raldogg22 Posted April 1, 2015 Report Share Posted April 1, 2015 My wife and I are looking into taking a trip to Miami in September for our anniversary. We have never been to Miami, but most people seem to recommend staying in the South Beach area. First, if you were staying in Miami for your anniversary, would you suggest staying in South Beach? And if so, which areas of South Beach would you recommend? We would like to stay in a 4* or 3.5* hotel and our budget would probably be about $125 per night. Also, we are flexible on travel dates if there is a better time to visit. Thanks in advance for any assistance you can give us. Link to comment
thereuare Posted April 1, 2015 Report Share Posted April 1, 2015 Whether South Beach is the right zone for your really depends upon your personality... are you beach people, pool people, club people, etc? As well, rates are date dependent, but your $125/nite budget will usually not get you very far in South Beach. Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPS and HOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases. PS- and please follow-up your previous Priceline Chicago thread with whatever you ended up doing for that trip. Please remember to follow-up your threads with your wins/decisions as you make them (even if you don't ultimately use PRICELINE / HOTWIRE, cancel the trip, book direct, etc) as this help keep the board better organized and more useful for everyone... as well as being a courtesy to anyone who took the time to help with your travel plans.. Thanks. Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases Link to comment
raldogg22 Posted April 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2015 I will follow up on the Chicago thread. I apologize for the oversight. As for our personality and whether South Beach is a good fit, I'd say we are more beach and pool people. I'm sure we would like to take in some of the night life in South Beach, but the main reason for the trip would be the beach. And we could stretch the budget, I stated $125 because that seemed reasonable based on some of the Pl Express and Hot.wire offers. Thanks again for all of your help. Link to comment
thereuare Posted April 1, 2015 Report Share Posted April 1, 2015 I hadn't checked rates as your dates were so open/flexible and only just now i noticed them in the topic title... rates do look very reasonable for 9/19-9/23 if these are the dates you decide to go with. The more popular South Beach zones are South Beach-Collins Avenue Oceanfront and South Beach-Ocean Drive. Let us know once your plans/dates are firm and you're ready to move forward and we'll have a closer look at the individual offerings thru both PRICELINE and HOTWIRE. Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases Link to comment
raldogg22 Posted April 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2015 We are also able to get flights at a reasonable cost on those dates so I think we would like to move forward. What strategy would you recommend in the South Beach zones of South Beach-Collins Avenue Oceanfront and South Beach-Ocean Drive? I would prefer to stay in a 4* if possible, but I would also be willing to bid in 3.5* and 3* if the price was much more reasonable. Thanks again. Link to comment
thereuare Posted April 2, 2015 Report Share Posted April 2, 2015 There are not many chain hotels in the South Beach area, and many more independently owned properties, so i would try to stick with the higher rated hotels if possible, as it gives a better chance of you having a positive experience (since many independent hotels don't have corporate policy/structure in place) On PRICELINE EXPRESS i'm seeing what appears to be the 3.5* Avalon Hotel for $101/nite or the 3.5* South Seas Hotel for $107/nite... and the 4* The Redbury South Beach for $152/nite (this property also charges $20/nite resort fee but is a bit higher reviewed than the others). On HOTWIRE i see the 3.5* Congress Hotel South Beach for $131/nite. Any interest in any of the above, or if you would like to instead bid on PRICELINE, what star rating and maximum bid would you like to use (using the above star rating/prices as a basis)? Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPS and HOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases. Let us know how you'd like to proceed and we'll advise accordingly. Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases Link to comment
raldogg22 Posted April 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 2, 2015 Since we have a lot of time before the trip, I think I would like to try to bid. Anyway, if I bid, do you think a max budget of $125 for a 4* is possible on these dates? We would like to try to stay in the South Beach-Collins Avenue Oceanfront or the South Beach-Ocean Drive zones, but should we also consider the South Beach-Central area zone? Regardless, what is your recommended bidding strategy in these zones if the max budget is $125 per night? Thanks again for your help! Link to comment
Romelle Posted April 2, 2015 Report Share Posted April 2, 2015 ...if I bid, do you think a max budget of $125 for a 4* is possible on these dates? Generally, one can do a little better via Price.line bidding than via PRICELINE EXPRESS and Hotwire. So checking those out with your dates is a good way of seeing what might be possible. Two caveats: 1 - Look at the grand total, rather than the per day amount. From time to time the fees and taxes added can be different in the different methods. In Florida that Resort Fee is always a consideration and needs added in. Hot.wire more consistently lists the actual rate, but it is a factor on the Price.line hotels also. 2 - Hot.wire tends to be a little more generous with stars than Price.line. Maybe a 1/2 star. So a 4* on Hotwire might be a 3.5* on Priceline. Not always, but something to consider. Bidding is free, assuming you don't count the cost of your time. Regarding the South Beach-Central zone, you can see on the zone map that it includes quite a bit of non-beach front property. You might take a look at the Hotel List (up in the header) as see if you'd be happy receiving any of those hotels located back from the beach a bit. And maybe even look at the Hotel Reviews at the very end of this site. Romelle Link to comment
thereuare Posted April 2, 2015 Report Share Posted April 2, 2015 I would stick with the Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue zones to begin... if rejected you could then consider if you also want to consider the Central zone, but it is not really where the 'heart' of South Beach is and may not give you the feel/experience you are looking for from this stay. You have a shot at a 4* at $125/nite... but my guess is that it would likely take another $10-$20 more per nite than this. To get started if you want to try up to $125 nite you can bid as follows: When bidding 4* in Miami you have SEVEN re-bid zones. If you're not familiar with re-bidding please read Priceline Re-Bidding Explained and feel free to ask questions and/or confirm your re-bid zones with the board before proceeding. Select 4* Ocean Drive... Bid $85, if rejected add re-bid zone... Bid $90, if rejected add re-bid zone... Bid $93, if rejected add re-bid zone... Bid $95, if rejected add re-bid zone... Bid $98, if rejected add re-bid zone... Bid $100, if rejected add re-bid zone... Bid $103, if rejected add re-bid zone... Bid $105, if rejected close browser and use this link to re-access PRICELINE... Select 4* Collins Avenue Oceanfront... Bid $85, if rejected add re-bid zone... Bid $90, if rejected add re-bid zone... Bid $93, if rejected add re-bid zone... Bid $95, if rejected add re-bid zone... Bid $98, if rejected add re-bid zone... Bid $100, if rejected add re-bid zone... Bid $103, if rejected add re-bid zone... Bid $105, if rejected close browser and use this link to re-access PRICELINE... Select 4* Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue Oceanfront... Bid $108, if rejected add re-bid zone... Bid $110, if rejected add re-bid zone... Bid $113, if rejected add re-bid zone... Bid $115, if rejected add re-bid zone... Bid $118, if rejected add re-bid zone... Bid $120, if rejected add re-bid zone... Bid $123, if rejected add re-bid zone... Bid $125 Any questions feel free to ask. (especially confirming your re-bid zones if you're new to the subject) Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPS and HOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases. Good luck and let us know how it goes. Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases Link to comment
raldogg22 Posted April 29, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2015 I just wanted to follow up and let you know that I bid up to $125 in each zone with no success. Shortly thereafter, my wife found a good deal on a cruise and we decided to book that trip for our anniversary. Thanks again for all of your help. Link to comment
AaronJB Posted April 29, 2015 Report Share Posted April 29, 2015 Thank you for closing the thread. Enjoy your trip. Link to comment
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