I ended up going thru PL (which is my comfort zone) and secured a 2.5* (Acapulco Hotel and Resort) for $50/night (4 rooms for 8/12-8/14/11) with bidding. Retail list price on PL was $95/night. I listed this in the winning bids section as well.
Winning bid for 2.5* on Daytona Beach Shores for 8/12 - 8/14/2011 Acapulco Hotel and Resort 2505 S. Atlantic Avenue Daytona Beach, FL Retail listing on PL was $95/night 4 rooms secured at $50/night
Wow - I believe you but I have never once had a winning bid come thru on Priceline that was not listed in their general retail list - ever and I've probably used it for hotels almost a hundred times over the years. Good to know but definitely not my experience with Priceline....
We stayed at this 2 star hotel 3/20/11 - 3/23/11. I believe it listed for $139/night and I won it at $65/night. This is in a kinda scary neighborhood. There are 2 hotel towers hooked together by an elevated parking lot - this Howard Johnson is one and a Best Western is the other - completely separate but you walk through one to get to the other from either side. The hotel was very nice. Clean, seemingly newly renovated in the room. The hallways were tight and a little gloomy and the elevators were very slow. We did have some noise carry through in the evenings but not too bad. They offered a free breakfast - not the best but we each found something to start the day with... It was very crowded in the tiny little room and add on room they had people eating in though. One of the really nice things was the subway entrance was only half a block away. So although an area of the Queensboro projects was right there on your block you only had to brave about half a block. We had no problems although we did try to get back to the room before it got too late each night. Hotel staff was a bit distracted and disinterested when you went through and they didn't know where anything was as far as giving directions - but they were nice. I would stay there again for the price and distance from subway entrance.
This hotel is now the La Guardia Airport Hotel and is old. They renovated the lobby and maybe the restaurant (I didn't eat there) but the rooms are in not so great a shape. They were clean but carpet is old, furnitre is old, sheets don't stay on bed, bathroom was clean but - OLD. Toilet overflowed on first night - staff was very nice clearing and cleaning. Only one ice maker out of 8 or 9 floors I think worked so when I very frustratingly went to front desk with my empty ice bucket they apologized and said if you call we will bring it up to you and they filled it that time from the restaurant. From then on I just went to desk and asked them to fill it. Location is horrible. ZERO restaurants nearby - we decided to explore and walk and I think after trekking around for 4-5 miles we found a diner. What is nice is the shuttle to the airport - leaves every 30 minutes I think. So they will pick you up or drop you off for free and from there you can catch the M60 bus and then the subway from there. So getting out and then back to the hotel was a good hour to 90 minute experience but that was ok. Staff was amazing and very friendly for what they had to work with... They did however charge us an extra $20/night to have 2 beds in our room and there was no talking that away. I've never had a hotel do this until I started going to NYC so I wasn't happy about it. Overall we did not save much if any money by staying there from list price with the extra $20/night but we were able to get to bus/subway and we were 5 minutes from airport when it was time to head home. I wouldn't stay there again by choice but it was tolerable. Forgot to mention my winning bid was $70 and we stayed 12/2/10-12/6/10. I think the list price at the time was $99/night or close to it. City was actually listed as East Elmhurst.
I've used Priceline probably close to a hundred times - 98% of the time there is no problem with being a "Priceliner" but I did get the "great, I'm checking in trash" kind of behavior at a Hyatt one time. I was on a road trip and just needed to sleep, I pricelined a 4 star room at the Hyatt that's cheapest price was $169/night for $45 from their parking lot on my laptop... The view sucked but who cares - the room was clean and beautiful and I slept like a baby... I mentioned it the next day on check out, they apologized. I never have problems making changes on beds (as a Priceliner) in Florida which is my primary area of bookings but I've made 4 trips to NYC in last 8 months and they have either refused to change from king to 2 beds or charged me $20/night extra - even though their website sells both rooms for same price. And they all (NY hotels so far) say they don't do requests for rooms booked through Priceline. Those are my experiences...
I'm a Priceline super user and have saved thousands I'm sure over the years naming my own price on mosty hotels and some flights. I have not purchased through Hotwire and I'm trying to figure out if you can figure out the "worst case" scenario when they show their anonymous deals. On Priceline I always go through the entire list of hotels in that area in that star level before I bid so that I know I can live with anything they throw at me. There are no surprise hotels that are not listed in their general list. When looking at Hotwire's "deals" I'm not seeing a match up exactly by star, location and immenities so I'm not sure - do they also list their "deal" hotels in the general list?? I like an informed and researched surprise not a surprise, surprise.... Please advise...
Need help identifying 2.5* Central Pier Daytona being advertised at $51 for Aug 12-14th. 75% rec rate. Beachfront, pool, restaurant, business center, laundry, internet Any ideas?
