Priceline Hotel: 3* Ft Lauderdale (Airport FLL) Hyatt Place Airport South

[bigredsfan]

Guys

thinking about maybe staying a few nights before our cruise in November at the Miami Coral Gables Courtyard with the great PRICELINE link found here. I see a number of you have success, but my question is whether or not the room we book will be one of our choice, not just a King Bed? I am travelling with a family of 5, so we need 2 doubles/crib. I also see other hotels in the area that are listed as 3* so how guaranteed are we to get this particular hotel?

Hope this is the right place to post this, and thanks.

[yellowdog]

I also see other hotels in the area that are listed as 3* so how guaranteed are we to get this particular hotel?

You can't bid on a specific hotel when using PRICELINE. You need to be willing to stay at any 3* or higher in the zone you're bidding at. We can't "guess" your chance about getting this hotel.

but my question is whether or not the room we book will be one of our choice, not just a King Bed?

The room will not be of your choice. PRICELINE only guarantee a room for two adults, that could mean one bed only. Is this a risk you're willing to take?

It sounds like HOTWIRE is a better option for you. With HOTWIRE can you seach up to 4 guests/room. If you're trying to target a specific property then HOTWIRE can often be a better option if you're successfully able to identify it based upon the star rating and amenities shown before your purchase... the trade-off is that HOTWIRE usually costs a little more than PRICELINE, so you need to decide what is most important to you for a given stay, the lowest possible price OR the ability to take an educated guess as to the property you may receive.

Let us know how we can help you further.

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

Yellowdog.

[thereuare]

Please follow-up your previous Priceline Pennsylvania thread with whatever you ended up doing for that stay... then reply to this thread and we'll comment on your inquiry above.

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

[bigredsfan]

we have booked the Marriott in Amherst New York a couple of times on PRICELINE and have never had an issue with double occupany, or getting a room to fit us all. We have heard that the Marriott chain is one that usually will accommodate families the size of ours. I have never used Hotwire to search anything because of my perceived added cost, but maybe I will fool around with it tonight. This is why the Courtyard in Coral Gables is tempting to take a chance on, along with others success of winning their bid for this property.

I have to first decide I guess if we are best to stay in FLL before we cruise out of Miami, or book somewhere in Miami..

[thereuare]

I always prefer to stay closer to the port... have car trouble, forget a suitcase back at the hotel, or anything else unexpected happens it's always easier to handle nearby vs. further away.

Also, if you've never had a problem with 5 in a room then consider yourself lucky... or perhaps you've mostly stayed in family friendly areas and/or away from large cities.

There would be no way to target a Marriott property when bidding on PRICELINE, so it's a risk you and your family will need to decide if you're willing to take.

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

[bigredsfan]

I hear ya, never an easy decision when travelling with so many of us!! The more I think about it, the more I think the best thing to do is find a hotel near FLL that offers a shuttle the first night we arrive than rent a car to take us to the Port of Miami on our last day...if you guys are okay with it I will open up another thread with another question I have in regards to a property we found on this site. Thanks a million.

[AaronJB]

Please post any questions related to this trip within this thread. Thanks. :)

[bigredsfan]

k, will do..I was under the impression that I should start a new thread when I have other questions about where to stay. So...my new question in regards to this trip is if we use Priceline and use the success stories I have read on here about 3* FLL Airport Hotels, it looks like the Summerfield Suites and a couple of others that are on the list of hotels, we should come up with a reasonable rate for. We called each hotel directly and they all accept families of 5, and even their King Bed rooms have pullouts, and cribs are available. To me, there is little we can lose by using the above method, as long as this list is updated.

If you guys think I am on the right track, I will likely pull the trigger this week, and of course report back our results.

Cheers

[AaronJB]

The list provides the hotels that have been reported to the board; there could be new/previously unreported hotels seen as wins at any time. This area is less risky, but there is always at least some risk (and in some areas a lot of risk) regarding 5 in one room.

Thank you for keeping us updated, and please let us know if you have any other questions.

Thank you for using the site's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchases and searches.

[bigredsfan]

why can't you say everything will be fine, there should be no other hotels to screw things up for me, lol! Family of 5 on tight cruise budget we need to cut where we can....

[thereuare]

Better to tell you the worst case scenario and have you be pleasantly surprised then tell you the best case scenario and fall short of your expectations :)

Let us know how you decide to proceed and how we can be of further help.

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

[bigredsfan]

read on one of the cruise sites that I visit that somebody just won a $45 bid on Priceline for the 3* Holiday Inn Fort Lauderdale Airport Hotel. This is one of the 3* listings on this site....seems like a descent hotel

[bigredsfan]

just tried bidding $45 as others have bid and won, but no dice...ARGH!! This was for the 3* FLL Airport. Thanksgiving have anything to do with this? All other bids won at this price but no luck for me..

[thereuare]

What are the date(s) of your stay?

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

[bigredsfan]

Nov 27th check in, 29th depart...that is when we leave to Port of Miami.forgot to also mention Priceline suggested we up our bid from $15-$60...seeing that others were getting $45 all the time for this zone, I don't want to jump that high if I don't have to

[thereuare]

Rates are date specific, so you may not be able to replicate somebody elses win when their dates are different then your own.

PRICELINE's counter-offer suggests that the 'right' number is somewhere between $46 and $60. What is the best rate you're able to find thru conventional booking channels for an acceptable hotel for this stay?

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

[bigredsfan]

I think the best conventional rate I saw was $99 on Priceline itself...I also see that the Hyall Airport North has had a succesful group of bids for $50, and with the last one the Area was Downtown, not Airport. I know date specifics may make the difference, but I don't want to get stuck with a hotel where there is no free shuttle, etc....

My 24 hrs expires tonight, so I will try $50 and see. I see Hotwire offers 3* in this same area at $62. This may be an alternative if all else fails. I really don't fear for the hotel booked on Priceline accommodating 5 either because all their rooms have a pullout, and cribs readily available.

I will post back..

[TravelPhotographer]

Priceline suggested we up our bid from $15-$60

Raise $1-3 with each rebid until win, IMO.

[bigredsfan]

that is what I want to do as well but seems like I may need to go a bit more due to the Holiday?

[bigredsfan]

well, rebid tonight and success.....using the PRICELINE link we bid $50 a night for 3 nights and won the Hyatt Place Fort Lauderdale South. Called the hotel to confirm room type, it was King with pull out, but they switched us no problem to 2 doubles and a crib..no up charge..COOL, even though we were hoping for the Summerfield Suites, but this seems good enough.

Thanks for all the help guys, just need to book our final night before our flight home.

Cheers

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success!

Glad to see you found something which should work well for your plans and that there shouldn't be any occupancy issues.

Can you please confirm the dates of your stay as it appears you have added a nite to your original dates... i'm guessing the correct dates are now 11/26-11/29?

Thank you for sharing your win and using the PRICELINE links on the board to begin your bidding.

Enjoy your stay.

[bigredsfan]

hey thanks again for this wonderful site and yes you got the dates right..I was looking to edit my thread but couldn't see how it can be done..Thanks for updating

[bigredsfan]

not sure if you prefer another thread on this, but we did our bid for our post cruise 1 night stay using the PRICELINE link, using the same criteria, and getting the same hotel, but for $48..Woohoo, saved ourselves another $2!

[AaronJB]

Congrats on your success! :)

Please post your win as a new thread.

Thank you for using the site's PRICELINE link to start your purchases and searches.