homerlou

Hubby home - he was okay with Radison for one night - so lowered star rating to 3.5 and put in $80. Won Doubletree Guest Suites for $80.00 - woo hoo! :D

Trying to get a room in DT Austin for 1 night (Saturday) 1/28/12. Going with 4* since I am not a fan of the Radisson (now 3.5* which I think is a huge mistake - closets/room size worse than NYC - sorry, rabbit trail) Using BetterBidding (of course) started my bid at $90. Promptly denied. Started adding locations 1 x 1 and upping $ amount a bit. Added up to 6 additional (no 4 star) locations and went up to $100.00/night Still no bites. :-( Will try again on Friday. Noticed Hotwire currently has 4 * at $123.00 night. Might do that instead.....

Hertz - Airport in Denver Full-size Car. $20.00 day - $72.51 taxes/fees total $212.51 Significantly less than what I had been seeing on other travel sites - around $450.00 for the week. Accepted on first bid. I did use the forum to get to PRICELINE site. Thanks!

See below for a previous post on another thread in this forum from last night to get all the details on this booking. Ended up getting a winning bid after I changed my request dates to 12/2/10 - 12/5/10 (thursday - sunday) even tho' we need it from 12/1/10 (wednesday-sunday). Decided to try the "add a night" thing. My request for additional night was rejected and I was offered a price of $329.00 for the additional night. No bueno at $329. Will try again tomorrow for 1 night thru standard means -- but it looks like we may be moving hotels in the middle of our trip. :) I'm happy with the $95.00 -- have to say that I always prefer the Omni Downtown. But have stayed at the Hyatt as well and been satisfied. Will update as we move forward =========================== I am looking in Austin for 12/1/10 - 12/5/10. I think Wednesday (12/1/10) is the hang-up as I have had Hotwire provide good quotes if I would change check-in to Thusday. (which doesn't work for me) I've bid up to $100 and looking for 3. 5 or 4 star in Downtown. Have done other zones in Austin that were "safe" and have been doing this nightly since the weekend. I looked at the convention schedule - only thing I see is CPA convention - only has an attendance expectation of about 1200. However, it is graduation weekend. But, that doesn't really explain the Wednesday night problem. Going to wait until Wednesday morning and try again. Hopefully they will release more rooms if people check out earlier than expected. Or, I could book starting on Thursday - Sunday and try the "add a night" thing. I've read thru details posted on this site and it appears you can add a day at the beginning of your stay as well. Once I get something done - I will post my story.

will start a "new topic" as well -- was hoping to get a win to report before I did start a topic. Prefer to share good news then stories of rejection. :) I am looking in Austin for 12/1/10 - 12/5/10. I think Wednesday (12/1/10) is the hang-up as I have had Hotwire provide good quotes if I would change check-in to Thusday. (which doesn't work for me) I've bid up to $100 and looking for 3. 5 or 4 star in Downtown. Have done other zones in Austin that were "safe" and have been doing this nightly since the weekend. I looked at the convention schedule - only thing I see is CPA convention - only has an attendance expectation of about 1200. However, it is graduation weekend. But, that doesn't really explain the Wednesday night problem. Going to wait until Wednesday morning and try again. Hopefully they will release more rooms if people check out earlier than expected. Or, I could book starting on Thursday - Sunday and try the "add a night" thing. I've read thru details posted on this site and it appears you can add a day at the beginning of your stay as well. Once I get something done - I will post my story. Good Luck - let me know if you have any success as well!

Started out looking for last minute room for 11/17/2010 near Galleria or Near West. No go - expanded to Katy, then to Westchase - finally to Willowbrook where got a taker. Holiday Inn on Tomball Parkway. Clean, nice & new. Was just fine. $60.00

Just returned from 3 night trip at the Omni. We go to Austin 3 - 4 times a year as a weekend get away and always use priceline. Often times we get this hotel - - and have grown very fond of it. This trip we were upgraded to a suite. We requested a king - there were none available so they gave us a suite with separate bedroom, living area, study area, FULL kitchen, washer dryer, Jacuzzi tub, separate shower, walk in closet. Very nice. Here are things we enjoy about this hotel. *the staff. Same people year after year. Obviously they don't have much turnover as I typically recognize faces/names from trip to trip. Employees go out of the way to be friendly and helpful. They always speak to you and are pro-active in providing assistance. However, they don't mind if you self park, carry your own bags, etc. No pressure. *No Party rules are strictly enforced. We like to go have fun at restaurants/bars in the warehouse district. But, when we want to go to bed - we prefer not to have a party next door. The Omni checks room keys/IDs starting at 10:30 PM - virtually eliminating the chance of an "after party" in the room next door. We have experienced this problem at other hotels - -and it can ruin a trip. *Location - love the close proximity to Congress, warehouse district and 6th street. Far enough away from the noise - - but close enough to walk to all. *Parking - although it is expensive, it is always very easy to find a space. We typically always find a space on the first level. *Pet friendly. Although we never bring our dogs - we often see people there with small dogs. It is not a brand new property - however, it is clean and appropriately furnished/decorated. The upgrade - -well, that was just icing on the cake.....

:) Thought I would share that we were upgraded to a suite at the Omni DT when we checked in. We requested a king - -and she said they didn't have any but she would check to see if a suite was available. We were on the executive floors. Had a living room, separate bedroom, study area, full kitchen with oven, microwave, dishwasher, full-size refer and washer dryer. Bath had jacuzzi tub and separate shower. Huge walk in closet. Was absolutely awesome. Could not believe our good fortune - -especially since we paid below rack rate. Didn't want to come home.

Hey Yellow Dog - I thought I did go thru the web site. I used the link in the top right hand corner where you put in dates and it took me to the priceline page. The only thing I can think of is that perhaps because I have a Priceline acct. set up that "automatically" signs me in when I go from my home IP address....???? Guess I need to go in and undo the something so it doesn't default to my account.

:) Successful bid. Started adding zones that didn't have 4* hotel - but kept my request a 4* -- - started bidding at $80.00 - went up to $95 and no bites. Changed to 3.5* started back at $75.00 and went thru all zones without 3.5* - - finally after about 8 - 9 tries ended up at the Omni (4*) for $94.00 A little more than we normally pay - - but not too much. Last night Sheraton (3.5*) had a deal going with Expedia for $111/night including free breakfast free internet - and would have r'cd a $50.00 Visa Card. I'm kicking myself for not jumping on it -- it wasn't available this morning. (Sold out) THis is good tho' - we enjoy the Omni and it's still a decent deal. Thanks for the advice on adding zones! Never have considered doing that before!!!

Looking for 3.5 or 4 Star - Downtown Austin. 3 nights 9/3/2010 - 9/6/2010 (Labor Day Weekend) Really don't want to pay more than $90.00 /night - typically we use Priceline and pay around $75.00 - $80.00 /night. Seems like we always end up at the Omni - which we enjoy. First time to use this forum. I usually wait until last minute - - don't know if that is the problem. Decided to try it earlier this time. any advice is welcome!

First bid $70.00 / 4* Downtown - rejected Second bid $84 / 4* Downtown - rejected Third bid $70.00/ 3.5* Downtown - rejected Going to wait and retry later. Still plenty of time.