Priceline Hotel: 3* LA-San Gabriel Valley (Pasadena) Westin

[photomikey]

Very seldom am I met with such a task, but this one really left me guessing.

No Priceline hotels listed here for Pasadena, and only one hotwire hotel whose identity is known (Sheraton). The Sheraton on Hotwire was going for $109/night, too expensive for me.

No rebid zones via PL in Pasadena, so I knew I'd have to make every bid count. My date is a Saturday night, smack in the middle of summer.

I decided to bid $55 and see if I could get a counter offer, then confer with the board for a next move. I couldn't remember my damn priceline password, and once I figured it out I had to type in all my credit card info anyway. (What's the point of a password?) Once I was done with all that, I reconsidered (and checked Travelocity"]Travelocity, where the 3*'s were $120+) and decided $65 was a better offer.

$65 accepted, first try.

I always feel like somewhat of a rube when my first offer is accepted, but the web rate is $160, still a savings of 50%.

(And I probably would have been rejected at $55, and had to organize a strategy every 72 hours thereafter... probably worth the $10 to save the stress.)

I used the savingsbarn link.

Thanks to the board and thereuare for all the support. I can't believe all the money I've saved. I used to be a great big priceline chicken.

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your win... at less than half price this is still a very nice deal.

Even when there is little or no information on the board about a given area you should still feel free to ask for help before bidding as we can try to use some other resources/techniques to guage bidding amounts.

Thank you for helping us add this new hotel to our lists and for starting your bid with the links at SavingsBarn.com

Enjoy your stay.

[photomikey]

That was the plan. At half price, I was fairly sure of rejection. Thought I'd at least come in with some ammo to guess prices.

Thanks.