SavingMoney

Needless to say, when seeing a price like that, one winces. I was comparing that price on several websites. It seems the second night was something like $139.00 (Sunday). The second night (Saturday) jumped to $249 or there abouts and they just split the difference between the two nights. The only problem with the Hilton is that it has the new Casino in front of some of its rooms. Checkout Hotels.ca! Same dates as you entered. Superior Fallsview Room (one of the most expensive that Sheraton offers for $209.00!!! CDN)

Let's cross our fingers and hope that they gave you a city view for that price. Those usually run around $125.00. In any case, depending on the time, they'll probably offer you an upgrade anyways. You do not want to stay in the "no view" room at the Sheraton on the Falls. They should fill those rooms with exhibits from Clifton Hill. lol

Saying that Priceline has a lot of different hotels in the same star level is going to cost other people a lot of money in overbidding. Inventory and the time of year are the main factors. The only exception to the rule might be if you bid too much and the bid goes to a hotel that they can sell you on the non-bid service. Or, alternatively if you bid too high for a lower star hotel, and then bump the bid up to a higher star hotel, which they do.

Call it whatever you want, with black boxes, we're more worried about what they do, as opposed to what is inside them. There is a definite agreement by Priceline and certain hotels as to when, and at what price, they will offer their rooms. "We will set aside x number of rooms at this particular time at this price..." There are times when regular paying hotel guests can't get a room, because they have all been booked through priceline, even when the price has gone through the roof. It's wholesaling. As to split bidding, I have yet to see the same hotel appear with 2 different prices in a short period of time on Priceline. Prices might rise a little from one year to the next, but if you're bidding on the same hotel, it should be the same price. Specific hotels may want specific room prices that will clear their inventory. As a side note, I have found some $90 hotels to be worse than a $70 hotel in the same star range. The $70 hotel having a lot more inventory than the $90 one. The whole weekend thing is more a matter of whether or not they have inventory for that time. Let's say that you're bidding on an extended stay. Priceline is selling Hilton rooms for $80 a night during part of your stay. On the other part of your stay, they're selling some other hotel brand. The two hotels have different pricing levels, so it looks like you're bidding more for the same hotel. But you're not. You might be bidding on a hotel room that sells for $100 dollars a night, and not know it. That's why sites such as this are useful, because they tell you which hotels are going to be on certain dates. Priceline and Hotwire are very different in this regard. Hotwire offers many hotels at many prices. Priceline offers one hotel at one price, until they run out of inventory, then they might either switch inventory or not allow any bids unless they can book a hotel at its regular price. In general, I would try bidding the longer stay and then reducing it a day at a time, or changing the dates to continue bidding. You're going to have to pay an extra service fee for splitting for your bid, as well. Which brings me back to taxes. Enter an $80 price for a hotel in a special region. Then enter a $100 price. You should see a difference in the taxes charged. Some locations have specific taxes that they charge hotel customers, these are reflected in the fees. Whether or not Priceline is remitting those taxes is another matter. We still have to pay them. Correct me if I'm wrong on any of this. :)

I was referring to not providing a hotel room. That is something which you can sue for. You can't ask a credit card company for damages (without insurance, that is). You enter into a contract with Priceline that they will provide you with a hotel room at said location for this amount. You even pre-pay the amount in advance.

PS. I recently read about someone who got to the hotel, and there was no room waiting for them. (it was posted on this board). They only offered the couple $55 back for what they paid and a small credit for the next stay. I'd be taking their behinds to court for breach of contract, plus expenses for wasting my time.

Yes, it is worth it, because you can always find another person to book your stay for you! :) :) :o :) :D

The retail price has nothing to do with anything. I know of a case where a hotel deliberately gave Hotwire a very high price for their room, because they hated Hotwire. :) 2* $300 a night, or something stupid like that. (Yes, the Hotel admitted doing it on the news. And no, I would never stay at that Hotel after seeing it). The low prices that you see on Hotwire are the ones where there are a lot of rooms that Hotwire has access to. They are usually the customer favorites / best values too.

Here's my take on it. Priceline uses many different hotels during the year, in order to obtain the lowest price. For example, during the month of January, they may have a particular hotel partner, but in August, they could use a different hotel. They buy their hotel rooms at wholesale, in advance, and then sell them to you at a predetermined amount, plus their fee. What this means is that for each individual hotel there is a predetermined price. Hence the term, Priceline. All you have to do is bid over the priceline, and you've got your room. Would I split bids? I might. But in doing so, I would be aware that I will pay an additional service charge. Try extending the stay for one of your trips. It will charge you $5? more in service fees. I imagine booking a single night would also have the same increase in service fees. You can always bid for a longer period of time, and then if it doesn't work bid for a short period of time and try Hotwire for the other amount. If Priceline and Hotwire are charging the same amount for a room (rare, but it does happen) then Hotwire has the better amount for the two. Hotwire seems to be more price sensative than Priceline (thank God for Priceline!) One other note: bidding a lower amount will save you money on taxes that some cities charge. Some cities are now going after travel booking websites, because they don't like the fact that they lower prices for consumers. But hey, if you really wanted tourism, would you charge them a tax?!

Let me make a few general statements: 1. Most Priceline / Hotwire customers have probably been offered upgrades for a fee at checkin time. 2. Most travel website customers do not receive points or credit for nights that they book. For example, if you booked 25 times, you would not gain status as a gold member of a hotel promotional program. 3. Hotels typically offer points on money that is spent in their hotel as a way to get consumers to spend more. Now for my personal experience: I recently stayed at a hotel that I had booked at a discount. I say discount, but when you factor in the overall cost with fees, the exchange rate, parking, and the inflated price for everything from a can of coke to a meal... I could just as easily have booked a regular hotel room here for the same price and not had to travel anywhere. :) Having stayed at this hotel for an extended stay before, I knew which rooms in the hotel I liked. I had also accumulated a good deal of points from my previous stays. I booked the room well in advance (prepaid of course), and I wanted to use these points to upgrade my room. I called the hotel and asked them if I could use my points to upgrade in advance. They told me to call Starwood. I called Starwood. They said that they couldn't do it, because I had not booked through their system (which I would never do anyways, because their prices are astronomical). I then called the hotel back, and learned, of course, that they don't do upgrades for customers until the day of arrival. They make their own unfair rules. They also told me that the number of points that I would need to book an upgrade at checkin was different because I had booked through another website. (500 more points or $25 more) This is why I will not give the Hotels the power to book their own rooms. Everytime I book using a hotels website, I am allowing them to charge whatever rate they want. And the benefit of online booking websites, like Expedia has been their ability to show us many different hotels in one city. In other words, booking sites increase tourism. One other interesting note. If you try to book a nights stay in Niagara Falls with Hilton using points, they will book you into a non-fallsview room for your points. It makes you wonder why you are booking a Niagara falls room. The points level is going up by 10,000 points in this location unless you book before June. Now The Rant: As customers we are not stupid. We decide where we want to spend our money, or where we don't want to spend our money. If a hotel decides to book us into a shoddy room, we have the option to simply get up and eat elsewhere, park elsewhere, etc.. I personally think that a romantic dinner in a hotel room with a beautiful view is very nice, and am willing to spend money on it. But if they want to give me a view of a brick wall, I would rather dine elsewhere. And second class points.. well.. Rant On A Complete Different Subject: City owned parking monopolies. Say you park your car at their $20 a day maximum rate. You then take the car out for an hour and drive around, and park again. You are charged another $20 dollars maximum rate. You are then charged the maximum evening rate as well. I actually read on parking website that the city has decided that they don't like cars Downtown. They like people who park for short period of time (because that gives them their $20), but not people who park all day. Needless to say this is all in the same of a social good. Which is all very nice, but how do they think travellers get to the city?! :) Good Stuff: Honestly, the best place that I have stayed so far was a little 2 star place which I booked for a low, low price. Free parking. No costly room service, and free included breakfast! Nobody even worried if you had a second piece of toast or glass of orange juice. :o