chpcruzr

The Liberty Hotel "Extravagant 5-star boutique hotel in Downtown Boston area" Downtown Boston 5/13/2016 - 5/14/2016 Paid $200 per night ($250 after taxes and fees) Amenities Boutique hotelBusiness centerFitness centerPet friendlyRestaurant(s)Smoke-free rooms Complimentary Free Internet Hotwire customer reviews: 95% recommended Walkscore: 98 This is showing as 4.5* on the Hotwire hotel list so I thought this was going to be for the Langham, apparently Hotwire has upgraded this hotel to 5*. Don't know if I should be happy about this price on this hotel.

Priceline, RESORT... Bid $50, WDW Then $60, WDW and West Disney Then $69, WDW, West Disney & Winter Park Got Wyndham Palace Resort and Spa at $69/night Subtotal: $138 Tax: $24.41 Total: $162.41 BTW, Interestingly enough my wife bid up to $79 today on these same zones with 4* and did not get anything so it must not consider resort an "upgrade" from 4*. But when I went to bid for the resort it said it was a duplicate request despite the fact that my wife had not selected resort, so I had to pull out the old work credit card/address trick.

Be careful, I followed the exact same bid pattern hoping for the Dolphin and hit the Wyndam Palace Resort and Spa at $69/Night for 5/7/04-5/9/04. I'm happy with the Wyndam but anyone with their heart set on the Dolphin should stick with Hotwire.

The Omni was very nice, excellent deal at $46/night, it was about what I expect in a 4* hotel. The rooms are very spacious and comfortable, large comfortable beds and a large sitting area with overstuffed couch and armchair. I think you'll be pleased. It's in a nice area but not too much to do right around the hotel. I would highly recommend driving just a couple miles to Coconut Grove and spending some time in the evening there. We were there until 2am and had an incredible time. Cocunut Grove is a very nice, upscale area with lots of shopping, incredible restraunts of all variety's, some fun nightlife including upscale clubs, etc. We stayed in Coconut Grove last time we were in Miami and loved it so much we had to go back this time. It's very close to coral gables. Hope this helps!

I found the Miami Westin on HotWire (ended up booking it on Priceline though, quite a bit less).

I booked airfare for a new employee a couple of weeks ago and I didn't realize that he goes by his middle name. On the priceline reservation I used his Middle name as his first name and he noticed the mistake. I called Priceline thinking they could easily just correct the first name but they told me they could not make any changes, not even a simple name spelling correction, to the reservation. They told me that I could resubmit my request using the exact same request information I had initially used and the same or higher bid price and if it was accepted they would cancel my original reservation, but there was no guarantee that it would be accepted, and if it was that I would have the same flight. It seems to me priceline needs to be a little more flexible on things like this if they want to gain widespread acceptance. How hard could it be to just change the name (especially if they can do it if I re-bid)? In the end I called the airline and while they can't change the reservation info. because it's through priceline they did put a note in their system with the correct name and said that should be sufficient. The moral of the story: Be very careful with spelling and correct full names when booking air reservations, with security hightened they are very tight on the name of the reservation matching the photo ID.

Also, just about a month ago I booked a hotel on P/L in Cincinnati and had an employee check in, but as I hadn't hired the employee yet I just put it in my name (didn't know who it was going to be until less than a week before the trip). As usual I sent him with a printed confirmation and at least I haven't heard anything about him having a problem. Usually if I know who I'm sending I'll of course put their info. on the hotel room.

Hmm, Maybe they have asked and I just don't even think about it. I can't recall being asked for one anyway, but then I can't recall a lot of things :-). I do know however that I've had other people check in before when it was in my name using my priceline reservation sheet. I travel frequently with my business partner (by frequently I mean about 7-8 times in the last year, not all the time) and he often checks in before me but I almost always book the hotel on Priceline. I'll have to ask if they've given him a problem, he hasn't told me that they have. I've also had my wife check in but I can see why that wouldn't be an issue with the same last name.

That's an incredible hotel - what a deal. Glad you posted, I'll have to shoot for it next time in Maui.

Does anyone have any experience using Priceline's travel insurance? I've added it a couple of times but I wonder how strict they are when it comes time to use it (i.e. If you have the flu but are not hospitalized will they accept that as cancellation due to illness?)

Given the # of discrepencies (with location & ammenities) I think you could probably get at least a partial refund when you return if you're not happy with it. I also read somewhere about a hotel paying Hotwire guests the day use rate at a local gym when their fitness facility was closed for remodeling.

Anyone have any idea of Ceasar's is on Hotwire or Priceline? If so any tips on how to target it?

Has anyone tried to combine a hotel stay booked with priceline with an adjacent stay booked conventionally? I am going to Vegas for a conference and as part of the conference package was booked for 4 nights at Ceasar's Palace. I'd like to add two nights to my stay and would prefer not to pay the published rate. If I can get Ceasar's through PL or HW (not sure if that's possible) for the 2 nights preceding my already booked stay, anyone know if I would be able to stay in the same room?

Does anyone know of travel agents that specialize in finding the best Priceline/Hotwire prices for people? Using the information from this board, and other information available on the web, you can easily blow away most travel agency best deals. It seems it would be fairly simple (and well worth the extra $ to the customer) for a travel agent to specialize in placing knowledgable bids for people and then just charge a small fee for the assistance. I can save hundreds (sometimes thousands) of dollars on trips using PL for hotel & air but I would sure like to just be able to call a travel agent and have them take care of it for me.

So WT, any verdict on which engine seems to get the best deal most often? I book a lot of airfare and would be very interested to find a site that consistently beats Orbitz and Priceline/Hotwire rates.

I had the exact same thing happen (Priceline requiring me to make another bid, same $$s or higher, same quality car, etc.) on a car rental purchase in which I had included two extra days that I did not need. They said this was a one shot deal and I had to book through priceline using all of the exact same information but with different dates and same or higher price. I could not get it to accept the price that I had previously gotten and kept bidding higher until it got to the point where it was less expensive just to write off the two extra days. But here's the part that ticked me off, I let Priceline know that I intended to just show up two days later (and use the car for two fewer days) and they said while I could not get a refund (and my card had already been charged) they also could not guarantee a rental car for me unless I got there within 24 hours of my original pickup time. I contacted the car rental company and they too told me they would not hold the car for me, and that if my full-size car wasn't there when I showed up they would not give me any other car (i.e. would not even downgrade me to an economy). Luckily when I showed up they had a bunch of extra cars and I still got my car but in my opinion if I've already paid for it for the week what business is it of theirs if I choose to leave it in the lot for two days.

If Priceline could even advertise that everyone gets one free cancellation (First time trying Priceline if you don't like what you get just cancel it, no hassle & no charge), imagine how many more people would feel comfortable enough to try Priceline once and then get hooked by the low rate they get. Or if instead of sending bonus money offers they occasionally sent out worry free "bid retraction" offers. Even if Priceline still had to pay the hotel I think they would make up for their loss in increased business. One thing I have to wonder about though, how large can Priceline grow before they do become a threat to convential hotel business and the hotels start to cut them off?

Lots of interesting topics in this thread, could be four or five threads here easily. In regards to waste in business travel I agree completely and this is one reason I like to use Priceline for booking travel for my employees. With Priceline I can book all of the costs ahead of time (Hotel, Airfare, Rental car, etc) and know that they will not change. I don't have to worry about huge hotel bills including minibar purchases and pay-per-view movies because they are not lumped in with the hotel bill. I try not to pinch pennies much on meals and other such things (obviously very few people want to leave their family and go on business trips so there has to be some incentive) but this is a huge benefit in eliminating redicuous expenses that people wouln't pay for if it were their dime. I once asked an employee to find travel arrangements for a two week business trip. He found a normal airfare (fully refundable, full price), a very nice hotel (again at full rate), a full-size rental car (again full rate), etc. I was fine with the price but then I told him if he'd like I would just give him the money and he could make his own arrangements. He took me up and he drove himself there, stayed in an enconomy hotel he booked on priceline, didn't rent a car (he drove), and spent less than a quarter the money. How much money do businesses lose because people don't realize that when they waste it now, it doesn't show up in their paycheck later?

I've had luck having other people check in when I made the PL reservation under my name just by having them bring a copy of the printed Priceline confirmation. Not sure if it would work at all hotels but I would think so. I don't think I've ever had a hotel ask to see picture ID (though they have asked for the credit card I booked with before).

Wow. Good info. to know, so that's how you know prices for so many places. And I caught it :) . Thanks for the insight.

I know :) . Just goes to show that paying more does not get you more. I figured if I bid high I'd end up in a really nice resort hotel. This was prior to our cruise and a very special vacation (1st trip after having our 1st child, and the first time we left him for any length of time) and I wanted to try to get a really nice place. Next time I'll probably use HotWire for doing that sort of thing because you can better control what you get. Live and learn!

Do the same rules apply on the rental car taxes as do on hotel rooms (i.e. for back calculating the cost to Priceline of the rental car)?

Anyone know if TOBB is somehow controlled by HotWire? If it's the one I'm thinking of it seems very pro HotWire and anti-priceline and it seems like they steer people away from getting the best possible deals. In fact don't they have a section to post all of the times where Hotwire beats Priceline, and then Hotwire comes out with ads on their site where they beat Priceline. Wonder if it's a puppet site?

I had the same thing happen (as WillTravel with his Canadian Visa) using (accidentally) the information from a credit card that I had cancelled. I'd be a little nervous about using this as a bidding technique though because they still have your info. (at least your IP address if you lied about everything else) and if it got to be enough of a problem for them they could probably go after you for it.

Does anyone have any insight into how Priceline determines the star ratings of hotels? It seems that in different areas the ratings can mean very different things, and even in the same area sometimes a 3* will be nicer than a 4*. I realize ammenities has something to do with it, but there are a lot of 3*s with all of the ammenities (and more) than the 4*s have. I was wondering if they use AAA or Foders or something for their ratings?