Vacationman

I think this hotel is actually Wentworth by the Sea, which is a Marriott property, and very nice. It's not in downtown Portsmouth, though--it's out by the water, a few miles from downtown. It's nicer than any hotel downtown, though. The reason I don't think it's the Sheraton or Hilton Garden Inn is that those both have pools, while the Wentworth does not. PS The reason to bid on this hotel and not the $85 3* is that some of the 3* hotels in Portsmouth are the dumpy Holiday Inn and dumpier Anchorage Inn that are a ways from downtown and located on a highway (specifically, at the Portsmouth Traffic Circle). They are old and tired. The Wentworth is a gorgeous, recently renovated historic building on the ocean. The Hilton Garden Inn and Sheraton have never come up on PRICELINE or HOTWIRE (they are the two hotels located in downtown Portsmouth within walking distance of everything). Good luck!

I started bidding on these dates a month or so ago, and finally got the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill for $120. All month, I had been starting at $70 and using rebid zones, but I never went above $120. When I saw that someone had gotten the Grand Hyatt for $55, I was hopeful that maybe rates had gone down, but I needed a Thursday night, rather than just a weekend night. I had a backup hotel in Dupont Circle for $99 a night, but we really wanted to be on Capitol Hill. This hotel is just a few blocks from a meeting that I have, so the location couldn't be more perfect. Thanks again for the great service you provide here, and YES, I used the PRICELINE link on this page to bid my trip!!!

I really needed a hotel at the airport and didn't have time to mess around, so after seeing recent wins for 4* airport properties, I started bidding at $55, 4*, Revere-Logan Airport, for 12/4/08. I was immediately accepted. Taxes and fees are $14.54. Total is $69 and change. An excellent deal, given that when I tried to book this online directly, the hotel was $189 a night. As always, this website was a lifesaver. Thanks again for this great service Thereuare, and happy holidays.

I'm willing to accept any of them (since the zones I don't want don't have 4 star properties, anyway). My max bid is $110. I know it's MIT & Harvard graduation, which may make this difficult. But if you have a better strategy, I'll give it a go. Thanks!

Seeing that there have been some recent wins at relatively low prices, I followed this bidding strategy today for 6/6/08 (1 night), all for 4 star properties, adding a zone and increasing by $5 each time I was rejected: Boston-Waterfront--$60 (rejected) Copley-Theatre--$65 (rejected) Quincy Market-Faneuil--$70 (rejected) Brighton-Brookline--$75 (rejected) Cambridge--$80 (rejected) Medford-Somerville--$85 (rejected) Southie--$90 (rejected) Revere-Logan--$95 (rejected) Does anyone see anything wrong with my strategy, or a way I could improve it? I know I'm not bidding very high, but I've done this a number of times for Boston and always won something in this range for a 4 star property. (I'm only interested in 4 star properties.) All suggestions welcome! (And yes, I used the PRICELINE link!)

The only thing you should be afraid of is if you think your plans will change. If that's a concern, I wouldn't use HOTWIRE or Priceline. Personally, I wouldn't use the sites to buy airfare. I've done far better keeping an eye out for a good sale, and the only time I bought airfare using these sites, I ended up with a horrible double connection flight. But I've had great luck using both for hotels, particularly with the benefit of this website. I've used Priceline in Las Vegas, Orlando and Boston, and ended up with a truly fabulous hotel each time, for a small fraction of the cost I would've paid elsewhere. Each time I was reasonably sure of which hotel I'd end up with, and twice I was exactly right (the third time, I knew it would be a resort around Disney, and we got the Gaylord in Orlando, which we loved). There is SOME risk, but booking a hotel is always something of a risk, even if you know where you're booking, since you won't find out until you get there if it truly is nice, or if the website has been spiffed up and the hotel is kind of junky--or whether you'll get a "bad" room in an otherwise "good" hotel. If you want to save some money, in my book, Priceline and Hotwire are the way to go. IMO, Priceline is a better deal, but slightly more risk than HOTWIRE. Good luck!

We got Red Sox tickets at the last minute for 4/13/07, and wanted to spend the night. I used the following bidding strategy: $75 Boston Waterfront (rejected) $80 added Copley (rejected) $85 added Downtown (accepted) The best rate I could find online was $149 for the Hyatt for that night, so I'm happy with that. The hotel is the old Swissotel, and not the best in town, but a decent rate for a weekend night in Boston during a relatively big convention.

On 11/1, I bid for one room, 3 nights on Priceline. I started bidding at $50 in the WDW zone for "resort" category, and added all zones except Universal, increasing my bid by $5 each time I added a zone (I did not add any quality levels, just zones). On my last bid, I got the $95 per night. I'm pretty happy with this rate, given our last-minute plans, and rates on other sites for this property for these dates.

We have the Venetian for the rest of our stay, but didn't want to pay the high price there for Saturday night. Since we wanted to spend some time outside of Vegas, anyway, we thought it made sense to try to get the Hyatt or the Marriott for Saturday. Unfortunately, the Marriott is booked.

I've been looking for a 4 or 5 star or resort for a while. After looking in loads of locations, I was unable to find anywhere, even on Priceline, for less than $150, since I needed a Saturday night. I wasn't sure I wanted the Hyatt, so I hadn't been bidding that zone, but I didn't have a backup, as even the 2*'s I was looking at were $85. I bid Henderson (and the Strip, and Northwest Vegas, and Convention Center, and Downtown) for $125, then $130, then $136 (for 4, 5, or resort). Finally got Hyatt Lake Las Vegas for $136, for two rooms. Taxes and fees were $37.44, for a total for two rooms of $309.44.

Thanks. I think you're right. It seems to have mixed reviews; I'll keep it in mind, while I keep looking.

On Kauai: For dates 5/7-5/15, hotwire has come up with a 3*hotel, showing the following icons: resort, near beach, restaurant, pool, fitness, golf, tennis, and laundry. Anyone have any ideas as to what this may be?

I started with a really lowball bid--$75. I got a message back saying that it wasn't accepted, but I could have the rooms at $133 a night. I bid all the way up to $120 without any luck, and then just bid the $133.

We just got 2 rooms at the Venetian for $133 a night, for Sunday, April 3 through Wed, April 6. We're pretty happy with this--would've liked to have booked a safety and waited until the last minute for an even cheaper deal, but one member of our party was set on Bellagio or Venetian. For people that just need 3/3-3/5, Hotwire looks like it has it for $115 a night--it's Tuesday night that's the monkey wrench.