waltero61

Last minute decision to go to Women's Big East Basketball Tournament at Hartford Civic Center. Got the Sheraton Hartford Hotel at 100 East River Drive, East Hartford, Connecticut. Total with taxes and fees was $64.26. Same room on website was $112.00 including tax. About a mile from downtown, just across the bridge. Parking near the Civic Center on weekends for events is between $7 and $10 dollars. Amenities listed for this hotel are : restaurant(s), pool(s), fitness center, hi-speed internet access, business center and is listed as a best value. For those who need to know, the pool is a very spacious indoor pool with no lifeguard and is available fron 5AM until 10PM. Ate breakfast in the hotel restaurant for about $10 a person. A little pricey but well worth the cost. Ordered the omelette breakfast and between the huge omelette (with ham, cheese and tomato), toast, terrific home fries and all you can drink coffee, I left the place stuffed. The staff was very pleasant, no mention of Hotwire, and were more than willing to accomodate our non-smoking 2 bed request. Only negative is that there is nothing within walking distance if you want to go out and stretch your legs. You have to drive to get to anything.

Considering there are no hotels higher than a 3-star in this area, I decided to skimp a little on the budget and go lowball for 4 nights. Got the Homestead Dallas North Arlington on 1221 N. Watson Rd, Arlington for a measly $24 per night. $121 total with taxes and fees. It was listed as a 2 star with kitchenette and laundry facilities as the amenities. This is an Extended Stay America property, so you only get the basics. No room service (unless you pay $10 extra), no toiletry refills, etc... You can get fresh towels at the front desk. If you just need a place to sleep and shower, this looks like it might be the place. Looks very clean and well-kept on their website. I'll post whether or not if that's the case after I stay there in July. The website had the same room for $225 with taxes and fees for same 4 nights. By the way, if you go thru Hotwire, you get one queen bed only. I'll bring an air matress and me and my son will be set to go. Considering we have the 4 star Sheraton before and the 4 star Omni after this stay, we'll tough this place out to save a few bucks on an already expensive trip (less expensive thanks to Better Bidding and Hotwire). Please add this property to your pinned list.

Decided to give up on Priceline. Went again to hotwire and got a 2-star for $24 per night. See Hotwire forum for more info.

Logged on to your site and used the Savings Barn link to access my Hotwire account to purchase my room. Another excellent win on Hotwire. As I stated in my 2 previous posts, I had a feeling that the 2 1/2 star in Lancaster, Pennsylvania on Hotwire was the Holiday Inn-Lancaster, Visitor's Center at 521 Greenfield Road. It was indeed. Please update your pinned list to now show this hotel as a 2 1/2 star, not a 3 star. Amenities are : restaurant(s), pool(s), fitness center, golf nearby, tennis nearby, laundry. By the way, the pool is an indoor pool. Got the room for $45 per night. Total with taxes and fees was $305.98 for 6 nights. Best rate on their website for AAA was $80 per night. It must've also been the last room available, because I went back after my purchase and it was no longer available.

On Priceline's site the same Holiday Inn is listed as a 2-star. The price per night on Priceline is $84.

Looking for 6 nights in Lancaster from 4/16 - 4/22. Hotwire has a 2 1/2 star for $44 per night. Amenities match the amenities for Holiday Inn which is on your pinned list as a 3-star. Amenities seem to match for Holiday Inn-Visitors Center on their web site. Any chance they changed the star rating since last successful bid?

Same bidding routine as previous post with no success.

:) Just for the fun of it, I resumed bidding today. I backed up on the price a little bit. I went back to the prices I used in Post # 13 ($65 - $77). Still no luck. I'm hoping that another 3-star in the area (the highest-rated hotel available in this area, currently) might join the Priceline ranks and I might get lucky. I'll continue trying every week or so and post results until I achieve success. If not, HoJo's Express it is.

:) Figured I had a better chance of getting Hotwire advice if I started a new Hotwire thread, obviously you didn't agree. Sorry. :) Tried Priceline again today, for the heck of it, with the same bids as last time except for the last one which I raised to $83. Once again, all 4 bids rejected.

On Hotwire, Arlington - Grand Prairie (Mid-Cities) 7/24 - 7/28/06 2* - kitchenette, laundry facilities for $23 @ night 2.5* - airport shuttle, restaurant(s), pool(s), fitness center, hi-speed internet, golf nearby, laundry facilities $49 @ night 3* - complimentary breakfast, pool(s), fitness center, business center for $82 @ night Any guesses ?????

:) I've noticed that there have been alot of views to this forum. Is there anyone out there in Better-Bidding-land (other than thereuare) that can provide some input to this thread that would assist me in bidding this area? As always, would appreciate any help possible. Thanks, Walter

:) Here we go again. Decided to give Priceline another try. Using the same bidding routine as in my previous posts I bid $75, $77, $79 and $82. All 4 were rejected. The Howard Johnson Express @ $59 per night is looking better and better every day. Maybe I'll take my own previous advice and wait a month or two before I resume bidding.

Can you change the topic title to : Up to $77 with no success?

Started bidding on Priceline again using your Savings Barn link. Bid $65 on Arlington Grand Prairie Added Arlington South and bid $69 Added East Dallas Mesquite and bid $73 Added Fort Worth Bedford and bid $77 All 4 bids rejected. Still no counter-offer from Priceline. Do you think that this is because my last bid is not even close to the price that they are willing to accept? Don't think I'm prepared to go any higher. Maybe I'll just wait a month or so and see if the prices come down. What do you think?

Started bidding on Priceline again using your Savings Barn link. Bid $55 on Arlington Grand Prairie Added Arlington South and bid $58 Added East Dallas Mesquite and bid $61 Added Fort Worth Bedford and bid $66 All 4 bids rejected. Will start again on Wednesday and hope for more luck. I not willing to go above $75. I already have the HoJo at about $60 per night, so that's my back-up. Might try Hotwire again and see if there's anything new brewing there. Any ideas why this area is getting so expensive for a 3*?

I'll be bidding through Priceline again on Sunday morning. Any suggestions on what my opening price and bid increments should be?

Placed 4 more bids tonight with no success. Using your suggested bidding guidelines I started with: Arlington-Grand Prairie at $49 Added Arlington South at $52 Added Fort Worth NE-Bedford at $55 Added East Dallas-Mesquite At $58 All 4 bids rejected. Guess I'll have to wait until Saturday night to try again. Wonder why Priceline hasn't come back at me with a counter-offer? I've read other peoples bidding histories and seen these mentioned. I haven't been offered any free rebids either, I've also seen these mentioned. Could it be that my bids are even close to what they are willing to accept?

You're slacking off, it took over 2 hours for you to reply. Did the wife send you out to pick up milk or something? Only kidding. Once again, I appreciate and value your experienced input. If it indeed did turn out to be the Wyndham, that would be even more convenient than the Hilton. Quite honestly, if I can get either for under $65, it would be a great bargain. Especially since the Wyndham also offers a free airport round-trip shuttle. I'll go back to bidding on Wednesday and see what happens. Stupid question: How come the photo I selected in my profile doesn't show up under my name in my posts?

Hello again thereuare. This is the last city on my road trip that I haven't purchased yet. I already have a reservation at the Howard Johnson Express Inn-Arlington at Ballpark/SixFlags for $56.98 per night (not including taxes). Going by the winning bids in this area in the past, I believe that the 3-star that I'm bidding on is the Hilton Arlington. Past winning bids have been in the area of $45 - $50. This hotel is definately a step up from HoJo's (better amenities), and it offers an airport shuttle service (which HoJo's doesn't), a savings of approx. $60 round-trip. That being said, I started bidding today. Started with a $40 bid for a 3-star in Arlington-Grand Prairie for 4 nights 7/24 - 7/28/06 and was rejected. Added Arlington South (no available 3-stars) and increased bid to $42 and was rejected. Added Fort Worth NE-Bedford (no available 3-stars) and increased bid to $44 and was rejected. Added East Dallas-Mesquite (no available 3-stars) and increased bid to $46 and was rejected again. That's it for today. All of the other available areas have 3-stars available and are of no use to me. So I'll wait 72 hours and give the same routine another try starting with $42 this time and working my way up to $48. If I'm still not successful, I wait another 72 hours and start with $44 and work up to $50, etc... Would appreciate your opinion if it is actually the Hilton Arlington that I'm bidding on. Thanks again. Walter

:) I gave Priceline another try tonight without success. Started with Atlanta downtown 4-star at $55. Kept increasing bids by choosing other areas that did not have a 4-star hotel (thanks again for the advice). Went $60, $65, $70, $72, $74 and $76 and was rejected all the way. No problem. Went to the old reliable (thanks to BetterBidding.com) back-up : Hotwire 7/28/06 - 8/1/06 Atlanta - Downtown (Atlanta-In-Town) It was indeed the Omni Hotel at CNN Center. I got it for $81 per night. Grand total including taxes and fees was $381.55 for 4 nights. Amenities were listed as restaurant(s), and business center. Also listed currently as "best value." Went to hotel website and the lowest rate listed for the same room is $251.50 which happens to be the AAA rate. That's a total of $1155.06 with taxes. On Travelocity"]Travelocity and Orbitz the rate was the standard hotel rate of $279 per night. And Expedia said that their were no rooms available for those nights (maybe they should buy some through Hotwire !!!). :D What can I say, Hotwire and BetterBidding.com strike oil again !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just in case anyone else is interested in this hotel, even though pool(s) are not listed in the amenities on Hotwire, the hotels website clearly states that they have a pool (they should, considering it's a 4-star). The hotels location is also exceptional. The MARTA station is a short walk. MARTA also has a shuttle to Turner Field for Braves games that leaves near The World of Coca-Cola (only 5 blocks from the Omni). A few train stops in the opposite direction takes you to a shuttle to Six Flags over Georgia. MARTA also has a direct link to the airport. And MARTA sells a one week pass (Monday-Sunday) with unlimited rides for only $12 per person. So if your a budget traveler like me and my 15-year-old son (on our annual baseball trip), you don't even need a rent-a car (saving you the cost of the car and the $20+ per day parking fees). :) Thanks again thereuare for your guidance. :) And thanks to Aprilmay for her unsolicated but very welcome advice on the Omni. I'll be signing up for their Select Guest Program as soon as I post this reply. :o This and Hotwire combined make shopping on the Web a pleasure.

P.S. It also says that it is a best value. W.

Thereuare, I was just checking the Omni hotels website and they say that they have a year-round outdoor pool. The listing on Hotwire says only restaurant(s), and business center as amenities. Do you think its possible that this 4-star is not the Omni? Or is it possible that it is a mislisted amenity on Hotwire? What do you think? Walter

:) Thanks Aprilmay !!! I appreciate your input. I had already read your review. It was one of the few positive ones that I read. I have to agree with thereuare, the dissappointed people were probably the ones who paid full price and expected the top of the world. I started bidding on Priceline for late July. As of now I'm up to $66 and am still being rejected. I think Hotwire has it for $81. I'll keep bidding up to about $70 and then wait a few days and start at $60 again and work up in $2 increments. I know that the Omni isn't the only 4-star in downtown Atlanta, but for the prices I'm seeing in that area for that time of year, under $80 per night for a 4-star appears to be a steal. Thanks again !!!

Just for the heck of it, I decided to give Priceline a try. I saw from your site that numerous people have gotten the Omni for between $50 and $60. On Hotwire, it appears to be $81 per night. I placed a bid of $45 on a 4-star in Downtown Atlanta, and was obviously rejected. How long after this bid can I raise my price without changing any other options, and how many times can I do it?

I've read quite a number of reviews on the Omni. It doesn't seem to be very highly regarded (especially for the normally high rates). I think I might want to avoid it. Hotwire has a 2-star hotel in Downtown Atlanta (Atlanta-In-Town) for $39 per night 7/28 - 8/01/06. Amenities are: restaurant(s), pool(s), fitness center and laundry facilities. Any ideas as to which hotel this might be.