Hotwire Hotel: 5* Las Vegas (Strip North) Venetian

[kpet]

I am planning to bid for a 5* property and would like to get the Venetian, Palazzo or Wynn for Memorial Day weekend, 5/27-5/30. I see from other posts that bidding up to $155 have been unsuccessful and was hoping for a win of $150 or less. I do not as yet have a back-up reservation. My dilemma is since I am coming in on a Thursday night which is considerably cheaper than either Friday or Saturday, should I bid on just the 27th and 28th with the hope that I will be able to add on the 29th once I have a win, thus getting a lower offer since Saturday night rooms jump considerably in price? Or should I bid on the 28th and 29th, and then go back and add the Thursday night at the much cheaper rate from another site, once I have a win?

Also, with this being a holiday weekend would you advise me to go ahead and bid now versus waiting till closer to the date, for fear rooms will be filling due to the holiday? Or do you think there might be some "holiday rates" that come up at the last minute to fill the hotels?

I always use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links provided on this site, and will plan to do so again this time.

Thanks!

[thereuare]

I am planning to bid for a 5* property and would like to get the Venetian, Palazzo or Wynn...

What about the Encore? While it has not yet been reported to the board thru PRICELINE, i suspect that is a possible outcome as well. There could also be others not yet reported to the board, are you willing to accept any 5* hotel in this zone?

...should I bid on just the 27th and 28th with the hope that I will be able to add on the 29th once I have a win, thus getting a lower offer since Saturday night rooms jump considerably in price? Or should I bid on the 28th and 29th, and then go back and add the Thursday night at the much cheaper rate from another site, once I have a win?

If you're successful for Thursday and Friday nites your offer to extend the stay for Saturday will not be lower based upon your previous wins... if the rate is higher you simply won't get accepted at the previous bid amount and/or might be offered to get the additional nite at a higher bid amount. (which you can either accept or turn down)

I would first try to bid all three nites together up to your maximum bid, although based upon current prices i suspect this may be a tough win at $150 or under. If you're unsuccessful for the complete stay, then you can try SPLITTING YOUR PRICELINE BID if you choose to do so.

Nobody can see if rates will come down, or go higher, between now and your stay, but as noted above i think any success within your current budget would be a 'good' win, so i would begin bidding now rather than waiting... given the holiday weekend i don't think a 5* hotel at $150 or under would have much risk of substantially lower prices down the road. For additional thoughts see the related link in our PRICELINE FAQ.

Let us know how you'd like to proceed and we'll take it from there.

Thanks for using the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your bidding/purchases.

[kpet]

Thanks thereuare for your reply. I did as you suggested and bid for the 3 nights, going through the PRICELINE link here with no sucess. My bids were as follows:

5* LV Strip North $117 was given a counter offer to agree to $212/n to get a hotel without changing anything else, declined

Add re-bid zone $124 declined

Add re-bid zone $128 declined

Add re-bid zone $133 same counter offer of $212 and declined again

Add re-bid zone $139 declined

Add re-bid zone $144 declined

Add re-bid zone $147 same counter offer of $212 and declined again

Add re-bid zone $151 declined

Add re-bid zone $153 declined

Add re-bid zone $156 counter offer of $212 again, declined and stopped bidding for tonight.

Clearly they wanted me to take the offer of $212!!! But considering I can get a 5* in the same area on HOTWIRE that I believe is either the Palazzo or Venetian for $175/n, was not going to go over that.

And in answer to your question of was I willing to accept any 5* hotel in that area, the answer is yes...the Encore would be fine. I just do not want to end up at Trump and although I like Mandalay Bay, don't really want to be that far south. Would be thrilled to get the Bellagio but don't even know if it has ever been won or what area it is considered.

Any advice for the next strategy?

[gilas]

That's exactly what I want to find out, I don't want to end up getting a room at trump, is there a way to make sure of that when bidding?

[kpet]

If I am correct Trump is in the LVS-Vicinity North, which I do not plan to add while bidding, hopefully keeping me from getting this properrty, and Mandalay Bay is in the LVS-Vicinity South, which I also do not plan to add. Considering HOTWIRE is showing a property for my dates for $139/n, which appears to be Trump, if Trump was in LVS North, by bidding up to $156, I would have already won that property. I was only bidding on LVS North, because all other zones I added were re-bid zones that did not have 5* properties.

[thereuare]

kpet,

Are you now willing to bid up to $175... or what is your current maximum bid?

gilas,

Please read your messages, and if you need help with your own stay, please start a NEW TOPIC.

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

Thanks.

[kpet]

I was just giving the reference that I had seen the $175 HOTWIRE offer, which takes some of the guess work out, since it looks like from amenties listed that it is the Venetian or Palazzo. I would prefer not to go up to $175 bidding on PRICELINE if at all possible, and maybe I was close to winning one of those properties since usually I have found that you can get a lower price by bidding vs a HOTWIRE price.

In your opinion, how high do you think I will have to bid thereuare? I'm wondering if I should just bid tonight for the 28th and 29th, see what I win and then go back and book the 27th since it shows considerably cheaper even directly with the hotels.

Your thoughts on the best strategy?

In answer to your question, my maximum bid would be $165.

[thereuare]

Are you willing to change hotels during your stay?

[kpet]

No, I do not want to change hotels. That is why I thought if I just bid for the 28th and 29th, since those two nights are the ones that get pretty pricey, once I knew what hotel I had won, I would just go either directly to that hotels sight to book Thursday, the 27th, or another sight, and probably save more money booking just the one night, (thus not bidding on PRICELINE for the 27th.) Out of the hotels I am looking at in the LVS North zone, none are over $159/n for the 27th, yet I have seen the 29th as high as $399.

[thereuare]

What if the hotel direct rate for the hotel you receive is prohibitively expensive for the nite of the 27th?

As well, the current bidding you've done is likely taking into consideration the less expensive Thursday nite. Using HOTWIRE as an example... the 5* hotel offered for each set of dates in the North zone is priced as follows:

5/27-5/30 - $175/nite

5/28-5/30 - $259/nite

5/57 - $99

The above may all not be the same hotels (i didn't get that far in the research as it really isn't important for the example)...

Booking all 3 nites together gives you a total room rate of $525

If you book the last 2 nites ($518) and then separately purchased the 3rd nite ($99), you're looking at $600+... no savings by splitting the purchase, it actually will cost you more. I think you'll be facing a similar fate if you try split the bid via PRICELINE... except it gets even more complicated with more 'unknowns' and i think will ultimately be more expensive than booking all three nite in one purchase.

I would bid PRICELINE up to the HOTWIRE cost... if that is rejected take the HOTWIRE offer.

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

Any questions feel free to ask. Good luck and let us know what you decide and how it goes.

[kpet]

Very valid point thereuare! I will take your advice and let you know the outcome!

[kpet]

Well...don't know what I'm doing wrong or what is going on with PRICELINE tonight. I started my bidding again, 30 minutes after I had started 24 hours ago, going through the links provided on this site. I started with LVS-North, 5*, bidding $145, and was told that I had made a duplicate offer and that Iwould need to either add more zones, change star levels, or dates, and if I didn't change any of those then I would have to wait for 24 hours from my original bid. So, I added 2 re-bid zones and upped the bid to $146, and got the same "duplicate" response again. Added another re-bid zone upped my bid to $152, and same thing again. So what's up?? I know it has been over 24 hours because I even went back to my emails that PRICELINE sent when my original bids last night were not accepted, to verify the time. Has this happened before and does this mean that I have to wait another 24 hours to re-bid?

[thereuare]

Was it 24 hours after your last bid last nite? (or was it, as you posted, 24 hours after you started bidding last nite)

Thanks for using the PRICELINE links on the board for your bidding.

[kpet]

You were right thereuare, I had not waited 24 hours from when I finished bidding. At any rate I bid again this afternoon going through the PRICELINE link provided here, with no luck. I started at $141, with LVS North, 5*, for the 27-30th. As had previously happened, my offer was declined, but I was offerred to increase my bid this time to $220, and win a hotel with out making any changes. I declined, continuing to bid, each time adding a re-bid zone until all 10 were used with a maximum bid of $172, with still no win. So, what do you suggest from here? Should I just give up on PRICELINE and take the HOTWIRE offer of $175 for the property that appears to be either the Venetian or the Palazzo, or should I hold out and keep trying PRICELINE? I do not want to go higher than $175.

Also, I wonder if you can answer another question. I have been bidding through PRICELINE for a few years now always going through this site, but this time when I bid after the counter offer, that I refused, and I added another bid, upon getting the answer I was sent to a page telling me that my offer was not accepted but showing the hotels with prices that PRICELINE was offering. No where on the page could I find a way to get back to my bid page and add another zone, etc. So, each time when this happened I would close out and reopen through the link provided here. Is this something new that is now occurring or is there something else I can do to stay with my bidding? As it turned out that meant I was closing out the browser with every other bid, opening the new page and continuing where I left off, and each time I opened the new page, I was given the $220 offer to accept an immediate win. This is the exact scenario that played out when I made my original bids 2 nights ago. Any thoughts on this?

[thereuare]

What's happening after your failed bids is that PRICELINE is directing you to their "retail" offerings... they know you need a hotel room, your bid was turned down, so they're trying to offer you a 'regular' hotel rate to purchase. (cross-marketing)

Nothing you can do except re-access PRICELINE as you had done, but what many have found to be easier is to use the PRICELINE search box on the top right of the board. Since all of the information you input stays there (since the PRICELINE site opens in a new window), if you're directed to the 'retail' section of PRICELINE, you can simply close that window, click the GO button in our search box, and all of your information is still propagated without the need to re-enter all the city, date, etc info.

In regards to this stay, nobody can say if rates will come down, or go even higher, for this holiday weekend, but given you don't want to change hotels mid-stay, i think $175/nite seems like a fair price given rates at the Venetian/Palazzo start at $250+ for these nites and i would take the HOTWIRE deal.

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

Let us know what you decide and how it goes or if we can be of further help.

[kpet]

Very pleased to receive my property of choice for a great deal! The past two days this same listing has been at $175/n and after bidding up to $172 on PRICELINE the past 2 nights with no win, I was willing to bight the bullet and book at $175. What a welcome surprise to see it was down to $144! Savings of 44%! Cheapest rate on other sites is $259/night. Total savings of $377.53!

Amenities listed:

Resort

Suite

Casino

Fitness

Pool

Restaurant

Business Center

High Speed Internet

Gold Nearby

Tennis Nearby

Spa

Recommended by guests 90%

Overall Satisfaction of guests: 4.5/5

500 + Total reviews

Trip Advisor rating: 4/5

3 Nights at $144/night

1 Room

$432.00

$60.71 taxes and fees

$492.71 TOTAL

I did use the HOTWIRE link on this site for booking. :)

[kpet]

Thank you thereuare for the info on the cross marketing approach that PRICELINE is now doing when bids are declined.

Well, as you suggested, I went through the HOTWIRE link here, to go ahead with my booking, and willing to go ahead and cough up the $175/n, with the hopes of getting the Venetian or Palazzo. I guess today is my lucky day, because the same listing was down to $144/n this morning, so I went ahead and booked it and won the Venetian, which was the property I wanted. I am very pleased, because not only will my daughter get to celebrate her 22nd birthday at the hotel she wanted to, but I also get to stay within my original budget of $150/n. Considering that 2 weeks ago this same property was listed at $184/n for my dates on HOTWIRE, I did wonder if I waited a week if it my go cheaper. And there was a part of me that wondered if I waited to bid on PRICELINE tonight if I might get lucky cheaper! With it being my daughters birthday and a holiday weekend, didn't want to chance it though. So, I am very happy! :)

Thank you again for such GREAT communication to help me save some dollars!!

ps: I also posted my win on the HOTWIRE page.

[yellowdog]

kpet

Congratulations on your success!

Thank you for sharing your result with the board and using our HOTWIRE link to book this :)

Great to see that everuthing worked out well and that you're happy for the outcome.

Have a nice stay and good luck!

Yellowdog.

PS. I have merged your threads.