<p>Thanks for the restaurant.com advice everyone.</p>
<p>At Samâs today they had the Omni-Wool crew shirts and long underwear for $2.91. They were $20 at Christmas time.</p>
<p>Cannot begin to express how much we love our Miele vacuum. Worth every penny. Thinking of getting a second upright for the upstairs . . .</p>
<p>Sewhappy, I have been agonizing over which vacuum to buy. So many have a mixture of good and bad reviews. What type of Miele vacuum do you have? How long have you had it? I donât mind spending a healthy amount for a vacuum if it will last and do the job.</p>
<p>momlove,</p>
<p>We bought the canister model called âGeminiâ with the rotator brush carpet attachment. It is light and very easy to use and manages to make 20-year-old couches that have withstood two kids, two dogs and a cat look almost new. Brilliant on wood or tile floors. Absolutely nothing leaks out so our house looks and feels immaculate after we vacuum. It is very good on carpet as well as upholstery and non-carpeted floors but we are probably going to purchase an upright to keep upstairs where we have mostly carpet.</p>
<p>Itâs just a pleasure to use. The bags are a cinch to change. The inside remains immaculate. </p>
<p>Canât say enough. LOVE it!</p>
<p>We considered Dyson and Kirby. We just didnât want to go bagless. And Kirby didnât seem well suited to hardwood and tile - also horribly expensive.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>We have to stay in our starter home forever probably due to college tuition bills so it really helps to at least be able to keep it really clean.</p>
<p>Thanks, sewhappy!</p>
<p>Good information; Iâll research the Gemini as it sounds like a great vacuum. I definitely donât like the bagless vacuum I have now. The upright seems like it would be better suited to my situation. Thank you!</p>
<p>Happyâbought 5 nights, 2 rooms in Vienna 5* hotel & ended up in Le Meridian! We could not have afforded it without buying it without knowing what hotel we were getting; itâs completely smoke-free! (We paid under $1350 total.) Weâre very happy. Also bought nights at 2 different Holiday Innsâone in London and the other in Germany because couldnât find good deals and didnât want to break the budget just on lodging.</p>
<p>Am now struggling to find non-smoking lodging in Paris for 4 people for 5 nights. Have a few options Iâm toying withâwill see what we end up with. Have sent out several inquiries and am waiting to decide with hubby.</p>
<p>HIMom, thatâs fantastic! (Of course, our family is planning another trip to your beautiful island to naturally tan our pale bodies - we just could not resist the low airfares. 
)</p>
<p>My good buy of the day - a couple of Marie Jo bras on sale at a local lingerie boutique! This is the only store in the entire state that carries this brand, which of course almost never goes on sale, and when it does, my size is usually long gone before I could even get there. Iâm glad that I took that detour to the shopping center.</p>
<p>Hotwire is a very interesting tool, as long as youâre content with âpotluck.â You can figure out things somewhat but sometimes you have no idea what youâll be getting when you buy without knowing the name & adresss of the hotel.</p>
<p>So far, Iâve been pretty satisfied with my purchases on it. It is good when things are otherwise out of my price range and the hotel is highly enough ranked by enough people and has enough stars to make the risk worthwhile.</p>
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</p>
<p>If you post all the Hotwire hotel details on [Priceline</a> and Hotwire Forum](<a href=âhttp://www.betterbidding.com%5DPricelineâ>http://www.betterbidding.com), they will help you figure out the hotel.</p>
<p>We recently placed a bid for a hotel near a college of an Accepted Student Day. It was not listed on those sites, so we were surprised and initially a bit disappointed that we got the chain we would not normally book. It turned out absolutely fine. My point is that you could land a new hotel that suddenly participates with Priceline or Hotwire. Also, keep in mind that some of these hotels (usually in cities) will charge a lot for parking, which makes your winning bid much less of a bargain.</p>
<p>Yes, you also canât be sure you will be able to get the bedding or non-smoking room you prefer. So far, weâve always been able to, but there are no guarantees. The price was significantly better (about 1/2 the price) of anything I could find, even undercutting the âbudgetâ hotels.</p>
<p>For the other two cities, I ended up with Holiday Inns, but those are OK & the prices for them was also quite low (under $60/room/night + taxes & fees). Both were 3* or better with fairly high satisfaction ratings.</p>
<p>I generally go by the stated location, satisfaction rating & *s (also looking at price).</p>
<p>I got a room through Priceline during college visits and they would not give me two doubles, rather than a king, without charging extra. If you have a rewards program with a particular chain, they wonât give you the points if you book through Priceline. I use one hotel now when I visit my D at school and they give me all kinds of discounts now that I have used them often enough for them to know me. I had no idea they would be so amenable to bargaining.</p>
<p>I never had a problem with bed or non-smoking requests on Priceline, but I do phone the hotel once I find out where I will be staying. The only issue that I had was when they tried to put me on the first floor, after I requested 2nd floor or higher (still got what I requested, but they do not have to that), and when they try to put me into a room specially designed a person in a wheelchair (DH did not want to use that type of shower).
We did get another room after we complained.</p>
<p>We paid $41 for our 3 star hotel, so Iâd rather pay that, then paying $100+ for 5 nights to get my 6th night free.</p>
<p>We have tried e-mailing the hotel, but have not gotten a reply. The hotel is not in our country, so have not tried calling them long distance yet. It wonât be a HUGE issue if we are stuck with the wrong beds, but it will be a huge issue if we donât get the non-smoking rooms. We will see.</p>
<p>I do appreciate the great rates I canât get otherwise and donât need the âperksâ of working up to a âfreeâ night or other incentives. I thought we were doing well to get rates under $60 + tax for 3*, but your $41 beats me by far!</p>
<p>HIMOM, you cannot always get those rates. In fact you cannot always get rooms bidding on Priceline. We tried to book a room in the suburbs of NYC last Christmas. It ended up saving me probably $30. I am not willing to do that again. If someone were ill, or it snowed heavily and we could not go, I would have been out $120 for the one night.</p>
<p>We also tried to book on Priceline while we were looking at colleges in upstate NY. We had a very rough time because in the areas where we were looking, there are not that many hotels, so I guess they do not discount on Priceline too often. </p>
<p>When we look in or near cities, we have better luck. </p>
<p>Does the hotel that you are trying to contact have a toll free number for their international guests?</p>
<p>Yea, when youâre pretty flexible, you have more options. When weâre going to be attending things and need to be near a particular location, we are more reluctant to use any of these on-line options. </p>
<p>I have never done bidding on Priceline, only booked âblindâ on Hotwire. I only book hotels that have a good TripAdvisor review with a sufficient number of reviewers and a high enough * rating & only after I have tried other options for a reasonably priced stay.</p>
<p>So far, it has worked OK for us.</p>
<p>At your prompting, I just got off the phone with Holiday Inn for the 3rd time. This agent was the most helpful by far & did put a note on our reservations that we need non-smoking rooms for medical reasons (weâre all asthmatic). Hopefully this will help us get appropriate rooms so we can breathe well throughout our stay. :)</p>
<p>I prefer to book in hotels that bill themselves as non-smoking, but thatâs not always possible.</p>
<p>So glad this worked out for you HImom.</p>
<p>Thanksâthe proof will be at check-in, when we get the requested rooms & it doesnât set everyone off, but this is a good start. :)</p>
<p>Okay, I ordered some stuff from Yoox. Never heard of them, but apparently they run the websites of some fancy designers, so they get past seasonâs leftovers and sell them cheap(er). Iâm keeping my fingers crossed that I have not been taken for a ride. Wish me luck.</p>