I'm going to New York for my birthday, and decided to splurge and stick with bidding for 4* hotels. Not a fan of Times Square and didn't was downtown, so I kept my bids limited to MTE, UMT-CPS, and LMT. All three of those zones were pretty much equal in my mind, so I played around with this bidding strategy: Took me a little over a week to bid this ... $110 for CPS-rejected Started new bid $110 for MTE-rejected Started new bid $110 for MTS-rejected Added free rebid to each bid and bid $120 for CPS-rejected $120 for MTE-rejected $120 for MTS-rejected Added other free rebid to each bid and bid $130 for CPS-rejected $130 for MTE-rejected $130 for MTS-rejected Went back to CPS bid and added MTE $140 for CPS, MTE-rejected $140 for MTS-rejected Added CPS and MTE to the MTS bid $150 for MTS, MTE, CPS-rejected At this point I was locked out ... so I took the time to mull over if I wanted to lower to 3* and save some money or feed my dreams of waking up in 4* in Manhattan on my birthday. Well the dream won out ... Repeated strategy ... $150 for CPS-rejected $150 for MTE-rejected $150 for MTS-rejected At this point I knew my limit was $170 so I just added MTE and MTS to the CPS bid. $160 for CPS, MTE, MTS-counter offer to raise bid $25 As I was getting closer and had two free rebids to hit the $170 limit I rejected the counter offer and bid: $165 for CPS, MTE, MTS + free rebid-rejected $170 for CPS, MTE, MTS + both free rebids-VICTORY! Lowest rate for the Barclay on the Intercontinental website was $237 for Saturday and $294 for Sunday night. Hotwires rates were all well over $200 a night. Overall I'm pleased. Rate Information: Your Offer Price: $170.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 2 Subtotal: $340.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $65.94 Total Charges: $405.94