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Started at $85 got it at $95.

Started at $110, got it at $130.

Amenities: Boutique Hotel, Restaurant(s), High-Speed Internet Access 3 Nights at $204 = $612 Taxes $87.33 Total $699.33 Very happy with this win.

Got it on my first try and it is the hotel that I was hoping for. Offer Price $85 Nights: 3 Room Subtotal: $255 Taxes and fees $37.80 Total: 292.80

4* New Orleans (French Quarter) Marriott, $90 ... 9/23/11-9/26/11 Room Subtotal: $270.00 Taxes & Fees: $52.83 Total : $322.83 Bid French Quarter area for $75 was offered a rebid of $101 Exit and rebid French Quarter + Downtown area for $90 and got the Marriott. Very happy to go back to NOLA!

If you are traveling during a special event like Venice Carnival you will almost certainly not be able to place a winning bid at any price, specially for 4 and 5-star hotels. Since I like to travel to Europe during the second half of May every year I have encountered my share of big soccer events. The Champions League final in Roma made me change plans and had to spend two nights in Napoli because I could not find a room for that particular night in Roma. This next May I was thinking of going to London but there is the FA Cup Final on the 28th of May, right in the middle of my planned stay, and 3-star hotels are going for $700 a night so I changed my plans again and will spend 4 nights in Paris. One thing I have added to my travel planning strategy is to avoid cities with big events, but if the event is want you want see you need to plan many months in advance and pay the big bucks. On the other hand if what you want to see is the Carnival, who cares about how many star should the hotel be. Try getting a hotel for New Year's Eve in New York, or the Mardi Gras en New Orleans, or the Carnival in Rio, or for any city holding the Superbowl in the USA, and you'll know what I mean.

Started bidding East at $65 using Southwest as a rebid zone so it was only to tries per night raising $2 at a time. When I got to $85 I began to get counteroffers telling me to raise my bid another $25 but decided to continue with my $2 strategy. I was hoping for the Marriott or the Hilton which are close to the train station. At te same time I did not want to get the Intercontinental which was going for $112 in Priceline. Finally I checked the West area of Prague and noticed that there were only two 5* hotels, the Savoy and the Aria, both of them very nice so I added West Prague to my list which provided me with another rebid opportunity and got the Hilton at $100. This trip to four different cities, four nights each, averaged a price of $114. $129 after taxes. Pretty good, and very happy!

Started bidding at $110 using Opera East and West as rebidding zones. It took a few tries but as soon as I bid $125 Priceline came back with a $35 plus offer which I declined and continued with my bidding strategy. I assumed that the price would somewhere in the middle between $125 and $160, around $147 but got it at $144. I thought about splitting my dates to try to get a better price but at the same time I did not want to risk getting two different hotels. In the end it worked out perfect, I have been at this Marriott before and it was the best bed of my entire trip.

This is the second part of my Vienna bid. Wanted 5/17/11 through 5/21/11 but it will not show up. Trying for separated dates I noticed that the first two days were showing at $154 and the last two at $125 so I went and placed two separate bids and got the same hotel for an average of $139.50. I was already up to $160 in Priceline without any luck. Hotel amenities: Fitness Center Pool Restaurant Business Center Laundry High Speed Internet Access 5* Vienna (Innere Stadt) Le Meridien $125 ... 5/19/11-5/21/11

Wanted 5/17/11 through 5/21/11 but it will not show up. Trying for separated dates I noticed that the first two days were showing at $154 and the last two at $125 so I went and placed two separate bids and got the same hotel for an average of $139.50. I was already up to $160 in PRICELINE without any luck. Hotel amenities: Fitness Center Pool Restaurant Business Center Laundry High Speed Internet Access 5* Vienna (Innere Stadt) Le Meridien $154 ... 5/17/11-5/19/11

Tried a couple of times before at $70 and $72 using Buda as rebbiding zone. Today my first try at $74 was accepted. Price Per Room, Per Night: US$74.00 Subtotal: US$296.00 Taxes & Fees: US$72.00 Total Charges: US$368.00 Average per night: US$92.00 Very happy with the hotel location. This helps to anchor the beginning of our trip, Budapest-Vienna-Prague-London. Of course I used betterbidding.com PRICELINE link to place my bids. Thanks

5* Madrid (Around La Castellana) Melia Madrid Princesa, $100 ... 11/20/2010-11/23/2010 First try at $100

I would add the 3.5* at least for the Times Square zone. I have stayed at the Milenium Broadway, the Marriott Marquis and the Doubletree Guest Suites and they are fantastic.

This was the final leg of our 14-days european vacation. Several days ago I started bidding on 4-start hotels at $70 for El Centro-Old Madrid and Around La Castellana since I had gotten the NH Sanvy earlier at the same price on my first try. Bid for for a while using the solo zones and the combination of both upping the bid by $2. I received the first counter at $80 and it was for $109, plus taxes and fees. I continued bidding all the way to $92 and every time La Castellana was involved I recieved a counter of +$22. I was problably getting closer but... In the meantime I decided to "splurge" and started bidding $105 on 5* for El Centro-Old Madrid and Around La Castellana using East Madrid as a free rebbiding zone (for 5* Priceline shows the Silken Madrid Puerta, very beatiful property, but when using NYOP the 5* was grayed out) At $110 I received a counter of +$22 but kept on bidding +$1 until I finally got the Melia Princesa. Price $124 x 4 nights = $496 Taxes and fees $53.88 Total $549.88 or $137.47 per days. Overall my 14-days european trip came up to an average of $117.85 with a mix of 4 and 5* hotels in four different cities. Compare to $194 last year in Italy when I did not use Priceline and Betterbidding.com. I am very happy to have found this site (BB). Without it I would have been guessing my way through PL. I have raccomended the used of BB to several friends which have had to listen to me everytime I got a new deal. Thanks BetterBidding and the people who participate here! :)

Got the Moevenpick at this price after bidding for 7 days. Started at $68 and moved up by $1 every day. Got counters of +$22 several times but kept on bidding my plan. Price $75 Taxes $16.52 Total $91.52 Always used the PRICELINE link to star my biddings.

First bid of $45 was accepted. Best thing about this hotel is that it is only a few steps from Brussels Central. Taxes of 11.29 Total $56.29 Used the PRICELINE link as usual.

After trying for several days and using 4 different bidding zones I was able to get this hotel. I started at $125 and worked my way up from there using all available combinations of LQM, OQE, OQW and ETM. Every time I used Lating Quarter-Montparnasse PL came back with a conter of $203. Every time I used Champs Elysees- Opera Quarter West PL came back with a counter of $153. I also tried the same combinations with 3 nights leaving it to Lady Luck to allow me to stay another night in Paris but the acceptance came at 2 nights which was my original intention. I already had the Paris Marriot Rive Gauche for 5/18 - 5/21 for $125. The Melia Vendome Boutique Hotel was a very nice surprise since it will put me exactly where I want to spend those two days. My offer was for $134 for 2 nights for a total of $268 Taxes and fees of $31.20 Grand total of $299.20 or $149.60 per night

I was trying to get 5/18 thru 5/23 at this hotel but I got to $120 without receiving any counteroffers. I changed it to 5/18-5/22 with the same results. At this point I decided to split my stay in Paris in two 5/18-5/21 and 5/23-5/25 and was able to get this price for the first leg. Started bidding at $100 and raising by $5 using Opera Quarter West and East as rebidding zones. Got counters of $203 and $153 but did not use them. When I was finally able to get The Marriott at $125 I was offer to add days at the same rate (or so they said) but it it was really at $168. 3 nights at $125 Subtotal $375 Taxes and fees $41.37 Total charges $416.37 Expedia rates would have been $271 per night. Right now I got up to $127 on the second leg and was told to raise it by $22 nut I had run out of biddings. I'll try tomorrow again. For the other two days, since I was going to go to Bruges and Amsterdam anyways, I'll do that on Saturday and Sunday. The rates in Brussels and Amsterdam are much lower for a 4* hotel, but I want to pin down my second leg at Paris first.

I got the Nh Sanvy hotel on my first try for $70 plus taxes. 5/15/2010 - 5/18/2010 3 days total $210 Taxes and fees $26.70 Grand total $236.70 Travelocity grand total would have been $550, savings of $314. I was trying 5* in Old Centro and Around La Castellana. Bid $90, 100, 110 with no luck. This is the weekend of the San Isidro festival. Very busy around this time of the year.