ElPal

Hi there again, I'm still waiting on thoughts on the above but have another hotel to ID. You will see that in my initial post I thought that the hotel shown by Hotwire was most likely the Centurion. However, now (using your HOTWIRE link) I am seeing a different 5* property at US$329 (which yes is expensive but we may be prepared to take the leap and go for it if it is an outstanding property) for our dates with different amenities: Fitness Center Restaurant(s) Business Center Laundry Facilities (self-service) High-Speed Internet Access Golf Nearby Tennis Nearby Free Breakfast As you are aware it is not possible to narrow down with "laundry", golf or tennis on HOTWIRE. However, nonetheless the only property that matched the fields I could search on hotwire was again the Hotel Palace Centurion. However, doing a general google search for 5* Venice and golf and tennis I found other properties including the Hilton Molino Stucky (which curiously isn't even showing up on HOTWIRE for our dates) and the Hotel Danieli (which is our dream hotel for Venice). Any help would be much appreciated. As always, I use your links (in fact I probably click on them several times a day at the moment!)

Just to finalise this thread: ended up booking with Alchymist Hotel directly as we fell in love with the,look of it. Thank you.

Bumping this up as I think it may have been overlooked. Apologies for taking over the board.

Bumping this up - thanks.

Hi, sorry, just bumping this up in case it was missed. Thanks

Would prefer not to but will do if that's what it comes to. As always, will use your links. Thanks

Using the site's HOTWIRE link I have also looked at Florence 5* hotels. I note again that one of the contenders is the Montebello Splendid. Details are as follows: 5* Old Town - Duomo - Ponte Vecchio area hotel $179/nt, $1031.89 total Boutique Hotel Smoke Free Rooms Fitness Center Restaurant(s) Business Center Laundry Facilities (self-service) High-Speed Internet Access Tennis Nearby Free Internet 4.5/5.0 Tripadvisor rating These amenities (except tennis nearby) allowed me to narrow down to 2 properties: Montebello Splendid $203.03/nt, $1116.65 total Villa La Massa $466.09/nt, $2563 total My guess is that it would most likely be the Montebello Splendid - do you agree?

Further to the above, is the number of TRIPADVISOR reviews ever a good indicator of hotel? I was looking at the 4* hot deal HOTWIRE property (using your links) for the City Center - St Mark's Square - Grand Canal – Rialto Bridge, which features: Restaurant(s) Business Center Laundry Facilities (self-service) High-Speed Internet Access Free Breakfast Free Internet 4.5/5 TRIPADVISOR 500+ Going on what was returned by the search results narrowing down to 4.5/5 Tripadvisor rating and all of the above amenities, I was given 3 possibilities: HOTEL PALAZZO STERN - 571 REVIEWS STARHOTELS SPLENDID VENICE - 1152 REVIEWS BEST WESTERN HOTEL BOLOGNA - 858 REVIEWS The Best Western Hotel Bologna has Venice written underneath it but its description says it is in Mestre. Going solely on the 500+ I thought the hotel would have been the Hotel Palazzo Stern which would have been an incredible deal - too good to be true I feared so I checked the BB HOTWIRE Hotel list. On it, I note that previous BB users have reported getting the Best Western Premier Hotel Sant'Elena with this amenity set. Interestingly, it was a match for all but restaurant on the retail part of the site using the tick boxes. Reading the description it reveals that the hotel has a cafe - CTRL F did not find any mention of restaurant on its HOTWIRE page. It has 720 reviews. Going just on the search results I thought this property was going to be the Hotel Palazzo Stern but with all the information in front of me I now fear that it would instead of Best Western Premier Hotel Sant'Elena. Does anyone think there is even a slight chance that it would be the Hotel Palazzo Stern or am I dreaming? (NOTE: The other hotwire hot deal I found (again with your links) matches the Hilton Molino Stucky and again that is listed as 500+ reviews in the hot deal listing yet has 1574 reviews!) Is the number of Tripadvisor reviews shown by HOTWIRE also not a useful tool in narrowing down properties?

Of course I could do that but was moreso wondering if anyone else had seen this before?

Hi, Please ignore the above requests as they are no longer available. I have been looking at HOTWIRE again, using your links as always. However, I would appreciate some assistance in identifying the following 4* hotels for our stay in Paris 4-11 March 2013: 4* NOTRE DAME – LOUVRE- MARAIS $173 per night + taxes, etc. = $1339.18 Airport Shuttle Smoke Free Rooms Restaurant(s) Business Center Laundry Facilities (self-service) High-Speed Internet Access Free Internet 4.0/5.0 Tripadvisor Narrowing down on the retail part with the amenities and the star and trip advisor rating I had only one result being the Hotel Royal Saint Honore which is a total saving of 58% on the total rate for the 7 nights. Do you think that might be what it is? If so, it is an incredible saving for HOTWIRE which doesn't often seem to have such "deep discounts". 4* SAINT GERMAIN DES PRES - JARDIN DU LUXEMBOURG $173 PER NIGHT - TOTAL $1339.05 FOR THE STAY Smoke Free Rooms Restaurant(s) Business Center Laundry Facilities (self-service) High-Speed Internet Access 4.0/5.0 Tripadvisor Would this probably be the Holiday Inn St Germain (which has already been reported to the board with these amenities)? HOTWIRE Retail rate for the property is $1435.56 for the stay (so not that much of a saving if it is this property). 4* EIFFEL TOWER – INVALIDES $125 PER NIGHT - TOTAL $969.55 FOR THE STAY Smoke Free Rooms Fitness Center Restaurant(s) Business Center High-Speed Internet Access Free Internet Accessible path of travel In-room accessibility Wheelchair accessible Accessible bathroom Handicapped parking Roll-in shower 3.5/5 Tripadvisor 2 hotels match the amenities being the Novotel Paris Est hotel and Novotel Paris Gare de Lyon but the Novotel Paris Est is the only one that also matches the 3.5/5 Tripadvisor rating. The Novotel Paris Est total HOTWIRE retail price for the stay is $990.75. Do you think that it is the Novotel Paris Est?

I have,as always,used your HOTWIRE links for this research There is only one 5* hotel in Innsbruck so I know that the 5* HOTWIRE hot deal is for that property: Grand Hotel Europa. The problem is that the total price for the Hotwire hot Deal including tax recovery charges & fees is $213.64 - the room rate is $180 per night. The retail rate on HOTWIRE is $209.94 so actually cheaper than the total price for the hot Rate property. However, I looked at the T&Cs for the Hotwire Low Price Guarantee state that when "factoring in tax recovery charges and fees, we do not guarantee that the total amount you pay Hotwire will be lower than the total amount you might pay elsewhere." Funny thing is that it isn't even "elsewhere" that I have seen the lower price for the hotel in question - it is on the HOTWIRE site itself! Anyone else had this experience? Has anyone been able to get HOTWIRE to give them a better rate given the total for the hot rate is not that hot when compared with the total on the retail rate?

Using your HOTWIRE link I also looked at 4.5* and 5* hotels in Dubai for our dates. [bTW, I know that this thread is under Priceline due to the bids I have made but thought you normally like to keep a single thread for research into a stay so am posting the HOTWIRE stuff here also] Can you please let me know whether you agree with my assessment of what the hotels might be (I note none of them are on your HOTWIRE Dubai list): 4.5* Hotel Dubai North - Sharjah - Ajman area US$77 per night ($195.20 for the entire stay) Amenities: Airport Shuttle Fitness Center Pool(s) Restaurant(s) Laundry Facilities (self-service) High-Speed Internet Access Spa Services Free Parking Accessible path of travel In-room accessibility Accessible bathroom Handicapped parking My guess is the Holiday Inn Sharjah. The "hot rate" is not so hot if that is the case as it is only an overall saving (once all fees and taxes are added by HOTWIRE) of 84 cents for the entire stay (despite the room rate being $81.68 per night as opposed to the $77 per night) 5* Dubai South - Jumeirah area hotel US$124 per night ($307.96 for the 2 night stay) Amenities: Indoor pool(s) Fitness Center Pool(s) Restaurant(s) High-Speed Internet Access Free Parking Accessible path of travel In-room accessibility Wheelchair accessible Handicapped parking My guess is the Bonnington Jumeirah Lakes Towers hotel at $156.55 per night on the retail part of HOTWIRE ($375.72 for the 2 night stay). 5* Dubai area hotel - $118 per night ($294.33 for the entire stay) Amenities: Fitness Center Pool(s) Business Center Laundry Facilities (self-service) Golf Nearby Tennis Nearby Free Parking My guess is the Sheraton Dubai Creek and Towers which has a HOTWIRE retail rate of $149.74 per night ($359.38 for the entire stay). Would you agree with my guesses for these 3 HOTWIRE opaque properties? Thanks as always

Thanks, using your links again and my $5 per night bonus cash I bid $85 total ($80 + $5 bonus) per night for the same zone and same star rating and was rejected. I think I will just leave bidding until there is more bonus cash as the stay is still 7 months away. I will keep you updated.

I know that it is still 7 months away but thought it was worth a shot to start with a low ball bid and see if it was accepted. I quite like the look of the Moevenpick IBN Battuta Gate (which I discovered using your links) and it is the reported 5* property for the Jumeirah Beach-Dubai Marina zone. I looked at PRICELINE's retail rate and took 40% of that (given that I have once gotten a hotel at the claimed 60% off that PRICELINE claims to go as low as) which gave me $72. I bid at $70 (figuring once you add the fees and taxes that would account for more than $2) and was rejected - not really surprised given that it is still 7 months away and the bid is so low but thought I'd share it with the board. I will probably try when there is some bonus cash and/or closer to the dates of our stay and of course use your links and let you know how I go. I also have a question. Sometimes on NYOP Priceline has a Best Deal symbol next to a certain area or star rating or in this case both - what does that actually mean? Thanks in advance

Hi Jennifer, Hotel descriptions are not given for the Name Your Own Price part (the bidding part) of Priceline. However, Priceline has a newer service called "express deals" which will list star, area and amenities. However, the most common place people are seeing and reporting the amenities is on Hotwire. If you use BetterBidding's link on the top left you will see that you can see what are called "opaque" listings which HOTWIRE calls "hot Rate deals". Hope this helps you and happy bidding or buying and always remember to use the Betterbidding's links for PRICELINE and HOTWIRE and to report back to the board and let us know how you go. Happy travels

Sorry just bumping this up as it may have been overlooked with the other posts before and after it.

Using your PRICELINE link I placed a bid using the $7 per night bonus cash to try to bid for Florence Central 5* - this time I tried $115 so it was $122 per night with the bonus cash: REJECTED Then went out used your links again and used the bonus cash to bid $118 plus $7 so $125 per night and clicked on Florence Central and Airport as that is the free rebid zone for Florence: REJECTED. Fortunately, the bonus cash is actually valid more than 24 hours so we may decide to try again once the 24 hours are up but before the bonus cash expires - otherwise, we may take it as a sign that PRICELINE hasn't been given the inventory for late March yet and might wait a few months and try again then. Also, by way of observation, whereas when I selected 5* Florence Central a few days ago the guaranteed amenitites included "Free breakfast", today the guaranteed amenities only include "8/10 guest rating" which I thought was interesting. Has anyone seen that happen before?

Thanks for that. What is the free rebid zone for Florence 5*?

Not at all - I always appreciate the advice and assistance. By way of update, I placed another bid using your link and the PRICELINE $7 per night bonus cash. I bid $108, plus $7 bonus cash so $115 per night for a 5* in Florence Central - REJECTED... It's a shame the bonus cash is only valid for 24 hours as I don't want to change star level or area so will just have to use it towards bids for a different city instead- hopefully better luck there.

Using your links to look again I doubt it would be the Hotel Centurion Palace given that the hot Rate Hotel says "Still Gathering Reviews" yet the Hotel Centurion Palace has 4.5 out of 5.0 Score from 244 reviews on Tripadvisor. Any ideas?

Using your HOTWIRE links, I have found a 5* Innere Stadt area hotel with the following amenities: Boutique Hotel Fitness Center Restaurant(s) Business Center Laundry Facilities (self-service) High-Speed Internet Access Spa Services Accessible for the blind Accessible for the deaf Accessible path of travel Accessible bathroom Handicapped parking Price per night is $136/nt with a total of $322.56 for the 2 nights. Narrowing down 5* with the amenities on the retail side it gave me the Hilton Vienna Plaza hotel which is $211.46 per night with no additional taxes or fees. However I note that the zone this is said to be on the HOTWIRE Hotel list is East-Landstrasse-Wieden - I wonder if it could have changed zones? Any ideas which hotel this might be? Thanks in advance

Using your links as always to research (and will also use to later book if that's what we do). Any ideas which hotel this might be: 5* hotel in Venice City Center - St Mark's Square - Grand Canal - Rialto Bridge area for $303 per night or $1393.91 for the total stay. Amenities: Fitness Center, Restaurant(s), Business Center, Laundry Facilities (self-service), High-Speed Internet Access, Free breakfast. Using these (minus the laundry) to narrow down 5* on the retail part I get the Hotel Centurion Palace (usually $343 per night or $1511.24 on the retail part). In any event, these amenities don't appear to match the reported 5* wins on the HOTWIRE hotel list. Thanks in advance

What dates and what was the per night price and the total price?

Precisely. That's what I was saying above. I think that there is only one 5* property for NYOP for Florence based on the fact that the guaranteed amenity is free breakfast and the Golden Towers is the only hotel that has that at its retail rate. I therefore think that in this case the guaranteed amenities can be used to determine which hotel is being bid on. After all, why would hotels give free breakfast for a NYOP but not at retail price? It must therefore be the only one of the six which has free breakfast, therefore Golden Towers. I wanted to check whether anyone agreed with me that in this case given the fact that "free breakfast" is a "guaranteed amenit[y]" that the hotel being bid on is going to be the Golden Towers at the 5* star level for Florence.

It just seems very odd that PRICELINE would offer a hotel with free breakfast at NYOP that would not offer free breakfast at its higher retail rate. I don't see why a hotel would be more generous with its PRICELINE NYOP customers than its normal retail customers. Could this be an exception to the rule that the amenities cannot be used to determine whcih hotel?