My daughter is going to school in Halifax and we (5 relatives) will be joing her for Christmas. Her digs are fine for the Big Meal on The Big Day but not to stay. Therefore, we will need two rooms for about 4-5 days at Christmas time. We are thinking about an Econolodge, becasue of the kitchenettes. <BR><BR>Questions: Is Priceline the best possible way to the lowest price for this? If so, when is the best time to bid: really early or really late?

With Priceline, there is no way to get a specific hotel - you bid for a city, or area within a city, bid a price, give them your credit card info, and they pick a hotel for you - if you do not like the one that comes up, too bad. You have already paid for it and it will be charged to your credit card the moment they accept your bid.<BR><BR>It is especially difficult if you would like some sort of non-traditional room arrangement (adjoining rooms, suite, kitchen, pool, etc.)<BR><BR>That said, it is also a way to get really cheap rooms sometimes. You get what you pay for - if you are willing to give up choice, you get a deal. Also, rooms are non-refundable, non-transferrable, even if you die.<BR><BR>Read info on biddingfortravel.com. If you post a question, be prepared that the owner/moderator is not very warm and fuzzy with responses - usually a scolding response if you do something wrong. But if you can tolerate some of the nonsense on this board, you can deal with her.

A word of caution, I once stayed at an Econolodge for one nite during a roadtrip, and I was disgusted. I will never stay in one again (ok maybe, but I will definitely see the room before I pay).<BR><BR>I'll say upfront that I know nothing about the Econolodge in Halifax. But you might want to check it out first before you put your money down. It'd be terrible if your family was really disappointed for a lengthy stay, especially during a special time.<BR><BR>Biddingfortravel is a great resource, but it expects that you will have to do some work yourself. <BR><BR>In this age of click and know, the site can be a bit daunting to have to go thru. I think a lot of people go to the site and just want the answer, now! Many people go to the site and are too much of a lazy axx to read thru it all and follow the steps themselves (like me on my first 3 visits!)<BR><BR>But if you read thru it, it gives you all the info you need to potentially save big bucks. <BR><BR>And I agree with gail in that the moderator can be a quite curt at times. However, I have found that recently her tone has been much better! <BR><BR>If you want a kitchenette for sure, then make sure all of the hotels offer it for all of their rooms. As gail mentions, there are no guarantees.<BR><BR>Good luck.

Thanks to both of you for info...I will take courage in hand and check out the suggested website-forewarned is forearmed!<BR><BR>To "klam": we have actually used the Econolodge in Halifax (Bedford, actually) on a previous visit and found it very good-clean and with a well supplied kitchenette, excellent views of the harbour and building a big addition. Same type of lodgings in Bangor, Maine. However, our visit to an Econolodge in Ottawa was similar to your bad experience; dirty and dated furniture, grim lobby.

With Priceline, even after having perused biddingfortravel, you just never know what you'll get. Better to shop like the dickens on your own. Christmas is LOW season and you can do better on your own than bothering with Priceline.

My husband and I used priceline once to book tickets and they screwed us out of $700. WE are still in dispute with them and our credit card company. DO NOT USE PRICELINE. They are impossible to deal with!!

Susan,<BR>I wonder if you could elaborate and tell us what happened with priceline.com. How did they screw you out of $700<BR>I've just used them for the first time and and would be interested in knowing what happened.<BR>Thanks.