Chris26WI

Well, after my second stay at the Holiday Inn Silom now, and after my low expectations after my last experiences... I must now admit that the stay was not so bad after all.... Well, sure, I have to say that I once again upgraded my PL deal to an executive floor room (Crowne Tower) against 24US$++ surcharge, and I someway was happier with the room now than last time.. don't know why... just felt quite comfortable in this room though it was still not renovated, but spacious, offered a nice view (ask for the riverview-side) and had a nice large bathroom. The service in the Executive Floor (lounge) was really fine, nothing to complain about, the breakfast buffet in the lounge again nice (eggs done by order etc.) and the cocktails and snacks in the evening nice as well. For 24 US$ surcharge for sure a good deal, worth it. The drawbacks for the Holiday Inn are still the ugly pool (cement everywhere, small, lacks decoration), the location (lower end of Silom Road) and maybe (for active non-smokers) the smokers-friendly attitude (I got a non-smoking room upon reservation; after I asked for a smoking room upon check-in I just got an ashtray brought by the room service, and this made a "smoking room" out of a "non-smoking room" in the non-smoking floor ;-) ). However, all over, it's still IMHO more a 3-star-hotel, not more and not less (apart from executive floor to which I'd admit in terms of service a 4-star level, but that's not what you book in Priceline). By the way, for the first time I stayed in the Tawana Ramada too (Surawongse, Riverside-Silom) which was given to me as a 3-star priceline hotel for Bangkok, and was positively surprised (will post an separate review here later), and I would prefer the Tawana Ramada to the Holiday Inn - the Tawana Ramada was experienced by me as a very lovely, charming hotel, with a service-level worth of 4-stars or even higher! A real deal for Bangkok. The problem is just, that it might happen to be "upgraded to 4-star-hotel" in Priceline, when trying to get the 3-star Tawana Ramada in Priceline... as these hotels are in the same PL zones :-(. (Other story of course, when getting upgraded to 4-star and getting the Marriott Resort... but which is a risky tactics).... (ps.: though these pictures have the logo "ciao!" these are my pictures which I also posted in this German web community)

Yeah, KL didn't seem to offer good PL deals up to date as the hotels in KL are usually already quite inexpensive by booking over the official sites. Well, maybe this bid could mean that PL makes now a difference between the New World Wing and the Renaissance Wing for the Renaissance as it seems to be clearly identified ("New World Wing") in your post.

Isn't it getting to boring to stay at this hotel almost for a lifetime now :) ? ;-)

yeah, schedulded to be open in January 2006: see: http://www.ihgplc.com/media/index.a...2003&NewsID=737 This hotel will not be of the same ownership as the Holiday Inn Silom (which belongs to the Harilela Group. Maybe they will sell via Priceline then too.

- Location: on the lower end of Silom Road, so not really great location, around 5-10 mins walk to Surasak BTS - Service: ok, but nothing special - Pool: a lot of cement... not many plants, small, not inviting; pool staff nice however - Rooms: Plaza Tower (cheaper one): actually renovated rooms (but haven't stayed there yet); Crowne Tower (more expensive one): larger rooms with separate shower cubicle, but not renovated yet; 2-3 executive floors with nice lounge on the top. - They charge joiner's fee in case of guests in the room. Allover, it's nothing special, especially the rooms (in Crowne Tower) need urgent upgrading; the lounge however is nice because of the greate "private" breakfast buffet and the nice snacks in the evening which could serve as dinner as well. View from lounge to Chao Paya river nice. Definetely more a 3-star (or 2.5 star) than a 4-star.

Just had a look at siam.net.. and they list the Holiday Inn (there still listed as Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza) as a 5-star!!!! What a joke! And they have another Holiday Inn, Ploenchit... there... strange... In holiday-inn.com I don't find a HI in Ploenchit. Is it a new one or a former HI?

I wouldn't fix too much on special periods.. maybe just use it as a starting point with one week in the middle and then you can you the "change dates" function in a lot of combinations to get (more or less) free rebids to approach the needed minimum price... later-on you can add the weeks/days before and after...

Nice to see the Marriott coming up again - after having seen (and experienced :-( ) the Holiday Inn Silom so many times lately. Lucky you!

Lucky you! Seems they "just" made vacancies available to PL... and 70$ is ok IMHO.

Stayed here for one night and found it an excellent hotel with one of the best and friendliest hotel personnel I've experienced in Germany up to now. Check-in was extremely friendly, everything was prepared already, I was offered help with my little trolley (what I denied of course ;-) ), apples and "Gummibaerchen" (Haribo sweets) offered for free at the reception, after 2 minutes I got my room key and a little shopping map of Hamburg. The room was in 1st floor, red floor, wooden furniture, usual room amenities (TV, Pay-TV, Minibar, Desk with internet access etc.). However no steam iron, no bath robes and no fruits for welcome or anything else. Bathroom was very clean and relatively modern - though not really of "high design". Comfortable king-size bed with nice matress; the room was sort of over-heated when I entered, so I activated the air-condition which started working quite noisy - but later became more quiet. Windows could be opened, but a bit noisy from outside (shopping area); no noise when closed (soundproof). Fast room-service, room-service prices not too high, IMHO (Renaissance Burger - very big and tasty - 9,70 EUR incl. tax and service charges); very nice service in the hotel bar as well (drinks at reasonable prices - for hotel level -, cocktails from around 7 EUR), excellent staff allover the hotel. The location is really fine, in the city centre of Hamburg, 5 minutes walk to the "Binnenalster" and same to the city hall. Several parking houses next to the hotel (around 13 euro/24 hrs of parking). Really a great deal for Hamburg for 4-star Priceline.... in Hamburg hotel lists, the Renaissance appears as a 5-star-hotel. Bathroom1 Bathroom2 Floor map Deluxe Room Deluxe Room2 Deluxe Room3

I had similar experience with the Renaissance Hamburg lately. Got a deal with PL HK for 1 night, but however checked on marriott.com afterwards about room availability and they showed only club rooms available upwards for that night. However, during my stay the hotel seemed almost empty... so probably only a system error on marriott.com.

...actually, I can confirm now that the minimum "next-bid-step" in Priceline Singapore is indeed 5SG$!

Budapest Marriott Hotel Apaczai Csere Janos U 4 Budapest, H-1364 Hungary 36 1 266 7000 Zone: Budapest Check-In: Tuesday, 18 January 2005 Check-Out: Thursday, 20 January 2005 Your Offer Price: SG$107 (~65 US$) Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 2 Subtotal: SG$214 Taxes: SG$32.40 Processing Fee: SG$16.50 (per offer) Total Lodging Charges: SG$262.90 --- Started with 92SG$ -> rejected, added 5$ (97$) -> rejected, added 5$ -> rejected, added 5$ -> accepted. So 65US $ (107 SG$) really seem to be the lowest price. ;-)

Budapest Marriott Hotel Apaczai Csere Janos U 4 Budapest, Hungary Check-In Date: Thu, Jan 20, 2005 Check-Out Date: Fri, Jan 21, 2005 Your Offer Price: $65.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $65.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $17.58 Total Charges: $82.58 ---- Started with 63$ for two nights... -> rejected, reduced to one night, 65$ - > accepted. Marriott.com says 135 EUR+16% tax. So nice saving.

Hmm.. Dave... not 100 % sure, as I usually do bid on PL HK... not PL SG... however I think to remember that the rebid increase level is a bit lower in PL SG than in PK HK... but I wouldn't swear.. I think to remember that it's really only 5 SG$ on PL SG, but not sure!

and PL HK/SG allow rebids by only increasing your bid by 50HK$ (5SG$) after rejection - without having to use free re-bids or adding zones/changing dates for that.

... I am just wondering if I am the only one around who got the Holiday Inn Golden Mile for 4-star Kowloon :)

Seems you'll have to bid high.. the cheap 4-star-upgrade-times for the JW HKT seem to be over, at least for the high season. I've seen a successful bid for the Allamanda Laguna (4star) in TOBB, offical rates on Marriott.com for the JW start at around 260US$ for the period you want, so I don't assume you will get anything there for <100$ offer (if ever). Sheraton Grande Laguna starts at 225US$/night at starwood.com, so maybe slightly better chances for the Sheraton Laguna? I don't know.. - For 5-star you will for sure have to go "high" in bids for the period named... Good luck!

Starwood has a campaign running currently where they charge you 1$ something (40 Bt. in Thailand) to your bill for every night as a gift to Unesco Children's Foundation or something - to all guests, not only PL guests.. - But this is volontarily, of course you can deny the payment, but you have to tell them during check-out.

Ok, ok.. I was confusing it with the air trip tickets.... but well, everyone should be able to read the respective pages of PL Asia ;-))

Priceline Asia is currently running a promotion for special deals for 4-star hotel in Bangkok (riverside, so usually the Holiday Inn in this context, I think), 200HK$ (25US$) per night for 20 bookings (first come - first served) or 45SG$ (Priceline SG). Other promotions for hotel in Tokyo and flights betw. HK/BKK, SIN/HK, HK/Tokyo etc. .. for sure worth a look and try... also 4star-central Kowloon for 100SG$! (SG site) Promotion on PL HK valid for bookings until Dec31 2004, max. 3 nights Promotion on PL SG valid unlimited (?), max. 14 days!! 3 nights priceline.com.hk/ema/www/promo/hk/eng/surprise/promo_oct.jsp priceline.com.sg/ema/www/promo/sg/surprise/promo_oct.jsp

Oh, I just saw that Priceline apparently pays 49 EUR to Berlin Marriott per night for this stay.. - After having let my MR number add to my booking, I can see the PL reservations in my marriott.com site now.. and they show the rate per night there.. that's interesting and new!

Yeah, I have to admit, I am flying on Air Asia too... the price difference is just too distinct to the "usual "carriers to stick on the established ones... and the service is ok (friendly, and the sandwiches are cheap and not bad), they're usually on time.. so what.. - especially on the international routes, it's really very much cheaper (e.g. BKK-KUL or BKK-SIN or BKK-Macau (HK)... sometimes up to around 3 times cheaper. "Locos" should mean "low-cost".. I assume..

I've tried some bids for Paris for christmas (2 nights only), but only up to around 75$ bid, and mostly for La Defense (wanted the Renaissance there).. but rejected... but got a counteroffer, but can't remember how high it was ... to high for sure... I can imagine getting a 7-nights-priceline stay in Paris over New Year will be verrrrry difficult if you don't go high in your bids... I'd recommend to split the bid... you might still book conventionally for at least the New Year's night and around - if you're up to hotelhopping. Good luck - or: "bonne chance"

Yeah, that's not unusual... but that's what is called a "counteroffer" in Priceline US/UK - where it is done electronically sometimes.. - so you should consider this when they seem to tell you the "real" minimum offer price... - meaning better bid again on the web and just increase your offer a bit, but never to the price they tell you by e-mail :)