Meridian

Booked via Betterbidding [url=http://www.betterbidding.com/clicks/click.php?afsrc=1&id=40]PRICELINE[/url] link. I actually messed up and did not mean to bid on this region. My actual preferences were: South Beach - Collins Avenue Oceanfront South Beach - Ocean Drive Miami Beach Bid up to $97 for above regions (3 stars) without success. I accidentally chose "South Beach - Central" and was accepted and upgraded to 4 stars... would have bid less for this region. On Trip Advisor, someone got it for $67 a night in 2012. Oh well, still seems like a good price for 4 stars and it is just a block to the beach.

Amenities: Near Beach, Smoke Free Rooms, Fitness Center, Pool(s), Restaurant(s), Business Center, High-Speed Internet Access Stayed here last year and really liked the location! Booked using Betterbidding HOTWIRE link.

Amenities: Beach Front, Fitness Center, Pool(s), Restaurant(s) I stayed here in 2009 and was content. However, I wanted to try a different hotel on South Beach using Priceline. My Priceline 3* bid of $81 for South Beach Oceanfront Colin and Ocean Drive were rejected. I didn't want to go higher as Royal Palm has a $20/day resort fee. Riu is beach front and only a 15 minute walk to south beach. Therefore, I have no issue staying here again.

The following Priceline bids were unsuccessful... > $115 for 3.5* North Miami Beach > $100 for 3.5* Miami Beach I decided to book the 3* Miami Beach Hotwire deal. $80 May 2 - 4. Resort was "Riu Florida Beach". Ammenities: Beachfront Fitness Center Pool(s) Restaurant(s) Actual Trip advisior rating is 3.5 out of 5 based on 261 reviews. Although I will not be near my friends staying at Newport (North Beach), I am quite content given it is last minute and my options were running out. Also, it appears to be a decent hotel:) Hotwire indicated savings of 19% as other sites are $99. However, when I checked other sites for my dates, they were all over $200! Therefore it appears I got a great deal.

I am not getting much luck with Priceline. Latest bid of $96 for 3.5* in Miami Beach and North Miami Beach were rejected. I will try 2 more nights with Priceline. If unsuccessful, hopefully the below Hotwire deal is still available. Can anyone identify it? There was one old post that matched it but did not state the hotel. It simply indicated "$103 on Hotwire, Retail $186.90" 3* Miami Beach Beachfront Fitness Center Pool(s) Restaurant(s) Tripadvisor 0.0 out of 5 Based on 260+ customer reviews (Last reviewed March 2009) > Hopefully that is an error! Catalina Hotel & Beach Club in Central South Beach is available for $77 on Hotwire. Despite its 3* rating, 1/3 of users gave it one star so I am avoiding it, and prefer to take my chances on the above resort.

It looks like I pondered for too long. The hotel is no longer available. It was taken off the site around Apr 10th. Foolishly, it never occurred to me that these deals are limited. I've been logging on daily hoping it will come back. The next cheapest Hotwire 3* North Miami Beach resort is $150+. If nothing comes up within the next few days, I will have to take my chances with Priceline and hope to get a similar deal ($70 - $80 range).

Thanks yellowdog for the helpful feedback. I still have yet to book and trying to get Newport Beach or a resort very close to it. One thing that strikes me odd is that when performing a search "north miami beach" in this forum, all Priceline 3* and 4* winning bids are Newport Beach and Le Meridien respectively. No one posted winning bids of other 3* or 4* hotels, despite Priceline showing four 3* and three 4* resorts in this region. I was wondering if it was worth a gamble to bid for a 3* "north miami beach" in Priceline. All winning 3* bids posted on this forum ended up with Newport Beach. However, with my luck, I'll probably be the first to get one of the other 3* hotels. 2 of the 4 3* hotels are not beach front which I don't want. Using Hotwire, I get beach front 3* for a very attractive $72. However, it may be far from Newport Beach. If it turns out to be Deauville Beach Resort, it is about 7kms away (which is a bit far). Anyways, I just thought it was odd no other 3* or 4* hotels came up. My dates are coming up soon and I am having trouble deciding.

How accurate are the TripAdvisor information found on Hotwire? From the TripAdvisor site, I narrowed down to 3 possible North Miami beach hotels (assuming star ratings of Hotwire and TripAdvisor are the same)... All rated 3 stars by TripAdvisor: 1) Deauville Beach Resort > 293 reviews. User rating: 3/5 2) Howard Johnson > 190 reviews. User rating: 3/5 3) Ramada Plaza Marco Polo Beach Resort > 180 reviews. User rating: 2.5/5 Only #1 matches perfectly. I just hope it is not #3 as it had some terrible reviews. Likely will take the plunge tomorrow and hope it will be a decent hotel. My ideal choice would be Newport as my friends are staying there but booking them directly is too expensive. Therefore, I would be happy somewhere close to them and decent.

Please help ID the following resort. I was guessing Newport Beach but it does not quite match the description by other posters. Miami Beach North - Bal Harbor - Sunny Isles Star rating: 3-star Resort Beachfront Fitness Center Restaurant(s) Business Center Laundry Facilities Golf Nearby . Spa Services Tripadvisor 3/5, 260+ customer reviews. Thanks!