hotturnip

I never do this, however, because Hyatt is already nice enough to give us GP credit for all incidental points as well as stay credits that count toward Faster Free Nights and other promotions. I also got the 10,000 point stay-3-times Platinum promotion. AND they honor my Platinum amenity certificate on PL stays. Given all that, I think it's asking too much to get the few bonuses they don't give.

Have you checked rates for both properties over these dates? That might offer a clue. . . .

But back to the original topic: The answer is that BOTH determine the room. After many PL stays, I've noticed that hotels frequently say something at checkin like, "That's for a king non-smoking?" or "You've reserved a smoking room." When, of course, I've reserved nothing of the kind. Basically, my theory is that with some or most hotel companies, when Priceline's booking engine does its thing, it has to book into one of their existing room categories, which, of course, vary. I suspect that part of Priceline's agreement with hotels defines the booking category of the room while confirming that it's just for technical purposes and that actual room assignments will be made at checkin. So it's just sort of a holding pattern, but front desk clerks aren't always aware and just read off what they see in the computer. The problem is that sometimes, particularly at 2* properties, they stick with what's originally booked. I've had that happen several times, and ended up in smoking rooms.

Re: Hotwire's Double the Difference. I recently took advantage of this because I was alerted by a good friend (who knew I needed cash!) about a crazy thing in New Orleans during November. Hotwire was offering 2.5* in the French Quarter for something ridiculous, like $492. It was the Bourbon Orleans, which offered an $86 rate on their website. The upshot of it all was that with the D-T-D refund I'd make a $242 profit AND get a free hotel room. I submitted the D-T-D guarantee properly, and it was eventually confirmed (but not within the 3 days promised). They also promise to make the credit card refund in 10 business days. Well, 15 business days later, no refund. I emailed; they claimed they'd done it long ago. I emailed back; no response. I called and a very nice guy talked to me for quite a while. He said their records showed the refund, so they'd look up the transaction number for Amex and call me in a few days. I got a message from a woman who said they'd fax me the transaction record. I called Amex and got a number so that she could fax it straight to them, and left her a message. The next day I got a very short email from Hotwire saying there was an error and that the credit would be processed. It was done by the next day. I emailed back asking for an explanation, and basically got the same email back again. So, I had to WORK for that $242. I suspect they get tired of people taking advantage of them this way, but there's clearly something wrong with their system when they offer outrageous rates like that. In fact, the guy I talked to told me something to the effect that they have to delete some crazy rates like that every day.

"Man," Hotwire recently promised to credit me $812 on a double-the-difference guarantee for one night in New Orleans. I'll actually be making lots of money off the deal. I don't know how they can allow these bizarre glitches in their system. It did take over 3 days to get the response from them. So I guess I'll see you there?

RE: zone, yeah, you're right, it's the Magnificent Mile/Wacker Drive. But the Mile IS Michigan Ave., so I probably didn't pay attention to that. It was interesting because I could tell both Embassy Suites were in the same zone. As far as amenities, they're listed as Restaurant Fitness Center Complimentary Breakfast Kitchenette High Speed Internet Access Business Center But in fact they also have a pool, and they're also all suites. I believe that the listing at $323 included more amenities, but I'm not sure exactly which. It may have had both Pool and Suite, or just Pool. However, I still believe that the listing was indeed the State property because the Lakefront one's available rates were only $20 more than the State St. property. Also, the $323 conveniently disappeared, to be replaced by this. My theory is that somebody did what I was considering, calling them on their "double the difference" guarantee, thus alerting them to this ridiculous rate overage. But who knows? Anyhow, this is going to work great for me.

I had a difficult time with Priceline on this. Bid there on UMA, RN, and Loop for up to $70 for 4*, $65 for Boutique and 3*, $55 for 2.5*. Hotwire seemed to have lots of availability, though, and hotel rates weren't high. Thanks to your extensive Hotwire info, I was able to figure out that the 3.5* in Mich.Av/Wacker was an Embassy Suites. Hotwire tried to disguise it by leaving off the "Suite" designation, and by dropping the "Full breakfast" amenity in favor of "At least a continental breakfast." :) I note this because earlier on Hotwire was offering a room WITH these amenities in the same zone at $328!! I was thinking about booking it and doing their "double the difference" guarantee, but I was a little worried. When I checked again a few days later, it had gone down to $78 and lost some amenities! But I was still pretty sure. I would probably not have purchased it without having been able to identify it ahead of time, so thank you for providing this useful Hotwire info. This is the Embassy Suites on State Street, NOT the Lakefront one. I'm very pleased with the hotel and location, even if I did pay more than I'm used to for this trip (I go every year). :) With the breakfast and everything, it's still an excellent value.