Vikki_G

Pretty pleased with this as even if we pay the rather extortionate $26 for valet parking at the Mariott the price will be pretty much equal to the $125 + tax we were planning to pay to stay at the well reviewed but basic Sea Shore Motel in Santa Monica. Looking at the Mariott's website I think there is also self parking in a separate lot for $8 so we might even end up better off :) The location in MDR might not work for everyone but we thought it through before bidding and decided we could live with being a little further away from the action in Santa Monica if it meant getting a nicer hotel for our money. As there are only a couple of free re-bids in the LA area at 3.5* level it took a couple of days to secure the deal, bidding process was as follows: Area: Santa Monica & Marina Del Rey Star rating: 3.5* Start bid $90 - rejected, Priceline came back with an offer of $105 - didn't accept although I think that would've actually been a reasonable price Added Culver City, increased bid to $93 - rejected Added Lawndale, increased bid to $96 - rejected Out of free bids so had to wait 24 hours... New start bid $97 - rejected, Priceline came back with an offer, this time quite a bit higher at $117 - again, didn't accept Added Culver City, increased bid to $99 - rejected Added Lawndale, increased bid to $101 - WON! Bidding on both occasions started through this site's PRICELINE link as requested. Hope this helps someone! Vikki

First bid $67 yesterday, came back with an offer of $83 which I declined. Left it overnight as we were having a bit of a think about the area, and I'm so glad we did as in the meantime I found a code posted on here recently giving $10 a night bonus cash. Went back on today and upped bid to $70 total but still no joy, so added Monrovia - Duarte as a free re-bid and increased to $72 which was accepted. As this included Priceline's $10 a night bonus cash, our actual bid was only $62 which I'm delighted with! Best available rate on the hotel's website is $149. I was guessing it would come out as either the Sheraton or the Hilton, and am really glad it's the former - parking is cheaper, the location I think will work slightly better for us and the TA reviews are better. Had seen what looked like the Sheraton come up on Hotwire for our dates at $84 which I thought was a pretty good deal but this is even better :) Thanks to everyone for taking the time to post the outcome of their Priceline successes - I hope this will in turn be able to help someone else to get a great deal. Vikki xxx

Worked for me too dutchie - thanks for posting!

We decided for a one night stay to go down to a 3.5* rather than go to the top of our budget for a 4*, and managed to win the Embassy Suites in Burlingame for

Thanks for the link Aaron - I wondered whether there had been any discussion of the issue before but couldn't find anything myself. Katharry I don't know anyone who lives in the US so it seems I will have to ajjust the format of my address to fit into the fields on PRICELINE.com.

Ok, I got a bit over eager to get started so have had a go but with no luck so far in getting a 4*: SFO International Airport - Burlingame - Start bid

Thanks Colfax. I didn't know it was relevant so didn't mention earlier, but I'm in the UK - can I still use PRICELINE.com? I gave it a go and it wasn't happy with me using a UK billing address so I couldn't get all the way through the booking. I just used the regular HOTWIRE.com site so hadn't even thought that this would be an issue.

I've used Hotwire a couple of times before but never Priceline - thinking of giving it a go in September as we're looking for a one night stay near the airport in San Francisco before driving out of the city the following day, so we're not that fussed on the exact hotel, location etc. I'm struggling to work out where to start though so would appreciate some help! Details of the stay are as follows - Dates: 09/17/10 to 09/18/10 Preferred Priceline area: SFO International Airport - Burlingame Preferred Star Rating: Ideally 4* but would consider 3.5* In terms of budget, I've been having a look around and it seems like the Hyatt & Hilton are the most common 4* Priceline hotels in the area - the Hilton can be booked via their own website for $99 advance purchase rate, the Hyatt for $149. The Doubletree, which appears to be the most common 3.5*, can be had for $79 booked directly. I've checked on Hotwire & could get a 4* that night for $89 (most likely the Westin Milbrae or the Embassy Suites) or a 3.5* (likely the Crowne Plaza) for $74, so using Priceline I'd like to think we could get something in the region of $60-$65 but would go to $70 maximum for a 4*. I was thinking of starting with a bid in the low $50s and seeing what happened. Still trying to get my head around the re-bidding thing properly, but assuming we started off looking only for a 4* would I be correct in thinking that Civic Centre, Fishermans Wharf, Marina, SFO North or South San Francisco could all be used as free re-bid areas as they don't have any 4* properties when I select them on Priceline? Any help with this would be most gratefully received! Thanks, Vikki

Stay will be for one night only 09/13 to 09/14. Hotwire price $83 for 1 room/2 adults, 4* hotel in LAX area. Amenities are Smoke Free, Airport Shuttle, Fitness Centre, Pool, Restaurant, Business Centre, High Speed Internet Access. The hotel list suggests that it should be either the Westin Los Angeles Airport or the Sheraton Gateway, however I'm a bit confused as the listing also has Trip Advisor info (first time I've ever seen this - FINALLY I know what everyone is going on about!!) showing 80% recommend the hotel and an overall customer rating of 3.5/5. I've checked both the hotels on TA and neither matches this exactly - both score 3.5 overall, but only 64% recommend the Westin and 75% the Sheraton. I'd be more inclined to guess at the Sheraton as the TA score is closer, but as I'm looking at this hotel for someone else (my soon to be in-laws!) I'm more reluctant to take a chance and would appreciate a second opinion. Thanks as always for your help. Vikki

Thanks for your help so far. As we are still in the process of deciding exactly which dates we will be in San Diego (depends on how many days we stay on our trip down the coast) and what exactly we want to do during our time there, I am going to leave off booking this part of the trip for now. Once we have decided on our definate plans I will update here with our final decision & outcome if we decide to go the Hotwire route.

Wow that was quick! I had the same thoughts about the 3* La Jolla funnily enough but can't decide how that location would work for us. If the 4* Downtown for $99 is the Westin then I would definately ignore both the Gaslamp locations as the Westin would be fine for us - I'm just not sure how confident to be! What are your thoughts on the 3.5* Downtown being the Sofia Hotel? I am quite new to the process so am not 100% sure I'm looking at this the right way, but if I do vacation packages for the same dates the only 3.5* properties which are not large chains (one of the amenities is "boutique") are the Hotel Indigo and the Sophia, and the Indigo as far as I can tell does not have a spa. As someone with a little more experience of these matters, does this seem like a reasonable deduction? Oh, and thanks for the info re. Trip Advisor ratings - I will have a closer look but if a lot of hotels don't show these then at least I'm not just being completely blind!

Hi everyone! I've checked through the San Diego hotel listings but am having difficulties in identifying quite a few of the hotels coming up on Hotwire for our trip in September, so if anyone can help it would be much appreciated. 3* La Jolla $79 Near beach, smoke free rooms, fitness centre, pool, restaurant, high speed internet access, golf nearby, tennis nearby 4* Downtown / Harbour Island $99 Smoke free rooms, fitness centre, pool, restaurant, business centre, high speed internet access These amenities look like they match those in a post regarding a recent win for the Westin San Diego at a similar price, but on the main hotel listings post "smoke free rooms" is not included for the Westin so I'm confused! 3.5* Downtown / Harbour Island $104 Boutique, fitness centre, restaurant, business centre, laundry, high speed internet access, spa 2* Gaslamp Quarter / Convention Centre $156 Complimentary breakfast, business centre, laundry, high speed internet access 3* Gaslamp Quarter / Convention Centre $159 Bed choice, airport shuttle, restaurant, business centre, high speed internet access Our travel dates are 27 September to 29 September 2010 (p.s. I know Hotwire is usually better for bargains closer to the date of travel, but after a recent success story for our stay in San Francisco I thought I would have a quick look for San Diego too!) Also, I've noticed a few people mention using trip advisor ratings to identify Hotwire hotels but have not seen these - can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks Vikki

Amenities: Fitness Centre, Pool, Restaurant, Business Centre, Laundry, High Speed Internet Total cost including taxes & fees $267.53 for 3 nights. Just booked this for part of our honeymoon trip to California in September and I'm absolutely thrilled with the price - I'd actually ruled out Fisherman's Wharf as a location until now as it would normally be outside our budget. Used the HOTWIRE link from this site. It was my first time using Hotwire and I honestly don't think I would have been brave enough to take the plunge without the info provided by this forum which allowed me to correctly guess that the Holiday Inn would be our location despite it seeming too good to be true - the rate per night on their website is currently $229 + tax for our dates!! Thanks everyone - great site and I will be back soon for help when booking the rest of our trip :) Vikki