TravelGuy

This is the Embassy Suites located on Swensen St., directly across from the Hard Rock, about a mile from the airport ($10 taxi ride), as opposed to the one on Paradise Ave. near the Convention Center. At check-in, I offered my Hilton Honors Gold Card, which was accepted and my number entered into the computer. No points or miles for the stay, but I did get a corner room overlooking the pool. Also, the online folio showed the Priceline rate to be $55, so I was able to see that I was just $2 off with my winning bid of $57. All rooms are true suites, with separate living room and bedroom, that face out onto a huge atrium. (Below on the lobby level is a wedding gazebo and large koi pond, also home to two live swans.) The room smelled like it had been given too heavy a dose of air freshener; not overwhelming but definitely noticeable. I didn't care much for the decor: white finished furniture and elaborate floral prints for the bedspreads and curtains. The bathroom was fairly large, but shower water pressure somewhat less than ideal. Overall I wasn't too impressed with the room, but it wasn't that bad either, and I eventually got used to it. Breakfast, included in the room rate, was an impressive spread. An all you can eat, cooked to order breakfast - eggs/omelettes any style, pancakes, ham, bacon, sausage, hash browns - was cranked out by two first rate cooks with a great sense of humor. Plenty of yoghurt, fresh fruit, bagels, muffins, juices and cereals, also available in an adjacent room. Hours, I believe, are 7-9:30 a.m. weekdays and 7:00-10:30 a.m. weekends and holidays. But be sure to get there early enough, as they firmly pull the plug on the whole operation promptly at the designated closing time. The pool area was a very pleasant surprise. A large, lagoon-like pool with waterfall snakes from one end of the property to the other amidst a few dozen palm trees. Two separate spa areas are set apart from the pool, secluded by large rocks. Although there were about 150 lounge chairs set out, less than a dozen people were using the area on a perfect day. No need to show your room key to get in, just grab a towel from the stack before the entrance doors and head right through. Poolside cocktail service provided. When you're ready for some Vegas action, a free shuttle to the Strip leaves the hotel at 15 and 45 minutes after the hour from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., stopping at Bally's and MGM.

What first struck me when I got in was that the pictures of the hotel on Hyatt.com, although ok, really don't do an adequate job of capturing the considerable style and spirit of the place. The structure, designed by the internationally renown architect Michael Graves is a lot more striking. And the vibrant neoclassical, postmodern theme that runs through the entire project, from the exterior, to the spacious, colorful public areas and individual rooms, doesn't come through in the pictures at all. After outstanding service at check-in, I was given a room on the 11th floor with a "preferred" (pool) view thanks to my Gold Passport membership. The room was bright, airy and quite large. Some minor wear on the furniture, but of little consequence overall. The bed was very firm, but not too hard. There was a kind of minimalist or spare feel to the room, that some may take to be neglect, but which seemed to me to be by design and quite attractive (I've seen complaints about "nothing special" rooms in other reviews). The bathroom was also very large, with extraordinary water pressure in the shower. The pool area, consisting of a large lap pool encircled by cabanas and palm trees, is supurb. The neighboring health club, Sporting Club One, owned by the same group that owns the hotel, is truly first class - three floors of a full range of the latest cardio and weight equipment. Use of the pool is free to guests, the health club is $12, with $2 off for Gold Passport members. The hotel has a hip lounge, Michael's, which is *the* place to be in La Jolla on Thursday nights (cover charge waived for hotel guests). There's also a " restaurant village" adjacent to the hotel with several very highly rated restaurants. But for breakfast, particularly Sunday Brunch, try The Cottage in La Jolla Village, and then head over to Goldfish Point Cafe for a second cup of coffee while enjoying the fabulous view of La Jolla Cove. A memorable stay.

There's an almost Euro feel to this place in the way that tasteful design compensates for an economy of space. The hotel has 16 floors and a unique, slimly cylindrical shape, with just 16 rooms on each floor. Rooms seem on the small side, particularly upon entering, but, as mentioned above, fan out into a triangular shape, so that things begin to seem at least satisfactorily spacious after taking a few steps inside. The room's ambiance and decor are somewhat above what one would expect to find at a Holiday Inn. The armoire in lieu of a closet is particularly a nice touch (as well as a practical necessity, as there's no available space to put a closet). My view from the14th floor, of downtown San Diego and part of the harbor - including a corner of Coronado and the Star of India tall ship parked at the Maritime Museum - was also terrific. Looking down onto the water, shimmering brilliantly in the bright afternoon sun as sailboats slid gracefully across, was mesmerizing. Adjacent to the compact check-in and lobby area is the hotel's sole source of food and drink, a small but fairly stylish cafe with reasonable prices. The pool, ringed by about a dozen lounge chairs and 4 umbrella tables, is small as well, but interesting in that it's 8

First bid. Check-In Date: Mon, Sep 29, 2003 Check-Out Date: Tue, Sep 30, 2003 Your Offer Price: $52.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $52.00 Taxes andService Fees: $12.74 Total Charges: $64.74 2 room suite with breakfast included. Got this for a relative who has a business appointment within walking distance. Then it occurred to me that this would be a very interesting possibility for Washington tourists as well, particularly families with kids or other groups, as it provides the extra space of suite for less than a regular room located in DC proper. Catch the Metro, located right across the street, and be in downtown DC in just 15 minutes, or about 25 minutes to the National Mall area. And Bethesda isn't without offerings of its own, particularly its restaurant district, which is terrific. This is the only 2.5* I've ever seen reported in this zone. $249 on marriott.com

Bid $30 for 2.5* in Fairfax, rejected. Then $30 for 2* Fairfax, accepted. Might have overbid by a few dollars, but only wanted to stay in Fairfax and it was getting late. Check-In Date: Fri, Sep 19, 2003 Check-Out Date: Mon, Sep 22, 2003 Your Offer Price: $30.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 3 Subtotal: $90.00 Taxes andService Fees: $14.66 Total Charges: $104.66 $107.63/night on Candlewoodsuites.com

Could you let us know the dates for your winning bid? Thanks.

South Tower rooms bookable only on HotelKingdom.com.

Bid 2.5*for Chantilly zone at $30, got counteroffer of $38 Upped to $32 and added Sterling, accepted. Your Offer Price: $32.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 3 Subtotal: $96.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $15.17 Total Charges: $111.17 $104/night on AmeriSuites.com 6 miles from Washington Dulles airport, 25 miles from downtown DC.

Started with 3* for UNLV at $44, got counteroffer of $62 Added Boulder Strip and upped to $52, another counteroffer of $62 Added Nellis and upped to $57, accepted. Your Offer Price: $57.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $57.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $11.19 Total Charges: $68.19 An all suite hotel, all with separate living rooms (and pull-out couch), located very close to the Hard Rock. All you can eat, cooked to order breakfast and 2 drinks at "manager's reception" included. This was my target hotel, which will be perfect for a midnight arrival with a friend, before moving into separate rooms at Luxor for the next 2 nights. A savings of more than $100 over doing Luxor for all 3 nights. I would just add that it seems to me that Priceline is particularly stubborn about counteroffers for Las Vegas rooms, requiring higher bids to undercut them than is generally the case.

If you're not already a Hyatt Gold Passport member, I would join now. Then call and have them add your HGP number to your reservation - you can do this even though you've booked through Priceline. According to tripadvisor.com, the higher floors are much better at the NYC Grand Hyatt, so you might want to make sure and indicate high floor in your HGP preferences. Being an HGP member and having your preferences noted in advance on your folio should help insulate you from the bad experiences others have described.

Perhaps the moderator could edit the subject line to your last winning bid, that says Feb 4. My hunch is that a bid today for 2/14-17/03 at a similar amount as your last one will get a bite. If it were me though, I would first bid for downtown at 4* at $55-65 for the heck of it, as the only hotel that's come up in that zone is the Intercontonental, which IMO is substantially better than the Hyatt. If unsuccessful, I would then start a new bid for downtown at 3* $57 seems rather high to me for 3* Miami downtown absent unusually high occupancy, and I suspect that Priceline rates for hotels in that zone will come down substantially closer to the actual dates. The reason you're finding so little information about other bids for that timeframe is that the vast majority don't bid this far in advance.

Didn't it just take you $57 to get the Hyatt downtown, which is a 3*, for those same dates?

I would agree to nix 2* for NYC. As to 2.5*, I would suggest shooting for the Courtyard with a new bid for 2.5* MTE asap at $75, then $80 adding UM/CPS. I've seen successes at $77 for Courtyard when their web rate is higher than it is now, so I wouldn't go over $80 at the moment. Although PL has them at 2.5, they're a AAA & Mobil 3*. If it were me, I would not go beyond MTE for 2.5*. Although, I have seen a couple of good 2.5's come up in MTS (along with one major dud - so a risk), and the Franklin, the only 2.5* I've seen reported in UES is nice, but not convenient for you. It's still quite early. You have plenty of time to keep bidding after getting your backup.

If your 4* and 3* strategies don't work out, I would strongly recommend considering bidding 2.5* in MTE. The only hotel that I've seen come up in this category, and it comes up often, is the Courtyard by Marriott. I've heard nothing but good things about the place, including from a group of relatives I sent up there earlier this year through PL. The successful bid range appears to be $65-80. Given that Marriott.com is currently showing a rate of $239 for your dates, I would suggest a bid of $75-77.

My recommendation would be for downtown. There's so much to see and do downtown within walking distance or a quick trolley ride. You could explore the coastline almost as easily from downtown, as none of the hotels that come up in the Coastal zone are right on the water. I would avoid bidding 3* downtown though because you could get the Hilton Harbor Island, although all the other 3's are fine. You should have no problem finding a 4* downtown within your budget. The Manchester Grand Hyatt has been coming up recently for just $55 for August dates.

I see now that mz was also looking at the airport zone; had originally thought he was focusing exclusively on the Hyatt Downtown. IMO though I would be shocked and awed to see a 3* bid in the $30-40 something range, or even low-mid $50's, being upgraded to 4* in Key Biscayne. So I think that's a good bone fide re-bid.

This hotel is a Priceline 3*.

Another thing I see here is that, unless one doesn't mind staying near the airport, it can be risky using the airport zone as a re-bid for downtown. In this case a $35 bid was probably $4-5 too low to get a bite from an airport hotel, but one never knows. It would appear that the optimal strategy for bidding in downtown Miami, as of today, would be: - Start with 3* Downtown - add North Miami (has nothing over 2.5*) - add Southwest Miami (has nothing over 2.5*) - add Key Biscayne (has nothing from 1*-3*, only 4* & Resort) There's a theoretical possibility of getting upgraded to 4* using Key Biscayne, but if that were to happen, most people would probably consider it cause for celebration and not disappointment. That zone used to show 3* availability, but it's apparently off the radar now.

Hi TravelGirl! Welcome to Betterbidding. :)

First bid.

Started with $36 for Downtown - no Upped to $38 *accepted* Taxes & Fees $14.84 Hotwire wanted $43.

Just signed up. Thanks!

I see another issue here which is the exchange rate. The Canadian Dollar has been shooting up in value recently against the U.S.$. I believe I saw something that it was up 16% last week. As this trend appears likely to continue, perhaps then it may be better to act sooner rather than later for Canadian bookings.

Got this for a friend who needed something last minute. Started with 2 1/2* for Hampton@$32 - rejected Raised to $35 adding Newport News - rejected New 2* bid for Hampton@$32 - got counter offer of $40 Raised to $36 - *accepted* Taxes and fees were $10.21

Thanks for the review. I'm considering trying for this hotel on my next trip to San Diego. With it being located right in the flight path to the airport and near the freeway, did you find noise to be a problem at all?