hooliocah

Was looking for a budget minded hotel in San Diego for our upcoming trip. Location doesn't seem to be amazing, but free parking and access very close access to the Blue Line, we can be downtown in no time. Key amenities: Free Parking, Free Internet, Pet Friendly, Smoke Free Rooms, Fitness, Pool, Restaurant, Business, Self Serve Laundry

Waited too long and missed out on some cheaper deals, but still satisfied with this pre-cruise booking. Started at $100 with $5 increments on rebid zones then moved to $3 when I got a counter offer. The counter offer came up at $40 higher, I haven't bid on Price.line for a while, but I'd only ever gotten counters at $20 before, must be trying to milk a few extra dollars out of people. Pretty sure that this is the same hotel showing up on the PRICELINE EXPRESS deal right now, so the amenities are Wifi, Restaurant and Business Center. Cheers, Ryan

Thanks Aaron. I knew it would be two reservations and I run the risk of having to move rooms, but to save a few dollars I figured I'd chance it. I may fire them off an e-mail in advance to see if they can link them in their system somehow, but I'm not too concerned.

This is the second part of a post-cruise stay from this thread. Saved $40+ by splitting up the stay. Just hoping that we can keep the same room, but either way its not a big deal if we need to switch, because we'll just have them hold our bags and go hang out at the pool or something. There's a mandatory 16% resort fee here, payable at the hotel. Not sure why they don't just include the fee and show "Free WiFi" in their amenities. Now I just need one more night pre-cruise. Anyone have a post-stay express deal coupon code (the 10% ones they mail you) that they're not using and could send me in a PM? I'd appreciate that. Cheers, Ryan

Needed a hotel for a post-cruise stay. Hilton had a really low rate on their Condado property on the beach but the first night was more expensive than the next two nights so I split it into two separate bookings. This is a PRICELINE EXPRESS Deal booking. I was going to try to do a NYOP bid, but didn't want to get backdoored with the Sheraton Conference center property away from the beach, so I spent the extra few bucks. I'll post the other win in a second thread, and let the mods decide if they want to merge.

Needed a hotel for an overnight layover in Philly. This was nice and cheap, with a shuttle to/from the airport.

Needed a night post cruise, PL was advertising an "PRICELINE EXPRESS Deal" for $98 (4*) but didn't have any amenities listed. Fortunately there is only one known 4* in this zone. Started at $60 adding $5 per rebid until I got a counter offer, then went up by $3. Guess we're heading to the Everglades or Sawgrass Mills Mall... Posted rate for the Hotel was $179.00

I thought I might be able to sneak out a counter offer when I used the extend my stay option, but I didn't get anything. The port load in F.L. is huge that weekend, so I'm not surprised prices are through the roof. Thanks for the advice though.

Booked from the 3rd to the 5th after having no luck bidding from the 2nd-5th under $100 anywhere in FLL. Managed to get the Hilton for a decent price, and will have to find a different hotel for the 2nd. I've stayed here twice previously with mixed experiences. The first time we got a hotel in the tower with a balcony and a view of the marina. Last year we got a lower level room in the other building, which wasn't quite as nice. Hopefully we end up in the tower again this year.

Booked a vacation to Fort Lauderdale and found some bonus cash last night. Had no luck using it post cruise in Hollywood Beach so I decided to give it a shot in Fort Lauderdale Beach pre-cruise. Was hoping for Westin Beach resort, but the Sheraton location is pretty good despite some of the reviews about it. Hard to complain about a hotel on the beach in mid-winter for $83/nt That being said, I did use $7 bonus cash, so I'm not sure if I should have posted the win as $90. Mods feel free to change. For Bidding I started at $65 working up in $5 bids until I got a counter offer of $101 then switched to $3 bid increments. Oddly enough the counter offer was actually higher than the Express deal for the same Zone & Star level. Time to cross my fingers for some luck getting the Westin Diplomat for my post-cruise stay.

My parents are going on a cruise next month with some family members and they needed a pre-cruise hotel. Based on previous wins I was hoping to get the Hilton Marina or Hyatt Pier 66 for $75-80. Had no luck up to $95 in the downtown zone so tried the Beach zone and got a rebid offer at $85. Took it up in $3 increments fully expecting to get the Hyatt or even the Sheraton. Although the Westin is going to be a little further cab ride, it looks like a very nice property. Unfortunately for them, they'll be getting in a little later in the evening and won't be able to take in the beach until morning. Thanks Better Bidding!

Got the bonus cash offer so I decided to book our Hotel in Syracuse a little early. Didn't have much luck in the East Syracuse zone, so I took a crack at the University area and got the Genesee Grande for $70 ($65 + 5 Bonus) after two rebids. Seems a little higher than previous wins, but still a pretty good savings considering their posted rate is $199/nt.

Probably could have started a bit lower, since the first bid was accepted. Hopefully everything works out well. We stayed here last year and liked the property, but it seems to be dropping stars like a recently convicted Hollywood doctor, so only time will tell.

Started bidding at $80 in $5 increments until I got to $95 then went to $98 where other have had success. Got countered at $128 so started going up by $2-$3 and got the room at $107. Not as good as some of the other winning bids, but considering it's a 3 night stay and there are 6 ships in port on the 3rd w/ 20,000 potential cruisers, I'm more than happy to be right on the beach. Anyone have an estimate for a Taxi from the Diplomat to the Port Everglades cruise port?

I've been working on getting a room for my trip down to see the Rangers/Habs game for about a week now with no luck at the low-mid end of my range. I got a $5/day bonus cash coupon today so I used it and went down to the 3.5* level in the Old Montreal & Downtown zones, hoping that I would get the Embassy Suites. Ended up bidding $88+5 bonus. Not a bad deal, but I've read that the valet is rather pricey so I may look at parking somewhere else (or grabbing a VIA ticket). Bids at 65, 70, 75, 80, 85 were all rejected in both zones all week. I believe there may be some sort of investment conference on the Friday and likely taking up significant rooms on the weekend driving up the prices a bit. Anyway, not my first choice in a hotel, but still can't argue with the rate. Hopefully it surpasses expectations. Thanks again to the BB community.

Forgot that we had a night in between Ft Lauderdale and Orlando, so we decided to hit up Naples. I've been trying to get higher end places for the other locations, but figured we'd more than likely just be passing through here, so we went with what would be a cheaper option. Seeing as we fly out tomorrow I thought $40 might require a few rebids, but we got it on the first try. Did a quick google search and was initially a little disappointed based on some recent reviews, until I leared I was looking at the wrong location. This location looks brand new, and has quite a few positive reviews of late for it's star level. Free Parking, WiFi, and breakfast... Hard to complain.

Been having a heck of a time getting a hotel for our stay in Orlando. I'd been bidding mostly for Resort, but added 4* in with no real luck (There are no 4* in LBV anyway). I hadn't gone above $90 previously, but noticed a few people had sucess at $92 so I increased to that and got it on the first try. Was really hoping for Hyatt Grand Cyprus, but I don't think I can complain about getting a higher end hotel for $90/night. Many of the poor reviews on the Trip Advisor are for over-priced extras, but if you use a little common sense then I'm sure that's not that much of an issue. We're going to be driving into Orlando, and dropping off a rental car so rather than tour around we'll probably get rid of the car after the first night and not get dinged with the parking cost. Haven't been to Disney before so hopefully we can locate a free shuttle to the park as it doesn't appear that this hotel has one (could be wrong). Thanks again Better Bidding.

Very odd how the reviews on Trip Advisor go in bunches. The last 4 reviews were bad, but the 5-6 before them were great. Only a week or two in between. Either way I'm glad that it's one less thing to worry about, and seems like its a rather reasonable walk down to the beach if we choose to do so.

Been trying to secure a 3.5 or 4* on the beach for our post-cruise day before heading to Orlando, but I was having no luck staying within budget ($80 max). Took a look at some of the hotels listed in the 3* category and for the most part they seemed quite reputable, so I added that in today. Had to rebid after rejections at $55 and $60. I'm quite happy with happy with the price and location. The Oasis of the Seas in in port on the 2nd and the Allure of the Seas on the 3rd, so the pre-cruise port load is likely going to be pretty high on top of the fact that it's a weekend. Apparently this hotel was listed as a 4* in Fort Lauderdale as of late 2009, so hopefully it was downgraded due to some less than fair reviews and not due to a significant drop in standards. Thanks again to everyone at BB.

Nice work Mike. Could you share your winning bid for the Omni Championship Gate?

Was hoping to get either Beach or Hollywood for two rooms, but was unsuccessful with Bids up to $90. We were using $140 bonus cash that came with our cruise booking and since we're going to be getting in somewhat late and getting on the boat the following day I decided to add Downtown to the bid and try the minimum $1 + $70 bonus cash (per room). Got it on the first try. Would have liked to be on the beach, but it's a short walk or an even shorter taxi ride down if we want so I can't complain. Now here's to hoping I have the same luck with the hotel the day we get back into port. We're heading to Orlando as well so hopefully there will be a few more happy posts from me in the near future.

Used the PRICELINE link at the top. Been using the same 3 bids (and re-bid zones) for the past few days. Bid $65 - rejected Rebid with Longueil at $70 - rejected Rebid with Pointe Claire at $75 - accepted. Looking at the previous posts I think I got a pretty good deal, and the dollar is at a pretty good point right now. Very happy. Thanks again to betterbidding.com

Tried $105 and was rejected and said that if I increased by $20 I could try again. Closed window and used BetterBidding PRICELINE link to add rebid zone of #1 - Beauport and increased to $110. and was accepted. Might have been able to get $105 if I had of tried a couple of times, but given my short lead time on the trip I'm happy to get a 4* at this rate given other bids for the same hotel. Thanks again to BetterBidding.