4/30. 1st bid Downtown 4* $55 was rejected 2nd bid added Beach (still 4*) $55 rejected 3rd bid changed to 3* $55 rejected 4th bid added Miramar increased bid to $71 accepted. We had tried a similar strategy on 12/26 without success. We re-read the guidelines on this wonderful site and were successful on 1/2/05. We may have been too hasty to make the winning bid but we were new to this and our back-up hotel was the BW Marriott Marina. Thank-you to everyone who has shared their bidding information.