Priceline Hotel: 4* Miami (South Beach) New Clinton

[Skydiver]

I am looking to get into a 4* in South Beach 2/12-2/16 for less than $150/night. I did hotwire the royal palms for $79 for early this month but didn't see it available on HW for those dates

Started with 4*, South Beach at $90 and used up all re-bids to a max of $145 that wasn't accepted. Any suggestions to continue?

[thereuare]

It seems as if you are just about at your limit, so not much else you can do except:

1) wait

2) raise your maximum bid

3) lower your star rating

4) SPLIT YOUR PRICELINE BID

Is splitting your bid an option?

[Skydiver]

Thanks for the quick response during the holidays!. Since this is only 4 nights and during a larger trip, we probably don't want to move hotels after 1-2 days so splitting is probably out. I guess my question is more of the nature of "was I setting my limit too low for a high demand time or will the prices come down in the next few weeks?" PL is an odd creature with some really great deals and sometimes not accepting my bid even after my price is higher than the "reccomended rate". All a creation of supply and demand I suppose.

[thereuare]

Nobody can say whether rates will go down.... or up, between now and your stay. It is all dependent upon how actual demand begins to come in relative to expected demand.

If you don't want to bid higher then find a suitable back-up reservation while you continue to try the opaque suppliers. I would suggest EasyClickTravel and QUIKBOOK, both of which often have decent deals in this area. (note: some of QB's rates have a $10 cancellation fee)

I do think you will likely find success within your current limit for the first 3 nites, which is why i asked about splitting the bid.

[Skydiver]

Thanks again for the help. I think you are correct WRT splitting. When I looked at the regular hotel sites, I did see that the last night (2/15) was higher than the other 3 nights so that may be my problem. I will probably try again in 2 days and perhaps split. I did check EasyClickTravel without finding too much interesting. Same with Hotwire, but I couldn't pin down a 4* for $180.

[thereuare]

If you do want to split the bid you don't need to wait 72 hours... changing the dates is treated as a separate bid, so there is no "duplicate bid" waiting period.

[Skydiver]

Got the New Clinton at $196

To close out this thread, Started rebids at $155 (had to bump my limit due to desire not to split). Ran thru about 5 re-bids with 191 being rejected. Last bid was at 196 and accepted at the New Clinton Hotel and Spa. Thanks for the assistance, I wish I could have gotten the royal palms for $80 but I guess this is a more popular time. I did use savings barn to click thru to priceline but I have no idea how they credit you.

[thereuare]

Thank you for the follow-up and for using the SavingsBarn.com links for your bidding.

I assume this is still 4* rated by Priceline?

Enjoy your stay in South Beach.

EDIT TO ADD: rates on the hotel website (clintonsouthbeach.com) are $172/nite for these dates. Priceline has a price guarantee, so i would contact them at once so that you can apply for a refund... let us know how it goes

[Skydiver]

Outstanding!

I just logged into the New Clinton web site and did a PDF print of their quote and the priceline response. It looks like the difference is around $130 (less the priceline fees) Sent both off to priceline and will let you know what happens. And yes, PL still considers the New Clinton to be 4*.

You are a great assist to the traveling public!!!!

:)

[Skydiver]

A little delay due to holiday travels, but here is the final status. PL looked at the quotes and rolled over very quickly. Bottom line is they will refund the difference to my CC. Thanks again!

[thereuare]

Glad you were successful!

Thanks for the follow-up and letting us all know what ultimately happened.

Have a great trip.

[LoneStar]

I'm glad this story had a happy ending, but I also think people should do some serious research before bidding almost $200 for a Miami hotel. I mean, it isn't hard to do such research online and perhaps with a few phone calls. The value of priceline is trying to snag a great deal by being flexible. So it's a very good idea to know how much a hotel would cost "conventionally" before bidding. While some "4 Star" Miami Beach hotels are going to cost more than $200 in peak season, the definition of a 4-star is broad enough that some won't -- and it's those cheaper hotels you're like to get "stuck in" on priceline (especially when availability is limited and overall market prices are high).

So if you're going to spend the big bucks, my recommendation would be that next time you select your own hotel and get the best one possible for the money. And, often at these "regular" prices, you'll wind up with additional benefits, like a room upgrade or free breakfast.

[LoneStar]

BTW, the other thing about this hotel is that I would consider it a "boutique" property. And I'm not alone: Frommer's describes it as a "chic boutique hotel" (certainly better than a dilapidated boutique hotel!). Yet, at the moment, priceline doesn't have a "boutique" option for South Beach, even though you'd think it was practically ground zero for boutique hotels!

I could see many customers not wanting to get a boutique property, while others would love it. I guess if Priceline doesn't want to separate out such hotels in certain cities, it's "buyer beware." Complaining to Priceline about getting a boutique property when you were expecting a Westin or Marriott would probably be useless (given Priceline's "take it or leave it" approach to customer service).

[GM Mike]

The other thing that popped into my mind is Skydiver could have split the bid, got the first three nights at a lower rate, and almost certainly then had been able to just buy the fourth at rack or AAA rate. It may very well have been cheaper overall.

But, as they say, the bidder is happy, and that's all that really matters.