Due to the recent changes made to the Outrigger Reef on the Beach (*** to Resort), the "literature" on PL bidding for WN needs to be rewritten. In the past, a bid for WN **** would (virtually) always yield the Hawaii Prince, but now it is quite likely that such a bid yields the Reef, an entirely undesirable proposition: ( a ) The typical range for accepted bids for the Prince is $125-129+. ( b ) The Reef is available for $132 through Sabre outlets (when staying >4 nights), so a price/bid in the Prince range clearly is too high (the Prince goes for around $180 on most websites). ( c ) Even though it is closer to Waikiki, most people would agree that the the Reef is inferior to the Prince. So what can be done? ( 1 ) It seems as though there is no current solution to the dilemma, leading me to conclude that ( a ) WN **** bids are to be avoided altogether, or ( b ) the lowest accepted price for the Outrigger needs to be figured out. I assume that the $125-129 bids get caught in some of the highest rate brackets the Reef has filed with PL. I've made several bids in the $50-70 range for WN Resorts, but have not been successful. Does anyone have added insights about the Reef's PL pricing structure (the lows, specifically)? ( 2 ) Does anyone have any experiences with Oahu on the Asian Pricelines? I assume their star rating is not necessarily the same? I've placed several bids in the past, but never had any successful bids at the levels that got accepted by PL US (supporting the general assumption that PL Asia is more expensive than PL US). ( 3 ) Are there any reports on how this affects $150+ Resort bids? Do they yield the Reef, or still the Village etc? I assume PL wouldn't dare allow the Reef to file prices in those ranges, but I may be wrong.
