deejub

This one was an easy call to identify the property going in. Bid history was 42/44/46 yesterday, 48/50/51 today (with the second and fifth bids adding New Paltz and the third and sixth adding Newburgh, all bids at 2.5 *, those other zones having nothing above a 2*). $66.11 with tax and fees. Hotwire had what I suspect is this hotel at $71. Best rate online non-opaque $132. That makes me a happy camper. Used BB PRICELINE link as always!

As you guessed for another member, the following amenity set is for this hotel: Free Internet Pet Friendly Fitness Restaurant Business Hi-Speed Internet Blind Accessible Deaf Accessible Travel Accessible Room Accessible Bathroom Accessible Handicapped Parking Roll-in Shower While the hotel has mixed reviews -- and might have been my near-last choice in Downtown Pittsburgh if booking directly -- I see no intolerable issues if you plan to be out of the room most of the time as we will be, and the price was seriously unbeatable. $77/night, $91.22 with tax recovery/fees. Best rate available non-opaque was 139, 157 with taxes, and at that price was cheaper than all other non-opaque options in the area.

Just went back and double-checked and that is the full amenity set.

Think I have a new one for you... Amenities: Free Parking, Free Breakfast, Free Internet, Indoor Pool(s), Fitness Center, Pool, Business Center, Laundry Facilities (self-service), In-room accessibility. Price with fees $96.27; lowest online prices: with my AAA discount, $120.60, $135 with tax; without AAA discount $134, $150 with tax. Definitely happy (except that I wish it were a longer stay). Anyone going to Corning should check out this option if it appears -- less than 20 minutes from the Corning Glass Center. Your HOTWIRE link was used as always (it's bookmarked).

Amenities: Free Parking, Free Breakfast, Free Internet, Pet friendly, Indoor pool(s), Fitness Center, Pool(s), Business Center, High-Speed Internet Access. Booked via BB HOTWIRE link. This was an easy one to predict based upon amenities and location. Price was acceptable in light of crazy high hotel prices for this part of NJ. (At least for summer weekends, I'd say you'd do much better booking in the Somerset/Woodbridge/Piscataway and maybe East Brunswick areas than in even the northernmost areas going south from there along the Garden State Parkway; unfortunately, we lacked that option because of schedule of family events). Problem on arrival discussed at this link: Hotwire Occupancy Issue

I concur... but watch out for issues with 3 or 4, too. While HOTWIRE guarantees enough beds for 3 or 4 when so booked, as yellowdog says, the hotel may not follow the guarantee. This weekend was the second time a "3" caused me issues. This time, I booked for 3 (my wife and stepson, age 19, being the other travelers) and got a room with 1 queen bed. When I went to the desk, I was told HOTWIRE had only booked for 2 -- and they showed me what surely looked like a submission from HOTWIRE. I called Hotwire, and was told to pay the upgrade fee for a room with 2 doubles, and they would reimburse me once receipt was faxed to them, plus give me $25 in future travel credit. This cost an hour out of a weekend trip to resolve. Last time, it was a rather late night arrival (11 p.m. or so) after a 4 hour drive. The hotel did not try to upcharge, but had no rooms empty with two beds. They offered a rollaway... but it wouldn't fit in the room. Hotwire was called, and booked us at another hotel 10 miles away (thankfully, I was driving and not reliant on public transit) -- no cost to us, but by the time we got to bed it was 1 a.m. I just spoke with a (very good) Hotw.ire rep on the phone about my experiences. He suggested when booking for 3 or 4, call Hotwire after the hotel name is given, preferably during the day so a day manager is at the hotel, and having them call the hotel to ensure a proper room is booked. That hopefully would save potential arrival grief.

Amenities are Free Breakfast Free Internet Indoor pool(s)Smoke Free Rooms Fitness Center Pool(s) Business Center High-Speed Internet Access. Price with fees $68.19. Price on Days Inn website with tax $81.70 with no discounts, but I would have been able to obtain rate of $73.53 with tax with my AAA discount; thus my effective savings was small.

I had a similar experience as KatiesMom did in this hotwire hotel post while at the Crowne Plaza, Paramus NJ. Booked Hotwire for 3 adults; room provided was one queen. Hotel claimed Hotwire had booked for one bed. They offered a rollaway, which would have been fine except it would not fit in the room! Hotwire customer service was great, and rebooked us to the Hilton Hasbrouck Heights without charge. Whether this was a hotel error or a Hotwire error I can't swear, but I am inclined to think it was the hotel, as I would with the Royal Sonesta (especially as they kept botching things). Hotwire has resolved three issues for me over the years with reservations and has always been great -- and was apparently prepared to make this one right as well for the friend but for the hotel phones going down.

I am trying the Orbitz link and getting a redirection to localhost with the message "Firefox can't establish a connection to the server at localhost." Other links work fine.

Fort Myers Airport Hotel (2 1/2 * on Hotwire) is now Baymont Inn and Suites.

I've booked already non-opaque for this trip (got a price better than any of the Hotwire options or than I could get via Priceline bids for a suitable property), but thanks as always and apologies for the posting here -- I missed the Ramada being in the zone. Also something I missed: may I suggest adding Sleep Inn (or, alternatively Choice Hotels) as a link on the "Help Support Better Bidding" list of links? I didn't realize it was part of the same res system as Quality Inn so I missed the support opportunity.

This is stumping me. 2* Ft. Lee-Hackensack, Business Center, High-Speed Internet, **Indoor** pool, Pool, Free Breakfast, Free Internet, Free Parking, Laundry, Restaurant. You don't see indoor pools often in 2* lodging, and I can't find a candidate in this large zone (that includes most of Paramus). LaQuintas in Fairfield and Clifton should be outside the zone. EDITED to say never mind... the Ramada Rochelle Park is in the zone and has an indoor pool, and completely fits the description.

Bid history: 2* Northern VA/Fairfax 40, nope Add Tysons Corner/Falls Church 45, nope Close browser. 2.5* above 2 zones + Falls Church East $50/Total cost 62.83, accepted at this 3* property in the Fairfax zone. Rate for direct booking with Marriott was $129 prepaid before tax ($139 not prepaid). *Very* good deal. Used your link (bookmarked).

Room was reserved via Hotwire, booked for 2 adults, 1 child. Upon arrival, no rooms with 2 beds were available. A rollaway was sent up but would not fit in room without blocking path to bathroom from bed (and having to move furniture out). Also, two buses blocked the entrance area -- one was parked there for some time despite being told would have to move, this apparently being a discussion had more than once; the other was idling and belching smoke and passengers for some time. Eventually, Hotwire contacted the hotel, a refund was proffered, and a reservation at the same price made 15 minutes away. Ana at the front desk was very polite and understanding and tried very hard to make things work. And yes, this is probably the only Crowne Plaza with no elevator to the second floor. The room we were briefly in was immaculate but furnishings seemed dated. Hotels in this immediate area are priced higher than one would expect, but I think one could do better.

Amenities: Free Parking Restaurant(s) Business Center High-Speed Internet Access Golf Nearby This is a downgrade from the 3* listing in the Hotwire Hotel List here (and adds Free Parking to one of the amenities sets, which in this case happens to be parking in the back of the Paramus Park shopping mall. Anyone remember the 70s song Ariel by Dean Friedman? "Deep in the bosom of suburbia... Standing by the waterfall in Paramus Park, she was working for the friends of BAI...." :) ) BetterBidding link to HOTWIRE, duly bookmarked, was used.

By the way, Romelle's guess was correct -- the Zona charges a resort fee of $15, as per their website. (I am guessing that there may have been tax on top of that.) Trust me, as someone who just booked Vegas non-opaque for that very reason, I hate resort fees as well in the opaque setting, as you have no clue what you will be hit with unless you can scope out the hotel via this wonderful site (which is why posting your successful bid is so valuable to people like me and everyone else). But they're reality in a bunch of places, use the included services or not, impact on opaque booking or not, and as much as we might wish Priceline would tell that there's a resort fee pre-booking, they don't.

Niantic - Norwich - Mystic (New London), what was the Holiday Inn New London and briefly became Hotel Latitude 41 is now the Clarion New London Hotel. (Sorry -- misposted here rather than in the changes area, please move and edit as needed.)

Any idea on this one? Shows as 4*, Northwest and North of Las Vegas area hotel. 75% favorable. Amenities are casino, fitness, pool, restaurant, business center, high-speed internet, golf nearby. Price shown $68/night 3/17-20. Fiesta, Texas Station and Santa Fe would all seem to be <4* hotels. Suncoast is outside the zone map as shown on Hotwire. Am I missing one here?

Long Island City is also an option. Only a couple of stops to NYC on the subway, the rates could well be in the target area (or even a bit lower), and all the reported properties down to 2.5* are OK per most posted reviews online. Down side is that the neighborhood is a touch dodgy (though it is not as bad as it looks -- largely industrial, with one massive housing project). I was in the Best Western Plaza a couple of weeks ago and there were tourists from all over Europe.

Sometimes a zone and offerings just look... odd. I saw mention of the Tenafly zone elsewhere and tried to scope it out. For the dates I threw in (1/30-31), it shows 3, 2.5 and 2* -- with all having *exactly* the same amenities (pets allowed, restaurant, free parking, free internet, business center, 8+ average rating). That pet-friendly would suggest it has to all be the same place, as it's an uncommon amenity and a six-amenity match is rare. The only hotel I found in the zone -- at any * level -- is the Clinton Inn. (The Crowne Plaza in Engelwood is clearly not in the zone.) On Priceline's non-opaque site, the amenities match, including pets allowed.... *except* that the website for the Clinton Inn says it is "pet-free." I could just imagine someone buying a stay (opaque or not) and having Fido or Morris turned away at the door!

90% Recommended, Smoke-free, Complimentary Breakfast, High Speed Internet, Fitness Center, Business Center, Pool. This was an easy guess as the property being offered. 94.49 with tax/fees. AAA rate for same room $164 including taxes. As the LaQuinta (2* on Priceline) was my non-opaque out at $5 real cost less than the Hotwire bid, I consider this a good bid. (Interestingly, I was none so lucky on Priceline -- went up to $70 in area including Fort Lee, Paramus and Ridgefield (but not Saddle Brook to avoid a bad possibility), and down to 2.5*, over several days, with no bites.) Used bookmarked link to HOTWIRE from betterbidding.

Oh my... I am more than slightly embarrassed. I posted the language and then didn't read it correctly. Yup, you're right. If one takes into consideration what might be 3* properties in the area, that's feasible for sure. This was an $11 savings over a fully cancellable rate on Booking.com, when tax and fees are included ($79 versus $90).... I don't see that as "super savings" compared to other Hotwire deals, though.

LaQuinta does not usually get a 3* rating in my experience, but reviews are good. Listed amenities: Complimentary Breakfast Fitness Center Pool(s)Business Center Laundry Facilities (self-service) High-Speed Internet Access. However, I do have a question. The Hotwire page said in this listing: "Super Savings" with $119 crossed out and $64 displayed. In the indicia, it stated that this means that "Savings based on median published rate we've found on leading retail travel sites in the last 24-48 hours for the same neighborhood, star rating, and stay dates. Availability is limited and rates are subject to change. Prices are dynamic and vary based on date of booking, length of stay and hotel class. Prices do not include taxes and fees. Hotwire is different from retail travel sites. With Hotwire you enter the date and location. Hotel revealed only after booking." Well... obviously one can't check before booking, but immediately after the booking, the rates on eight different major travel sites were $79-109 (unless you count a suite as counting). LaQuinta's website rate was $84. Seems a wee bit fishy and does not make me feel good about trusting Hotwire.

This one is a bit of a bummer as it's the least desirable of the likely possibilities and is definitely a debatable move from 2.5* to 3*. Still, doesn't seem like it's awful (recent reviews have been OK) and it's only one night after making contributions to the Sands Bethlehem.

Minor note: the hotel is the Holiday Inn Wolf Road, not Wolf Run. :)