Decided to book directly with the Hilton Papagayo.
Now that Hotwire has stopped the practice of providing a hint for each offering in which they identified the names of several hotels (none of which were usually the actual property for sale), I have encountered what appears to be a new format while conducting a search for Las Vegas hotels. After seeing the list that is created from the search and then clicking on a particular offering there is a message at the top of the next page that reads "Book Soon! The last person got the Aria Resort and Casino Las Vegas."
Since the list of amenities should be unique to a specific property, wouldn't this violate their policy of not revealing the name of the hotel until after the purchase? If not, then are they misleading us in some way?
Also, their usual practice has been to provide one offering per star level in each geographic zone. My search came back with two 5-star offerings for The Strip-South area as well as two 5-star offerings for The Strip-North area. In both cases the price and amenities were different yet the message alluded to above referred to the same hotel. In the case of the South area both were the Aria and for the North area both were Trump International.
Does anyone have any insight into what Hotwire is doing?
Liberia, Costa Rica
There are only 3* properties currently reported. Any guess as to which property this may be with the following amenities:
All Inclusive
Beachfront Property
A la Carte Dining Options
Water Sports
Evening Entertainment
Children's Activities
Daily Activities
Fitness Center
Pool
Laundry
Golf
Tennis
It did turn out to be The Madison as expected. Booked it for two nights, 10/16/10-10/18/10.
Started bidding at $45. Used free bidding zones. My $52 bid was counter-offered with $67. I declined and continued rebidding.
Did a search for Oct. 16 and found this listing for $56. The description doesn't match up with any property on your Hotwire list but does seem to be a strong match for The Madison Hotel on your Priceline list. What do you think?
I went back later the same day to purchase what I was now sure would be the Caribe Hilton; however, that offering was no longer available. There was another 4 star San Juan property listed at the same price of $119 for 1/15/10-1/18/10 with these amenities:
This matched up exactly with the Conrad Condado Plaza. I made the purchase and was happier with this selection over the Caribe Hilton as there is a casino on site and the Trip Advisor rating is higher.
I used the site's HOTWIRE link.
Thanks for the advice. Since we will be requiring 2 rooms I ran a new search using your HOTWIRE link for 4 adults, 2 children and it came back with the Beachfront icon. What is the reason for "hiding" an icon? I think this would be an important amenity to show as it would help to make the sale.
This is not necessarily the property I had been hoping for since my preference would be to have a casino on site. However, if I can identify it with a reasonable degree of certainty (which it appears I now can), then this would be an acceptable fallback position.
I had also been submitting bids using your PRICELINE link and had been rejected up through $117 using the Resorts category (which includes the Caribe Hilton) and through $109 selecting the 4-star category. This HOTWIRE offering would appear to be our best option.
Will post to the board once a purchase has been made.
I have responded to the Stamford post as requested.
Didn't receive a reply from the Board after I responded with my requested dates of travel. I ultimately used PRICELINE and got the Stamford Hilton for $45 per night on the first bid.
Hotwire lists this property for $119 per night with the following amenities:
This matches up closely with the Caribe Hilton except for not having a reference to Beachfront.
Forgot to mention, I did use the PRICELINE link to begin my purchase.
Got a great rate for a premier property near airport and Raymond James Stadium. Started bidding at $38 per night and increased bidding by $1 each time as I added free rebidding zones.
Interesting Note: When I was rejected at $40 I received the offer to increase my bid by $12 and it would be accepted. I decided to stay with my $1 increase strategy since:
what are your dates of travel and the rates for each property?
Dates of travel are 11/11-11/13. The quoted HOTWIRE prices are:
3.5 star $ 62
3 star $ 59
2.5 star $ 57
2 star $ 69
Trying to ID these hotels:
3.5 star Smoke Free, Fitness, Pool, Restaurant, Business, Internet
3 star Fitness, Pool, Restaurant, Business, Laundry, Tennis
2.5 star Breakfast, Fitness, Pool, Business, Laundry, Internet
2 star Breakfast, Restaurant, Business
The 3.5 star matches up with the Holiday Inn Select. The 3 star matches up with what you have listed as the Sheraton; however, Sheraton's website does not list a Stamford location.
You don't list a 2.5 star nor a 2 star property. If I had to make a guess the 2.5 star could be LaQuinta and the 2 star the Hampton Inn. What do you think?
Doing some research on Santa Monica/Marina Del Rey for an upcoming trip. If the Doubletree is a suites hotel, why does the Suite icon not appear as an amenity? Given the choice is the Marriott MDR a significantly better property?
Radisson Hotel New London
$59 per night plus taxes & fees
Amenities:
Shuttle
Pool
Fitness Center
Restaurant
Used HOTWIRE link to begin search.
Turns out the 3.5* is the Hilton and I will be staying there on the evening of 7/21/08 for $64 plus taxes and fees.
Haven't tried PRICELINE yet. The HOTWIRE deals seem to offer an excellent value. If I have a good confidence level in the hotel I'd be purchasing on HOTWIRE, then I'd be inclined to go that route. Unless someone indicates that I can do significantly better on Priceline, then I'm not sure it would be worth the extra time and effort to save a few more dollars and take a bigger risk on the identity of the property.
Will need to spend the night of 7/21 in Stamford. Hotwire offers several options:
3 1/2* for $64 Smoke Free Rooms, Fitness Center, Pool, Restaurant, Business Center, High Speed Internet Access, Tennis
3* for $73 Fitness Center, Pool, Restaurant, Business Center, High Speed Internet Access, Laundry
2 1/2* for $59 Complimentary Breakfast, Fitness Center, Pool, Business Center, High Speed Internet Access, Laundry
Pretty sure the 3 1/2* is the Westin. My guess is that the 3* is the Holiday Inn Select. There is no 2 1/2* property on the list of Hotwire hotels in Stamford. Any thoughts on what it might be?
The Westin appears to be the best value. Should I go for it or do you think a better deal could be had on PRICELINE?
Thanks for the advice. Got the Millennium Broadway Hotel in Times Square at $165 per night for 5/29-6/2 using your PRICELINE link.
While I understand the concept of the free rebidding zones, was curious given that there are 4 such zones for 4* hotels in NYC, that you suggested I re-access Priceline and start the next sequence of bidding after using only 3 of the zones.
Closed out the Tampa thread. NYC plans are firm. Not sure what you mean when you say to "bump" this thread.
Another New Hotwire Format
in Hotwire Tips
Posted
I followed up on the Guanacaste thread.
Do you have any sense yet as to how much we can rely on the property being referenced with "The last person got..." verbiage?