Tiki

That's not bad considering it's Oktoberfest. Have a great time!

I noticed that prices had come down a bit on the normal hotel product so first tried 4* South for $45, then added North for $50, rejected. Went back to BB PRICELINE link, tried new bid for 3* South $45, got offer of adding $13. Added North and bid $50, got hotel! This is about one week before Oktoberfest but there is some kind of bottler's conference going on beforehand. Subtotal: US$50.00 Taxes and Service Fees: US$16.19 Total Charges: US$66.19 Only a couple reviews on TA but it seems OK for a night and only a few stops from the train station and Marienplatz.

I just copied what everyone else has been getting this hotel for, got it on the first try! I used your PRICELINE link. Subtotal: US$55.00 Taxes and Service Fees: US$17.84 Total Charges: US$72.84

At least I helped someone! Good onya!! :) I did more research, it looks like the Hotwire properties are all Starwoods and Priceline seems to favour Marriotts in Munich except for King's Central as a 3*. Since I am an SPG member, I went back to SPG.com and found that I could get the Four Points ONLY on 13 Sept for points, it is fully booked the 14th which is why it didn't show up the first time I looked. So looks like PL is out for Munich this time. Booking.com shows Kng's Central for 220 Euro and Marriott Courtyard for 349 Euro so they already put up their Oktoberfest prices on 13 Sept--greedy buggers! :) The Renaissance is still only 179 Euros on Booking.com so it hasn't been inflated yet and I don't know why I couldn't get it for their usual PRICELINE price, historically it went for $65 up to $135 for Oktoberfest. I think the Four Points is a better location for transportation to see the sights and close to the main train station.

OK, I am convinced Priceline hates me. I bid Munich up to $65 for 4* ONLY on the 13th Sept (Hotwire has a 4* for $82 that day) and rejected. So I tried for 3* having seen other people post winning bids for $55, I tried that in Munich South, then added Munich North and tried $60 and nothing. Hotwire has 3.5 * for $84 and 2.5* for $79. So it looks like there is cheap inventory on that day but I can't seem to nail it. HOTWIRE 4* amenities: Fitness Centre, Pool, Restaurant, Business Centre, Hi-Speed Internet, Spa 3.5* amenities: Comp Bkft, High-Speed Internet, Restauarant 2.5* amenities: Restaurant I never used HOTWIRE but their booking fees are ridiculous! If anyone can help me narrow down the Hotwire hotels, I would appreciate it, that 4* might also be a PL hotel. I will have one more go at this tomorrow, then give up and book something else. For Vienna, I went and booked a double in the Strawberry Hostel in town, I would rather have a good location than a higher star level out in the boonies and spend money commuting. I'm using www.booking.com for all the bookings I made in failed Priceline attempts, except I can get a Happy 30 Ibis in Nurnberg on the 14th Sept.

No luck in Vienna. I went up to $90 for a 4* and $65 for a 3*. They kept throwing me back to their non-opaque booking screen.

Yes, I think you can cancel a C&P without penalty but I haven't tried. I doubt anything cheaper would open up with that auto show in town, things will just get worse. The plot thickens for Munich! I was messing around on Hotwire and I discovered that rooms are still cheap on 13 Sept but on 14 Sept is when they take a HUGE leap upwards in anticipation of Oktoberfest. So now I am thinking of just bidding for the 13th and on the 14th hopping a train to Nurnberg in the evening. The 15th is in Rothenberg and we would have just gone direct from Munich there but if we can't get cheap hotels in Munich, we have to look at other options. The train is about 2 hours so we would still have the whole day to see Munich. I don't think PL serves Nurnberg but there are some good deals on Booking.com. For Vienna, the cheapest pensions are around $75 a night, PL wins start at $82 for the Renaissance historically so I guess we will just take a punt and if we don't get anything, use Booking.com.

Well I tried first 4* ranging from $45-60, in $5 increments, then tried 3*, couldn't even get the Leonardo which other people seem to get, once again went to $65. Frankfurt has one of the world's largest auto shows happening around that time and Germany makes an awful lot of cars. All is not lost, I did manage to get the Sheraton Congress booked on Starwood Cash and Points, I am in shock I could even GET an award room at this time, but if Priceline had worked out, a normal Frankfurt room goes for $40-45 and I would have saved the Starpoints. The reviews on Trip Advisor are OK and there is a tram outside the door to the city center. Paris actually was easier than I thought-I stumbled onto a deal at Ibis "Happy 30" and got an Ibis in Bastille (near Marais) for 59 Euros! I don't think Priceline would have beat $75 USD equiv in Euros so I grabbed it. Not every Ibis/Accor offers Happy 30, it's a pita to check each hotel for the dates one by one and the one in Bastille had the nicest location. I bid Munich at 4* levels up to $55 and 3 * up to $55 with no luck and I am locked out until tomorrow. No Ibis Happy 30's in Munich and the Starwoods here aren't offering Cash and Points-probably cutting it too close to Oktoberfest which is annoying because I have no interest in Oktoberfest at all. I'll have another go at Munich tomorrow and use your link. Not sure if I should also go for Vienna or wait a bit because there is nothing special happening there in Sept (no trade fairs).

I have more reason to worry about Frankfurt, the most common "win" the Moevenpick is booked out from the 14-17 Sept. https://www.moevenpick-Hotels.com/en/pub/reservation.cfm The Marriott and Westin are also booked out. So far, the Intercontinental 527 Euro, Le Meridien 467 Euro, Holiday Inn 249 Euro and 3 x Sheraton 147-376 Euro are available and the Leonardo 3* for 259 Euro which I see people winning (but gets bad reviews on Trip Advisor) are also available. I usually research what other people are winning the available hotels at and then try a few lowballs and come up to what the others bid.

Our trip is in Sept which seems to be a popular convention time. A couple days ago, I successfully lowballed a 4* in Amsterdam, then was going to hold back a while before bidding on the other cities. I did some research and found major events close to my travel dates. Munich: I want 13-15 Sept, Oktoberfest starts 19 Sept and I don't know how far in advance people arrive. Frankfurt: I want 16 Sept (preferably near the airport as flying on 17 Sept), there is a huge Auto Show from 17-19 Sept. Thankfully Vienna appears to have no special events close to my dates of 11-13 Sept. I am still undecided whether to use PL for Paris as I might just go for a cheapie 2-3* in the Latin Quarter for the French style hotels rather than international chains. This is currently over 6 months before the trip and normally people advise waiting until closer to the date. I don't even know when European hotels load inventory. NH Hoteles apparently loads early but they don't serve any of these cities. I am mostly worried about Frankfurt and Munich because of the special events, any advice appreciated!

It's been a long time since I used PRICELINE but I was encouraged by all the other recent bargains being posted. I lowballed Amsterdam at $55 a night, expecting to be told to take a hike. PL came back with a counter offer of $64 a night which was lower than the previous reported win for $67 so I took it. I normally wouldn't book THIS far in advance but there appears to be a major conference in Amsterdam starting 10 Sep (IBC whatever that is) so I didn't want to risk everything being booked up. The hotel seems to be close enough to the tourist sights, will check it out on Trip Advisor. A backpacker place would have cost $28 USD a night for a dorm bed x 2 beds which is what we were looking at prior to these awesome PL deals so I'm really happy we are staying in a 4* for just a few $$ more than a backpacker dorm! The hotel says 150 Euros on the NH webiste. Room Cost (avg. per room, per night): $64.00 (USD) Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 2 Room Subtotal: $128.00 (USD) Taxes and Fees: $23.48 (USD) Total Room Cost: $151.48 (USD) ***I used your PRICELINE link, Theruare!

Long time, no see! I am adding a data point for Aussies. I used my Aussie based Amex with the US state of Alaska (AS) as my address and 99999 zip code. I successfully bid for an Amsterdam Hotel.

The room we were in on the 9th floor was very clean and no signs of rock star (or other) stains on the carpet! D

I was really happy with the service here. They let us check in early (around noon) despite the 3pm check in time and we got a nice king room. No PL hassles at all! We parked the car for the day-$28 and could have had in/out, but chose to use public transport to avoid parking hassles in the city. The cable car stop is just 2 blocks away and it takes you to Chinatown. All the FW attractions are only a short walk away. Nice large room and bathroom. Staff were friendly and happy to help tourists with local info, lots of maps and brochures in the lobby. We had booked in advance for Alcatraz-good thing as there were a lot of people waiting in the stand-by line. Even though we only had one day here, with careful planning we got to see the main places we wanted to see. I would recommend this as a good 3* hotel and for $56 it was a steal!

Royal Kona Resort Overall, we loved this place and would definitely stay here again. There was a line and about 10 min wait to check in-staff are very friendly and will take time to answer questions when you check in-hence the line tends to build up. No PL discrimination and we got a beautiful king room 3rd floor in the main building right on top of the lobby. Our balcony had a sea view and we could hear the waves crashing on the shore. We could also see the luau area. We are not overly finicky people and I had to look hard to find the peeling wallpaper others had complained about-I never would have noticed it if it hadn