Jmack

I started bidding using the PRICELINE link a couple of weeks ago. Areas I was okay with staying were LAX (not LAX east), Beverly Hills - Century City, Brentwood - Westwood, Marina Del Rey - Playa Del Rey, and Venice-Santa Monica. I figured I'd get LAX as the rates there are usually lower than the other neighborhoods. I used all of these zones, and some other rebidding zones to start my bidding at $75 and go up. Last week, I had gone as high as $135, and still no takers. I retried 5 days before my travel date, and began the bidding at $85, and got the Hilton at LAX at $106. After my first bid at $85, I was offered to rebid immediately at $116. Parking is $34/day, but I was expecting an LA hotel to have outrageous parking. Interestingly enough, if you are going to the airport, you can park there for $13. Hmmmmmmm. Needless to say, very happy with the results.

Well, PRICELINE is certainly addicting. I decided to modify the dates and do just.one.last.bid. :) I went to $85 and reduced the dates to 07/08-07/10. I noticed that the PRICELINE EXPRESS deal for this hotel was at $125, and directly on their website, the prepaid rate was $119. Definitely happy I gave it one more try.

Was looking for a last minute steal near Disney. Staying 07/07-07/10/16 Started bid at $60 and went up to $84 adding 3* areas (Anaheim Hills, Cypress, HB North, San Clemente, Seal Beach). All were rejected. This was a long shot during summer, but I've had deals in this range before. Used the PRICELINE link from BB, of course.

I was looking for either downtown LBC or San Pedro. For a 3.5* there is one additional rebid zone. I started at $50, when i got to $60, I was offered to rebid at $79, but I rejected that. Since it is the day before, I bumped up my last bid to $67 and got the Crowne Plaza Harbor Hotel. I looked and retail rates were $147 for my selected night. Used the PRICELINE link

Failed bids 3.5*/3* LA-San Fernando Valley (Valencia-Stevenson Ranch) Over several days, I bid first for a 3.5*, starting at 50 and then all the way up to $80, with no luck. I then dropped to 3*, and started bidding at $50 up to $70 with no luck. Decided to try for Long Beach instead, will post those results separately. I used the PRICELINE link for all my bidding.

I think there must be very limited inventory for 2.5*'s in El Centro, as I bid for a one day stay last week up to $85 and was rejected and ended up just using a AAA discount at this exact hotel. Priceline shows median price for a 2.5* at $129 (which I believe might just be this hotel for the name your own price section). So this week, I started at $80 since I was going to be going a different date, it was rejected but priceline offered my a rebid at $91. I rejected that and then bid $87 and it was accepted. The drop from 2.5 to 2 stars is pretty significant, so I wasn't comfortable dropping the star level. I guess the limited number of nicer hotels out there lets them keep the rates up for being in the middle of nowhere. Retail price is $129 and AAA was $116 for the day I am staying. I'm glad it was accepted, or I'd be paying the $116 again. I used the PRICELINE link.

I bid over several days, I was looking for a 4* in either San Jose or Cupertino/Campbell. I started at $50 and went up in $1 increments with the 4 rebid zones. When I hit $62 I was offered to rebid again at $72, but instead I just added $1 and was accepted at the Double Tree in San Jose. I've won this one before and the hotel is pretty decent (I still don't know if I would call it 4*) and they do charge $18 per day for self parking (it's close to the airport). I checked the rates online, and the lowest AAA rate for the hotel is $89, so about a 30% savings. A pretty good savings, but not one for the priceline record books! Of course, I used the PRICELINE link to start all my biddings.

Bids were: 3.5* Disneyland - Garden Grove - $45 +Disneyland - North - $47 +Anaheim Hills - $50 +Laguna Beach - $52 +Seal Beach $55 ACCEPTED I looked up the website rates, and the best rate available is $109 (that's a non-refundable rate that you have to pay in advance), or $129 which is fully refundable. Very happy. I used the PRICELINE link!

I don't know anything about that hotel, but just from my experience in bidding in those areas, I have had the best results waiting the last week or two before the trip when you are going off-season, which October would be for Disneyland. Hope it works out for you!

Good to know! Now I don't feel as bad for not thinking it through all the way. The website and reviews seem really good for the Courtyard by Marriott.

I've been bidding for several days. I originally started 3.5* bidding downtown at $60 and went all the way up to $95 with no bites. At $86, it did ask me if I would consider a bid of $111, but I was really already above the max I wanted to go with. I then bid for several days at 3* (only 2 rebid options) in either South Natomas or University (I didn't do downtown because there was at least one 3* there that didn't have a pool and I wasn't too impressed with the reviews of another one). I started at $50 and went all the way up to $90. At this point I was thinking something must be going on these days in Sacramento. But I decided to add one more zone, the I-80-Arden, and began bidding at $70 and was immediately accepted. I now wish I had started that bidding a little lower, but c'est la vie. There are only 2 rebid zones for 3* so I was getting really anxious by this point. The facility looks nice and I checked the lowest available rates on the hotel site that night are $139. So good deal. Also, the parking is free, and now that I think about it, if we had won in downtown that would have tacked on another $20ish I believe per night. Used the PRICELINE link.

Still no luck, and we topped out at our limit. I bid again up to $85. I'm a little surprised only because it says that the median retail is $138. I think you are right that inventory must be down. We're going to change our itinerary, and drive up through Sacramento instead (on our way to Reno).

I had offered $30 and $32 the previous 2 nights (there are no rebidding zones). Both were rejected, but had a counteroffer of $46 (I think, I could be off a dollar or 2). Can't complain about $35! I looked on the hotel site, and reservations for that night started at $98. So I am happy. I used the PRICELINE link from better bidding to place my bids.

I still have not been successful, but thought I'd add my last 3 days of bidding history. 3* - Mammoth Lakes - $49 added Angels Camp - $51 added Buck Meadows - $53 added Mariposa - $56 added Oakhurst - $59 3* - Mammoth Lakes - $60 added Angels Camp - $62 added Buck Meadows - $65 added Mariposa - $67 added Oakhurst - $69 3* - Mammoth Lakes - $65 (I offered a lower amount that my prior night's bid, as I noticed that the median retail rate that was listed had gone down a bit, and I thought maybe rates had dropped for the week) added Angels Camp - $70 added Buck Meadows - $72 added Mariposa - $75 added Oakhurst - $77

There isn't a lot of bidding history here on Mammoth, especially for summer rather than winter, so I started my bids fairly low. All of these were rejected, but I will try again after 24 hours. 3* - Mammoth Lakes - $39 added Angels Camp - $41 added Buck Meadows - $43 added Mariposa - $45 added Oakhurst - $47 Looks like most of the 3* hotels have a retail between $100-$150, so I'm hoping to get something in the $50-$75 range eventually. I used the PRICELINE link to start my bidding, as always!

Bidding history: At first I was just looking for a 3* or up for cheap, so my first day bidding was as follows, all rejected (I was willing to stay in any of these locations): $40 - 3*, Disneyland - Anaheim $42 - added Disneyland - Orange - Garden Grove $45 - added Costa Mesa - Irvine - Santa Ana The next day, I wanted to make sure I would get something for at least a decent price since I was traveling the next day, I bumped up to 3.5* so I could make a few more bids by adding more zones: $50 - 3.5* Disneyland - Anaheim $52 - added Disneyland - Orange - Garden Grove $55 - added Anaheim Hills $57 - added Laguna Beach $62 - added Laguna Hills ACCEPTED Winning bid of $62 for Sheraton Garden Grove-Anaheim South. All in all, I'm very satisfied. I check the rates online and similar rooms through the Sheraton site were $159. I called the hotel and there is $12 parking, which isn't bad. Lucky me, it's 6 minutes to my event. Great priceline transaction. I used the PRICELINE link.

I'll note that for next time to make sure I use the pricline link. But just to update on the stay, I don't think this was really a 3 star hotel. It was probably a step below a Best Western. We ended up leaving almost right away. We complained to priceline, and at first they didn't budge, but when we complained again, they contacted the hotel and the hotel and priceline agreed to refund our money.

I placed 2 bids, my first was for $45 for Rancho Mirage-Indian Wells-Palm Desert, I selected the "Resort" star level only, hoping to get a great deal on my first try, but it was rejected. This was a last minute trip, so I added Palm Springs, and selected 3 star and up for $46 and got the Caliente Tropics Resort. I think if I had thought this through, I could have had one more bid before this, since Palm Springs zone doesn't have a "Resort" option. But I was a little rushed. Now, the hotel site lists rooms going for $47, so it wasn't that great of a deal; however, I had a coupon code for Priceline from the Entertainment Book (If you have an Entertainment Book, you can get up to $50 off, $10/night, check your book) so I was actually out of pocket $36 per night. With taxes out the door, it's $93.22 and would have been $112.84 booked through the hotel site. That's still a 17% savings. I normally use the PRICELINE link through better bidding, but since I had a discount, I had to click through the link in the email they sent me.

Just wanted to add an update for bidders, parking at the Hotel Palomar is $33/valet only, so incorporate that into your bidding (and the tips for the valet). Hotel was very nice though.

There are areas in the Westwood-Brentwood region that are closer to Century City than the outskirts of the BH-WH, if you would consider adding that, you can do an extra bid per day.

Bidding history. Yesterday I bid the following without success: 1) 4* Santa Monica & Marina Del Rey - $75 2) added Brentwood - Westwood - $80 3) added Culver City- $92 4) added Lawndale - $97 5) added Redondo - Manhattan Beaches - $101 So today, I started with 1) 4* Santa Monica & Marina Del Rey - $111 2) added Brentwood-Westwood $116 ACCEPTED Hotel Palomar Los Angeles Westwood. The hotel looks pretty good. Retail rates were running at cheapest around $175, but most sites were offering at just around $200, so we are very happy.

We are going to the Bay Area for an event, but weren't too particular on the location of our hotel. We tried bidding in SF first, and ended up getting something in San Jose after all of these were rejected. History of bids: 1) USW - 4* $60 2) added Marina - 65 3) added USE 67 4) added Civic Center 69 5) added SOMA 70 6) added Fisherman's Wharf 71 7) added Financial District 72 All rejected.

We weren't too particular on the exact part of town we wanted to stay, so this was our bidding history" 1) Palo Alto 4* - $50 rejected 2) added Campbell - $55 rejected 3) added Mountain View - $58 rejected 4) added San Jose - $61 accepted. I looked on the price comparison sites, and it looks like this runs for the cheapest of $87 per night, so not exactly one of our greatest wins in the history. I also looked on the review sites, and while the reviews seem decent, I'm surprised based on the pictures and some of the comments that this is considered 4 stars. It is also right dab between a busy freeway and an airport, which would be great, if you needed to be close to the airport. But those are the risks we take, sometimes they pay off, and this time, I don't think it did for us. There were 2 other zones below 4 stars that I could have tried before adding San Jose, I now wish I had tried them. I also had tried getting a room in San Francisco with no luck, I'll post those in that forum.

Last minute trip to Anaheim for a conference. Placed 3 bids: 1) $43 for Disneyland - Anaheim, 3 1/2 star, rejected 2) $44 for Disneyland - Anaheim, 3 stars, rejected 3) $45 for Disneyland - Anaheim, and Disneyland Garden Grove, 3 stars, accepted Hilton Suites in Orange. with tax it came to $57.80. I won this the last time we were in Orange County, it's a very nice hotel. Clean rooms. All rooms are suites. Easy parking. Close to Disneyland/Convention area. It was pretty dead when we stayed there last, it seems like maybe they were still doing a little bit of construction or something. I used the PRICELINE link.

$43, staying 1/31/10-2/2/10 2 nights room $86 + $18.96 taxes, $104.96 total We were trying for the Crown Plaza based on posted wins, but were pleasantly surprised to get the Hilton Suites. Choose 3.5 stars, and included both the Disneyland-Anaheim area and Disneyland-Garden Grove-Orange. Checking the hotel site, it looks like there will be an $11 parking fee, which seems reasonable. No free shuttles to Disneyland, just Anaheim Resort Transit. I used the PRICELINE link, but don't know how to post a hot link like that.