Poetraveler

All bids were placed by starting with the BB PRICELINE link. I was trying to get a 3* hotel in West Des Moines. Started at $50 and increased in $5 increments. After bid of $70 was rejected, I decided to bid on 2.5* instead. On HotWire, 2.5* hotels in WDM were $67, so I started bidding on Priceline at $50. First bid was accepted by La Quinta Inn Des Moines/West-Clive. Perhaps I should have started bidding lower, but I'm happy. This La Quinta has decent reviews on TripAdvisor.

Started with BB PRICELINE link. Bid $40 for 3.5* hotel in Brookfield AND Pewaukee areas. First bid was accepted by Sheraton Milwaukee Brookfield. I also needed a room in the same area for 1/8/13 for one night, but a bid of $45 was rejected, and Hotwire wants $54. Will keep trying on that one and post when I get it.

Started with BB PRICELINE link. Bid $35 for a 3* hotel in Milwaukee North Shore. First try got me the Radisson Milwaukee North Shore.

I needed a room in Boca Raton for tonight, so I didn't start bidding low. Price for a 2.5* on HOTWIRE was $68, so I felt comfortable going with the PRICELINE's recommended bid of $45. On the first try it gave me a room at the Boca Raton Bridge Hotel. I checked in an hour later, and want to give you fair warning: This hotel charges a $12.00 "service fee" at check-in. I'm not sure what the service fee is for, but it doesn't appear to be optional. It does include valet parking, which is not necessary since there appears to be plenty of self-parking available. The hotel itself is in a terrific location and has a terrific view, and it's somewhat upscale, but it's also very old and doesn't appear to have been renovated in 20+ years. On the upside, they have blazingly fast wifi. SpeedTest.net clocked my connection at 24 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload. All in all, it's not bad, but I wish Priceline would not allow hotels to charge random additional fees.

Started with BB PRICELINE link. Bid of $50 for a 3* in the Tukwila-Renton area was rejected. Next day bid of $55 was accepted at the Embassy Suites.

Started with BB PRICELINE link. Bid $39 for a 2* hotel in North Everett. Bid was rejected. Re-bid $39 adding Mukilteo - South Everett. Bid was accepted by Extended Stay America Seattle - Everett - Silverlake.

Beginning with BB PRICELINE link, I bid for all Philadelphia suburbs except Pottstown. Started at $40 and increased $5 at a time. Bid of $60 ($55 + $5 bonus cash) was accepted by Wyndham Garden Exton Valley Forge. Total cost to me, including tax and fees was $67.95. Best 3* deal on Hotwire would have been $86.75 total.

Used BB PRICELINE link to start. Was bidding for 3* in North Everett and South Everett, but not getting the prices I wanted. Then I noticed that someone had successfully bid $39 for the Extended Stay America in South Everett. Thinking that would be okay, I added 2* and lowered my bid to $39. Bid was accepted by La Quinta Inn Everett. I'm a little disappointed, as I'd rather stay at ESA than LQ, but I'm happy with the price.

Using BB PRICELINE link, I bid $45 for several Harrisburg zones for 3* hotels. First bid was accepted by Best Western Premier The Central Hotel & Conference Center.

Used BB PRICELINE link. Bid of $50 was rejected. Bid of $55 was accepted.

Hotwire was offering rooms in this area for $43 ($54.08 total). First bid of $39 was accepted by Priceline for a total of $51.15. May have gotten it for less if I'd had more time, but I was in a hurry. I used the PRICELINE link on betterbidding.com.

Used PRICELINE link on betterbidding.com. Bidding for a 2 1/2* in Leominster, MA, bids of $50 and $55 were rejected. A bid of $59 was accepted and upgraded to a 3*.

Used the PRICELINE link on Betterbidding.com. Need to stay in Middletown and not Fishkill, Newburgh, etc., so I only bid on one area. Bids of $73 and $75 for a 3* were rejected. Planned to rebid at $75 but got the "based on recent data your bid has only a small chance of being accepted" for amounts up to $85, so I bid $79 instead of $77 and it was accepted by the Holiday Inn Middletown. I even had to go through an extra step of re-entering my bid, ignoring the warning that the median price for a 3* in the area was $198. It just goes to show that the "only a small chance of being accepted" warning doesn't mean "no chance."

Used PRICELINE link on Betterbidding.com to bid. Bid $30/day for a standard car for 5 days. Bid was rejected. Next day, rebid $34 and bid was accepted by Avis. Might have gotten it for less... can't really say. Total price, including tax and fees is $252.45. On Hotwire it would have been $324.30.

Bid of $50 for 2.5* in Erie, PA was rejected. Next day bid of $55 was accepted by Springhill Suites By Marriott Erie. Placed bid using PRICELINE link on betterbidding.com.

$39 bid for 3* Buffalo airport area was rejected. Next day bid $41 was accepted by Millennium Airport Hotel Buffalo. Placed my bid using PRICELINE link on betterbidding.com.

I put this info in the subject line when I posted it, but somehow the subject line got cut off and I was unable to edit it. This winning bid was for 3/15/11-3/19/11.

Bidding for 2.5* only, started at $46. Rejected. Bid next day $48. Rejected. Bid next day $50. Accepted with the following upgrade: Congratulations, we’ve upgraded your hotel quality level to a 3