Priceline Hotel: 3* Portland (Vancouver, WA) Hilton

[tilepusher]

This was easily the most stressful bidding process I've ever been through on Priceline.

I had $10 bonus cash to work with, but until a few days ago, I wasn't sure how many rooms I'd need or how I'd get down to Portland. I had been lowballing for almost two months in case any great deals turned up, but by the time I was ready to get more aggressive, Priceline rates in Downtown Portland had spiraled upwards, and there didn't appear to much in the Convention Center zone either. I bid up to $75 ($65+10) in Downtown Portand and $57 in the Convention Center area with no results. When I saw that givingtree had to go up to $90, I started to panic and did the unthinkable -- I actually booked a backup at the Crowne Plaza Convention Center ($106 for an executive two queen room with my Entertainment Card). I knew that I had blown it, and wasted my bonus cash in the process.

Then fate intervened. A couple of friends decided to come down to Portland as well and needed a room for Saturday and Sunday nights -- and there was enough room in their car for me and my roommate. So with new life, I tried 2.5* Convention Center, 2.5* Jantzen Beach/North Harbor and 3* Vancouver, in that order, up to $45. I then tried 2.5* Jantzen Beach up to $53. Finally, I bid $46 and $47 ($37+10) for 3* Vancouver and got the Hilton. I used Downtown and South Waterfront District as extra rebid zones (as well as zones for which I had previously been rejected; for example, I used Jantzen Beach to get extra bids for Vancouver), which allowed me to go up in $1-$2 increments. For Friday night, I'll be staying at the Crowne Plaza for $92 (standard two queen room).

The final numbers for this bid were:

Your Offer Price: $37.00 (+$10 bonus)

Number of Rooms: 2

Number of Nights: 2

Subtotal: $148.00

Taxes and Service Fees: $33.74

Total Charges: $181.74

So in the end, despite my colossal screw-up, I could hardly have asked for a better result. The Priceline gods must like me. :)

[thereuare]

Thank you for sharing your winning bid with the board.

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.

(and you can still use our links with your Bonus Money by using our PRICELINE link, logging into your accout at the top of the screen, and then clicking the MY REWARDS link near the top of the page)

Enjoy your stay.

[tilepusher]

Thank you. Sorry that I didn't think to use your Crowne Plaza link to book my backup; I'm not used to booking hotels through conventional channels. :)

A couple of things I forgot to mention in my previous post:

The rate on Hilton.com was $99/night, about as low as I've seen for this hotel. Last Labor Day weekend, it was fully booked by June.

I'm still surprised that I couldn't get a hotel downtown for 8/29-9/1 at a good rate. The rates for the 3* Downtown hotels at the time I last bid were:

Hilton - $149

Marriott Downtown Waterfront - $159

Marriott Downtown City Center - $139.

None of these rates are very high. I wouldn't be surprised if I could have gotten a 3* for $60-70 had I been willing to bid right up until the last minute; had I just been bidding for myself, I would have tried this (mostly because I would have had no choice). But having other people counting on me complicated things. One thing I learned from this experience is that there is value in getting the process over with and not having to worry about it anymore.

I'll be interested in seeing if there are any further reported wins in Downtown Portland for this weekend.