TrevorK

Remember that with PRICELINE you can never find out exactly what hotel you are going to be getting. As posted above you can find a list of hotels that have been reported but there is no surefire way. HOTWIRE is a little easier to tell which hotel you are getting because the amenities are listed. A quick look at this site and others show several people getting the 4* in Napa Valley for about $150 throughout August and September. The hotel they are all receiving is the Marriott. When I go to the Marriott site it shows that it is sold out for the 18th. This leads me to believe it is likely you will pay much more than $150 for a 4* property in Napa Valley itself. There are several rebid zones within the Napa region when going for a 4*. That said when I look up availability on HOTWIRE and PRICELINE Express Deals to get an idea of what you can get a unnamed hotel for there are not many options so I would personally start your bidding sooner than later and expand your search to other sites that offer last-minute bookings at a discount. Unfortunately I think a 4* in the valley itself will come in at a very high price and if it were me, would suggest looking into something with a lower star rating.

I have recently used it in Barcelona and it worked. It makes some sense when dealing with the higher star levels as there are only a few properties avaiable to begin with. I'm going to try it out most likely during my upcoming trip but I won't be booking those hotels for another couple weeks. Sometimes I prefer HOTWIRE to PRICELINE because I can find out the amenities/location and such beforehand as I actually want specific ones occasionally.

As you're probably aware with PRICELINE getting free parking/wifi is hit and miss. My experience with San Diego is that many of the nicer hotels in downtown charge for parking. While hotels in Coronado, such as Hotel Del Coronado, may offer free parking they also carry a huge pricetag. I think your best strategy is to determine if you really need wifi/parking because those two together could cost $30-40/night (such as at the Hyatt) and factor in those costs into your bid. Then just follow the strategy outlined above and see what you can get for $100, which in turn could end up costing you $130-140 after you pay for parking and wifi. There is also some free/cheap street parking and lots near DT San Diego (especially near the Marina) if you get a hotel that charges a lot for parking. I would also check out HOTWIRE as you have a better chance of figuring out the exact hotel you'll be receiving which means you can figure out the exact cost to you before actually paying for it (as there is no cancellation). HOTWIRE I find also has more zones for the areas you want to stay in (Downtown, North Convention, South Convention) whereas PRICELINE has only one. As for your other question of resorts there are some places in San Diego that I think would qualify: private beach, spa, tennis courts, etc. The Hilton is one of them and is located in, I believe, the Mission Bay area.

Perhaps someone with more HOTWIRE experience can chime in, but isn't it generally accepted that any hotels you get through the "no-name" route are hotels that are offered at full price through their site? This should make it very easy to narrow down when dealing with a 5 star. I may have just got lucky int he past but I used this approach and was successful in guessing my hotel before bidding. If you do pick I notice that, using this strategy it is La Maison or Hotel Square. The amenties match only Hotel Square (and to the letter) but the problem is that it is 0.2miles out of the zones so I'm not sure....Perhaps someone with more experience bidding this way can help or at least shed some light on whether it's a good strategy.

Sorry - must have missed putting it in. The price was $120USD/night. I'm not sure how close it is to the cruiseship port; we're arriving by train so I never looked into that. Sorry!

This hotel seemed to be between $150-$160 on all other travel sites. Would recommend updating the sticky because the zones within Hotwire have changed for Barcelona and it's definitely a little confusing to follow it. Short list of amenities: Near Beach Indoor pool(s) Smoke Free Rooms Fitness Center Pool(s) Restaurant(s) Business Center Laundry Facilities (self-service) High-Speed Internet Access Spa Services Free Internet

Thanks for following up for me!

I'm not sure on your price range, but some of the larger 4* hotels in the DT/Harbor Island area have car rental agencies in the hotel. We rented our car from Hertz, which has a rental desk in the Hyatt (amongst other hotels). You pay an extra fee for these locations (no idea how much as I did a one-way rental and paid a lot of other fees) however. On the plus side, parking is "free" because when you bring the car back at night (and you're staying the night) you bring it back to the Hertz stalls and rent it again the next day (if you want). We're actually heading down to San Diego the same time you are so I'm eager to see your results as we'll be looking at the same type of hotel (4* or better) that you are.

We stayed at the Hyatt in September and are hoping we get the chance to stay there again in July (instead of the Westgate) when we start our bidding. It's an amazing property - they have a beautiful hotel (one of the largest Hyatt's I believe). The pool/hot tub area is great - it's really relaxing overlooking the bay. It's not far from DT/metro train either - we ended up walking/taking the train all over the city from there. I'm sorry you couldn't get the hotel you wanted for sentimental reasons, but I'm sure that aside you'll have an incredible time at the Hyatt!

Kamloops BC - 2.5* and 3* - $67 Kamloops BC/Merritt BC (no 2.5* or 3* exists) - 2.5* and 3* - $70 No go on either

Kamloops BC - 2.5* and 3* - $61 Kamloops BC/Merritt BC (no 2.5* or 3* exists) - 2.5* and 3* - $64 No go on either

Kamloops BC - 2.5* and 3* - $55 Kamloops BC/Merritt BC (no 2.5* or 3* exists) - 2.5* and 3* - $58 No go on either. I think I must be one of the most patient people there are.

Kamloops BC - 2.5* and 3* - $49 Kamloops BC/Merritt BC (no 2.5* or 3* exists) - 2.5* and 3* - $52 No go on either

Kamloops BC - 2.5* and 3* - $43 Kamloops BC/Merritt BC (no 2.5* or 3* exists) - 2.5* and 3* - $46 Thanks for the tip - I might try bidding on that 3* again at some point then with that it mind!

Those are actually two I would love to stay at. Kamloops BC - 3* - $83 Kamloops BC - 2.5* and 3* - $35 Kamloops BC/Merritt BC (no 2.5* or 3* exists) - 2.5* and 3* - $40 All bids are a no go. I hope you guys get something for each unsuccessful bid I make! When I bid $83 for the 3* in Kamloops I was offered a "one time opportunity" to increase my bid to $98. I'm guessing this means that I could have got the 3* for $98 at that point, but it's way more than I wanted to spend.

Kamloops BC - 3* - $76 Kamloops BC/Merritt BC (no 3* exists) - 3* - $80 I think that signals the end of my chances at a 3*. I wish I knew what hotels they rate as 2.5* Through the conventional channels it appears that $115-125 is the going rate for a nice 3*. It'll just be a stopover, so I wasn't looking to spend too much on the room.

Kamloops BC - 3* - $70 Kamloops BC/Merritt BC (no 3* exists) - 3* - $73 Still no go. I think I'll go up to $80 and then start over for the 2.5* property.

Kamloops BC - 3* - $65 Kamloops BC/Merritt BC (no 3* exists) - 3* - $68 Not sure how much higher I will be going on this one, might try the 2.5* right away.

Kamloops BC - 3* - $59 Kamloops BC/Merritt BC (no 3* exists) - 3* - $62 Still a no go.

Over the past couple days: Kamloops BC - 3* - $40 Kamloops BC/Merritt BC (no 3* exists) - 3* - $45 Kamloops BC - 3* - $50 Kamloops BC - 3* - $53 Kamloops BC/Merritt BC (no 3* exists) - 3* - $56 I really don't want to pay for $70 for the hotel, so I'll just keep increasing slowly and by the end of the week I'll be at $70. Then I guess I'll play the same game with the 2.5* hotel.

Kamloops BC - 3* - $35 Kamloops BC/Merritt BC (no 3* exists) - 3* - $38 With the median price at $130, is it reasonable to expect the "Name Your Own Price" to come in under $65?

I'll be down in SF around that time, or a little later, and was hoping to get a good deal in Fisherman's Wharf. Is there something special going on during this period of time, or are these the normal prices?

I'm looking to bid on a 2.5* or 3* in Kamloops, BC but really have no idea where to start. Preferably a 3*, but I'm willing to go down to a 2.5* if I can't get a reasonable price on a 3*. I did a search on the forum and couldn't find much in the way of Kamloops bids. I really want to stay away from the dirtier hotels - do you think it's safe to say that if a hotel is a 1* or 2* when I look up hotels through Priceline that when I "Name My Price" they won't magically change star ratings? There are some 1* hotels I absolutely do not want to stay at after reading through TripAdvisor reviews, which is making me nervous bidding on a 2.5* property. Since I have plenty of time I have tried: Kamloops BC - 3* - $30 Kamloops BC/Merritt BC (no 3* exists) - 3* - $32 But would like to know if there is a better price to start at.

First time using PRICELINE, so I started my bidding at $60 and it was accepted. I didn't see Hotel Arts in the hotel list on the forum so hopefully someone can add it in so others know. I was a little hesitate to us the "re-bidding" strategy outlined here and start with a lower bid because I absolutely didn't want a 3.5* hotel in somewhere other than downtown for Calgary, which is why I started at $60 (judging by previous posts, many were paying more than $60 for the other 3.5* listed, the Marriott). I'm still a little confused - how do I know, when using the "re-bidding" strategy, that there won't be a new hotel in the zone I use for re-bidding? I'm looking to do quite a bit of traveling shortly, and will be (hopefully) making a lot of use of PRICELINE. But with my traveling it will be critical to have a hotel within a certain zone because of the activities planned.... EDIT: After re-readingPriceline Re-Bidding Explained and going through PRICELINE I think I have it all figured out. I just click on the other zones, and when you click on them individually they indicate what star ratings the zone offers. Is this correct? Also, I assume I can safely trust if I click on "Zone A", and it doesn't have a 3.5* I won't magically end up with a 3.5" in that zone when I re-bid?