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Have you found 2 rooms that work for your needs and budget... or are you still looking towards PRICELINE / HOTWIRE for that? If the latter, what is your newly updated budget?

There is no bidding with HOTWIRE... they show hotel offers and prices and you can choose to move forward (or not) with any of them. However, given your circumstances if moving forward with only one room (for 5 guests) you need to find a hotel that offers a 'Bed Choice', have one of those choices be a room with 2 Queen beds (somewhat rare in NYC, 2 Doubles is much more common), and 'know' if that hotel has rollaways; that is a LOT of stars that need to align 'just right'. As well, i'm doubtful that $120 is going to be realistic... what is the best hotel you can find that will accommodate your needs for 5 people through traditional booking channels?

Not with Priceline, but slight possibility you can get away with it on HOTWIRE when searching 2adults/2children if you're able to accurately identify the hotel and know that 1) in addition to 2 actual beds in the room there is also a pullout sofabed or, 2) that a rollaway bed can fit n the room and the hotel offers them (do limited storage space and typically small room size, many NYC hotels don't keep them on-hand). Even with the above scenario, you may need to be 'sneaky' by only having 3-4 people go into the hotel at check-in, drop off the bags in the room, then head out to meet the 1-2 people that were walking around the city or waiting at a nearby Starbucks or other coffee shop. So "yes", it's possible, but i think you're looking for a needle in a haystack, and the odds of a favorable (and comfortable) outcome are low. Assuming you don't come up with anything reasonable to accommodate 5 people, i would compare prices of a 'premium' room that is designed to accommodate 5 people or book 2 rooms with HOTWIRE (which also gives you an additional bathroom which provides some additional value since all 5 people getting ready to head out for the day/evening with only one bathroom could take some considerable time away from your vacation)

Glad to hear you were able to get it resolved and you're satisfied with the outcome.

Thank you for providing the information above, I see the reason for the confusion (and some suggestions as to how best to proceed at this point)... As you indicated (and for anyone following along) HOTWIRE lists 1BR and 2BR as amenities for this property, and although neither are actually amenities per se (i would more so classify these as 'room type/configurations', i do see the reason/benefit for HOTWIRE including them in this section (so that search results can be filtered/sorted). When you think about it, a room can't be both 1BR and 2BR, these are actually mutually exclusive as the room you are ultimately assigned can be either 1BR or 2BR... but obviously not both. So for anyone that is considering booking this hotel (or something similar in the future where both 1BR and 2BR are shown as amenities), note that the only one to ensure the room configuration you are needing is to select the specific ROOM TYPE desired (when a choice is offered)... when no option is offered it will likely be up to the hotel and what is available at check-in. So what to do at this point: I'm still not certain of your actual dates, but using the a subset of the dates you provided above it appears that the rate difference between the 1BR and 2BR suite at the hotel website is ~$30/nite. I would start by calling the hotel, and without mentioning any existing reservation at this point, inquire as to the cost of 1BR and a 2BR suites for your dates to ensure that a 2BR is currently available for your dates, and if so, what the price difference is between each room type (1BR vs 2BR). At this point now let the person on the phone that you have an existing reservation (provide them the hotel confirmation number provided by HOTWIRE) and how much it would cost to upgrade to a 2BR suite. Assuming if it's ~$30/nite (or some other number that is close to the difference in room cost for a 1BR vs 2BR suite for your dates) you may want to simply agree to pay the amount upon check-in, assuming the amount is acceptable to you to have the issue resolved and ensure the room type you need. If the amount to upgrade is much more than the price difference per nite between the current 1BR vs 2BR room rates, explain to the person on the phone that you would like to upgrade if the cost would be the price difference between the two room types (which seems fair to both you and the hotel). If the hotel is sold-out of 2BR suites for your dates and/or is not willing to upgrade the reservation at any price, then you'll have to try to reach back out to HOTWIRE (via email is fine if you have some time before your stay... phone better if your stay is much closer to arrival). Once again briefly explain the situation strictly keeping to the root of the issue, which (as i have come understand it and what i believe the problem to be) is that the hotel shows both a 1BR and 2BR description, which is not really possible for the room that you would be assigned. You would like to reach some sort of compromise before escalating the issue any further since you believe you each have some level of 'responsibility' in the situation... you for not making a screenshot or receiving an email transcript of the chat and them for not making the 1BR vs 2BR room assignment clear from the description that they provided (which you did try to clarify before purchase, but don't have anything to prove it). See what they offer (if anything) and/or offer your own suggestion as to what would be fair. NOTE: i'm not suggesting that you are or are not at fault, but trying to offer an objective approach to have to resolve the current situation so that both parties walk away thinking that it was a fair outcome... each side usually needs to give a little, even if the 'giving' is accepting some of the responsibility even if deep down you don't feel that you ultimately were responsible. ideally you can upgrade directly with the hotel for a reasonable amount, but if not and HOTWIRE doesn't offer anything reasonable, my 'counter-offer' would be to have them cancel the reservation and the amount paid be offered in 'Hot Dollars' (HOTWIRE's version of a gift certificate) which can be used for a future HOTWIRE purchase. This helps you re-book for something that does work for your plans while also ensuring HOTWIRE that you give them another try in the future. It has been awhile since i had to directly deal with HOTWIRE's customer service, and while i know they have greatly improved over the years, it can still be frustrating and difficult to get somebody on the phone to actually listen to the situation, understand the problem, and have the authority to offer a solution (often it has to go up the chain which it appears you have already tried and/or are in the process of doing) Any questions / comments regarding the above feel free to ask. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

lillybo, Is the hotel still offered for your dates, if so, what are the dates so we can replicate your search and have a look. Does your confirmation page from HOTWIRE show the bed/room type selected? Please remember to return to BetterBidding and use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPSandHOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.

Congratulations on your success! Glad to hear the Reveal Hotels tools on the board were helpful with your purchase… always glad to hear when others find them useful!😀 Thank you for sharing your win… have a great stay!

sbm23, Welcome (officially) to BetterBidding! We are still available for any assistance you may need, feel free to post the details of your trip or the hotel you are looking at in any of the MINNEAPOLIS forums and we will assist you there. Postings on the board are down significantly since we now have a lot of self-serve options. Our BiddingHelper tool automatically identifies almost every Priceline / Hotwire hotel offered… just click the PRICELINE RESEARCH or HOTWIRE RESEARCH tabs and you can easily see each of the hotels offered. Let us know how you make out with the above or if you need any further assistance, as always, we are happy to help.

Adding that i just received an email from HOTWIRE "Your mystery Las Vegas hotel is... what?!" The above is/was indeed Virgin Hotels! Please remember to return to BetterBidding and use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPSandHOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases. Good luck!

Good to see you around the board again! You're looking at this HOTWIRE offer, correct: Amenities Include: Free parking, Free internet, Pet friendly, Casino, Fitness center, Pool(s), Restaurant(s), Business center and more... I believe the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas is an accurate guess for that one. It also appears to be offered HERE via Priceline Express for just about the same price which increases confidence in the guess given they are both right around the same amount. I was in Vegas 4-5 months ago and walked over to the Virgin hotel to check it out since it had only recently opened a few weeks earlier (Sports Book was set-up but still not yet open for business). Admittedly, it was a Monday morning, but the hotel was extremely quiet, although did have the expected 'cool Virgin Vibe'. As well, it is a bit of a hike to the strip if that is where you intend most of your time... but this does look like a good price for dates that include a weekend. I also checked-out Circa downtown (hadn't been down there in quite some time) and that was a very impressive property! We will see if it starts the 'downtown hotel wars' similar to how each property on the strip tried to outdo the next one. Does the Virgin work for your plans / needs this trip? Let us know what you decide and how it goes or how we can be of further help.

Farleyo64, Welcome (officially) to BetterBidding! We were not aware of any issue so thank you for letting us know. I replicated the issue and have initiated a fix so it should be working again... please let us know if it is fixed on your end as well or if any other issues. In the meantime we are investigating more deeply to determine the cause and/or if anything else on our end needs to be done to prevent the issue from reoccurring. Thanks again for letting us know of the problem and let us know if now fixed for you as well. We apologize for any inconvenience as we take tremendous efforts to make sure our site(s) work and have as little downtime as possible. EDIT TO ADD: in addition to the fix above we have also optimized more code so that the back-end operates more efficiently. As always, if anyone encounters any issues please let us know.

Hi Guapo, Unfortunately there is no more 'name your own price' bidding available on PRICELINE, your options are now HOTWIRE, PRICELINE EXPRESS, or PriceBreakers. On a positive note i did have a quick look and you have plenty of options for these dates at under $200/nite. I'd suggest starting your search at our BiddingHelper.com tool and look in the 'Hotwire Research' and Priceline Research' tabs. Is there anything there of interest? You didn't mention what you're looking for in a hotel or what part of Manhattan you're looking to stay in, but if you let us know what option(s) at BiddingHelper.com seem appealing to you we can have a look to see if that is indeed your best deal (i'm very familiar with NYC so can comment on what you think are your best options and/or if i see anything that looks to be a bit better for around the same price) Let us know what you find and we'll take it from there.

Congratulations on your success, glad to see you received the hotel you were hoping for! Please do continue to post your wins (it's very much appreciated!) as it does provide others some insight as to which hotels are people are moving forward on, and perhaps more importantly, gives newer users confidence to trust the tools and identification processes we have developed. Board posts/content also brings in new users from search engines, which in turn enables us to continue the development of new tools and features.. Thank you for sharing your win and using the PRICELINE links on the board to begin your purchase. Have a great stay.

Congratulations on your success! Great to see you received the hotel you were hoping for and that we were able to help! Thank you for sharing your results and using the HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your purchase. Hope you're enjoying your return stay at this property.

Hi TeknikL, One is the Conrad at Resorts World and one is the Crockfords. You can see our guess for each using our sister site RevealHotels.com (or for PRICELINE EXPRESS you can use ExpressGuess.com). Please remember to return to BetterBidding and use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPSandHOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases. Let us know what you decide and how it goes or how we can be of further help.

Congratulations on your success! Glad to see you received the hotel you were hoping for and that we were able to help. Thank you for sharing your win with the board. Please click the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases. Have a great trip!

Congratulations on your win! Looks like a nice deal for this well reviewed Downtown hotel that is right in the center of the action. Thank you for sharing your HOTWIRE purchase with the board. Have a great trip!

Hi, For this 3* Toronto Airport West hotel: Free Internet Free Parking Indoor or Outdoor Pool Restaurant Fitness Center Handicapped Rooms/Facilities No Smoking Rooms/Facilities ==> looks like the Hilton Garden Inn Toronto Airport West-Mississauga You can confirm this property (as well as most other Express Deals) with our new sister site ExpressGuess.com Please remember to return to BetterBidding and use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPSandHOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases. Let us know what you decide and how it goes or how we can be of further help.

Bidding is no longer offered thru PRICELINE... your options come down to: HOTWIRE PRICELINE EXPRESS PriceBreakers Let us know if you need help with a specific hotel or location or hotel that you're looking for.

NYC is fairly large, but at the same time it's somewhat compact in the sense that it's generally very easy to get from Point A -> Point B via mass transit (or with 4 people a taxi/uber will be very affordable as well), so it's not necessary to be in the 'absolute center of things' as much as it is important to be easily accessible to places you intend to go. I would tend to focus on hotels that offer the quality/experience you're seeking that are still well located, more than the other way around. Some NYC hotels that seem to meet this criteria along with your budget (when searching for 4 adults in one room): Distrikt Hotel NYC Tapestry Collection $172/nite (this property is 4 star rated but generally gets very good reviews) Arlo Midtown $239/nite (another 4 star rated hotel but this gets excellent reviews... my guess is this may be the experience you're seeking although may stretch your budget a bit on an all-in basis) What are your thoughts of each of the above (and would the Arlo be worth stretching your budget a bit?)... letting us know the above will give us a bit more info to zero in on the best property for you and your group. One more thought... are your dates firm or would it be possible to do: NYC: May 27-Jun 2 Niagara Falls: Jun 2-4 ==> i'm thinking in terms that weekends are typically less expensive in NYC (although perhaps less so these days with business travel being nearly non-existent) and Niagara Falls may also be less expensive (as well as less crowded) midweek (vs the original weekend nites you originally planned) Let us know your thoughts on the above and we'll take it from there.

Hi, welcome (officially) to BetterBidding! It's been a loooong time since i have heard of a HOTWIRE booking not reaching the hotel, personally i'd consider this to be a moot point at the moment. Perhaps early on this would be an issue 'here and there' (much more the exception than the rule) as the systems used for hotels and Hotwire to communicate with each other is mostly seemless these days. As far as customer service issues go, there can be service issues at any hotel regardless of how booked.. and after check-in no hotel staff is aware of how any guest booked their room. As well, as you indicated you're looking at 4.5 star hotels, they tend to have a better staff training and a 'system' in place to handle customer service issues (ie- if you do have an issue that is not resolved your satisfaction by the front desk you can then ask for the manager on duty, and then further up the corporate chain if still no resolved... at a budget hotel the front desk person may be the only front-end staff member working that deals with guests and trying to go further up the corporate hierarchy more likely to get a response of 'all hotels are independently owned and operated') What are the dates of your NYC stay and what is your expected budget? We'll then be able to ave a look and comment if rates look good right now or it if might benefit by waiting. Likewise for your Niagara stay (and for Niagara are you looking to stay on the US side, Canada side, or it doesn't matter)? Please remember to return to BetterBidding and use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPSandHOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.

Hi, and welcome to BetterBidding! Thank you for letting us know the information above. We typically use the same hotel names that HOTWIRE uses (so when they officially change the name that is when we do as well). I tried to replicate this issue and on two searches: BiddingHelper.com Brickell, FL for Feb 24-25 i see the 5 star hotel in the Brickell-Financial District zone listed as Hotel AKA Brickel I then repeated at RevealHotels, searching Miami, FL (just in case the search location made a difference) for Feb 23-24 and i once again see the same hotel listed as Hotel AKA Brickel. What dates are you searching so i can try to replicate with the Conrad name still appearing? I do find it interesting that the hotel uses the name 'Brickel' with one 'L' while the city and hotwire zone use two L's. Star inflation used to be a major issue with HOTWIRE about 5+ years ago, but at some point they did a major star re-rating though-out their portfolio and they are now much more inline with other star ratings for the same hotel. I don't have firsthand experience with this property, but my guess is that it may have been worthy of a 5 star rating when it was a Conrad, but with the changing of name/ownership they have not yet lowered the star rating to be commensurate with the new brand... it will likely (at some point in the future) be dropped to 4/4.5 stars or the hotel will bring their services up to the 5 star level; it may take some time for HOTWIRE to get the feedback in order to make such a change. Please do let us know the dates that you were searching for so we can try to replicate this hotel appearing under the previous name and make any changes on our end accordingly. EDIT TO ADD: looks like Priceline also rates the AKA Hotel Brickell (with 2 L's) as 5 stars so I can't say if this will eventually be re-rated in the future or what the true rating should be. Given the subjectivity of star ratings it could be a case where at every star rating there are those at the upper end of the boundary and those at the lower end of the boundary. As i've commented before, the student who gets a 90 and the student who gets a 100 both get an 'A' on their report card, although they are not necessarily equal students. Ultimately it comes down to value... if the AKA is $350 and the Mandarin or Four Seasons is $700, i don't care what they rate any of them, then question (for me) becomes whether the latter two are worth twice as much as the previous one.

Glad to see you found something that works well for your plans. Not sure if you're visiting a current student or doing the 'prospective student' tour, but if the latter, good luck with that as our household has just gone thru the circuit... not just a waiting game for the college(s) to let us know! Thank you for closing this thread with your decision and using our BiddingHelper.com tool for your purchase. Have a great trip!

Hi, sorry for the delay... BiddingHelper.com identifies this property as the Courtyard by Marriott Long Island MacArthur Airport (it's not instantly ID'd, but i get this result when clicking the 'CLICK FOR HOTEL NAME' button... do you see the same?) Please remember to return to BetterBidding and use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPSandHOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases. Let us know what you decide and how it goes or how we can be of further help. PS- i'm somewhat familiar with this area (more so with the NYC metro area) but can probably answer any questions you may have if there is something in particular you're looking for in a hotel for this trip.

Congratulations on your success! Looks like a nice, inexpensive, stay in Vegas. I was Downtown 3-4 months ago and stopped by Circa to check it out... that place is impressive and worth a stop (NOTE: 21+ and older only... no kids on property at all). While at Circa i also grabbed a sandwich at Joe Saginaw's which i also highly recommend (Saginaw is one of the partners of world famous Zingerman's in Ann Arbor). I'm partial to the Georgia Reuben but if you're into Pastrami or Corned Beef those are excellent too (at least that is what Zingermans is best known for). The sandwiches are not cheap, but they're HUGE... and just as delicious as they are large. Thank you for sharing your win and using the PRICELINE links on the board to begin your purchase. Enjoy your stay... and good luck in Vegas!