cakobau

The 4* in the Napa zone is probably the Silverado Country Club Resort.

Surprisingly, this hotel does not appear on the confirmed Hotwire hotels list yet, only on the packages list. FYI. Booked for family members over Thanksgiving holiday. FYI, booked this after failing on a 4-star bid for the same dates on Priceline. Used North Michigan Ave zone and 3 free rebids, $60, 65, 70, and 75 all failed. Went for the Hotwire for 4 bucks more. Could probably have waited a while to book this, but wanted it to be done and over with. And the family is pleased... Hyatt Regency Chicago Amenities: Restaurant, Fitness Center, Business Center CUSTOMER FAVORITE 151 East Wacker Drive Chicago, IL 60601 (312) 565-1234 Check-in: Wed, Nov 24, 2004 Check-out: Sat, Nov 27, 2004 1 room(s) @ $79.00 per night x 3 night(s) $237.00 Taxes and fees: $43.95 Total Price $280.95 One of the Customer Favorite comments discussed newer furnishings with a great lobby; and convenient to shoppping, dining, and entertainment.

Couldn't you have used the add-a-night feature on Priceline, rather than starting a new bid, so you could have stayed in the Marriott another night? Or was the other bid for a separate room/separate person?

Ideas sound good, but especially the hotel room photos. Just returned from a week of Priceline stays (reviews coming soon) and should have taken some pics. I think the picture can give an excellent idea of what "nice decor" or "lousy view" might mean...

I agree with what's been said here. Make sure you're you're clear on the total cost (per room vs. per person, plus ALL the fees... read their FAQ). I successfully bid for a hotel in Barbados in 2002, and it worked perfectly. I didn't get the oceanfront room, of course, but I only spent 1/3 of the normal cost for the room. Be an educated consumer, but the site works.

What's to say this little person won't prefer Hotwire? :) Congratulations, and good luck!!

Hi all, In contemplating a trip to New Zealand, I checked into Priceline's coverage of that fair country, and I was disappointed to see nothing listed. However, priceline.com.sg, the Singaporean version of Priceline, DOES have rooms in New Zealand. I have heard that Americans can register and bid at the Singapore site, but I have not yet tried this. I just was wondering if anyone has had any experience doing that. And also, why are these hotels in Singapore's system, but not in the US flagship site? Entering Auckland (even with "New Zealand" or "NZ" in the search box) leads to Tulare, California. Entering Christchurch leads to Gloucester, Virginia. Also of interest: The "suggested retail price" for 4 star rooms in Auckland or Christchurch (the real ones) as per the Singaporean sites is around US$77. Seems low. A glitch? Priceline saying how much you really need to bid in order to win? Hmm... The Singapore site also has a list of all cities that they cover. It's a LOT more than the Asia/Pacific coverage of the US site. If you enter gibberish for a city to search, you have the opportunity to see the list. This link might work, too: priceline.com.sg/eng/hotels/city_list.asp The countries they list for Asia/Pacific: Australia China Guam Hong Kong India Indonesia Japan Macau Malaysia New Zealand Philippines Singapore South Korea Sri Lanka Taiwan Thailand

Haven't seen this link elsewhere, but this may be useful, instead of hunting and pecking to see if various towns (usually small ones) have a Priceline-able hotel. US list is organized alphabetically by state, and alphabetically within each state. FYI. This is especially useful for smaller towns, since you pretty much know that priceline is going to have rooms in major cities. http:// tickets.priceline.com/hotels/Lang/en-us/city_list.asp

(FYI, this post was moved here; somehow I missed the original thread. Sorry about that... My unaltered original text follows.) Not sure if this has come up before, but a search for the link did not yield any results on this site. Just FYI. Link to the Frommer's article: http://www.frommers.com/activities/money_&...&articleid=2004 Quote from the article: "Now, there's an official way to check Priceline's hotel star ratings. Earlier this year Priceline bought most of hotel-sales Web site Travelweb (www.travelweb.com) and said they intend to buy the rest of the site in the future. (Travelweb was originally owned by five hotel chains, but they decided to sell the site in favor of running specials on their own individual Web sites.) Later this year, Priceline will integrate Travelweb's hotels into searches on Priceline.com, letting you see the names of hotels before you buy (at somewhat higher rates than you'd get by bidding, of course.) That won't affect the super-low rates you get by bidding for mystery hotels, though it'll probably add another screen you have to click through to get to the good stuff. [snip] The Travelweb purchase still helps bidders, because Travelweb's hotel star ratings will soon be the same as Priceline's, with one important exception. Travelweb doesn't use half-stars, so Priceline's 2.5-star hotels will show up on Travelweb as 3-star hotels. Priceline and Travelweb are still working out some glitches in their system. For example, Travelweb rates the Four Points in New York City's Chelsea neighborhood as a 3-star hotel, while Priceline calls it a 2-star. Priceline's Brian Ek assured us that the ratings will soon be brought in line." thread merged by thereuare

Senoreit, call that Hyatt back and ask to speak to reservations. Say you have a prepaid reservation and you just wanted to request a (king? nonsmoking?) room and add your Gold Passport number "for incidentals." I've never been refused (yet). If they DO refuse, ask to speak to the supervisor. The local hotel has the power over this, it seems, so I don't know if the 800-number folks can help. Once your GP account is in their computer, not only can you use 800-checkin, but you can see the details of your reservation online, as the hotel has it. You can go to hyatt.com, log in with the GP #, and on the left hand side navigate to Reservations/ Change a Reservation. Then enter the confirmation number that Priceline gave you (starts with HY) -- skip the credit card number -- to see what class of room you are reserved in. You'll get a warning that reads this: "Due to the special conditions associated with this reservation you may view, but not change it within this website. Please return to where the reservation was originally confirmed to make modifications or cancellations." Click "view" to see the details. For an upcoming trip to Tahoe, I read: Room Description: Priceline No Vice Presidential Guestroom View of High Sierra Mountains Views Mountain View Cancellation Policy: Non-Refundable Deposit Policy: Deposit Required By July 9, 2004 Deposit By Credit Card Required 2 Night(S) Deposit Will Be Charged To Credit Card Please contact 1-800-228-3360 for changes. Preferences: Non-smoking room. One king bed Note that the class of room is specified -- mountain views, and no vice presidential guestroom (Darn!). But that the non-smoking/king is listed as a Preference. "Preference" is probably not a guarantee, but Hyatt is a class act, and I've always gotten my preference, with 1-800-Check-In or without. Bottom line. Keep trying to get that GP# in there. Sorry for the length of the reply. Got carried away. :)

FYI, here is the link to the Terms and Conditions for hotel bookings on Priceline, as they appear when you are about to pull the trigger on a booking. https:// travel.priceline.com/hotels/lang/en-us/InfoCtr/popup_TC.asp

Accepted on first bid. Bid 2.5* in Rancho Cordova zone only. Bid accepted quickly, with upgrade to 3 star. Both the Holiday Inn 3* and the Amerisuites 2.5* (my "target") have a free breakfast bar included, so I'm happy. "Congratulations, you got your price of $30 for a hotel room, and we've upgraded your hotel quality level to a 3-star hotel!" Holiday Inn Rancho Cordova Check-In Date: Monday, August 16, 2004 Check-Out Date: Tuesday, August 17, 2004 Rancho Cordova 11131 Folsom Boulevard Rancho Cordova, California 95670 916-638-1111 Your Offer Price: $30.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $30.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $9.88 Total Charges: $39.88

FYI, this hotel is not yet reported on the Priceline hotels list here. FWIW.

Started low and bid 50 in Santa Rosa/Rohnert Park/Petaluma, got $73 counteroffer Added Sonoma and bid 55, rejected Added Napa and bid 58, rejected Added Fairfield and bid 60, rejected Waited 72 hours, felt cheap, started new bid at 58 in Santa Rosa/etc., got $75 counteroffer Added Sonoma and bid 60, rejected Added Napa and bid 65, accepted here: Sheraton Sonoma County Petaluma Check-In Date: Thursday, August 19, 2004 Check-Out Date: Friday, August 20, 2004 Santa Rosa - Rohnert Park - Petaluma 745 Baywood Drive Petaluma, California 94954 707-283-2888 Your Offer Price: $65.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $65.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $14.12 Total Charges: $79.12 Lowest rate on hotel's website is $149 + 10% tax. FYI, I deduced that this would be the likely hotel to receive, after looking at the Priceline packages in the Napa and Sonoma County areas for 8/19-21 and 8/18-20. (Packages have to be 2 day stays, and I check both combinations that overlapped with my one day hotel-only plan.) There were four 3* hotels that came up: Sheraton Petaluma, Hilton Santa Rosa, Renaissance Lodge at Sonoma, and Marriott Napa Valley. (FYI, for Napa, the Sheraton and the Marriott came up, while the Hilton and Renaissance came up for Sonoma.) The Courtyard Santa Rosa 2.5* also came up under the Sonoma Search, only 7 bucks less than the Sheraton's package price. The Renaissance and the Courtyard did not show availability when Friday night was included in the search. FWIW, FYI. Since the Sheraton was the cheapest 3* package, I figured that would be the hotel that hit. It was. Since we were looking for a one-night place rest our head, in comfort, this looked like a nice choice. They have the Sweet Sleeper Bed, which I have not yet experienced. Will post a review after the stay.

Started bidding too low, since I had some time. 75, 85, 95, then waited 72 hours and bid 105, 110, and the winning 112. Hyatt.com lowest (prepaid) rate is $210; cancel-able rate is $220. Darlenerene, it looks like we're there on the same day. See you there! :) Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort Spa And Casino Check-In Date: Tuesday, August 17, 2004 Check-Out Date: Thursday, August 19, 2004 North Lake Tahoe Country Club Drive At Lakeshore Incline Village, Nevada 89450-3239 775-832-1234 Your Offer Price: $112.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 2 Subtotal: $224.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $34.44 Total Charges: $258.44

I believe that the San Mateo area that currently comes up is the same San Mateo area that was previously included in San Jose/Palo Alto/Silcon Valley/etc. searches. San Mateo has been removed from the choices in San Jose searches.

Personally, I like the separate list, as they exist on the Hotwire threads, but any sort of "subordination" to the actual, confirmed winning hotel bids would be handy. Either way, confirmed hotels could be moved or elevated from the package list to the "real deal" list. Whatever would be easier. Priceline says that there are "over 110 destinations" for which they create packages, so this would not be for every place on the planet. (Not that collecting data for 110 areas is easy...) But some areas overlap: Napa and Sonoma were two separate areas on the package list, but they're in the same greater region in the regular hotel bidding area. FWIW. This is a great, friendly site, and I'd like to see it thrive. This kind of expansion to the hotel database could really help it, just in my opinion. Viva betterbidding.com!

In my opinion, it would still be helpful to have such a list. For the same reason that there is a list of won hotels (the regular way) pinned to each Priceline page -- so you know what you COULD be getting, and thus making a more informed bid. Naturally, having such a list has greater utility for Hotwire purchases, since you have the name, star level, AND the amenities to examine, but I still think that the hotel list itself is useful. As far as bidding strategy is concerned, I think it's useful to check the Priceline packages for the specific dates that you are interested in, since the availability of particular hotels on these packages signals increased likelihood of getting that particular place. But that's another issue... I'm willing to help out in the future if need be, by providing lists of hotels that come up for various cities.

Question for you regarding the creation/expansion of hotel lists: In the Hotwire hotel lists, you distinguish between confirmed purchased hotels and hotels that appear on the package lists. This is useful, I think, since it seems that a lot of the package hotels do indeed shift over to the confirmed hotel list. Priceline has packages, too. And a quick perusal of some of their offerings brings up some familiar names. And perhaps some less familiar ones, too... Would it make sense to have Priceline package hotel lists? Thanks!

Thanks so much for the ultra-fast and friendly reply! Much appreciated.

Hi all, When I enter Lake Tahoe (either CA or NV) in Priceline, I get the 4 possible zones to bid in -- Carson City, North Lake Tahoe, South Lake Tahoe, or Truckee. The box for Truckee is shaded, regardless of whether or not I want Truckee. I haven't seen this before elsewhere on Priceline, so I'm wondering if you folks know if this means that Truckee is excluded or included in the search. Besides the fact that a possible free rebid is eliminated, I just really don't want to stay in Truckee. (This is why I will not bid 3* in the North Lake Tahoe area -- Priceline includes the Northstar-at-Tahoe 3*, even though that hotel is in Truckee; however, Priceline's North Lake Tahoe region map correctly goes far enough north to include this particular Truckee hotel...) Anyway: If a box is pre-shaded, is that excluded from the search, or is it always included? Thanks in advance!

With Hyatt, how your priceline or hotwire reservation gets treated seems to depend on the individual hotel, but the overall experience seems to be much better than the Hilton chains. With Hyatt or anyone else, I would suggest calling the local hotel after you purchase the room. Don't bother with their 800 numbers. When I call, I always say something like, "Hi, my name is John Doe, and I have a prepaid reservation for June 29. I just wanted to request that my Hyatt Gold Passport number be added to the reservation, and that, if possible, I could be reserved in a nonsmoking upper floor king room." My most recent Hyatt experience was with the downtown Phoenix Regency (3*), and they were super-nice. No mention of Priceline (saying that your reservation is prepaid can pre-empt such mentions) AND they already had my Gold Passport number attached to the reservation. I believe that their computers periodically scan their reservation logs to match names/addresses to the Gold Passport database. When I arrived at the hotel, I greeted the front desk representative, gave my name, and reiterated that I had a "prepaid" reservation. I also asked how late the restaurants were to remain open that evening --which I really wanted to know, but which also signals that you're likely to spend some $$ in the hotel besides your lowball Priceline room rate... Nothing but smiles from the staff. And I got a great room, upper floor, facing east. Got my newspaper in the morning. Even got points for the stay. So Hyatt gets the big thumbs up. Class act all the way. Hiltons vary widely. On the same trip, the Hilton Sedona gave me the HHonors benefits and credited one night's stay to my account, but no points/miles. The Doubletree Tucson didn't accept my HHonors number at all, and gave a very slight whiff of attitude upon checkout. Bottom line: Call your number in and make your requests politely, via the phone, before you check in. I believe it can only help.

Stayed at the Hilton Sedona recently (3/18/04, one night) after two nights at the Hyatt Pinon Pointe. (Since that's not the byline here, I won't review the Hyatt at length here, but it was a fine facility, though we had a ground floor 1-bedroom unit with no view of the red rocks.) Anyway, regarding the Hilton: The pros: A spacious suite (not the largest they had, either) with a great view of the red rocks. (Half the rooms face the rocks, the other half view the pool and/or golf course.) We were on the 2nd floor (#2011). Quiet. We closed the bedroom door and never heard a hallway door slam. Honored Hilton HHonors membership during the stay and even took the frequent flyer number at checkin, though we didn't get the points or miles. But I mention it because it is indicative of how the checkin staff was very nice. No Priceline discrimination at all. Got the morning newspaper, etc. No mandatory resort fee. However, if you wanted anything, even the pool, you'd have to pay $10 per room per day. Came with a microwave and a locked minibar. Sort of odd looking, though: kind of like a kitchenette that wasn't finished. Gas fireplace. Balcony, with view of the rocks. Tastefully appointed (though not as luxurious as the aforementioned Hyatt!) Free parking. The cons: Not in Sedona itself. South of Sedona, at the southern edge of Oak Creek. About 10 to 15 minutes to drive to get to the Sedona town stuff you want. Only 5 minutes to Bell Rock, though. $10 optional resort fee to use anything, even the pool or weight room. The restaurant doesn't seem like anything special. Front desk was understaffed. Very nice and courteous, but harried. Well worth the $70 plus fees paid during peak season. It felt like a real value for the price. More than that? Not sure... If you bid for Resorts in Sedona, it seems you'll get the Radisson Poco Diablo or the Hilton Sedona. Between those two, hope for the Hilton.

Stayed here one night 3/22/04 for $37. Gave my Hyatt Gold Passport number over the phone in advance, to a very friendly reception. Got the points for the stay, no less! Got a great room on the 14th floor, facing east. Nice room overall, good view of the city, sunrise, etc. My only complaint (and it's a weak one, overall) is that the bathroom wasn't as updated as the rest of the room. The tub was outdated and repeatedly caulked at the wall. Didn't look as nice as the rest of the appointments. Nice bed, desk, etc. Great reception from the staff at checkin. Some cool art in the lobby and 3rd floor pseudo-lobby/restaurant/meeting space level. 4 restaurants, including a revolving top floor restaurant/lounge and a ground floor Einstein Bros. Bagels. If parking, they Hyatt's own self-parking in the Regency garage (just to the south) is $7 for 24 hours. A bargain. Paid $37 for the night. I would stay here EVERY TIME I came to downtown Phoenix. Even for more money. Frankly, I think this is a 4 star hotel slumming it in the 3 star range at Priceline. It's a winner.

Stayed at the Doubletree Hotel at Reid Park in March 2004. Overall a very positive experience. Got a tower room on the 2nd floor (low level for the priceline or hotwire folks, i'm guessing.) I presented my Hilton HHonors card, but they didn't enter the number. Pros: Comfortable room, nicely appointed. Free in-room high-speed internet (100mpbs!) Free wi-fi access in the lounge. Great water pressure in the shower. (I almost felt guilty getting such good water in the desert!) Cookies upon check-in. Yum. The orange and grapefruit trees, fruit free for the picking, in the courtyard. A charming touch, and delicious. (Just don't get the oranges with the bumpy skins -- those are quite sour...) The card in the room states that there is a $1.50/day fee for local calls. I wasn't charged the fee. Cons: The day I checked out, housekeeping knocked on my door at 9:30am. (Late start...) This annoyed me, since I had the "do not disturb" sign on the outside of the door. The low level of the room: I had a view of the dumpsters and dirty laundry bins. But it was a quiet side of the building. A tiny whiff of anti-Hotwire arrogance at checkout -- "I see you have a HOTWIRE reservation, so there is no charge to your Visa..." The location is a matter of taste. It's in the Tucson East region, which is mostly strip malls, but it's not far from Saguaro National Park, the Foothills area, or downtown. Reid Park, across the street, was the site of spring training games for major league baseball, so most of the hotel residents (except us!) had some connection to baseball. The Chicago White Sox hosted events for their VIPs and sponsors at the hotel while we were there. I'd happily go back. The hotel was at the upper end of 3 stars, bordering on 4, and I highly recommend it.