resipsa99

Nothing on the calendar of wins for early March, but saw that $69-70 had been successful for recent bids on other dates. Didn't want to go over $75 based on the fact that non-opaque sites were showing lower prices for 4* hotels than usual for those dates. Using the PRICELINE links on this site: Bid $65 for 4* Seattle (Downtown-Pike Place) - rejected. PRICELINE offered to let me bid again immediately if I raised the price by at least $20. I didn't because I felt I could do better. Added Lynwood-Edmonds (no 4*): Bid $69 - rejected. Added UofW Northgate (no 4*): Bid $71 - successful. Total $336 including taxes and fees for the two rooms for two nights ($84/room/night).

Just thought that I would post this for general info and benchmarking. Have to go to Regina for a funeral, so last minute, two-night midweek stay. Hotels in Regina looked very expensive, with high prices on the PRICELINE regular side (2* starts at $106), HOTWIRE opaque bids ($97 for 2.5*) and Travelocity Top Secret Hotel bids ($68 for 3*). I had the option of using 5,000 Priority Club points plus $60/night to get a hotel I can vet ahead of time - this appears to be without additional taxes, but still TBD. Previous postings on here for 2010 showed $80 for a 3*, but that is more than I wanted to pay given the Priority Club option above. PRICELINE name your own price screen said the median for 3* and 2.5* was $138 and $139 respectively. I used the PRICELINE link to bid $55 for a 3* in Regina (Area 1) - rejected, no counteroffer. Added 2.5* and bid $55 for a 2.5* - rejected. Didn't want to go to 2* as I didn't love all the possible 2* hotels, so went with the Priority Club points + $60 option.

Seven day rental at $12.95/day plus $51.35 tax. Total came to $142, which was a lot less than the $212.62 which was the cheapest I was able to find by booking direct (three weeks before the trip). HOTWIRE link used. When we checked in to pick up the car, Alamo told us we would be charged $10/day for an additional driver, even if the additional driver was a spouse. I was a bit annoyed by this as Budget does not have this policy and wondered whether it was because we had booked thru HOTWIRE, but that seems to be Alamo's policy. We didn't want to pay the extra $10/day as it would effectively double the price of the rental, so I got to be chauffered around for the week. :) We were given the option of selecting from a group of cars, but it was at night and hard to see. The car we picked was a Chevrolet Malibu. It was pretty dirty inside and had a tonne of dings/dents - all of which we documented before leaving.

Looked using the links here at PRICELINE and HOTWIRE as well as the general hotel searcher. We were looking at booking a hotel at the airport for a late night flight arrival from Hawaii, but were leery about going 3* at the airport because of past bad experiences. Decided to stick with downtown and what we know even tho pricier. No other entries on the calendar for those days, but a couple for 70ish in the weeks around it. Bid $72, rejected Added Space Needle, bid $76, rejected Added airport (no 4*), bid $80, accepted Thanks as always for this site!

Saw on the calendar of wins that $84 had been successful for some nights before and after this date. Using the PRICELINE links on this site: Bid $69 for 4* Seattle (Downtown-Pike Place) - rejected. PRICELINE offered to let me bid again immediately if I raised the price (can't remember whether it was $17 or $22). I didn't because I knew I could do better. Waited 24 hours, using the PRICELINE links on this site: Bid $76 for 4* Seattle (Downtown-Pike Place) - rejected. Added Seattle (Space Needle) and immediately rebid $81 - rejected. Waited 24 hours, using the PRICELINE links on this site: Bid $84 for 4* Seattle (Downtown-Pike Place and was successful. Total $201.42 including taxes and fees for the two nights ($100.71/night).

Given how good our dollar is, we thought we'd try a low-ball bid for Seattle for the weekend. Used the PRICELINE link on here. Tried $60, 3.5* Downtown Pike Place, unsuccessful. PRICELINE suggested a rebid at $17 more, but that was more than we wanted to pay to go down on a whim. Posted the topic just for info for others who may be bidding.

Thanks, that makes sense. When you are talking about the shaded boundaries of the zone, do you mean the shaded boundaries that PRICELINE shows on the bidding (NYOP) part of the site? If so, I'm comfortable that she won't end up in Arlington or Munroe. If not...who knows!!

A coworker wants to go and stay near the Seattle Premium Outlets in Tulalip (Marysville, WA). I've never bid or stayed in hotels in that area so I thought I'd ask if anyone else has experience. What I'm worried about is Priceline giving her a hotel well away from the mall. When you put "Marysville, WA" into the regular side of Priceline, it comes up with 4 hotels in Marysville, 1 in Arlington & 2 in Munroe. The four Marysville hotels are the 2.5* Holiday Inn Express, and three 2* hotels (Comfort Inn, Quality Inn, Best Western). The Arlington hotel is a 1* and the Munroe hotels are the 2* Guesthouse Inn and Best Western. When you move to the Name Your Own Price option in Priceline, it comes up with two areas - Area 1 Marysville and Area 2 Munroe. Both options on the map show very small circles, i.e. the Area 1 Marysville area doesn't encompass the Arlington or Munroe city markings and the Area 2 Munroe area doesn't encompass the Marysville or Arlington city markings. My question is whether it is 'safe' to bid on Area 1 Marysville area in that she will get a hotel that is one of the four shown for Marysville in the non-NYOP option, or, could she get stuck with one of the Arlington/Munroe options, or even, say, something in Everett. My assumption is that if she bid 2.5* for Area 1 Marysville, she would effectively be bidding on the Holiday Inn Express, and similarly, if she bid 2* she'd add in the other three hotels linked to Marysville in the non-NYOP side of the site to the mix. The reason I hesitate is because when you select Area 1 Marysville, the 1* option isn't grayed out - given that no 1* was shown for Marysville in the non-NYOP option, that worries me. (She can avoid it by not choosing 1*, of course, but I'm just wondering how the process works since I've never used Priceline for non-urban areas, and I appreciate any advice.

Another trip to Seattle. Looked like from the boards that $75 was the latest going rate for a number of 4* D/T hotels, although another member and I had both been successful for Feb dates at $69. Going with friends to the Seattle Bike Expo in March so needed two rooms. Didn't know how busy the weekend would be so didn't want to muck around too much. Using the PRICELINE links on this site bid $69/night/room for 4* downtown Pike Place and was successful. Total $326.68 for two rooms for two nights including taxes and fees ($81.67/room/night all in). Thinking I should have had more patience and tried a lower bid first. :)

They do all charge for parking around there, regardless of whether you book thru PRICELINE or HOTWIRE. What we have been doing when we fly out of Seattle is checking these boards to see what people are getting and for what price, and then checking the hotel website(s) and then calling the hotels to check on parking. Often we have found (depending on how long before we return to Seattle) that the park & fly rate through the hotel itself more than makes up for the difference between the hotel rate and the PRICELINE or HOTWIRE rate. I particularly recommend the Red Lion (associated with MasterPark) and the Doubletree for their park & fly deals. Of course, if you're only there for the night, the park & fly rates will not likely be cheaper.

I used the PRICELINE links on this site to start my bidding. Saw that people were getting the 4* Vintage Plaza for $49-52 for January stays. Had previously stayed at the Courtyard downtown (3*) for $49 and thought it was great for the price. Jan 31 tried $39/night for 3.5* Downtown Portland - unsuccessful Feb 1 tried $43/night for 4* Downtown Portland - unsuccessful Added 3.5* at $45/night, still unsuccessful Feb 2 tried $49/night for 4* Downtown Portland - unsuccesful Added 3.5*, stayed at $49/night and was successful (total $174.87 for the 3 night stay) It gave the option of extending at the same rate (but didn't use it). Best price on the Marriott Site - $99/night plus taxes. We're happy at $49, tho I had myself thinking we'd get the Vintage Plaza. Hope that this Marriott is as nice as the Courtyard we stayed at in the summer - that one had just opened, and should have been a 3.5* in our opinion. Thanks to the site and other posters - this information is critical to getting a great deal!

Saw on the calendar of wins that $69 and $72 had been successful for the Westin for some nights before and after this date. Using the PRICELINE links on this site: Bid $65 on Jan 31 for 4* Seattle (Downtown-Pike Place) - rejected. PRICELINE offered to let me bid again immediately if I raised the price by $17. I didn't because of the other successful bids I had seen on here. Bid $69 on Feb 1 for 4* Seattle (Downtown-Pike Place) and was successful. Total $86.61 including taxes and fees for the one night. Still working on a 3.5* for the following 3 nights in Portland - will post in that forum separately.

Thanks for the feedback - good to know that this was a great deal for the time/dates...now I'm working on booking a convertible for Sat the 16th to surprise her...she's never been to California and if the weather cooperates a scenic drive with the top down will be fantastic! :)

I'll start by saying that I'm going to a conference that is being held at the Marriott Marquis and I'm traveling with a less-traveled friend, so on this trip there couldn't be too much chance-taking experimentation, it had to be figured out fairly quickly (she was getting nervous about not getting a hotel - I assured her it wasn't likely, but... :) ) and I kinda wanted to see if I could get the conference hotel...just at a lower rate. "Special" conference rate was $311/night all-in (!! not so special if you ask me) and the Marriott's best rate was $288/night all-in (same as Expedia's Special Rate and PRICELINE's direct book rate). Cheapest 4* in the area through HOTWIRE for the dates was $173 plus taxes/fees. Someone here had succeeded on the Marriott Marquis for the Friday and Saturday for $95, so I was somewhat hopeful, but not too hopeful having seen the lack of cheap rates on HOTWIRE and knowing that it was a HUGE conference and that our stay was quite a bit longer. So I used the PRICELINE links on this site to start my bidding and ended up at $121 on my second day of bidding. Mweh. Fantastic deal for the hotel and the convenience...but as in m previous post...I've gotten used to super-hot-smoking deals. :) Thanks to everyone for this site and supporting cheaper travel!! Bidding strategy: $95 for 4* SOMA - unsuccessful Added USW at $100 - unsuccessful Added USE at $106 - unsuccessful Added Financial District at $113 - unsuccessful Added Fisherman's Wharf at $117 - unsuccessful Next day: Bid $121 for 4* SOMA - successful Later saw BEAV's post here: Priceline Bidding San Francisico Think I may reach out next time for suggestions!! It gave the option of extending at the same rate (but didn't use it).

I used the PRICELINE links on this site to start my bidding. Prices on this website looked low ($65-100), but there seems to be low availability for those dates at the high end side. Was not able to get anything above a 3* for those dates on HOTWIRE, and my first three bids on PRICELINE were rejected. So, although I'm a bit disappointed at the "higher" price, it's still a much better price than the CAD$284/night on the Marriott website or the CAD$299/night on Expedia. Bidding strategy: $74 for 4* Downtown Calgary - unsuccessful Added Airdrie (no 4* hotels) at $81 - unsuccessful Added Cochrane (no 4* hotels) at $94 - unsuccessful Added 3.5* hotels (none in Airdrie/Cochrane - only 3.5* at all was the Marriott and checked prices as above) at $97 - successful It gave the option of extending at the same rate (but didn't use it).