Priceline Hotel: Resort Maui (Kaanapali-Lahaina) Sheraton

[baliktad]

Bid for resort property in Kaanapali area. There are 2 free rebid zones, so a total of 4 bids allowed per 24-hour period.

My previous research indicated HOTWIRE had a $209/night 4* room, which corresponds to PRICELINE's resort properties. I estimated that with HOTWIRE's markup, this translated to an available rate of $160/night on PL. Previous reported bids were approximately in this range.

However, since yesterday, the HW rate has gone up to $224/night (+$15/night). My new estimate is that $175 is the minimum winning bid on PL. Bid history:

$145 - rejected

$155 - rejected

$160 - rejected

$165 - rejected

Normally I would have expected a counter-offer at $160 if the winning bid was as close as $175, so now I am not so sure. Since these rates are already at the upper end of my price threshold, I will probably try for a lower star rating.

[thereuare]

Thanks for the post.

Keep us updated on your progress.

[baliktad]

After seeing the Hotwire 4* rate drop from $224 yesterday to $205 today, I was encouraged to try again on Priceline.

$150 - counter-offer +$35

$160 - rejected

$170 - counter-offer +$35

$180 - accepted Sheraton Maui, $629.13 a/i

Best published rate for this property is $299/night, with AAA as low as $256/night; Hotwire's $205/night comes out to $713.93 a/i so any way you look at it PL comes out ahead. The winning rate may be as low as $171, although I estimate it's approximately $175.

While I've not been to this property before, every room seems to offer a private lanai, a refrigerator and free high-speed internet. I'm not expecting anything more than the Garden View room, but the hotel does boast that 83% of their rooms "have beautiful ocean views."

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success and thank you for sharing your results with the board.

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

Enjoy your stay.

[baliktad]

One thing I forgot to mention above. The Sheraton has a mandatory resort charge of $25 per night ($26.04 with tax) assessed of all guests regardless of booking method. This resort charge covers the "free" parking, wifi, local calls, and a handful of other worthless benefits. It's a rather steep add-on to a PL rate, but of course the PL terms and conditions include a provision covering this:

Depending on the property you stay at you may also be charged (i) certain mandatory hotel specific service fees, for example, resort fees (which typically apply to resort type destinations and, if applicable, may range from $10 to $40 per day), energy surcharges, newspaper delivery fees, in-room safe fees, tourism fees, or housekeeping fees and/or (ii) certain optional incidental fees, for example, parking charges, minibar charges, phone calls, room service and movie rentals, etc.. These charges, if applicable, will be payable by you to the hotel directly at checkout.