Helsinki Gooner

Hi, Yes - the same 3.5 star in downtown Portland is still showing at $91 (cheaper than all the other options). The amenities are: wifi, restaurant, business center, fitness center. thx

Used Priceline Express and saw a 3.5 star hotel in downtown Portland listed at $91. A friend had recently had a $109 "winning" bid for the same area and hotel so I snapped at this when I saw it. There is a Vancouver Whitecaps vs Portland Timbers football (soccer) game happening this weekend.

Just won on a bid of $65 (plus $20 taxes) for a 4* Aberdeen Airport Hotel (ABZ, Scotland) - turned out to be the Aberdeen Marriot which is located by the airport (within an office-development, so is reportedly used by many business travellers). Airport apparently has a free shuttle and is close to the railway station into the city. I would have been happy with 3 or 4*, and thus started my bidding low (using ur PRICELINE links to the page). Bidding history: 4* - $40, 45, 50, 55, 60 3* - $42, 46, 47, 50, At $60 I was offered the chance to re-bid with a $15 price increase (so I figured I was close). I only then realized that I could have chosen 2 of the other 3 areas (4 zones in Aberdeen) and bid again for a 4* seeing as the airport was the only zone with a 4* hotel - getting 3 bids for a 4* hotel near the airport per 24 hours, rather than the 1 I had been using. I thus selected the downtown zone and the airport zone and bid on a 4* hotel at $65 and got it - could have possibly gone for $62 or 63 but i was getting a little impatient, and it's only a coupla dollars. Very happy with the win and first Aberdeen win as far as I can tell!

Bids from $50-77 were rejected for a 4* and at the price level of $70, 72, 74, 76 and 77 I was given a chance to re-bid if I upped the bid for $15 or $18($76 and 77 for some reason suggested $18 bid increase to bid again right away). The bid of $80 was accepted, but I was 'upgraded' to a 5* instead at the Athenaeum Intercontinental Athens. I am satisfied with the 5-star for the price. However, the reason I was bidding for the 4-star was in the hope that I would have been given the Ledra Marriot - located in the same area, but the Marriot has a roof-top pool. I suppose I could have bid for the 5-star first at a lower rate and then bid again for 4 star, but then i think they would still upgrade me and so there is probably no way to get around this issue - or perhaps there are no 4* hotels right now - I haven't seen any winning bids for them on here lately. If you are going for a 5-star in Athens, I would start at a level no higher than $70 b-c others have won with that in the past. I did not try it b-c I thought it might be accepted, and I really wanted the roof-top pool :) . Bid history (and yes, used your link to the PRICELINE website :) ): 4*: 52 54 55 58 61 65 70 72 74 76 77 80 - winning bid of a 5* 5*(all rejected) 60 62 65 67 68

I just took a look at the location and website - and i'm pretty happy with my purchase now! can't get much closer, and it looks quite decent (far more so than the tripadvisor reviews pictures), especially for the price...so i can't complain! :)

Ok - so I had bids of $36, $38 and $39 rejected, and then tonight had a winning $40 accepted for the Red Lion Hotel...$53 all taxes included. Not really sure what to think of this one - compared with the Hilton and Doubletree being in the same range, I'd rather have 'won' one of those rather than this....however I am basing my criticism on tripadvisor for the doubletree, and reputation for the hilton. However, the doubletree is supposed to not have the best shuttle service in the morning (massive hotel = high demand for morning shuttle) whereas the red-lion seems to both be closer and have good reviews for that. So it might turn out to be a blessing in disguise...but, being the start of the honeymoon (before a morning flight south) like i said, don't know if I'm happy or a little dissapointed. I suppose the option would have been to pay a little more ($40) on hotwire to guarantee a doubletree/hilton, but oh well - the old red lion should serve it's purpose :) I suppose it is the time of year (as in around now many people are getting the doubletree hotel) rather than price bid that determines which hotel you receive?

Hi- Thanks for the feedback - and I decided to stick to the low-ball with small increment increases...i have the time, so why not. Basically, ya, I've already booked the flights for my honeymoon in December, so there's little-to-no chance that i'll be missing this one...as long as all goes well at the altar :) We're only going to stay for one night at the airport, and flying south the next day to a nice resort. But, if anyone knows the best way to get the best possible place for this one night, then that'd be much appreciated! I looked at what people have had for the 3.5 star wins on hotwire, and those included the Sheraton and doubletree (i think)...so i'm thinking this is the best option...but any others will be welcome. oh yeah, just had bids of $32 and $34 rejected. Funny thing was that after the $34 bid, i was given the opportunity to bid again, for the same area and star-level, if i upped my bid by $9. That would have been a $43 bid - and based on what others have won with, would probably do it. all the same, i'm going to keep slowly increasing. D

Hi, Just had a low-balled $30 bid rejected for the 3-star hotel range (highest range for these dates at Seatac). I will try again tomorrow and update as necessary. One question I had though, is whether the bid will determine which hotel you receive? Basically, if I was to start out bidding at for example $70, would I get a better hotel? Compared to my low-ball method I am currently embarking on, in which i plan on slowly increasing the bid until it is accepted. The reason I ask, is b/c the 3 stars winning bids have been for both the Hiton as well as Double-Tree....though after reviewing tripadvisor, both seem to be quite good quality. also used the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links! will update the post till i win. D

Hi - new user here... Was just reviewing the Hotwire Seatac hotels, and saw that for my dates Dec 14-15 (one night) that the 2.5 star ($56) came in as more expensive than the 3 star ($54). Any ideas why that would be? many thanks! D