Hotwire Hotel: 3.5* Buffalo (Amherst) Hotel Indigo

[canadadrygreentea]

Hi guys,

I'm new to this whole bidding on hotels scene and since this topic seems to be about the same area I'm searching for a hotel in, I thought I may as well chime in with a few thoughts and questions if I may...

To start off I'd just like to say I may be known as a bit of a brand whore, in other words I like certain hotel brands which I find offer the same consistant quality that I've come to expect no matter where I travel. Holiday Inn Express and Days Inn are both chains that I enjoy staying at here in Canada and hope I can find similar properties when travelling in the US. Now, I have nothing against the independant guy (especially the boutique hotel if I could afford it!) but I prefer to stick to my tried-tested-and-true brands, rather then staying at a "no-name" hotel, such as the Millenium. Picky? Perhaps! :o

Anyways, IMHO PRICELINE / HOTWIRE ranks some certain hotels (*cough* Millienium *cough*) way too high, which is fine as long as they are easy to identify and avoid, such as is the case on HOTWIRE. PRICELINE, however, brings up a different problem altogether which I never even considered... UPGRADES! So now I pose the question to you guys: what's the upgrade policy like with PRICELINE? What if they "upgrade" me to the *cough* 3 star *cough* Millenium, when I much prefer to stay at the 2.5 star Holiday Inn Express or Days Inn.... could I reject the upgrade? Call me crazy but IMHO Priceline's "upgrade" would be considered more of a DOWNGRADE to me by the looks of it. There's a reason Hotwire lists the 3 star property CHEAPER then the 2.5 star, eh! :)

Futhermore, would you guys recommend I just use Hotwire instead on the 2.5 star property for $59/night? The issue I have here is HOTWIRE does not list the Trip Advisor rating which makes it more difficult to guess... why is this property missing the rating??? I don't mind paying $75/night all-in provided it's either a Holiday Inn Express or Days Inn, just don't want to get stuck with the "no-namer". Hell, I'd much rather pay $80 for the Best Western Airport, which I don't understand why these sites are giving it a 1 star rating??? :)

Oh and I forgot to mention I'll be booking the night of Monday November 22nd for an early 6am flight. Do any of these hotels offer breakfast (or even a doggy bag) @ 3:30am in the morning? Hope so!

Any thoughts/comments greatly appreciated. Hoping for a positive first experience with these hotel bidding sites otherwise I'll stick to MSRP in the future... Thanks again! :)

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

When using PRICELINE there star rating you select is the minimum you're willing to accept, so upgrades to a higher star rated hotel can happen and there is nothing you can do to turn down / reject the upgrade. Given there is a hotel in the zone that you're trying to avoid i think HOTWIRE is a better option then HOTWIRE for you for this stay, assuming you can reasonably guess the hotel and/or determine that it's not the hotel you're trying to avoid. Not all hotel offerings show the Tripadvisor rating.

What are the amenities associated with the 2.5* hotel offered for your date?

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

[canadadrygreentea]

2.5 Star Amenties: Fitness Center, Laundry Facilities, High-speed Internet Access

Also, it changed from being 85% recommended by Hotwire cusotmer reviews to 80% since I last checked. Does that mean it's a different hotel altogether, or has the feedback since been updated?

Thanks again.

[thereuare]

It's not uncommon for the percent reviews to fluctuate a little from one search to the next.

A property with the amenities above has not yet been reported to the board, however...

If you change your search to 2adults/2children a 'new' 2.5* property appears for the same price with:

Suite, Shuttle, Breakfast, Fitness, Pool, Laundry, Internet

This is a match for the Comfort Suites so that would be my best guess for this one. I suspect that this is the same hotel as you're seeing on your 2adults/0children search but that search showing only a limited number of the amenities, but i can't be certain, so if you're interested in trying to target this property it would be safer to purchase as 2adults/2children (and there's no issue with showing up without any kids)

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.

[canadadrygreentea]

Update

I decided to wait to see if prices changed and do some more research and found a 3.5 star property in Amherst (Buffalo) for $69/night with an airport shuttle, 95% positive reviews, and a 4/5 Trip Advisor rating (sorry I didn't write down the rest of the amenities down but there were 5 of them listed which I was pretty sure matched up to Hotel Indigo Amherst).

So I thought this was a good deal and since the price hadn't changed in the past 6 or 7 days I decided to wait until today to purchase (I'm an idiot I know I should have purchased over the weekend but it was more convenient for me to wait until today).

Well today I searched only to find that the resulting 3.5 star property was now $72/night and the amenities now did not list the airport shuttle anymore, which is something I need. I don't want to risk winning a hotel with no shuttle, so my question is do the amenities sometimes get changed for a property or ever left out altogether even if they do, in fact, still offer them?

The amenities are now listed as: Smoke Free Rooms, Fitness Center, Pool(s), High-speed Internet Access and the reviews are listed as 100% recommended. Any ideas which hotel this may be?

Also, the Hotel Indigo in Amherst is listed twice on the New York Hotwire Hotel List under both a 3.5 & 3 star property, any idea why? I'm a bit confused.

Thanks again for all your help, it's greatly appreciated.

[thereuare]

I've edited the Hotwire Hotel List to reflect the Hotel Indigo at the 3.5* level... we probably never removed the 3* listed after the hotel had been upgraded awhile back. (thanks for making us aware of the double listing)

My guess is that the hotel above with only 4 amenities is the Indigo with a 'missing' Shuttle icon, but since i think this is the Indigo, here is a better way to play it...

Re-run your HOTWIRE search for 2adults/2children and a 3.5* appears for the same $72 with:

Shuttle, Smoke Free, Fitness, Pool, Internet

This matches previous reports for the Hotel Indigo so that would be my best guess for this one. However, it's safer than the 'other' 3.5* since if we're wrong, at least you're assured the hotel offers Shuttle service given the icon.

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.

[canadadrygreentea]

Genius idea, thanks for the tip!

I booked the room and the resulting hotel was indeed the Hotel Indigo Amherst/Buffalo. I'm really happy with this purchase and look forward to using Hotwire again in the future.

Thanks again for the all the help, and I'll try to remember to post any future winnings here as well.

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success!

Glad to see you received the hotel you were hoping for and that you're happy with the results.

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.

[Dawnerella007]

Hi, I'm new to this... I really want the Indigo Hotel in Amhurst, NY. However I believe its a 3 star and so is the Marriott. Do anyone know how to choose the right one.

HELP! :)

[AaronJB]

Welcome to Betterbidding. :)

There is no way to ensure a particular property via PRICELINE; if you bid for a 3.5* (for example) in a particular area, you have to be willing to accept any 3.5* in that area.

Please start a new thread with your date/s of travel and desired budget and we would be happy to help.

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