BEAV

Just returned from a one-night stay on Friday, April 22. Purchased for $82 through Hotwire. Normally, I wouldn't pay this much for a room in Reno, however there was a large Volleyball Tournament in town, filling up all the hotels. Was actually glad to secure the room at $82 (minus the Entertainment $30 rebate) due to the pricing and unavailability of most all other major hotels in town. I used to stay regularly at this property from 1995-2000 and always enjoyed it. This was my first time staying here on a Hotwire booking and we were not treated any differently. In fact, the clerk at check-in asked for my bedding choice as well as smoking/non smoking preference. She even asked if I wanted a higher or lower floor. We were given a non-smoking king room on the 22nd floor with a great view of the mountains. Room and bathroom was clean and amply stocked with towels, toiletries, etc. Rooms are quite large, incidentally. As we were attending other functions in town, we did not patronize any of the hotel's restaurants, however there are many, including: Chevy's (serves breakfast as well) Steak House Andiamo (Italian) Asian Noodle restaurant Lindy's coffee shop Java cafe I would not hesitate to stay here again, especially given the friendly service at check-in and all the hotel's creature comforts.

Apparently they have speeded up the rebate process. I mailed a rebate form to Hotwire on Monday, April 18. Received an email from Hotwire on Friday, April 21 acknowledging receipt of the rebate form and advising the credit should be posted within 7 days. Credit posted to my account the next day, Saturday, April 22. Excellent service!

Thanks for the feedback. I used to live in Reno and am all too familiar with the Hilton. Although not the Ritz, it'll suffice for one night. Actually, we booked the Atlantis for Thursday night for just $37.95 at their website. But they're sold out for Friday night. To no surprise, no luck for Atlantis on Priceline or Hotwire for Friday night. The Far Western Volleyball tournament is April 20-25, so I suppose that's contributing to the tighter and $$$ hotel inventory. I knew about this trip a month ago, but figured I could wait, thinking it was post ski season and pre summer!

Not the deal of the century, but thrilled to get it as it's a busy weekend in Reno. Have been searching hotels this past week and anything half way decent is $100-150. Will use the $30 Entertainment rebate to bring the bottom line down further. Earlier this week, this property wasn't displaying on Hotwire, so they must have gained access to inventory within the past few days. Hotwire can relax...they won't receive a double-the-difference claim from me on this one as they are clearly the lowest for this property. Incidentally, I followed your instructions, thereuare, to book through Savings Barn, then to the HOTWIRE link for the $30 rebate. Hope I did it correctly! Amenties are consistant with those most recently reported on the hotel list. They are: Casino Airport Shuttle Restaurants Pools Fitness Center Spa Hi-Speed Internet Children't Activities Golf Tennis Biz Center Laundry

When reviewing Easy Click's list of hotels in any given city, they tend to either say "available" or "on request". Is it a safe assumption that a property displaying as "available" is drawing from real time inventory and is less likely to run into a few of the problems the others have posted about?

Sorry for the delay, but "yes" I did get the $30 rebate on my successful double-the-difference claim!

Per Hotwire's vacation package, the Sheraton Fisherman's Wharf (San Francisco) has been upgraded 3 to 4 stars. Amenity icons still the same as what's on your list. Restaurant Pool Fitness Hi-Speed Internet Business

It's great to see this hotel reported as a Priceline win again. Very rare! It's a winner.....

From today's SF Chronicle: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file...BUGN2BQE9L1.DTL The towering Holiday Inn Downtown will close on June 1 for a six- month, $27 million renovation and will be reflagged as a Hilton hotel when it reopens at the end of this year. The 27-story building, opened in 1970 at 750 Kearny St., will raise its daily room rates and expand its meeting space, chiefly to appeal to business travelers, according to Randall King, regional director of operations for Dow Hotel Co. of Seattle, which manages the property. When it was announced late last year, the company said the hotel would remain open with minimal disruption to guests. But it was not to be. "We tried every which way to keep the hotel open,'' King said, "but we have asbestos abatement issues. We would have had no restaurant and no meeting spaces (during the makeover), so we decided we had to temporarily close the property.'' The 565-room hotel, which charges an average $129 per night as a Holiday Inn, will charge $229 as a Hilton. The hotel will be renamed the Hilton San Francisco Financial District. "Holiday Inn is a good brand, but this market where we're at, in the San Francisco Financial District, is demanding a more upscale brand,'' King said. "We have been getting low- to midrange managers. We want to cater to mid- to top-tier managers. We will be a four-star, four-diamond, state-of-the-art facility.'' The hotel, which houses the Chinese Cultural Center, will continue to host the center when it reopens, King said. The center, which will close during the renovation, will re-emerge with the same 20,000-square foot space and include a new, 299-seat auditorium, a 2, 935-square foot gallery, a bookshop, a classroom and offices, he said. During the renovation, the adjacent park and portions of the bridge that leads to it from the hotel will remain open. The Portsmouth Square property was not one of the 14 hotels affected by the recent San Francisco hotel strike and lockout, though its workers are represented by Unite Here Local 2. King said the hotel will try to retain as many of its staff as possible and will provide counseling, placement and retraining for workers. "We want to make this as painless as possible,'' King said. When the hotel reopens, "It's going to be a fun place again,'' he said. "It just got old.'' The oft-photographed hotel has been a local landmark of sorts since it opened 35 years ago and was seen in the Clint Eastwood film "Dirty Harry.'' Once it reopens as a Hilton, and assuming they'll participate w/Priceline, it will be a sad day for those of us who try to avoid Hiltons! If rated 4 stars by Priceline, it will now mean Hilton properties in both USE and USW zones. Up until now, you could avoid Hiltons by booking the USE zone. The only saving grace would be if it's rated 3 stars. Time will tell!

Glad you got the Park Hyatt for such a great price. It almost *never* comes up on Priceline anymore because of the host of other 4* hotels within their USE zone. As to the 3.5 boutique, it's a toss up wether it's the Harbor Court or Hotel Vitale. I tend to lean towards Vitale for the express reason that I follow this particular zone all the time on Hotwire. Until now, we've never seen a boutique hotel display in this zone. And since the Harbor Court is long established in the zone, while the Vitale just opened last week, I would tend believe it's the Vitale.

I looked for the Monaco on the hotel list, but didn't see it on there before making my first post. But now I see you've got it listed under the vacation package, and yes, w/different amenities than Lisa in Va is seeing. Also, the Prescott's amenities from the hotel list are different than Lisa's search. Since I generally focus on a few, specific areas, are you seeing a fair amount of amenities changing across the country w/HOTWIRE? If so, it's certainly a way to keep us all guessing! :) Also, somewhere along the line I was led to believe corporate owned Marriott (Renaissance) properties don't participate w/HOTWIRE, only franchise properties. I don't believe we've ever seen the Parc 55, Stanford Court or SF Marriott come up before on HOTWIRE, have we?

My guess would be possibly the Hotel Monaco (Kimpton chain). I doubt it's the Hilton or Nikko because both those hotels have pools. Monaco SF

The Entertainment.com website still says the $30 rebate is good for unlimited usage.

I see Expedia sells it as the Hotel 750 as you posted. Did Holiday Inn sell the property ???

I agree the 3.5 is Club Quarters. As to the 3 star, are you referring to the Holiday Inn Select Downtown & Spa. which is at 750 Kearny? If so, I agree as well. Off topic, but a brand new hotel opened today in the Embarcadero zone. Hotel Vitale. It's part of the Joie de Vivre group which sells other SF and South Bay hotels on Hotwire. I'm keeping my eyes pealed we'll see this property soon on Hotwire.

Have you ever tried to use ECT's "off the record" prices against a hotel's best price guarantee program? I'm thinking it wouldn't work since "off the record" is an opaque situation. But if you've been successful with this, I'm all ears! :)

After reading of these two separate incidences, I think it's imperative an ECT customer obtain the hotel's reservation number, not merely ECT's confirmation number. Priceline is great in that you're provided with both the reservation number from the hotel's computer system, plus your Priceline request number. From these two examples, is it safe to assume ECT isn't accessing real-time inventory at the time the customer purchases from them? If correct, is ECT providing documentation during the purchase transaction advising the customer that the reservation is pending....on request....or words to that effect? If they're not, they are leading the customer to believe it's a "done deal" by providing a confirmation number, etc, even though it's not from the hotel's own booking system.

The Santa Clara Hilton (Santa Clara-Sunnyvale zone within San Jose metro area) has been downgraded 4* to 3* per Priceline's vacation package product.

Congrats! You got a great rate at a truly first class hotel in a world class city during the height of the Summer tourist season...

Park Hyatt is a terrific hotel.....have stayed there many times myself. Excellent rooms, staff, ambiance, concierge, etc. And "yes" if the 4.5 Embarcadero customer comments you see mention balconies, it's the Park Hyatt. Omni doesn't have balconies. IMHO you can't go wrong with the Park Hyatt. The 4.5 on Nob Hill is probably the Mark Hopkins Intercontinental. I'd definitely choose Embarcadero (PH or Omni) over 4.5 Nob Hill. Being an older hotel, the Mark Hopkins has a lot of tiny rooms.....and Hotwire customers can only expect to be placed in them. As info, the Four Seasons isn't on Nob Hill. It's on Market St downtown.

I think you're correct. The "regular fares" are just that........the same prices you can buy from the airline (except adding Hotwire's service fee) or Expedia, Travelocity, etc, etc.

Can't disagree with you at all! Maybe I should just put my money where my mouth is and buy a night's hotel in order to solve this one!!! :)

What a difference 10 days makes.......... The Argonaut is now displaying in Hotwire's vacation package as a 4 star, downgraded from 4.5. Amenities are still displaying the same: Restaurant Fitness Hi-Speed Internet Business And the hotel product for July 6-9 is no longer displaying a 4.5 star, but now 4 stars, with amenities of: Fitness Business Now, more than ever, I feel the property displaying in the hotel-only product is the Argonaut, despite the different amenities in the vacation package. I think it's just too coincidental that both properties (assuming they're different) were both downgraded from 4.5 to 4 stars.

Stay tuned! I've submitted the claim for the $30 rebate on a booking I've already received double-the-difference. Probably won't know for 4-6 weeks, but I'll keep you posted........

It may be just me, but I've seen some great Hotwire prices lately, while on the contrary many Priceline rates are on the rise. I believe the Hilton often goes for $65-75 on Priceline. The gap between the two opaque competitors seems to be narrowing a bit! In this case, if I were able to identify the Hilton by it's amenities, I would gladly pay what I consider to be a small amount more through Hotwire if I wanted that particular hotel, vs the gamble for any hotel on Priceline.