Priceline Hotel: help needed for the december trip

[sogen]

I will stay at Oahu from 12/14-12/20. Booked the sheraton waikiki from PRICELINE for 12/17-20, as shown in my other priceline hotel post.

Now need to book one for 12/14-12/17. We would like to stay at another hotel if possible.

I am interested in the hawaii prince hotel, (4 star at waikiki marina), and saw a successful priceline bid for $85 from this board.

Started from 80, increase by 5 each time, until 105, and was not accepted. counter offer for $120. The price from HOTWIRE for this hotel is $116.

Also ok with marriott waikiki for about 110 if possible.

I am wondering what is a good strategy to follow. Will the price go down later? Any advice is appreciated.

[thereuare]

Rates are date specific, so you can't always replicate somebody else's win when their dates are different then your own. While your dates are included in the thread that you referenced, their stay is longer then yours, and the additional nites may bring down the average nighly cost of their stay vs. your own. As well, their win was over a month ago, and rates are very fluid... changing often based upon current supply/demand.

Given the PRICELINE counter-offer, the "right" price is likely between $106-$120 (or more likely $106-$116 taking the HOTWIRE rate into consideration) Was $105 your maximum bid for this stay?

Nobody can say if rates will come down, or go even higher, between now and your stay... it's all based upon how supply and demand (and therefore how actual bookings come in relative to expectations). If you do choose to wait it out i'd book a cancelable back-up, and the Hawaii Prince has a current 3rd nite free promotion which brings the nightly cost for your stay above to $133/nite. This appears to be refundable (always double check the terms yourself) until a few days before check-in and i'd book that to protect yourself from rates rising from there.

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

Let us know what you ultimately decide or if we can be of further help along the way.

[sogen]

Thanks for the helpful suggestions.

I understand that the rate changes, especially that win is more than a month ago, and also Dec is a high season for oahu. I had a backup plan, the prince hotel booked using the 3rd nt free promotion.

Hope to get the hawaii prince for around 100, or marriott for around 110. Can accept the prince for $105-116 if there is no other choice. I understand that it is hard to predict if rates go up or down... But given your experience, is there a reasonable chance for it to go down?

[thereuare]

It's impossible to predict if rates will go up or down from here. What happens will be based upon the number of people who are thinking of taking a trip for these dates booking rooms and/or those who already have reservations for these dates canceling their reservations... not even the hotel knows how this supply/demand relationship will play, although they do use computer programs to give them an idea of where they are (in terms of bookings), where they should be, and set prices accordingly.

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