Priceline Hotel: Resort Oahu (Waikiki Beach) Marriot Resort and Spa

[Chris Y]

Hi,

This is my first booking ever on Priceline earlier today.

Info for Waikiki Beach zone:

Weekend Thurs-Sun Mid-October.

First tried 5* at $100 - rejected

Second tried 4*+ at $100 - accepted Waikiki Beach Marriot Resort & Spa

Total $355 for 3 nights - regular price on Expedia right around $600.

Hope that helps.

Chris

[Chris Y]

Also, wanted to note for Priceline...

Added a car rental for 10 days.

Standard car Hertz for $15/day

Total booked price $242.

Check Avis/Hertz/Budget for same dates...

They varied between $450-$550.

Saved a bunch of cash for just choosing a different site. Didn't take me hours of online research to make effective choices. All-in-all extremely pleased with my first time results.

Guess i won't be using Expedia much anymore (prior main travel booking site).

Newly Converted

Chris

[Chris Y]

I got it for 3 nights thurs-sun mid-oct @ $100 today. for a total of $354 incl tax.

Just a question to those more seasoned bidders for Honolulu,

Is the Marriot always going to be the 4* chosen hotel.

What happens if i bid for $150? I guess the question is, if i bid higher, can i get a different hotel like the hyatt? or does Priceline consider you a chump and book you in the Marriot and keep the difference? If so, how can they have more than 1 hotel per star range in a given area (if they just keep booking people in the cheapest option and pocket the change)???

Thanks for all your help

Chris

[Dman]

You MIGHT get "upgraded" to a Resort and get either the Sheraton Waikiki or the Hyatt, rather than the Marriott for your bid if they have given PL room inventory, but frankly, I don't think that it's really an upgrade, as I consider all 3 of those hotels to be comparable. And yes, in any case, Priceline keeps the extra cash you bid. And IF those other places have given rooms to Priceline, chances are that they could be gotten for under $125 in any case - both of those other places have been going for rates around $119 or less, as well as the Marriott. But, when you bid more than you need to, that's just extra profit for PL - which is why William Shatner seems so happy, because he agreed to do their ads for stock, rather than cash many years ago, and his Priceline stock is worth over $500 Million dollars nowadays because of all that extra cash that they get to keep when folks over-bid.

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Congratulations on your success and thank you for sharing your results with the board. We have moved your post(s) to their own thread... it's OK to reply to other threads, but please start NEW TOPIC for your own stays. Can you please add a reply to this thread with the date(s) of your stay so we can add this information to the topic title and enable your win to appear in the Priceline and Hotwire Calendar of Wins.

As far as landing a different property if you had bid more, see this thread which discusses that topic: Don't Bid Higher for a Different Hotel

We're glad to see you're happy with your first PRICELINE booking and look forward to hearing about and helping with your future travel purchases.

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

Enjoy your stay.

[Chris Y]

As requested by the moderator, the dates were Oct 14-17 2010

Thanks

Chris

[AaronJB]

Thank you for the follow-up.