Tellurian

Thanks, and yes indeed, I used the links here for searching and bidding. Sorry that I forgot to mention that. I will report back on property after stay.

Bid $52, offered free re-bid @ $61. $107.50 lowest AAA refundable rate. Property gets mixed reviews, but should be fine for an overnight.

Amenities listed: Free Internet (not seen before on Better Bidding Hotwire list) Boutique hotel Restaurant(s) Fitness Center Business Center Smoke-free rooms happy with win - rates are up downtown due to large conference in town and this is better than conference rates at comparable hotels in zone. Thanks BetterBidding! (Booked through the HOTWIRE link)

That was my guess too -- and we were correct. I tried Priceline first (searching through BB PRICELINE link) and was rejected for a downtown 4* @ $100, but counter-offer of $121 was offered. This Priceline bid did not however guarantee free Internet as an amenity and most 4*'s do charge, so I decided that I was better off at Hotwire @ $125 with Internet included and a little more info on possible hotels. Very pleased to get the W at this rate. Otherwise, I had the Westin at a conference rate of $169, plus Internet fees, so this is a good savings and should be as nice. Thanks.

29 April - 3 May Will do on searches/purhases Thanks!

amenities: Free Internet, boutique hotel, smoke-free rooms, restaurant, fitness center, (under additional amenities also shows business center and High Speed Internet) Hotwire showing this 4-star in downtown Minneapolis - any ideas?

Bid $50, rejected counter offer of $65 Rebid a day or two later, Accepted at $55 (1 room, 1 night, 2 adults) Total cost with taxes and fees: $70.59 4* Grand Hyatt DFW - website lowest public price for dates is $254. We just needed a place for an airport layover on the way home, but wanted a nice hotel for the last night of vacation - looks like we got one! Reservation made through betterbidding link. Thanks. :)

Sure thing - and it was a decent port in a storm, but note that was the PRICELINE link, not HOTWIRE (which was showing 4* Logan @ $102 for the same night)

Hub and I got stranded 1/18/11 in Boston due to weather. Used the free airport WiFi to log onto Better Bidding and click through to PRICELINE after reading recent successful bids for 4* at Logan Airport (4* in list are only the Hyatt Harborside and the Hilton and those are the only hotels that are truly right at the ariport) We didn't have time to mess around, so bid $71 to be safe and were accepted pronto. We have been at this property before, ironically when the airlines WERE putting up stranded passengers. Back then we got a waterview room, which was awesome and trouble-free. This time we only got a "traffic view" handicap room on the 4th floor, but we WERE last minute. The staff and room were fine, except for incredibly paper thin walls between rooms and between the room and corridor. No one was acting wild or rude, they were just talking (or leaving at 3 am), but we could hear everything. Quite a pity and made me glad that at least we got a good rate and a bed to pass the night in.

Thanks - the stay was in May. I never did get a price drop, so kept with my $125 direct reservation. The property was fine for our purposes. It was great being across the street from a Trader Joe's (as we had to grocery shop for homebound friends we were visiting) and the lobby Starbucks hit the spot in the morning before we shuttled to the airport. Some of the staff is a little clueless; I called ahead to ask about a refrigerator and was told that only the suites have them, but upon arrival, our decidedly not-a-suite room had one. Go figure!

Thanks -date is 5/26-5/27. Bids (through your PRICELINE link) of $65 and $85 were rejected. Will wait to try again at a later date, as have a fully flexible rez here at a rate of $125, so it's not worth going up much more at this point for a prepaid opaque rez.

Thank you for clarifying and checking the zoning lines. I appreciate the intel.

Thank you, but if you look at the priceline map of the San Mateo zone, the street that that Sofitel is on (Twin Dolphin Drive) is right on the edge. There are posts of wins here that id the Sofitel as being in the San Mateo zone, so I am wondering if Priceline could change the zoning of the Sofitel back to San Mateo from Redwood City or even use it in both zones, as it appears to be on the line.

Hoping to get San Mateo Marriott, currently listed as only 4* in Priceline San Mateo zone. (I know, no guarantees) However, there have been past posts of winning the Sofitel, which looks to be at the far edge of the zone. More recent wins of the Sofitel and the current listing of Priceline "known" hotels, currently puts the Sofitel "safely" in the San Jose (Redwood City) zone. Any advice? Thanks in advance; I will book through the Better Bidding links if I decide to take the risk. (Also, nothing against Sofitel, it's just further from where we want to be the night of 5/26.)

You are so right, fellow champagne-lover. I will have to insist: "il n'est champagne que de la Champagne."

Thanks! I am sure that we will as long as all goes smoothly with the flight down..... You have fun too. With the price that I got, it will be interesting to see what the Sofitel tries to pass off as 'champagne." As a French-owned chain, one would expect them not to refer to cheap sparkling wine as champagne, when that is against French law.... :)

You are welcome. I am starting to see several hotels doing more "direct deep discounting" rather than making all the best deals through opaque sites. I kept an eye on the Sofitel Miami rate, and now I have the first night, 3/28 @ $116 for a "luxury" room (one level up from the "superior" room I had for $135 w/ $50 hotel credit) and the $116 includes a bottle of champagne and a box of chocolates upon arrival and full breakfast for two in the room -- I can't believe this deal. It sure gives HOTWIRE and PRICELINE a run for the money and is still fully cancellable until 4 pm day of arrival.

Hi, This is a very nice hotel, especially if you particularly want the airport zone, but I want to point out that it is often available for $100 prepaid directly through the Sofitel site, so there is no hotwire uncertainly of which hotel you are getting. Also, through Sofitel, you can sometimes find value-added bargains, with no pre-pay. For example, I have reservations there for 3/28/10 - 3/31/10 @ $135 per night. Not only can I cancel up to 4 pm the day of arrival, but in addition to the room, I get $50 of hotel credit per night, a stellar deal - i.e. room = $85 if you use the credit for restaurant, spa, etc.

For the returning leg of a trip out of Boston Airport, I tried to book a little lower than the just-accepted $68 for 3/17 and won the 4* Hilton Logan Airport again for $65 on 3/26-3/27 for $65, $15.97 taxes and fees, $80.97 for one night. (Much better than rack of $200 and up) Used the PRICELINE Link from this great site! Thanks again!

The luck of the Irish (and BetterBidding's calendar of wins) were with me when I won the Hilton Logan Airport for $68, $16.37 taxes and fees, $84.37 for one night. (Much better than rack of $200 and up) Used the PRICELINE link from this great site!

The Westin Copley would be great at that rate; stayed there years ago. (I know -- no guarantees!) :) I am only staying the 1st night; the next two I will be in the hospital (not to worry) and my husband will be solo at the hotel. He may decide he'd rather be able to zip back and forth on foot, even if it means paying a bit more or staying in less luxe digs. Turns out he can get govt rate at the Brookline Courtyard ($222) and parking is pretty cheap there if we decide to drive. Iwill keep this in mind as the date gets closer...Thanks a lot for your help.

I think you are right about the "small independent;" - it may be The Longwood Inn. There is a totally non-smoking Courtyard by Marriott in the vicinity, but it would surely list more amenities and the price of $109 seems too low for this far out when their lowest public rate is $249. I would prefer to stay in the Brookline neighborhood to be near Brigham & Women's Hospital, however it's not much of a hardship to get around on the T from another zone. (When I stayed at Jury's in the Boston Common zone, it was an easy commute.) Thanks for the help.

Thanks for the encouragement. Everything did go very well for me. :) I did include the amenities - guess they did not stand out enough in my post. Here they are from my Hotwire account: Smoke Free Rooms Fitness Center Restaurant(s) Business Center High-speed Internet Access

Okay -- I am NOT proud of this win, but under the circumstances, it was the best I could do. Boston was quite sold out due to graduations for the night of June 4th, 2008. I had appointments in town starting at 6 am and into the afternoon; I desperately wanted a base IN town. I called just about every hotel--even Jury's, but was turned down. Enter Hotwire- 4* Hotel in Boston Commons-Theater District, Restaurant, Fitness, Smoke-Free, Hi-Speed Internet and Business; $452 + $56.65 = $508.85. OUCH! But otherwise I was only finding rooms for $700+ or nothing, so I took the bait and Jury's Boston Hotel it was. I admit it was very nice, very convenient, and it avoided the stress that an out-of-town place would have caused. Sometimes you just have to pay up. I did make the rez through the betterbidding HOTWIRE link. You can book this hotel on HOTWIRE much more cheaply most of the time, just watch out for events!

November 6-9, 2008. Thanks.