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THAT wasn't the thesis?!?! Really great info!!

Hotwire's suite icon reads: "Hotel features guest rooms that are designed for an extended stay or are more spacious than the average hotel room -- or both." So i would think you're guaranteed the suite (or whatever the "typical" room is at the suite property), although we all know that we are ultimately at the mercy of hotel staff.

I thought that the hotel is paid for by Priceline when your bid is accepted, and they don't actually hold any money, they simply transfer it from us to the hotel (it's a little more complicated than that, but essentially that's the net result).

I still believe that Hotwire can be the better service for some people. For those simpy looking for the best price, Priceline clearly has the advantage. However, here are some examples of when Hotwire may be better: -traveling with kids and would like a pool for them -want a hotel on the beach -want a hotel with beach access -want an all-suite hotel There are a few others for those with differing needs.... and of course, there's always "for one Priceline turns down our bid." Hotwire would do their business a world of good if they offered some bonus money or made a coupon available <yes, if you're reading this, that was a hint>

Glad that Tip worked out for you and you were able to get the hotel you thought. Thanks for sharing your results with the rest of us, i look forward to your review, and have a great time at the park!

Both good guesses, but neither of their websites show avialability for these dates, so i'd think it's <yet another> hotel. There also seems to be an abundance of hotels in this area that offer complimentary breakfast... more so than any other city i've seen. There are a few Best Western Inn's and Suites in the area as well as Comfort Inn Suites, both of which i would add to the list of possibilities.

Hotwire used to have you select the city you were interested in from a drop-down list, which was VERY ineffective if you wanted a small city and weren't quite sure of the nearest major city (as well as a pain to navigate if you wanted a city near the end of the alphabet). As of today, there is no longer a drop-down box, and you can type the name of the city you're seeking into an input box. I tried a few smaller areas near my own hometown and Hotwire indeed was able to show me an accurate list of nearby cities. I think this is a welcomed improvement and compliment them on their efforts!

glin, welcome to the BetterBidding board. Did you try comparing the amenities to those listed in the first 2 posts HERE It may also help to note that one of the reviewers says "... the shuttle busses were great" so you can also narrow it down that this is a hotel that likely has a shuttle to the park. If nothing matches, up, maybe somebody that knows the area better than i do will jump in.

Sound like an excellent "win". Thanks for sharing with the rest of us, enjoy your stay, and weclome to BetterBidding!

Hope your luck in Vegas is as good as your luck at scoring this room! Have a great trip, and welcome to BetterBidding. PS- nice numbers on the tax rate too

Details of Wyndham Buy 2 Nites Get 3rd Free Select cities (list provided via the link) but lots in Florida, San Juan, and some other "island" destinations.

Thanks for letting us know, i'll change the subject line, since this was a "win" from last year. Leaving all this info up as evidence that hotels do indeed change star ratings!!

(Union Square East - Embarcadero), correct?

Thanks for sharing your results and welcome to BetterBidding!! Congratulations on your first Priceline win... hit 'em all like that and i'm sure you'll be quite satisfied.

Thank you very much, your words are certainly taken to heart and very much appreciated!! Just to clarify, you was your bid $55+$10 bonus or $65+$10 bonus? This is in the Hyatt in the North Michigan Ave zone?

I have heard that the hotels actually rate themselves based upon a standard list of criteria that is supplied by Priceline. This seems to make sense since it would be difficult (if not impossible) for Priceline to visit every one of their hotel partners in order to rate them, and then return every few months or a couple of years to make sure that the hotel maintains itself properly. Even if they did send somebody out to each property, the ultimate rating would be at the discretion of the reviewer, and there still would be no "hard and fast" rule. I do know that in the past if Priceline received a number of complaints regarding a particular hotel they would consider adjusting the star level. The ultimate solution is if the industry used one standard to rate hotels and appointed an independent group (funded by the hotel industry) to carry out the task of evaluating them.

Send me a PM with a link in it as to which posts you would like edited/deleted. You can edit for up to 45 minutes (or maybe it's 60, not sure)

In doing a little searching i'm going to guess either the Hotel Monaco or the Hotel Allegro (of course, no guarantees, it could be one of these, it could neither) I don't know the area well enough to know if one is in the given zone or not, but i think they both fit the description (and offer "wine hours").

Unfortunately there is no way to "better your chances" of getting one hotel over another. The lowest price i've seen for a 4* hotel in SoBe is $70, and go as high as $90 or so. Since you have so many rebids available, i would start at $65 and raise your bid by $5 for each re-bid. Since you have some time (and if you really want the Crowne Plaza), you may want to stop bidding at $80 or so, since i the Crowne has one of the lowest Priceline rates i've seen, and then just re-try your bid in another week or so.(not going above $80 would rule out any other 4* hotels that have higher rates... but of course no guarantees) If being on the beach is most important, you may want to consider Hotwire, which will tell you beforehand if the hotel is on the beach or not. Generally speaking, Hotwire often (but not always) rates hotels a little higher than Priceline, and will also usually cost you a little bit more, but if you want a beach it may be worth it (at least a look). IMPORTANT: if you look at Hotwire, don't get confused between "Beachfront" icons and "Beach Access" icons. There is a key there which describes all the amenities, but the Beach Access has an arrow on the beach icon, while the Beachfront icon just has the beach (where beach is an umbrella or something like that) Any questions or comments about the above, feel free to ask.

Thank you for your kind words and welcome to BetterBidding. You may find that you'll <almost> never book a room conventionally again! Enjoy your stay. PS- if you haven't seen it, there is a Hotel Reviews section near the bottom of the main page, and there is a review of the Hyatt there.

I think you got the math right but the tax rate wrong... taxes here are 14%. So nitely taxes of $10.42 / .14 = $74.43 (for 2 nites) Therefore Priceline's cost is roughly $37.xx I agree about generally thinking that Holiday Inns should be 2*, but in case you don't know, there is not a standard star rating across a brand. So although this Holiday Inn may be 2.5*, another Holiday Inn in another city may be 2* (or 3* for that matter). We too are glad you found this site... welcome to the board! :)

That's what this board is about... we share with each other. :) Thanks for posting your results and have a nice hotel stay. Look forward to seeing you at the board again in the future.

The only problem i see with the above suggestion is member's getting 20 PM's requesting the link... and it continuing until expiration ("do you have anymore"?, "do you still have a llink?", "will you get more", etc, etc) I think after getting bombarded with requests once, people will become reluctant to share again, which sort of defeats the purpose. I could be wrong, but those are my thoughts.

Thanks for making it easy for me!!!!!! Glad to see you were able to take advantage of some of the Bonus Money.

See my post above about costs: Priceilne paid $51 for the room, so much cheaper you were not going to get, could be for any of the reasons listed above. Just another example of how there are differenct Priceline rates and availability (and rates) can change at any time. The hotel does not offer a shuttle. A taxi from the airport (MIA) to the hotel is about $22 and a taxi from hotel to pier is about $8.