thenewbie

Dates? How much are you willing to spend (Venetian or elsewhere)?

You should look at the hotel's website to check availability and pricing. Most hotels are sold out for tomorrow night. The Mandarin Oriental is well over $1,900. Hotwire only has a 3.5* in MTE for your dates at $849. Unless you can afford these prices, you will either need to change your travel dates or look further outside of the city for lower quality hotels.

If you're interested in the 5* (Venetian), you should be able to win it for $99 per night on Priceline for 9/5 - 9/7. If you do use priceline, please use the link found up from the "Support BetterBidding" page. Also, some of the hotels on hotwire have more than the 8 amenities listed, so you need to click on the 'view amenities' link to see all of the hotel's amenities.

Are you looking for 2 nights (7/25-7/27) or 1 night (7/25-7/26)? Is $110 your limit, and you'd like to give the 4* level a try or do you want to stay in a 4* and are willing to raise your limit (to what?)?

Check the Hotwire Hotel List If you would like more assistance, we would need to know the amenities listed for that property.

Was $105 your first bid at the 2.5* level?

Nothing on PL is really close to Foxwoods, so it depends on where you want to stay. Closer to Mohegan Sun, but only 12 miles from Foxwoods: Microtel Inn, Uncasville $59 - 1 Queen Bed - "Get Up and Go Rate" http://www.microteluncasville.com/

Are you willing to split your bid? Bellagio has a special of $149 per night for 6/30 - 7/2, or you can try for the Venetian on PL those dates. For 7/2 - 7/4, the Luxor is $144 per night, Treasure Island]/url] is $149, MGM Grand is $169.

You could book directly through the hotels for less than Hotwire's price. Luxor averages $133 per night + tax, Treasure Island averages $155 per night + tax. Since the counteroffer was $136, it is probably the Luxor. If you want, you can try rebidding less than the counteroffer to save some off of the Luxor's online rate.

Well a Queen bed certainly accommodates 2 people. Unless, you would like their other standard room, a smaller double bed.

In the Downtown / Copley / Cambridge area, I don't think any hotels offer free parking. If parking your car for free is your primary goal, you will probably need to bid outside of the city, such as 2.5* in Somerville - Medford. If you want to stay downtown, park your car outside the city at a T station for around $3 a day and take the subway downtown. T - Subway Map The Braintree Station (red line) may work if you're going to Boston from Cape Cod.

If you're unable to get the Venetian, or looking to stay at the Bellagio, they have a special running for Sunday thru Thursday nights for $149. The code is DST1EM. Currently, most nights are available, with only a few Sun - Thur dates at higher rates.

If you were to do 5* for 9/24 - 9/27, my guess would be to try bidding from $120 - $135/night. I figure since the $149 promo nights are 1/3 off ($99), you should hopefully get a similar discount for the $279 rate. If you give this a try, start low and rebid (in similar increments as before) up to what you find acceptable. If you bid on all 6 nights, you'd most likely get the Venetian (as the Bellagio rarely comes up) but I'm not sure what the magic number would be for acceptance.

It looks like it will be difficult (i.e. expensive) to win a 7 night stay for those dates. What is the rate for your current reservation?

Dates you are looking to travel? Star level you are bidding on?

Are you willing to split your bids? How high are you willing on going for a 5*? If you were to split your dates you should be able to get the Venetian around $99 USD for 9/25-9/27. If you bid on 9/24-9/27, it would need to be higher because of Saturday's high rate. For the other nights, you could book the Bellagio (also a 5*) for $199 USD per night directly for 9/27-9/30. This all depends on how many times you would be willing to move between hotels and what you are willing to spend.

You have a 1 night stay with a Saturday check-in. Previous strategies apply to those particular dates and occupancy levels. Many hotels don't allow Saturday check-in at low rates because they want to sell the room for the entire weekend (Fri - Sun) If you need help, we need the following information (previously requested in the 1st reply): 1) What areas and levels did you recently bid on? (You can see this on Priceline > My Trips > select the Request #) 2) When did you bid on these areas? Here's one possible back-up option: Quality Hotel on Times Square, $152.95 + tax internet rate, 1 Double bed. Certainly not top of the line, but at this point, it meets your budget limit.

Would you be willing to stay in Jersey City for your trip? You might be able to get the Hyatt Regency or Doubletree well under your price limit.

What were your dates for this trip? Edit: Now I see... 6/19-6/20. Their promo rate is $99.95, so you saved about $40. The Autumn Inn isn't one of those one of those 'basic' box hotels, so that's why it's classified as a botique. http://www.hampshirehospitality.com/ If you're not familiar with the area, it's about a mile walk (or drive) into downtown Northampton. Many good restaurants & bars in the city.

Also don't forget:

As long as you selected 2 people on hotwire, an all-inclusive price includes everything in the description for 2 people: food, drinks, taxes, tips, etc. I doubt that there are additional resort fees, but I'm not 100% certain. If the hotel is the GR Solaris, it looks like it is a timeshare property so they will probably try to sell you their timeshare packages. The following is usually not included: Beauty treatments and services, Optional or outside tours and excursions, Incidental purchases, Telephone, fax, and Internet access charges, Laundry and dry cleaning, Video and photo services, Babysitting services.

Possibly GR Solaris when compared to the Hotwire Packagaes. Another possibility is the Dreams Cancun, but the Dreams lacks airport transfers. Someone else may want to double-check this one, or may have previous experience with it. If it is the GR Solaris, this is from their Hotwire package description: ***FREE UPGRADE TO A DELUXE OCEAN VIEW ROOM BASED ON AVAILABILITY***COMPLEMENTARY ROUNDTRIP AIRPORT TRANSFERS BY CONTACTING WWW.CANCUNAIRPORTSHUTTLE.COM AT LEAST 4 DAYS PRIOR TO ARRIVAL. RESTRICTIONS APPLY. ***SPECIAL OFFER IS VALID FOR RESERVATIONS AND STAYS BETWEEN APRIL 29, 2005 AND JULY 7, 2005. ***TO REDEEM THESE SPECIAL OFFERS CONTACT THE HOTEL FRONT DESK AND SOL HA TRAVEL AGENCY UPON ARRIVAL. If you do use hotwire, please use the link found on the support page and let us know what you decided. :)

Just to add: If you buy the hotel through hotwire, you can get a $30 rebate from the coupon in the Entertainment Book. If you don't have an Entertainment Book, you can buy one for $9.99+s/h through the support page above. Also, if you're new to hotwire, you should be able to get $10 off per night using the code "GIFTCARD06"

Wilmington airfare looks to be around $650pp if you're willing to have 2 stops. Jacksonville airfare is over $850pp, so driving to Wilmington will save you $400 (before gas, etc). You could give priceline a shot, but with a short trip, it might not be your best option. For hotels, Hotwire has some all-inclusive hotels relatively cheap. This way, your food and drinks would be included. Below are a few of their all-inclusive options: Cancun 4* $178/night Resort, Beachfront, Food and Beverages Included, A la Carte Dining, Airport Transfers Included, Water Sports/Ocean Activities Included, Evening Entertainment Included, Daily Activities Included, Pool(s), Spa, Fitness Center, Children's Activity Program, Tennis Nearby, Golf Nearby, Restaurant(s), Business Center Riviera Maya 4* $183/night Resort, Beachfront, Food and Beverages Included, A la Carte Dining Options, Water Sports/Ocean Activities Included, Evening Entertainment Included, Daily Activities Included, Pool(s), Fitness Center, Children's Activity Program, Tennis Nearby, Golf Nearby,Restaurant(s), Complimentary Breakfast