XT600

as expected :P amenities: Fitness Center Pool(s) Restaurant(s) High-Speed Internet Access official rates $225++ - who pays that??? Complimentary high-speed wired and wireless Internet Complimentary underground parking available Complimentary newspaper Complimentary luggage storage Complimentary shuttle service to companies within 10 mile radius of hotel, Monday - Friday Complimentary Bytes Cafe & Bar voucher provided at check in Heated pool hot tub Onsite fitness studio Complimentary access to Fitness 19, located across the street 24-hour business center with Mac computers that can run both PC and Mac platforms Meeting and event spaces Looks like a great deal!!

got reply from the hotel! all prepaid bookings e.g GTA, priceline, hotelbeds etc. are INKLUSIVE of city tax as the agencies pay a unknown rate to the hotel (lower than what the guest paid to the agent). However for Expedia and hotels.com prepaid bookings they charge 5% city tax on top!

Had a $10 cashbonus and started with 85+10=$95 rejected - added "North" zone with 89+10=$99 and got the Nh Barbizon Palace :) as expected (ca. 80 EUR - official non-cancelable rate for same dates is 128 EUR -> only 37% discount priceline says 47% savings (maybe compared to the flexible rates?) Does anybody have a idea if the city taxes are included in the priceline rates? Actually there is 5% city tax which is added - but 5% of which rate...???

Thanks guys! I sent a email to Hyatt Summerfield Suites what do they guarantee in all "summerfield suites"? so I need to expect some interesting discussion on this topic during check-in - let's see...

So do you say the new brand "Hyatt Home" and also the old "Summerfield Suites" are supposed to be "Suite-only" properties as Residence Inn or so? I mean e.g. Priceline sells this property as 2,5* (as most of the Suite hotels), hotwire as 3,5* - interesting, isn't it? Can I rely on the star level a specific size of the rooms? Or is this only about the "amenities" and services they offer? Thanks for your advice!

Woodfin Suites became Summerfield Suites by Hyatt in Mai 2011 - 2012 they call it Hyatt Home Rate per night: $64.00 Nights: 2 Rooms: 1 Tax recovery charges & fees: $21.19 Subtotal: $149.19 Amenities Smoke Free Rooms Complimentary Breakfast Fitness Center Pool(s) Restaurant(s) Business Center Laundry Facilities (self-service) High-Speed Internet Access reality: Free Parking, free Wifi, free Evening reception Mo-Th ... I'll be there only on the weekend As it seems they sell officially (non-opaque) only their suites and here is nothing said about suites - let's see how "flexible" they are? Actually most websites even the Hyatt says "all rooms have fully equipped kitchenette" ... Some years ago I won the Woodfin Suites also in Hotwire and had some nice discussions at check-in. How can Hyatt sell Suites and then offer normal rooms to the customers? Let's see

Woodfin Suites became Summerfield Suites by Hyatt in Mai 2011 - 2012 they call it Hyatt Home Hotel Rate per night: $69.00 Nights: 1 Rooms: 1 Tax recovery charges & fees: $13.17 Subtotal: $82.17 Amenities Smoke Free Rooms Complimentary Breakfast Fitness Center Pool(s) Restaurant(s) Business Center Laundry Facilities (self-service) High-Speed Internet Access reality: Free Parking, free Wifi, free Evening reception Mo-Th ... I'll be there only on the weekend

I'm still unsucessful with my 5x$10 bonus cash ... maybe I'm too early for March 2012 SanDiego bids - I'm trying to get the Residence Inn at Escondido which fits with the scores and was won last year for $65 - I bid 55+10 but it was rejected - I changed the date to full weekend (Fr-Su) also rejected. should I try it with 65 without the bonus cash? Then complain??

My assumption on how "cash-bonus" works: As this bonus is a promotional I suppose they won't allow the system to use the bonus in a way that priceline will loose money: resp. the price which priceline need to pay to hotel would be higher than priceline got customer! so let's assume that hotel wants to get $80 from priceline (this is the "internal" price in system for the date you bid) - if you use $10 USD bonus and bid $70 you won't win, because then priceline would not make any profit! So in order to win need to leave priceline a bit of profit e.g. you bid $75 and they get $5 profit.... Correct?

price was accepted at first bid $81 - again a great win for Santiago (Marriott brand counts!)

Won Santiago Marriott with first bid $85 for Saturday-Sunday night in December 2011 Nice deal even there are many hotels in the area in that price range even with breakfast - but the Marriott beds are worth to "skip" breakfast... :D

Thanks Bluepig! A pitty you missed the Palma - the Arroz Marisco is hard to get in downtown restaurants (we only know 1 other restaurante in Lisboa-Alcantara which has similar portions and even lower prices) Yes the Marriott is unique around the world - but if you bid at priceline you shouldn't expect any local nice hotels - 99% the wins are chain hotels - for romantic local hotels I'd use the priceline subsidary from Netherlands "booking.com" which hotels sometimes are also offered on priceline's non-opaque hotel site....

yes location isnot the best but it's a Marriott and by far better than the 2 HIs - we've been there twice (years ago the double was with BF ca. 75-82 EUR) Taxi is ca. 6-8 EUR depending on a time of arrival - carefully check the meter and insist in the meter - otherwise -esp. the night taxis - are trying to charge you 20-25 EUR :) Public transport isn't so easy from the Marriott. Taxis are cheap to city (expect same as to airport ca. 5-7 EUR to Pombal) On tip for the Marriott neighbourhood: if you are looking for a good local restaurant, go out from hotel to left across the highwaybridge, then to the right in the small houses area. There is "Restaurante Palma" which has local price, local food (fish!) and very nice owners (son speak English) - try the arroz marisco!

sure but it's obvious that they opened this new zone because they want to offer priceline NYOP for MXP airport. this zone isnot even visible if you search on the map having selected "Milan, Italy"....

True THEREYOUARE this is very strange - you search for "MXP" - priceline shows hotels for "Somma Lombardo" (which is close to MXP airport) but when you click NYOP it goes to "Saronno, Lombardia" which is neither MPX (Malpensa) or Somma Laombardo. Hotels in that area according to Tripadvisor (also sometimes incorrect): 4* Starhotels Grand Milan 4* Unahotel Malpensa (as you see the hotel names refer to the "closeby" airport) plus some minor important motels and business hotels in this (ugly) industry area of Milan's suburbs... So my "hot" tip would be Unahotel Malpensa as Unahotels also has some wins in other parts of Italy. Of course both above hotels are 3* acc. to Priceline standards....

Somma Lombardo is a new zone if your search NYOP for MXP (Milano Aeroporte) Any ideas which hotels are won? There are HIX or Crowne Plaza in the area but in real life not on the map priceline shows for this zone!

can't help but I think IAMFUZZY did this exercise by purpose as the result showed different prices of 2 singles than 2 doubles? However 2 x 5* double rooms are shown for $293/room for your dates today (05/25/2011) - if I search for 1 or 2 single rooms not even 1x 5* hotel is found anymore. It's possible that The Westin trys to sell their single-rooms -if they really should have some? - at hotwire to single travellers for very low prices. In order not to wake-up sleeping dogs, you could call anonymous and ask if the offer single rooms with single beds. If yes you might have bad luck und should try to negotiate in case they want to give you 2 single rooms. BTW: Italians love kids, so if you arrive with the kids running around maybe you ask the concierge to take care on the kids during your check-in, I'm almost sure that these folks will be flexible to fulfill your wish for 2 double rooms. Of course you can put a 20 EUR note in your passport and try that way..... Good luck next week!!

Guys, I really don't understand why you need to bid for 4* in Lisbon. Normal full flexible non-opaque hotel rates start for 4* at around 50 EUR with BF depending on the area. The 2 HIs aren't anything special you need to spend you money months before and even take the penalty to be 100% unflexible. Check the non-opaque hotelwebsites and book there for Lisbon, or you bid for 5* which will be the Sheraton then (maybe the real best bargain through priceline as it's never below 150 EUR)

yes 30% sounds good but 85 EUR worth to accept no flexibilty, no breakfast for a hotel which is a bit out of town? Offial low season rate at Holiday Inn West are 65-75 EUR maybe with same conditions like NYOP.... for 85 eUR you get a good hotel room in city center in many non-opaque booking sites e.g. otel.com or yeegoo.com hotels with breakfast included.

Wifi will be charged from 1.1.2011 onwards.... f...rs.... I think this is the wrong way backrounds!!

it's easy to get resolved if the traveller frequently checks creditcard online statements... I do that but others? And easy if you see yourself responsible to call the hotel in long distance calls to clarify things in foreign language. not everybody likes this! This is clearly a mistake by the hotel ... they usually find the problem immediately and fix it but this shoudn't happen - maybe it was because I asked the Marriott/Westin guys to add my loyality program number? BTW: I did the "usual complaining" on the priceline email responses and got -as exepcted a $10/day cash bonus inivitation. Better than nothing as - of course my creditcard chargeing cycle is just not matching witht the hotel refund....

it happend now the 2nd time in Milan Marriott after Westin Jersey City that my N-Y-O-P-prepaid reservation was charged first by priceline during the booking process and then again after checkout by the hotel. As the insiders know priceline will pay for the (customer) "prepaid" reservation only after check-out. This seems to be done automatically by hotel's systems using a priceline creditcard. However in both cases they used my creditcard (who I needed to give them during C.I.) to charge that amount what priceline will need to pay. Does this happen often recently? did priceline change anything in the process? What I usually did to fix this issue was to call hotel accounting or front desk agent who refunded the amount. However I got a exchangerate penalty (Jersey City) and also in case of Milan I'll have some interest "loss" as there will be some time till the refund will be effective (monthly payment overlapping). I also contacted priceline in both cases - they usually first want to make sure that the amount isnot any kind of minibar (200 EUR wow!!) and then they also help to fix this from their side. Last time they gave me $5x10 cash bonus... Thanks for shareing your experiences!

Munich Renaissance will close its doors forever on 09/30/2011. For guests who have a reservation after this date, please contact the hotel or PRICELINE!

Could be thereyouare but some priceline user really seem to think there is only one website offering hotelrooms? what about HOTWIRE? Do you think Frankfurt is Sahara desert? same day bookings available at: PRICELINE itself plus hrs.de, hotel.de, booking.com etc.

Jamester, I'm sorry to say but your strategy is absultey not understandable? Why do you use $65 for starting and then increase to $100? for $90 you could have got the Westin in East area???