BEAV

Hotwire is no longer listing both Omni & Park Hyatt as 'Customer Favorites'. I was checking Hotwire in this zone for July 1-5, and the 4.5 for these dates does not come with the designation of 'Customer Favorite'. So then I punched in James' dates of Dec 16-20, and the 4.5 diplaying is a 'Customer Favorite.' One customer comment described the hotel as "ornate". I strongly believe this is a reference to the Omni based on it's style & decor. Park Hyatt is modern & contemporary. So I'm now speculating that the Omni is the 4.5 'Customer Favorite', where as Park Hyatt is just a 4.5! If true, that's a big step in differentiating between these two hotels!

Interesting "unveiling" of the Westin! There is also a 4.5 stars in the Union Square East displaying on these same dates. I was always under the "hunch" that the 4.5 was the Westin. Now the mystery is which hotel is it!!!

We stayed there last September. We booked 3 rooms via Priceline (same transaction) but all checked in separately. We were the first to check in and were assigned the "old" tower. Our request for a king, non-smoking room was honored. Friends checking in later were assigned the newer tower. Go figure! A friend of mine stayed there just about a month ago and had some problems. I posted his experience on a different thread here at BB, but here are the comments again for your info... A friend of mine checked into the Hyatt Manchester in San Diego this past week (on a Priceline reservation). He is Platinum w/Hyatt. He asked for a high floor in the "new" tower. The desk employee immediately responded that "we don't put Priceline people in those rooms" and proceeded to assign him a room on the 8th floor of the "old" tower. The two towers are 33 and 40 stories, by the way. The employee further stated "I see by your Gold Passport profile you only book through Priceline." WOW! Some Hyatt employee was obviously having a "bad hair day"! Let me state at this point my friend is not the demanding type and knows how to conduct himself as a gentleman. He proceeded to his room, called the hotel's General Manager, and relayed the experience at the front desk. The GM apologized, reassigned him to a corner room on the 18th floor of the new tower, and promised to counsel the employee. To be fair, I'm sure there are those times when all that's left are "Priceline rooms" to assign. Especially so in cases of late night check-ins at properties at, or very near capacity. In my friend's case, he checked in around 3:00pm on Friday afternoon. Although I have no idea how full the hotel was that night, it's reasonable to assume that the business crowd would be absent on a Friday night, especially on a holiday weekend. It's a shame the Priceline "stigma" often rears it's ugly head. The Utell agreement clearly states that it's the hotel that determines the Priceline rate, not Priceline. If a 4 star big city hotel decides to load a $50 Priceline rate into the system, then the guest booking that rate should be treated no differently. Certainly not "branded" as a Priceline guest and assigned an inferior room when better are available. The majority of my own Priceline stays have been good, if not great! But there's still a lot of hotel employees out there who could gain a lot in Customer Service if they had knowledge of Priceline's agreements with it's vendors. It's my guess a lot of them don't know key points such as the "Extend Valued Guest Treatment" clause.

I got in on the same Hotwire deal badleroybrown mentioned. I've cruised Hotwire quite a bit and have often found grossly inflated rates. I've seen some in excess of $1000 a night. In the case of the $492 room, it was legit, however....the hotel had plenty of space. That hotel is going to have lots of no shows on that particular date! If it weren't for Hotwire's annual $1000 ceiling, I'd quit my real job and file claims all day!!

Just a follow-up here regarding my claim w/Hilton. To no surprise, I didn't hear back from Hilton on Apr 29 after leaving email & voice mail on Apr 28. So I picked up the phone and called. My first question was asking the Rep if she could determine from the booking history when I had made the reservation. She answered Apr 28. I then explained that I had booked on Apr 27 and had email confirmation from Hilton verifying this. I asked if by chance the times in Hilton's computers were Grenwich (sp?) Mean Time? My booking was made at 6:00pm Pacific Time Apr 27, which is obviously already Apr 28 Grenwich Mean Time. A question like this totally threw her off the deep end!! So I asked for a supervisor, waited about 20 minutes, explained the entire situation over again and finally got them to approve my claim. At some point you have to ask yourself is it worth all of this. But I was determined to hold my ground not only on principle, but because I'm sure they want to make it as hard for you as possible in an effort to discourage. Although Hotwire's D-the-D is the most lucrative, I think Hyatt has the best program since the transaction is made by phone with a human. No getting locked into time zone arguments, differing room types, etc, etc, etc.

The 4 star "Customer Favorite" in the Embarcadero zone is the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero, whereas both Park Hyatt & Omni are each 4.5 stars. All three Customer Favorites!

Be careful of the mention of CD players. Having stayed at the Park Hyatt, I was elated to see CD players pop up in the customer favorites comments. But then I went to Omni's website and looked at their room amenities. The Omni rooms have CD players too! I can't comment as to big comforters since I've never stayed at the Omni. Balconies are the key to the Park Hyatt, and the "worthy of 5 star rating" at the Omni! Good luck!

wcj1, Thanks for the clarification. That's just what I was hoping for.....someone who could pull up a past winning bid and see what zone it's in.

Sorry, I simply forgot to add Villa Florence. I edited my original post to include the Hilton and Moser, but not before you read it. You're FAST! The Hilton I referred to is the same as what you call "San Francisco Hilton". Also the Moser is the same hotel as what you call the Moser Victorian. The Renaissance Stanford Court is a toss up. It physically lies at the southwest corner of Powell & California. Looking at Priceline's Union Square West map, you'd think it lies in the West zone. The only reason I reported it as being in the East zone is because the last time Priceline separated East from West zones (Powell St was the border then as it is again now) someone at TOBB reported a winning bid for the Stanford Court in the East zone. It's just too close to call, in my opinion.

The change just occurred today. When I checked yesterday, it was still one big massive zone. Union Square East - Embarcadero 4* Grand Hyatt 4* Hyatt Regency Embarcadero 4* Marriott 4* Omni 4* Park Hyatt 4* Westin St Francis 4* Renaissance Stanford Court 3* Sir Francis Drake Boutique Moser Boutique Juliana Boutique Harbor Court Note: The downtown hotel list says there are both 4* and 3* Hyatt Regencys. There is only one downtown Regency and it's the 4* Hyatt Regency Embarcadero. I suspect it's on the list twice because it used to be rated 3 * but was upgraded to 4 *. This shouldn't be confused with the 3* Hyatt Regency in the SFO Airport zone. Union Square West 4* Hilton 4* Renaissance Parc 55 Boutique Serrano

I failed to mention before I booked w/Hilton on 4/27 I called and asked if a booking made on 4/27 for a stay on 4/30 qualified for their best price guarantee and was told "yes". Not that you can take that to the bank...but I did call to verify before I proceeded any further. If they still deny the claim tomorrow, I'll just cancel before 6:00pm. Nothing lost. It's a 100% discretionary stay anyway.....just a short weekend getaway for a cheap price. I've already got the same thing booked for a few weeks from now and that claim has been already been confirmed by Hilton. Thanks for your concern, though!

Hotturnip, I cashed in this same deal. Same purchase price, same amount of "net" profit. My transaction was smooth, however. Made the purchase on a Wednesday, received confirmation from Hotwire on Thursday my claim was approved, and refund posted to my credit card on Friday. Start-to-finish in 3 days. I had submitted a previous claim in November and thought I had to wait a year until I could file another. Before I made the purchase, I emailed Hotwire for clarification of the $1000 per year "cap". Turns out the maximum pay out is per calender year. With that info I went ahead and submitted claim #2. The only unfortuntate thing now is that January 2005 is a long ways off before I can "roll the dice" again! I've been fortunate to have great success w/Hotwire's D-the-D. At the other end of the spectrum, I'm currently dealing w/Hilton on my 2nd claim with them. This one was too good to pass up. The Santa Clara Hilton goes for $99 at Hilton.com for April 30. Expedia sells it for $89. After Hilton matches the $89 rate and sends the $50 American Express gift cheque, it brings the price down to $39. For $39 you get the room, HiltonHonors points and airline miles. Best thing is Hilton's price is fully cancellable if cancelled 24 hours prior. I reserved the room at Hilton's website on Apr 27 for Apr 30, then immediately filed the claim. Today (Apr 28) I received an email denying the claim saying I reserved the room on Apr 28. Their terms & conditions exclude rooms booked within 72 hours of arrival. I replied saying I had booked on Apr 27, and even have the email confirmation from Hilton proving it. No response. After a few hours I called Hilton and got them to confirm I had in fact booked on Apr 27. Then I was transfered to voice mail of the representative who had denied the claim. I expect to hear back from her tomorrow. If I dont, the res gets cancelled. Hilton's customer service is pathetic!

James, I just checked your date (Dec 16) and the customer comments are too vague to be able to determine whether or not this is the Park Hyatt or Omni. One customer, however, remarked about "remodled" rooms. This would sway me (a little) to think it's the Omni as it's in an older building. Park Hyatt is in a more modern, contemporary building. Since your stay is so far in the future, my advice would be to keep checking as Hotwire rotates customer comments all the time. As Thereuare said, if you ever read comments about balconies, you'll know it's the Park Hyatt. If you ever run across comments saying the hotel is worth it's 5-star rating, you'll know it's the Omni. Until recently, Hotwire rated the Omni 5 stars, but it's been downgraded to 4.5. The 5-star customer comment, however, keeps popping up every now and then. The things we do to unmask a hotel's identity! :)

Steph58, Thanks for the feedback on Hilton. It's absurd they exclude their prepaid rates from the guarantee program. The terms & conditions certainly don't mention it. I just try to avoid Hiltons altogether, if at all possible.

Can you provide a link to the promo so we can check the validity period, restrictions, qualifications, etc? Thanks!

Your post is "right on". I'm currently staying at the Hotel Topaz (Kimpton property) in Dupont Circle zone. My stay is April 19-22, three nights. I have been bidding this trip since early February, with absolutely no luck w/Priceline. I have made multiple bids every 72 hours for over two months! Your comment with regards to Priceline's availability changing on a daily basis is all too true. My last bid of $120 for the Convention Center zone placed on Sunday 4/18 was rejected! I capped my bid at $120 as that is the rate I have at the Topaz (fully cancellable up to 24 hours prior). I was willing to bid up to my Topaz rate in order to accrue additional nights with Gold Passport, assuming I'd get assigned the Grand Hyatt when bidding the Convention Center zone. I'm very fortunate to have landed the Topaz for $120 I found through wholesaler 'RoomsForLess.com' as Kimpton was charging $249 directly through the hotel itself. This is not a week to be paying conventional rates in DC!

Thanks for 'unmasking' the Argonaut! I was extensively researching Hotwire's Fisherman's Wharf properties a few weeks ago. The 4.5 was the only hotel I couldn't identify through the vacation product (at that time). I had a hunch it was the Argonaut, but it's great to move it over from the 'suspect' to 'confirm' column! In case it's not already been noted, the Argonaut is another Kimpton property (boutique hotels). Gets good reviews at TripAdvisor.com. Enjoy your stay!

Ringman, Using your theory, how would Priceline handle the situation if there were two hotels in the zone, rather than just the one, as in your example? Let's say Hotel B has rates of $58 $68 $78 and $98. Which hotel is Priceline going to assign on the customer's bid of $100?

Hotwire's vacation package now indicates the Reno Peppermill is 3.5 stars (down from 4 stars). This is advantageous since it's amenities are the same as the 4 star Atlantis.

Thanks for posting the link, WillTravel. I find the following directive from Priceline to hotel vendors both interesting & informative.... Too bad people who've been assigned the dreaded "Priceline rooms" (near elevators, ice machines, etc) didn't have prior knowledge of Priceline's requirements. A friend of mine checked into the Hyatt Manchester in San Diego this past week (on a Priceline reservation). He is Platinum w/Hyatt. He asked for a high floor in the "new" tower. The desk employee immediately responded that "we don't put Priceline people in those rooms" and proceeded to assign him a room on the 8th floor of the "old" tower. The two towers are 33 and 40 stories, by the way. The employee further stated "I see by your Gold Passport profile you only book through Priceline." WOW! Some Hyatt employee was obviously having a "bad hair day"! Let me state at this point my friend is not the demanding type and knows how to conduct himself as a gentleman. He proceeded to his room, called the hotel's General Manager, and relayed the experience at the front desk. The GM apologized, reassigned him to a corner room on the 18th floor of the new tower, and promised to counsel the employee. To be fair, I'm sure there are those times when all that's left are "Priceline rooms" to assign. Especially so in cases of late night check-ins at properties at, or very near capacity. In my friend's case, he checked in around 3:00pm on Friday afternoon. Although I have no idea how full the hotel was that night, it's reasonable to assume that the business crowd would be absent on a Friday night, especially on a holiday weekend. It's a shame the Priceline "stigma" often rears it's ugly head. The Utell agreement clearly states that it's the hotel that determines the Priceline rate, not Priceline. If a 4 star big city hotel decides to load a $50 Priceline rate into the system, then the guest booking that rate should be treated no differently. Certainly not "branded" as a Priceline guest and assigned an inferior room when better are available. The majority of my own Priceline stays have been good, if not great! But there's still a lot of hotel employees out there who could gain a lot in Customer Service if they had knowledge of Priceline's agreements with it's vendors. It's my guess a lot of them don't know key points such as the "Extend Valued Guest Treatment" clause.

In my first Hotwire DtheD claim, the lower rate I had found was no longer available by the time Hotwire got around to checking it out for themself. If it weren't for the fact that I had printed the lower rate at the time I discovered it, I would have been out of luck. When they rejected my claim due to the rate no longer being available, my response was to let me fax them my proof. They immediately emailed back a fax number, and that was that. Can't stress enough the importance of printing out the rates you find.

Bid this last week for two family members. Initial bids of $61 & $64 were rejected. Note: While researching the vacation package for the same date, I was able to determine the $65 hotel rate by breaking down the air/hotel taxes, and having knowledge of the local hotel tax rate. In this particular case, Priceline charged no more for the room via the vacation package than hotel-only bidding.

If that were the case, then all a hotel has to do is ensure their Priceline rate is lower than all the other competitors in town in order to "capture" each Priceline bid made. I cannot see where hotel chains, collectively, would agree to such an arrangement. Living near SF, I follow the award postings closely. Not too long ago, someone posted on TOBB getting the Renaissance Parc 55 for $75. The majority of the times, we see winning bids in the $55-70 range at the Hyatt, Marriott & Hilton. In this case, the poster's initial bid was $75, as opposed to starting lower and working up. I'd be willing to bet a lower rate was available for their date at any one of the other 3 hotels. Can't prove it, but it's a pretty clear indication to me that Priceline books at the highest qualifying rate. The problem in Cindywuer's predicament, as I see it, is not knowing all of Priceline's rates at both the Wyndham & Gaylord. That's what makes targeting a specific hotel nothing more than a gamble. Sometimes you'll win, other times you won't....no different than Vegas!

Cindywuer, I believe Thereuare thought that the Grand Hyatt only had one rate w/Priceline ($75) when he made that post last year. I'll certainly let him speak for himself, though, to avoid any misunderstanding. I assume most everyone participating in this thread, however, probably agree that Priceline has multiple rates on a given date at a given hotel based on the more recent posts. If true, a person could in fact have still been assigned the Grand Hyatt at $95 in the example cited. Hope that clears it up a little for you. I empathize with your Orlando situation! I would say "go for it" with regards to bidding up, if (and only if) you are willing to accept the consequences, should you wind up at the Wyndham on an $80-90 bid. I'm wrestling with the same situation in San Francisco. Many hotels in the 4-star category go for $55-70. The Park Hyatt has been going for $85 minimum. I'm very tempted to bid $85 and "test the waters." But, I have to heed the same warning I gave you.....don't be mad if I wind up at the lower-priced Hilton!

Not sure where to post this because it's not a star level or zone change, but rather amenity changes. Feel free to move it wherever you wish! Thanks to the vacation package, I've noted the following amenity changes: Mirage - Now listed as a Resort property. Still 4.5 stars. Amenities are.... Resort (new) Casino Restaurant Pool Fitness Hi-Speed Internet (new) Business Center Golf (new) Tennis Spa Harrah's - Still 3.5 Stars. Amenities are... Casino Restaurant Pool Fitness Golf (new) Spa Note: Business Center no longer appears