Priceline Hotel: 3* Buffalo-Niagara Falls (Downtown) Hyatt Regency

[marc15]

Bid and got @ Priceline Aug 16 -21 for $39.00 and was offered longer at the Hyatt Regency--note it is downtown which is a morgue at night but close to the highways and Buffalo is not exactly big. Good price for Buffalo because Airport hotels are either not so nice or don't drop their price much. You would have problems finding under $50 for a 1 or 2 *

[marc15]

The longer you can wait the better! Although I am 3 weeks out on my vacation to Buffalo NY and Toronto ON Canada I have already bought some things/parts I saw no purpose to waiting. Example being a mid-size car rental @ $15.95 for my 11 day trip--yeah maybe I could hold out for a couple dollars but why?--I am happy with the rate. Same for my $39 a day for the Hyatt in Buffalo----BUT my Toronto stay which I go to every summer is still over $50 for a 3* now 3 weeks out. The last 3 years I paid a high of $28 a night and stayed at the Sheridan Four Points, Marriott Courtyard (last year) and the Renaissance ($21). I will wait until they drop. I will win!

One caveat----if you know there is an event happening during the time of your stay which will make finding a room difficult maybe planning ahead is advised---BUT!---my crowning bid was the Hyatt in New Orleans pre-Katrina the weekend before Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras) @ $50 although they wanted $70 to park so I went down the street for $12. The people next room over paid $350 or 7x the amount I did and I booked 1 day ahead-Thursday for my spur of the moment trip. Had I not got the room so cheap I wouldn't have gone.

Hope this helps.

[Kade]

Yes, booking prior to travel is often times the best route to take. You can usually nail a great deal, but you have to be certain your plans are locked in. The Terms of Use doesn't leave much room for error.

I would definitely promote planning ahead, and I'm not surprised at all by the rates you received... Its not often your even within a 20$ range of the walk-in price.

[AaronJB]

Congrats on your success and Welcome to Betterbidding. :)

First-rate deal for this Hyatt property!

Thank you for sharing your win and please use the site's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchases and searches.

Enjoy your stay.

[thereuare]

The longer you can wait the better!

This isn't necessarily true (as evidenced by your own purchase of some parts of your stay already) and perhaps a better statement would be "Know Prices and Don't Overbid Too Early"

I was recently watching a trip but my plans were not firm and what i believed to be the hotel i wanted was $83 on HOTWIRE... i booked a back-up directly with the hotel for $89/nite. While i waited for my plans to become firm i saw the HOTWIRE price go up to $117 (the hotel direct rate went up as well), then to $133, and eventually disappeared entirely. While i continued to search for my next best deal in the area the prices never came back down and evenutally there were NO hotels offered in the zone i wanted. Fortunately i had the booked the back-up reservation earlier.

For more see the related "Bid Early or Close To Check-in" in our PRICELINE FAQ.

[marc15]

You are right about some points as I mentioned---if there is some "event" --I waited not knowing about a NASCAR race when visiting a customer and paid an outrageous price on a dump once. It bugs me because it is almost like a badge of honor to get a better deal ---stranger even still because unlike the past I can actually afford high rates now in my life $40/50 a day isn't going break me. I am hardly broke like before in my life, but it is a habit now. Rather spent $100 on a good meal and big tip or buying a customer some sort of present if I saved it on a hotel.

I travel regularly on my job so have used Priceline regularly ---at least 50 times---- and honestly don't find car deals and actually amazed that I used them for a Buffalo hotel. I had never before done well on Priceline and have visited the last 12 years and never won a good bid there or Niagara Falls ON in summer.------ Dallas, NYC, Toronto, Windsor/Detroit, NJ, Houston, LA, and many points in FL is where I travel on my job--Niagara Fall and Buffalo are where I went to College and visit friends--- so ----when I give advice---- these are the areas of my expertise. Other than the "later 2", Priceline has been great.

That said if 47 of 50 times I made outstanding deals by waiting as long as I could---I am going to suggest going with the percentages.

Wait, with caveats.

[nuxsmaniac]

interesting insight about Toronto N Niagra N Buffalo.

Curious if you can suggest the following

*where would you stay in Toronto for Priceline during end of August this year for the best bank for the buck - dont' mind DT but parking will be expensive on most hotel

*Niagra Fall canadian side - we wanted a fallsview room for firework with my toddler, any suggestion on which hotel I should book directly with?

*Buffalo - would downtown be too expensive for parking or it is better to try to get the Marriot in Buffalo in the suburb? Thanks.