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betsybug

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Posts posted by betsybug

  1. Rack rate $354. Got 44% off for a Luxury Collection hotel in Embassy Row. 

     

    Bid up to $170--no luck. On bidding page Priceline adds an arbitrary $25 "hotel fee" to cover 2  night resort fee. So the total would be $25 higher to bidding total. If you bid--and get a no-fee hotel like the Dupont--you will pay for a resort fee you shouldn't be charged.

     

    Amenities: Pet friendly, gym, restaurant, business center

     

     

  2. Please update the Priceline list for Anchorage. This hotel was downgraded from 3.5*. I bid 3* in this zone so I could avoid this hotel. There are numerous Trip Advisor and PL reviews that say it is dirty and out-dated. It is surprising that a luxury chain like Millennium would not update this hotel on the furnishings and mechanicals--or at least clean it up and get rid of the smoke smell.

    The other 3* hotels in this zone are great, with breakfast and free internet---Embassy Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, Homewood, Residence Inn. With the exception of the Courtyard, they are located in Midtown away from the airport.

    If you want to avoid the lesser hotels around the airport (Millenium and Coast International), you have two choices. On Priceline bid the Downtown zone at 3.5* and 3*. Or use Hotwire's Downtown and Midtown zones.

  3. There are very low rates for 4* hotesl in downtown Chicago on Easter weekend, but I got no deals on Priceline. In 4* and 3.5* North Michigan Avenue-River North zone I bid up to $65 without success. These 4* hotels were at or under $100! Drake, Sheraton, W Lakeshore, Avenue Crowne Plaza, Whitehall, Millenium Knickerbocker. In 3.5* the Wyndham was $89.

    So I booked the Conrad Hilton (PL 4*-former 5*)for $105 (advance purchase) with free internet and coffee/tea. Hilton Honors members get hot breakfast if over Blue level. I've wanted to stay there and the lowest no-penalty rate was $175.

    Aftet I booked, I saw Hotwire rates have dropped. Several 4.5* and 4* properties in downtown zones are $76-$90 - probably James, Conrad, Omni, or Palmer House Hilton.

  4. First posted win in new Northwest zone that has split from the Arboretum zone.

    I wanted Arboretum for ambience, shopping, restaurants. But I avoided it because there's an undersirable cheap 3* in Arboretum (Holiday Inn). T he higher star levels (Westin & Renaissance) in Arboretum were unavailable up to $90. The new Austin North zone had good 3* hotels, but bids up to $55 failed.

  5. Wow. No or just 1 amentity listed?! Hotwire is making it tough.

    By working with the local hotel I was able to get Hotwire to cancel both the Holiday Inn bookings. The one I made on line (thinking it would be the Hyatt Place) and the replacement the HW telephone agent made for me (that he thought would not produce the Holiday Inn). A polite request was all it took with Holiday Inn manager, who could see we just were not a good fit for this stay.

    But the exeperience led me to believe that the perceived advantage of Hotwire - some clues to the hotel to reduce bidding risk--less compelling.

    In the end, I'm not doing PL or Hotwire in a zone that has one hotel I want to avoid - which is usually the cheapest in my experience - and often times a Holiday Inn.

  6. Sorry to hear you received a hotel you were hoping to avoid.

    I have seen hotels where all the amenities were removed from the list, and others which just showed some thing common like just a Hi-Speed Internet icon... even though the hotel has many more amenities (and has shown many amenities in the past). All that is certain is that the hotel will have the amenities listed... not necessarily that they wont' have any amenities which are not shown.

    Thanks for sharing your purchase with the board and helping us add this new amenity combination for this property to the Hotwire Hotel List.

    Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

    Hope your stay goes better then you expect.

  7. Don't bid this zone if you don't want the Holiday Inn NW Plaza. I don't and I got stuck with it despite all my research that I thought had identified all the possible 3* properties in this zone. I wanted to avoid the Holiday Inn and I thought that would be simple - it was the only 3* property in the zone that had a restaurant. The Holiday Inn has these amenties in the Hotwire system and on the telephone booking as confirmed by a supervisor:

    Pool, Fitness Center, Business Center, Restaurant, Laundry

    But Hotwire on line yesterday gave me the Holiday Inn when I selected a hotel with these amenities:

    Pool, Fitness Center, Business Center, Restaurant, Laundry

    I got the Holiday Inn when I tried to add extra nights minutes after getting the Hyatt Place (great hotel!) for the first night. Apparently the amenities showing on line are the same for these two properties.

    I know Hotwire selectively does not post all the amenities to keep the identity more opaque. Sometimes a Suite, Kitchen, or Laundry is omitted. But a Restaurant!? I've never seen Hotwire leave that off. That's really going a little to far on the opague booking model, I think. Don't you think Holiday Inn and Hotwire could see that they might lose some bookings from people that would want a restaurant?

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