[BEAV]

Forgive me if this is old news, however it's new to me thanks to a post I found on the Cruise Critic message board.

Turico Holidays is the parent company of Last Minute Travel. Using a link from Turico Holidays will enable you to identify any Last Minute Travel opaque hotel property.

Click (and bookmark) the link below from Turico's website:

http://www.touricoholidays.com/en/PageHote...ocalTgsProvider

Whatever hotel you're looking at on the LastMinuteTravel.com website, click the link for "more info". When that page comes up, look at the URL address. It will contain the phrase HotelID= followed by a bunch of numbers. Take those bunch of numbers and plug it into the Turico website (link above) in the same place where the numbers following hotelId= is

I spent about 30 minutes using this process and was 100% successful identying any hotel at LastMinuteTravel.com I researched.

Good luck.

[slruud]

It worked for me BEAV. Nice to have a little advantage for a change.

[Gallus50]

That method is brilliant. Absolutely BRILLIANT. I love it. It seems very close to foolproof, so it's nice to know what you 're getting when you're not supposed to. BUT - just as importantly, you can tell what regular rates for non-opaque purchases would be at the same time. I checked a trip we have coming up and the opaque prices were actually slightly more than the regular prices at the same hotel! Caveat Emptor, everyone. (In case you don't know, that's Latin for buyer beware...)

[BEAV]

Gallus50, on Aug 16 2010, 09:16 AM, said:

That method is brilliant. Absolutely BRILLIANT. I love it. It seems very close to foolproof, so it's nice to know what you 're getting when you're not supposed to. BUT - just as importantly, you can tell what regular rates for non-opaque purchases would be at the same time. I checked a trip we have coming up and the opaque prices were actually slightly more than the regular prices at the same hotel! Caveat Emptor, everyone. (In case you don't know, that's Latin for buyer beware...)

You brought up a good point, Gallus50. I've found pricing on LMT "all over the map". Like you, I've found some of their rates are higher than what you can purchase on a retail basis. Having said that, they were selling the Intercontinantal Miami for $84 on a date in November when the hotel's website was quoting $239. I also found them selling the Ritz-Carlton Battery Park in NYC for $299 while everyone else was quoting $545. I do like that fact they sell high-end 5* properties in many cities, something Priceline and Hotwire rarely does. As always, do your homework!

[BEAV]

Another idiosyncrasy I've discovered with LMT is not all hotels are categorized in the proper area. For example, the Ritz-Carlton Central Park in NYC is listed under "Midtown New York" while LMT has an area of the city described as Central Park. I've seen many other examples of this in not only New York, but other cities as well. So having the ability to unmask the identity of any LMT hotel before purchasing is especially useful in this case so that you don't get stuck in one area of town while LMT leads you to believe the hotel is in another area.

[0504]

Thank you for sharing this, beav! Very helpful!

[Wombat]

Thank you so much - this made all the difference for me, and I now have a booking at the W Times Square! I wouldn't have bid on it otherwise, because it's the same price as our backup booking - but because we love the W we were able to decide it was worth it.

[sheal]

Is this link/process still working? When I paste the number in it brings me to the Tourico home page. Any idea what step I might have missed? I am trying to id a 3 1/2* hotel in Cocoa Beach, 2/19-20. The id # is 1239.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Sheal

[tilepusher]

It worked when I tried it; it's the Hilton Cocoa Beach. Are you sure that you didn't leave any digits from the existing hotel ID number in the URL?

[BEAV]

sheal, on Aug 29 2010, 06:37 PM, said:

Is this link/process still working? When I paste the number in it brings me to the Tourico home page. Any idea what step I might have missed? I am trying to id a 3 1/2* hotel in Cocoa Beach, 2/19-20. The id # is 1239.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Sheal

The link in the first post of this thread still takes me to the Indian Creek hotel in Miami, where you then replace with the ID of the hotel you're looking for. You cannot ID hotels off the Tourico home page.

[hohogap]

What a great tool! I've been looking at Seoul hotels and found one supposedly a 5* hotel but found out in my Priceline world, the hotel is only a 4 star and way out of the area I was looking for. They also had another apparent 5* hotel, the Hilton Millenium, which I have booked as a back-up (a clear 4* hotel, the last minute travel site even says so in its description, but still lists it as a 5*). The last minute rate was $313/night, and I just have it booked through Hilton as a back-up at $167/night (I'm a Diamond HH member, but still love PL). Thanks for the great tip! Hate to pay more than I can directly book with the hotel.

[BEAV]

I have also found inconsistancies with Easy Click and Last Minute Travel hotel ratings compared with not only Priceline, but sites like Expedia, Travelocity, etc. For example, the New York Marriott Financial District hotel is only rated 3 stars on ECT and LMT, whereas other hotels of similar calibur and amenities will be rated as high as 4.5 stars.

As to location, I've found discrepancies there, too. There is a 5 star hotel with a San Francisco listing that is actually located 25-30 miles south in Half Moon Bay (Ritz-Carlton). Only in the fine print does it mention Half Moon Bay, yet it's clearly labled as San Francisco.

Using the tool through Tourico Travel to identify is a godsend, especially for the rating and location discrepancies.

[sheal]

I have no idea what was happening last night. I just tried it here at work and had no problem seeing what was available in Cocoa Beach.


Thanks for the info about the * inconsistencies. I was scratching my head last night when on one screen it was a 4* and in the detail it was a 3*.

Sheal

[BobC]

You can also use easyclicktravel.com with this same technique - They merged with Tourico months ago - Just paste in the same number once you are on the hotel page in EasyClickTravel

[BobC]

You can also use easyclicktravel.com with this same technique - They merged with Tourico months ago - Just paste in the same number once you are on the hotel page in EasyClickTravel

[BEAV]

That makes sense, and something I've been meaning to experiment with but haven't got around to yet.

[BobC]

Everytime you insert the hotel # in the address & bring up the hotel - there is never availability for that specific hotel. I actually attempted the same dates on both sites - On lastminutetravel.com there was availability & then when checked thru easyclicktravel they had no availability. Odd...

[dlxmax]

Fantastic find, thank you for sharing.

[ktmc330]

Thanks so much for this info! You just saved me from almost accidentally booking the Midtown Inn in Miami!!

[MurtleCake]

I just tried this out, the hotel was right. The all seemed right to me, I checked a bunch, I'd say their zones are tad off though.

Going to Vegas next week and I had booked the Westin on Priceline (which is fine, but my party wasn't thrilled with).. but we decided 2 rooms would be better for the 3 of us (the don't even have queen beds there :-/) but man, everything is SO expensive that weekend. I couldn't find a decent hotel anywhere for the $115 we'd paid for the Westin. LMT had it for $69 so I have it on request.. let's see if I get it *crosses fingers* eh worst that can happen is we'll have to suck it up and share.

[Look_its_Nikki]

I can't seem to get this to work. I did what you said but it would always bring me right back to the main page. can someone help me please.

[BEAV]

Look_its_Nikki, on Sep 20 2010, 06:21 AM, said:

I can't seem to get this to work. I did what you said but it would always bring me right back to the main page. can someone help me please.

Whichever property you're viewing on LastMinuteTravel.com, jot down the hotel ID number you see in the URL address.

Then click the link below and replace the current ID number with the ID number of the property you're trying to identify.


http://www.touricoholidays.com/en/PageHote...ocalTgsProvider

[Philip Stoev]

Sometimes lastminutetravel.com would say the name of the "secret" hotel right there in the hotel description, for example

Quote

4-star hotel in Sant Marti/Barcelona
Where’s the hotel name? The price is so low, we can’t reveal it yet. Learn more
Known for exceptional service and prime location, the Pere IV offers award-winning accommodations
...

[ElvisPezley]

Worked for me too.

[OClady]

This works great. Do you have to become a Club member for $49.99 a year in order to book a hotel on Last Min. Travel?