Hotwire Hotel: Please help to ID 4* USE for 10/5/10 - 1 night

[mcclure98]

A new 4* hotel is showing today for $169.00 for 10/5/10. Hotwire shows:

Fitness Center

Restaurant

Business Center

High Speed internet

Can you help ID? Thought it may be Intercontinental, but they show no rooms available for that date.

[Tuggster]

The intercontinental is a 4.5 star hotel in USE, I cant see the hotel for $169, only one for $174 with the same amenities which could be either the Grand Hyatt or the Parc 55 as a guess, but wait for the guru's to answer before proceeding with anything.

[AaronJB]

Welcome to Betterbidding. :)

The Parc 55, Palomar and Westin Market Street and Grand Hyatt have been reported with this amenity set, so this could be a possible match for any of those properties.

Please use the site's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchases and searches.

[mcclure98]

I just looked again and it's still there...don't understand why you wouldn't be able to see it. Shouldn't we all see the same thing? I thought $169 seemed a bit high, based on other posts - I hope it's just because of the time of year! Any thoughts on either hotel? Many thanks!!

[Tuggster]

It depends on whether there is something like a convention on a time time, prices are always linked to demand, as for being able to decide which hotel it is or not, based on the 4 Trip advisor rating, it is not the Palomar as that is 4.5 TA rating, the Parc 55, Grand Hyatt or Westin Market street all have a TA rating of 4, the lack of a spa icon may lead me away from the Westin, but it just might not be showing, but between the Parc 55 and Grand Hyatt I would be unable to distiguish. Sorry I can be no further help, I am not a local, far from it I am in the UK, I just go to San Francisco quite a bit to watch baseball lol

[thereuare]

mcclure98,

I see this listing when searching HOTWIRE for your dates...

The Westin Market Street, Parc 55 and Grand Hyatt have all been reported with this amenity combination and match any other clues shown by HOTWIRE, so any of these would be my best guess for this one.

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

Let us know how it goes or if we can be of further help.

[mcclure98]

Many thanks for the suggestions! My concern now is after reading the reviews on Trip Advisor, it seems like the Parc 55 is notorious for putting Priceline clients on the smoking floors, which is totally unacceptable! I couldn't find any reviews related to booking on Hotwire regarding this....any ideas? For this price (since it seems many others have booked the Parc 55 at considerably lower rates), its hard to take a chance if we might end up on a smoking floor! The other two you suggested are considerably higher...any odds on what it might be? I've also just checked and now it's $166 instead of $169..., so it sounds more like the Parc 55 than anything else. Is it worth the chance (I've seen the Parc 55 at $177 for these dates on other sites)?

[thereuare]

I don't recall this property being an issue with only assigning smoking rooms to PRICELINE / HOTWIRE guests... only ~5% of their rooms are designated as smoking rooms.

If you're not willing to take the risk of receiving a smoking room is there anything which appears on HOTWIRE in a nearby zone or in this zone but at a lower star rating with the Smoke Free icon?

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

[mcclure98]

Unfortunately we'd like to stay in USE. I remember reading that HOTWIRE only posts 1 hotel at a time in a specific area - is that true?. I'm wondering if I should wait a week or so and check daily to see if something else pops up? TA had several posts on the problems with smoking rooms at Parc 55 for PRICELINE guests, so I am a bit concerned about HOTWIRE bookings too. We've used Hotwire many times with great success and definitely want to use in SF. I've never tried so often for a specific area so don't know how often HOTWIRE usually updates their inventory. Any thoughts? Thx!

[AaronJB]

HOTWIRE does only have one property at each star rating in each zone for each set of dates. Prices (up/down) and listing options can change at any time, but they can also change to grey regular rate listings via Hotels.com if there is not a discounted listing for that star rating in that zone for the dates. There is no unique frequency in terms of how often HOTWIRE updates their inventory.

Please use the site's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchases and searches.

[slruud]

I understand the OP is aiming for USE, but I would book via Lastminutetravel.com a cancellable backup, starting with the Clift for $112/nite, the Hyatt Embarcadero for $124/nite, or the Hilton Union Square for $140/nite while I continue bidding. There is a cancellation fee of $25 up to 7 days before checkin.

[thereuare]

At each star level, HOTWIRE shows the hotel in the zone with the least expensive room rate, so if a new hotel is going to appear, one of the following needs to occur:

-the current offering sells all of their allotted opaqaue inventory, pulls their inventory, or raise the price of their inventory

-a new hotel offers inventory for less then the current property which is being offered

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

Let us know how it goes or if we can be of further help.

[mcclure98]

One last question! Now HOTWIRE shows the price as $172.00. That's three different prices in two days. Would it be the same hotel, based on selling out rooms allocated to the lower rate (as I think you said)? Amenities haven't changed. Many thanks!

[thereuare]

HOTWIRE will often fluctuate the price by a few dollars, as you're seeing, so that the $60 hotel in the zone is not always HotelA and the $62 hotel in the zone is not always HotelB... if the price you're seeing is only changing by a few dollars and all other info is the same, then it is most likely the same hotel.

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

[mcclure98]

Well, still checking this one. Today the USE is at $159.00. The Parc 55 is available on their website at $170.10. Would this most likely be the same one? If so, I was hoping the discount would be more than $11.00. Would it make any more sense to wait until closer to the date we need or what are the odds of less inventory at that time? I've always booked with Hotwire with quite a bit of lead time but never used them in the City before. Thanks for everyone's input!

[thereuare]

Nobody can say if the rate will go down... or up... over the course of the next month. It all depends upon how new bookings and cancellations come in relative to expectations. Is the $170.10 rate refundable? If not, what is the fully refundable rate?

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