Chris26WI

Apparently, Priceline HK/SGP will not only have a new zone for Hongkong (Lantau/Silvermine), but also for Singapore ("East coast") and Phuket ("Cape Panwa").... still marked as "coming soon"... but well... we've been waiting longtime for the "coming" of Karon Beach for Phuket...

Got one night via Priceline and booked the second night on marriott.com as the MR rate was not much higher than the price I paid via Priceline and included breakfast ;-). The worst thing about the Renaissance Brussels is the location.. it's near the Gare du Luxemburg, one of the smaller train stations of Brussels which connects only with Luxemburg. The next metro station "Troon/trone" is about a 10 minutes walk away. If you want to go to the city center by metro (Bourse or de Brouckere) you even have to switch the metro lines (at Rogier or Gare du Midi) as there are not many of it in Brussels and you literally have to take a metro detour... Walking is do-able, but it takes you at least 25 to 30 minutes to get to the Grand Place. Porte de Namur with quite some shops, restaurants and cinemas is however not so far away, about 15 minutes by walking. There are buses from the gare de Luxembourg too which take you to the city center, but I personally don't like busses and you always have to figure out which one to take and where to leave. Everything else is fine.. it's just a nice Renaissance Hotel without big surprises (negative or positive). The hotel from outside is nothing spectacular, just a sort of appartement building, six floors tall, and fits well into the neighbourhood. Next to the Renaissance, there are the Marriott executive appartements Brussels. This hotel is apparently mostly attractive to people working for the European Union's office which are not far from it. That's why regular prices for the hotel usually go down distinctly during weekends and in summer outside the session periods of the EU. Service upon check-in was very friendly, everything was prepared and I was given a letter from the manager (thanking me of staying there blablabla). The room itself was clean, fitted with sort of typical Renaissance furniture (I like these comfy chairs with footrest), desk, small table, quite large Philips TV, minibar with coffee-/tea facilities. There was a safe in the wardrobe and also robes and slippers. The bathroom looked quite new too, no seperate shower cubicle (I don't expect that from a 4star) but large enough and fitted with the usual Renaissance amenities and a hairdryer. They have a very large fitness area with a 15 m pool (which can be frequented by external people too), but I didn't go there. The breakfast is served between 6am and 11 am (!! I like that as I love to sleep long in the mornings) and offers most of the stuff you expect from a 4star hotel. hot/cold buffet, juices, cornflakes, yoghurts, fruits etc.; the staff took care that it was always filled. The restaurant (where the breakfast was served) was really HUGE, and it was almost FULL on Saturday and Sunday morning, between 10 and 11 am!!! Apparently some bus loads. However we always found a table in the corner, the staff was really fast in cleaning the tables after guests had left. There is a five star sign outside the building, but well, it's easy in Benelux to get stars for hotels. IMO, it's a nice 4-star hotel, nothing to complain about, except for the location of the hotel. For photos check out realhotelphotos.com : Renaissance Brussels

After checking Marriotts page for this period, there seems to be a rate break on 3rd March ("The rate for this room changes on 03/03/2006 to 359.00 (AUD) per night" (b.ex.) ). So why don't you try to split your bid? And you still have a lot of time to wait and to try, I think.. however if this is a busy period for Syd, I understand that you want to secure your room early.

.... I am only taking this trouble to get into the top10 posters :)

Lucky me: "Thank you for taking the time to send us an e-mail. We understand that you had made booking for Cosmopolitan Hotel for 1 night from January 2 to January 3 on our website for a total charge of $123.88. Precisionreservations.com gives you a rate of $83 inclusive of taxes and charges for that night for the same room type in Cosmopolitan Hotel. You would like to know if our best rate guarantee applies to this. We have reviewed your offer price and the best price available on www.precisionreservations.com and have refunded your credit card 100% of the difference between the rate you paid and what you found online. You will see this refund reflected on your credit card statement within the next 1 - 2 billing statements, depending upon your credit card billing cycle. Amount Charged by Priceline (Including Taxes and Fees): $123.88 Available Total Charges (Including Taxes and Fees): $83.00 Total Refund: $40.88 "

...hard fight... would have been for sure easier to get a 5 star in TST/Central Kowloon, but wanted to try the JW for 1 night at least... before hopping to the Cosmopolitan (this HK trip will end in a lot of photos for realhotelphotos.com :) )... Should have taken that "accepted" around 2-3 weeks ago for 290 SG$... now I was rejected up to 290SG$ included... well... maybe a currency conversion topic... Marriott Jw Hong Kong Pacific Place 88 Queensway Hong Kong, Hong Kong 852-28108366 Sunday, 1 January 2006 Monday, 2 January 2006 Your Offer Price: SG$295 (~175US$) Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: SG$295 Taxes: SG$38.35 Processing Fee: SG$16.50 (per offer) Total Lodging Charges: SG$349.85 Marriott.com says 2250HK$/night + taxes (290US$++)... so still distinct savings... regarding this is top peak season....

... was extremely hoping for the Renaissance Harbour View... as the Cosmopolitan Hotel was marked as "sold out" in many sites (even their own!!).. strange (also the "compare prices" window in Priceline let only the Renaissance show up for HK Island West)... Tried before in PL Singapore up to 180SG$ (107US$) for Jan1st to 2nd, rejected, got a counteroffer (by email) for 190SG$ for 4star HK Island West but didn't take it. Went on Priceline US (via savingsbarn.com :) ), bid 95$ for 4star HK Island West, got a counteroffer of 117US$, didn't take it... change the requested date for Jan2nd to 3rd, offered 102$... got the: Cosmopolitan Hotel West Hong Kong Island 387- 397 Queens Road East Wan Chai, Hong Kong 852 35521111 Your Offer Price: $102.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $102.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $21.88 Total Charges: $123.88 Will be curious for this hotel, but don't really expect a lot... ps.: found a cheaper rate of 83US$ incl. taxes for that night in Cosmopolitan Hotel (precisionreservations.com)... sent an e-mail to Priceline for the best rate guarantee, but I wonder if I will get it, as the conditions say you can only make use once every six weeks of the best rate guarantee of priceline :-( (and I got one 4 weeks ago already..)

Ah.. I just see by their internet sites, that it's not the Langham Hotel (formely Great Eagle) in TST but the Langham Place.. which is another one.. so a new one for the lists... ah, the Eaton Hotel (4star Central Kowloon) is managed by the same group.. I see.. The rooms look very nice on their site, all with flat TVs etc.. so maybe you can post a review later-on. Rates on their site for std room ("executive") are 980HK$ per night plus taxes, including taxes 3322 HK$ for these 3 nights. So you saved around 150SG$ for the whole stay..

I'd be pretty sure that they (hotels) don't sell upper class rooms (everything else than standard) via Priceline.. so probably no way for the Sheraton in this case... but 165SG$ for the Langham seem to be a very nice deal too. Did you bid for all zones?

As far as I remember, the Sheraton Auckland has appeared as 4star in the past, and the Stamford Plaza as a 5star..

... interesting to see that Priceline Singapore&Hong Kong added a zone called "Silvermine Bay, Lantau Island (Not Zone in Map)" which is still unavailable but marked as "coming soon". Seems to be more the airport hotels area... but I don't know Silvermine Bay. By the way, Priceline US doesn't have this zone yet.

If you decide to go this way, I wouldn't bid this HK$679 at once.. (same as for the counteroffers on PL US), I am sure you will get the 4star for cheaper too... Did you see that they offer a 5 star in Main Beach to Sanctuary Cove zone too? You have any idea which hotel that might be?

Yeah, that's what they do as sort of "counteroffer" within Priceline HK... got emails like that several times when bidding on PL HK (however never ever when bidding on PL SG though it's the same company...)... I don't think the Marriott has been downgraded to 4star.. so you can imagine which 4 star property this might be? Maybe the Courtyard Resort? According to marriott.com the prices start from around 185AUS$/night, don't know how much this is in HK$...

I just assume as it's still quite soon and January1 will be top peak season probably, these hotels don't sell capacity via Priceline yet, they will probably hope to sell more regularly at the moment.

... if he got such a nice view from the rooms towards Houses of Parliament as shown in their webpages, this must be great. (However as PL customer, he will probably get a court view room).

Glad it worked out for you, though - as you said - you still might have saved some bucks... have a nice stay (oops.. I am already talking like thereuare :) )

SOL? - Well, yes, that apparently means that Priceline has no rooms available in that place. Got this message several times too for Langkawi and Kota Kinabalu...

You don't loose anything if you start as soon as possible for bidding the entire 7 nights... as long as you're sure about your stay in Sydney, as you won't be able to change anything after that.

This is really an incredible price, lucky you!

You should check the official rates of the hotels in that zone in that class you want. If there's a price increase during the dates, you could split the bid, or if the hotels are sold out for some of the dates. You should make use of the time you have... as you can use the days for rebid purposes... (e.g. offer for 7 nights at 85 $ rejected... reduce to 6 nights and offer of e.g. 87$ etc.).

Cosmopolitan is Hong Kong Island West zone.

Good luck! I tried several times for several different periods for the - assumingly - 5star Westin... never scored... - The Hyatt Regency is on the Tapae/Coloane Islands-part of Macau as well, but I strongly doubt this will appear in Priceline as a 5star.. as it's near the city centre anyway, it might appear as 4star for Macau City Center as well.. The Westin seems to be a great beach hotel, but it's quite far from the city center (according to Macau's dimensions of distance).

Check the hotel list here. I got the Holiday Inn as a 4-star in city centre before (seems to be the only PL property in the city center). The 5-star on Coloane Island is quite sure the Westin. Be aware that it will probably very hard to get these hotels on weekends for low prices (even on Priceline). Hotel prices during the weekend almost double in comparison to during the week.

Nice deal! Thanks for posting! Maybe I was too high with my 58$ for the Renaissance Brussels ;-).

Yes, I am in that club too... checking already the available weekends.. and in my head there are the nearest Priceline locations... and once I start trying on PL.. hard to get the idea away from my head until I get an accepted offer.... - Just after that I have to struggle for flights etc...