pickles1107

Hi, I have bid unsuccessfully up to $92 for a resort class hotel on Marco Island for the dates of 7/27-7/28. Started at $79, then added a zone and tried $85, added a zone and tried $92. It appears only two hotels are in this class - Hilton and Marriott beach front. The Hilton is available on common travel sites for $160 + tax. How much can I expect to pay? Thanks,

Hello, Been having a hard time landing a deal for Vancouver June 12-14th. Started bidding last week at 80 and using rebid zones over several days have gone up incrementally up to $114 with no luck. I'm trying for a 4* in either Downtown or the Granville Entertainment district. A few weeks ago what appeared to the Delta Suites Vancouver was on Hotwire for 119/night, but is no longer there. The Westin Bayshore (presumably) is available on Hotwire for $143/night, and the Metropolitan is available through a thrid party site for $166/night. At this point, am I better off waiting til closer to my dates? I'm seeing alot of success in the low hundreds for June - July timeframe. Is something in particular going on during my stay that is driving up prices? Thanks in advance...

Just for future reference, you should always rebid when PRICELINE tells you to add X amount to the bid. I've never seen them suggest the minimum "winning number" and usually you can undercut them...

Additionally, the Colonnade (accross from Prudential Center) is showing on easyclicktravel.com for Saturday May 2nd at $144.45. This hotel has a pricematch policy so you can call them directly to get them to honor the rate.

Wow, FANTASTIC deal you got there!! I guess it's all the luck of the draw...

Cool...glad to see you found that. For anyone else looking to capitalize and the Hotwire double the difference poses too much of a risk/Sofitel isn't appearing on Hotwire, the Sofitel actually has a best rate guarantee on their website where if you book with them and then complete a claim form, they will honor the lower rate plus take an additional 10% off lower rate. Restrictions apply (must be same room type, booking conditions, etc.) See http://www.sofitel.com/gb/best-price-guara...scription.shtml for more info.

Hello AngS. I just thought I'd chime in about the Sofitel deal I posted about before. It seems that the special price of $128/night on quikbook.com (another third party booking site a la Expedia.com, Travelocity, etc.) is still available for either of the dates you posted (1-5 or 2-5). I also see the Sofitel appearing on HOTWIRE.com for both sets of dates at $166/night. i will now paste the Double the Difference Low Price Guarantee details straight from the hotwire website:

You can check travelzoo to see if any of the specials there work for you. http://hotels.travelzoo.com/chicago-hotels/ The Monaco is on special there for $119/night including valet parking, but it appears that they only have a deluxe king room available. When checking the website, the only day they don't have the queen queen room is the Saturday night. So you may call the hotel and see if they can do anything about it or have any suggestions. Of course if you can't, you can always book three different reservations and just be one night without a queen queen room (and maybe get a rollaway for the Saturday night...$25 surcharge). By this I mean: Reservation for 21-23 in queen queen room Reservation for 23-24 in King room reservation for 24-25 in queen queen room These reservations are completely cancelable also without penalty.

I also have been thinking this is the Taj as well...

And if you subtract out the parking, you can think of it as only paying $79/night for the room. :)

Hello there. As mentioned, not sure of your exact budget, but travelzoo.com just posted a special for the Hotel Monaco that is valid over that weekend. $119/night including free parking which could be a real perk depending on where you are coming from. Check it out: http://hotels.travelzoo.com/chicago-hotels/

I just wanted to reply and say that this was the Nine Zero, so you can add it to the calendar of wins... I'm not the purchaser, but I saw the original poster post the result on the Boston forum on tripadvisor.

I have not stayed at the InterContinental, but I've stayed at the Monaco twice, and have to think that it's the more personal of the two with the more endearing staff. I too would go for the Monaco for a special occasion. In fact, I stayed there the weekend of my engagement.

I believe this hotel has two towers, and one is completely renovated while the other is in the process. Make sure your father asks for a renovated room at check-in and the noise should be a non-issue.

Not sure when you last stayed, but they completed a $40M renovation in 2008, so hopefully it will be better for you this time around.

Hi AngS1967, Just wanted to let you know that I got the Sofitel Water Tower for $179/night on HOTWIRE for the nights of July 4th - 6th, and then used Hotwire's double the difference guarantee against the sale price at quikbook.com to earn a refund. My final cost for the Sofitel is $77/night! Something to look into if you are booking around the same time. I just checked quikbook and they are still running the sale.

Thanks! I don't know what I'll do when things start turning around and hotel prices go back up... I'm getting a bit spoiled lately. For this trip I am staying 2 nights at the Monaco for $81/night and 2 at the Sofitel for $77/night (well really its more like $94/night plus 15.4% tax when you factor in the taxes and fees paid from the higher Hotwire rate). All over a huge holiday weekend during the Taste of Chicago. You can't beat that with a stick...

I just wanted to follow up on this: I got an email back from Hotwire Customer Service at 8:57 this morning (after submitting the claim form at 11:30 last night) stating that I was entitled to a refund of $204 dollars. One sad thing is that they don't adjust the taxes or fees paid on the higher price. I knew this going in, but just FYI as this could be the difference between an ultimately lower price or not. Still, all in all I'm out $216 for a two night stay at the Sofitel including taxes and fees. Not bad at all!!! I'm a happy camper. Thanks HOTWIRE!

My apologies for not follwing up. Thanks for the links...some interesting discussion on this subject. I ultimately decided against the HOTWIRE / PRICELINE route because I found a good deal at the Nine Zero. However, I did decide that if I were to go that route and target the Omni Parker House, I would not have tried to undercut the almost sure HOTWIRE rate for an uncertain Priceline rate at the risk of getting the Hyatt Regency which didn't interest me.

Amenities included : Fitness Center Restaurant(s) Business Center High-speed Internet Access Please note I only booked on Hotwire to take advantage of the double the difference price guarantee as the Sofitel and 3rd party websites (Expedia, Hotels.com) had lower rates. Quikbook actually had a much lower rate, so if the double the difference is honored, I should get the Sofitel for $77/night!!! :lo :) A great deal indeed! I will keep this post up-to-date as to the status of my claim. I used the HOTWIRE link to start my purchase.

Hello and sorry if this is in the wrong place. I don't think the other general sections of this site get as much traffic and I need an answer fast. So how risky is Hotwire's double the difference price guarantee? Has you ever experienced a time when the lower rate was there when you submitte your claim, and then when hotwire went to verify it, the rate was no longer available? Then you are stuck paying the (in this case much) higher price for the room because they couldn't verify the claim... I have this unnatural fear of this happening to me since other websites can take down rates at any time. In this case, if the claim goes through I can get the Sofitel for a song. But I am also afraid of being stuck with the higher Hotwire rate if for whatever reason the claim cannot be verified... Thanks

Thanks for the info. So which hotel takes the precedent?

Hello. Sorry if this is in the wrong section. I did some research in the general Priceline forum and didn't find the answer. I'll use hotels in Boston for this example. Let's suppose both the Hyatt regency and the Omni Parker House have Priceline inventory for the dates I am interested in... According to this board the Priceline rate for the Hyatt is approximately $60. The lowest I've seen the Omni go for is $80. So ASSUMING both do have inventory, then if I put in a bid for $80, which hotel will I get? Also, if Omni is showing availability on Hotwire, does it necessarily have Priceline availability? Thanks in advance.

I also think this is the Taj. If you are interested in staying there, check out skyauction.com as they frequently have listings there.

Just a follow up post, but I ended up not getting a hotel for the above dates because the convention in town drove the prices way up...