hohogap

General listing of amenities is what to look for, regardless of the precise order.

What dates are you looking at going? The moderators will have excellent advice on bidding strategy you might employ. My comment is related to the PL vs. HW sites. I like PL as you usually will have the opportunity to bid lower for better rated hotels (but, of course, no guarantees). Hotel inventory changes quickly so it depends on how far out your dates are for your trip and whether you really would like to get the Trump or take a bit of a risk during your bidding. It's really a personal preference. I always try to book a refundable hotel at a price I could live with, then have fun bidding on PL and watching HW to see if I can get a real steal. Often works, but sometimes I've been stuck and wish I would've taken the HW up front. Good luck and happy bidding!

I'm always amazed that at a Hampton Inn you get the Wi-Fi and continental breakfast included, but a Hilton charges for it. IMO, the major "upgrade" when you book a 4*+ hotel is the actual bed and bedding. They often seem to be significantly nicer, but for the cost, I always wonder myself if it's worth the extra cost and other add-ons.

What was the hotel and price paid?

Fantastic, thanks! I'll keep you updated and will post when successful. I will try to stay closer to the Quarter with the revised PL zones.

Thanks for the update, I see the new zones in place at PL. I appreciate your advice. I've been bidding up to $70/night for the downtown and convention center zones, sticking to 4* at the moment. There is a $79/night LMT available price for the Hyatt Regency (which is quite a ways away from the Quarter, almost to the Superdome). I checked the list of PL hotels on the BB site and it is listed as "closed" and 3*. Has it reopened and is 3* still applicable? Thanks!

Will do. Thanks for the information, I'll keep any wins or bookings in this thread.

And let me add my thanks for this fantastic feature of the Board. I know that doesn't provide any substantive help, but just couldn't resist being the 100th post on this thread!!

This closes the thread. I"ll report whatever I win in a separate post. Thanks!

Thanks. I appreciate the insight and will post my win to the Board when I get my hotel. Not a big fan of Best Westerns, unless traveling overseas, so will keep looking on PL and HW!

No bite at $45/day. I'll wait 24 hours. Surprised that PL noted good chance at $54/day, so I may go up just $2/day. Plenty of time. Even $54/day is not a bad rate at all for a standard SUV compared to the retail side for car rentals! I'll keep you posted and, as always, all bids searches and wins are made through the BB Board links.

Thanks, I'll follow the advice and let you know. And we all appreciate all of your help that you provide to all of the members!

I just clicked on PRICELINE link through the BB Board for another try at bidding for these dates in the Santa Rosa/Sonoma/Napa area for a trip in February. My bid was in the Santa Rosa area only. For the first time, I see a new entry on the "name your own price" part of the site, listing a couple of ammenities for the hotels. Anyone else seen this, and what does it mean? For my dates, they list only 2 ammenities for the 3* and 3 1/2* star hotels I'm looking for, and both hotels show the ammenities as the same, i.e. swimming pool and pets allowed. Not complete list of ammenities and really not much to go on but I wondered if the moderators had seen this before or any other members had any input. Might be helpful if the hotel I'm trying to stay away from doesn't take pets!!

Need help identifying this 3* hotel on Hotwire ($65/night). The specific ammenities don't match anything on the HW hotel list on the Board. If it's the Hilton Garden Inn, that'd be great, but no specific matches that I could identify. Any help would be appreciated. And, as always, all bids, searches and wins are bid through the BB Board links! Ammenities include: Complimentary Breakfast Fitness Center Pool(s) Business Center High-Speed Internet Access Thanks!

Our firm takes an annual ski trip out west, this year it's Vail. Due to airfare prices into EGE, I'm heading into DEN with a few colleagues and they want to rent a SUV for these dates. Prices are outrageous, even with my coporate discount (which usually works wonders with National). Hotwire has prices around $59/day, which is 1/2 National's cost. We'd like a standard SUV (Jeep GC or similar) and need advice as to where to begin bidding on PL and any thoughts on expected or experienced discounts. We have time, but booking sooner rather than later is my motto, especially since we're committed to going. Thanks!

And if you can book early, we also recommend NOLA's in the FQ and sitting at their kitchen bar for dinner. You need to request to sit at the kitchen bar upon reservation (only 6 seats availble), but loads of fun sitting in front of the fish station and interacting with a few of the cooks and watching the orders fly out!! And, all in all, not terribly expensive.

Are you a HiltonHHonors member? When I've booked through LMT, I send the general Hilton web site address a note that our "travel agency" at work didn't put in my HHonors number in the reservation and could they add it to the reservation? They have forwarded it to the hotel, which recognizes it and places it on my reservation and it shows up on my summary of hotels booked on my HH account. My last time at the Hilton Chicago O'Hare (on airport) they upgraded me for free as if it were a direct Hilton web site reservation, although I still didn't receive HH points. And you can determine that the LMT hotel IS in fact the Hilton by "looking behind the curtain." It's explained in a thread started by BEAV. Search "Turico Holidays" on this site and the first post will explain it to you. I'm trying to get the New Orleans Hilton hotel through LMT for January 14-16, 2012. It was "on request," and denied availability yesterday. I'll keep checking and GOOD LUCK!

Agreed, but I presumed (possibly incorrectly) that mbstone had already rejected the offer for extension because of the higher price or was looking for a better deal using different criteria, even if it meant moving. Good point for those that might not use PL on a consistent basis!

Lastminutetravel.com has a rate of $236/night for the Hilton New Orleans Riverside for 11/11/11. It's available on LMT as a rated 4 1/2*, but it's definitely the Hilton Riverside New Orleans. Not much of a savings over the rack rate, but should give you an idea of a possible negotiated rate directly with the hotel if that is within your budget. Good luck!

I am looking at 4* on PL, sticking to downtown, CBD or convention center. Decided to give it a try on LMT to book the 4 1/2* $63/night at the Hilton (on request) and got denied this afternoon. I'll keep bidding through PL, looking at HW and LMT for deals, and as always, all bids, searches and wins are made through the BB links on the Board! I'll start a new thread when successful or if I need additional help on bidding. Thanks for all of your help!

You can always start a new bid by rejecting the offer at the higher price, clicking out of PL and then re-entering the site through the BB PRICELINE link above. It clears your prior choices and would also allow you to use different zone combinations. As Thereuare said, no guarantee that the additional night(s) will be available even if PL offered to extend. It takes a few seconds longer, but well worth the time if you wanted to change any parameters. You pay an additional PL fee for extending the nights even if you did it directly from their first offer, just as if it were a new reservation bid, so you're not losing anything by making a completely new bid!

Sorry I wasn't clear enough. After you click out of PL, then you go back into PL through the BB link above. At that point you can re-set the number of rooms to as many as you'd like. It starts your bidding process all over from scratch, without having to try and change parameters in the middle of a bidding session. Hope that clarifies!

Click out of PL, then go back into PL through the Board's PRICELINE link above and just re-set your parameters to 1 room. Takes just a bit of time, but clears the prior request out.

Delta has a great non-stop fare from DTW for the MLK weekend so my wife and I are heading to the Big Easy for a couple of days in January. I've looked at wins in 2011 for this weekend and they were as low as $60/night on PL (up to $85). No wins reported on PL or HW yet for these dates in 2012. LMT has the Hilton Riverside for only $63/night (on request) for these two nights, with a 1 day penalty for cancellation before the final 3 days. Not really the area where I like to be, but everythings is so close it probably doesn't really make much of a difference. Any thoughts on bidding strategies for PL or HW, or should I just try the $63/night Hilton on LMT and be happy? BTW - the Board's LMT link still isn't working. Trying to make ALL my searches, bids and wins through the site's links. Thanks for any thoughts on these dates.

Thanks for the update and be sure to use the BB Board's HOTWIRE link and PRICELINE link for all of your searches and bids!