memcc

Summary: Marriott Curacao 9/14-9/21 $71/night Number of rooms: 1 Number of nights: 7 Subtotal: $497 Taxes and Fees: $114.05* Total: $611.05 Details: Just wanted to share the great rate we got by comparing priceline and hotwire in a relatively small area. We had decided after reading travel reviews that we really wanted to stay at the Marriott. For our date range, the lowest price we could find on all of the resellers and at the hotel itself was $139 a night. Hotwire had a resort hotel with kids club and casino for $80, but with the Hilton at $95 a night on it's own site, we were pretty confident that perhaps Hotwire was considering the Hilton a resort (though it had worse reviews, and I actually found some priceline list somewhere stating that Hilton had shown up in the 3* category for Curacao, whereas Marriott shows as a resort, and in fact seemed to be the only known resort offered by priceline in that zone). SO we decided that we would try priceline up to that amount and then we would settle for the (presumed)Hilton at $80 if we were unsuccessful. We started at $61 and were unsuccessful, we then started playing with our date range: *This has worked for us in the past, but note that fees are more on the priceline end, still we have found it to be worth it. We already had airfare for the 14th-21st, so we just started knocking one day off on either end, until at $71 we had a successful bid for the 14th-20th, and it was in fact at the marriott, so we then just rebid the last night at the same rate. In areas with more hotels, this may be riskier, we used this last year in puerto rico and wound up with one night at a hotel on one side of the island, and the remaining nights at a hotel near san juan - but this was adventure for us, we didn't mind seeing more of the island, and we travel light, so it was fun. So fees for the first six nights were $92.98 ($15.50 a night), for the last 1 night the fee was $21.07 - but priceline does explain that it charges a fee to "facilitate" your transaction, so there is an additional transaction fee along with the taxes, this makes sense to us and seems like a fair trade - $6 additional or so in order to get the room at half price!

Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences - it is relieving to read this thread. I had never found this board before, since I was happily using the other one, and keeping my opinions about the tone to myself, until last week when I dilligently posted my winning bid and strategy, and returned later to find it deleted. I emailed the admin to ask why, explaining also that it made me feel like I had done something "bad", and I was only trying to participate and be helpful. I received a reply saying that it was because I hadn't followed her policies and procedures and priceline's "intended use", when I posted details about "tag team bidding" with my husband! I then responded saying in fact I had read both and there was nothing about it in there, and I (not knowing that this issue had come up for them before at that point), took some time to explain that there was nothing illegal about it and in fact wasn't the site PROMOTING sharing information to get the best price possible on priceline? I closed with something not polite, but not nasty (something like, thanks for taking the time to reply so curtly) and next thing I know I can't access the site. ANYHOW... it made me feel like a dog with a tail between my legs - I ALWAYS follow all the rules that I know about, I consider it a personal fault actually... SO I am relieved to find this board with a more relaxed tone, and with other "normal" people who shared the same experience. Thanks again! Off to post my winning bid here... not sure if I should refrain from explaining all the "tag-team" bits though that hulk and I used when pinning priceline to the mat...