cookofthehouse

Tried one bid to get this hotel on Priceline, but such a decent price didn't give much effort past that (losing bid $56). Bewleys Hotel Dublin Airport Baskin Lane Dublin, IE, $62.00 price $12.55 tax+ Amenities: Free Internet, Airport Shuttle, Smoke Free Rooms, Fitness Center, Restaurant(s) Thanks as always.

Research showed this room on Hotwire for $66. Went to Priceline, tried City North and City Center for $50 and $58. No go, came back here for the link, tried again for $62, and when that didn't go, just to be obstinate tried $64. Not going to give it to me. So took this one. Dublin City Inn 95-98 Talbot Street Dublin, IE, 1 $66.00 price $14.64 tax+ Amenities: Free Parking, Free Internet, Laundry Facilities (self-service), High-Speed Internet Access A quick Google map look shows this is or used to be a Days Inn. Thanks as always for this site.

Have tickets to Paul McCartney at Safeco Field on 07/19. Just wanted an affordable hotel for the night. Bids: 2 1/2* minimum Bellevue $70 +Lake Union $75 +Pike Market $80 Bingo. $99.74 after tax. Win page shows option to add nights. We're considering it. --> Does anyone know how long this option tends to stay available? <-- Thanks for always being here, love the new options to post bid wins. Must keep all the data nice and tidy!

The amenities listed are: Restaurant(s) High-Speed Internet Access So the Hotwire hotel listing here appears to be up to date. Additional info: this hotel is offering me the chance to add more rooms or days to my stay. I don't know if that's timing or their standard policy.

Paul McCartney concert 11/25, Thanksgiving weekend, so I wanted to get the hotel sorted out early. I saw this 3* in the area I wanted - Downtown Entertainment. From the Hotwire list here it appeared to either be Moda or Ramada, either of which would have worked. Tried Expedia as I had a coupon, but didn't compare. Might have gone this route on a normal trip due to ease of cancellation, but there's no way I'm NOT going to the Paul concert! I looked around on Priceline purchases, then tried bidding 4* hotels (easy to rebid in Vancouver) up to $76, just in case I could score an easy upgrade. No go, so I made the Hotwire purchase. FYI 3 nights $246.83 after taxes. Thanks for the research materials here, and of course started all my biddings with the links here.

Oakland airport Sat 08/11 to Sun 08/19, bid $10/day Economy, rejected. Standard (no bid) reservation was $13/day. For $30 total difference, I'm just going with that. Not worth the hassle of waiting to rebid for that amount of money. However, if I want to, I can cancel the standard car, yes? I mean, I know it's Priceline, but it's still just a "reservation", right? I just didn't want the price to go up the closer I got. Does that happen? Or does it nearly always go down? Hotwire was $24/day at best. And what is CarRentals.com? There's are low - same as Priceline, just not familiar. Anyway, just blathering now. Started with the PRICELINE link, don't know if that does anything if I don't end up doing the bidding route. Thanks. :D

Thank you for the reply. I hadn't clicked around the board looking for Split Bid topics. After reading, it's pretty much what I thought. Not too many people out there with any real life examples. However, your comments got me thinking. For one, I shouldn't wait too awful long to get the hotel portion of the trip nailed down (if we manage to go at all.) The St Patrick's holiday will hit the hotels' radar, and prices will shift. And two, I should do price checking per day to get an idea of how much the price changes. I've got no problem putting in time to save money. If $5 will be saved with an hour on the computer I'll do it - I'm cheap! :) As for budget, we were hoping to stay under $130 per night. Better if that was the tax included price. Of course none of this will matter if airline prices don't go down - yikes. But that's another topic.

Hello all. I have used this site many times to help plan and get budget ranges. And of course, whenever it's time to bid, I start my journey with the links here. I have a question about something I've never done: split my dates I am looking at a visit to NYC over the St Patrick's Day holiday next year. I would arrive Fri Mar 16th, and depart Wed Mar 21st (5 nights). I am concerned about the feasibility of getting a decent rate at one hotel for the whole time. Would I be better served by bidding for Fri & Sat, and then trying Sun-Wed? Would I get a better deal on the second portion by not asking for a weekend rate to be included in my stay? Has anyone tried this on a regular basis to know how well it works? I've visited NYC a few times, and am not picky about zone. I would bid anything on the island except CPWest and northward; no airports. Looking to bid 3*, but also wondering if 2.5* is safe? (safe= myself and husband, no kids, nonsmokers, not germphobes, traveling light) I would so appreciate any anecdotes or hard-won advice. Thank you!

Bob, Thanks for the details. I am trying to visit DC the last weekend of March, the beginning of the cherry blossom festival, and am here scanning trying to get an idea for a hotel budget. Was it out of your realm to want to stay in Arlington or Crystal City? I've never been, and am wondering if the cheaper rates are worth a metro/bus ride in to the downtown area. Thanks, and have fun!

I hate it when I get the hotel on the first bid! I always feel like I could have saved some money. However, with only one rebid zone, and my needing this booked in the next few days before I leave, I didn't want to be too cheap. Note: No 3* hotels came up for downtown Rochester on Hotwire immediately prior to my bid. The one 2.5* that showed up on Hotwire was for $88. Yes, I completely forgot to check the upfront rates on Priceline before bidding. Looking now, 3* downtown starts at $79. $15.83 tax++ brings this to $83.83. And of course, started my bid process with the PRICELINE link here. Thanks!

Thanks for the info cwoods. What I ended up doing was getting the Larkspur Landing in Bellevue. They had 20% off if you stayed two nights. We were originally going to split our two nights between Chehalis/Olympia area (Garlic Fest) & Seattle, so I hadn't seen this discount in my first set of research. $79, FYI. Not too bad I suppose for a quick drive across the bridge. Whatareyougonnado, right? :)

I bid up to $105 on 3.5 star hotels for a Seattle weekend downtown-ish (Pike & Seattle Center) using all rebid zones. I had low expectations as my research before hand on Priceline, Hotwire, and Expedia shows Seattle is PACKED that weekend. I'm surmising very few hotels are listing on Priceline, and if they are the price cut is minimal. If you don't have to go that weekend, don't bother! No deals to be had here. :) Thanks as always for this site making my research easy.

Bids, all at 3*: Buckhead - $30 Northlake - $35 Midtown - $40 :) Northlake may look out of place, but it would have worked for our plans while in town. From what I can tell from the amenities listed on HOTWIRE compared to the hotel list on this site, this hotel is going for $48 currently on HOTWIRE. Thanks for the help here in this forum, and of course used the PRICELINE link here to start my bid. FYI, total cost $145.56

I had checked HOTWIRE when I started thinking about bidding for a car on Priceline, just to get an idea for a starting bid. It was in the upper teens. So I've bid twice on PRICELINE, once for $10 and once for $13, changing my bid by a dollar up or down each time for either Economy or Mid-Size. No go. So I was checking back at HOTWIRE for hotel prices and decided to recheck cars. Surprise! I thought maybe they had cookies showing I was looking for a hotel, so they showed me an attractive price. But I opened another window using the link on this board and got the same low price. I'm so glad I rechecked closer to my dates. :) Thanks for the resources here, always appreciated. I'll post hotel info when it's completed. btw, total price: $200.85, 11 days

This is precisely the sort of help I'm looking for. My boyfriend and I have just purchased tickets to Atlanta to drive to my dad's place in South Carolina the 2nd weekend in February. However, we'd like to stay a couple of nights in Atlanta, having never been there before. So, hotel areas to bid?? We like parks and local art, sports, and eating! A suggestion for a place to lift a pint for an hour or two would be welcome as well. Not too picky on star quality. 2 1/2 probably as low as we'll go. We'll be renting a car, but is the traffic so bad that I should not bother getting one until we're ready to leave Atlanta? It will be pricelined as well, so probably not worth the trip back to the airport to pick it up for a couple of days' savings is my guess. Unless hotel parking fees are on the high side. All help VERY much appreciated!!!