Priceline Hotel: 3* Miami Downtown Sheraton Biscayne Bay

[jkloni]

I have been reading this forum for some time trying to figure out the best way to book 4 hotel rooms in Miami 10/17 for 1 night pre-cruise.

Hotel Room - First we wanted to stay in South Beach, but the more I read about it, the less I want to stay there. Now it seems the Bayside Marketplace is a nice area to spend a late afternoon and evening the night before a cruise so I'd like for us to stay in that area within walking distance. I just went on Hotwire and from what I've read (in terms of how to figure out what hotel they are offering) it seems that the Sheraton Biscayne Bay is being offered for $54. I went on the Sheraton website and it says this hotel is 1 mile away from the Bayside Marketplace.

Can anyone help me sort all of this out? We want a nice hotel as inexpensively as we can get it. We don't have to have the Ritz, just something clean and comfortable for the one night walking distance to the Marketplace. I am probably going to have to bid all 4 rooms at the same time so that we can be assured of staying at the same hotel.

Any help is very much appreciated!

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

I would recommend looking at a map (Mapquest) and seeing where Bayside Marketplace resides on a map, and then compare it to the sub-zone maps of Priceline and Hotwire. I'm guessing that you want the Downtown zone in each, but neither is going to ensure you walking distance to Bayside.

I stayed at the Hyatt on a Priceline stay and although a long walk to Bayside (roughly 1 mile) i was told there is a section that you don't want to be walking thru at nite, so we took the MetroMover which is a free monorail that is attached to the Hyatt hotel.

If you absolutely must be within walking distance, i would look at the 'identified' hotels in Miami and see which ones are walkable for you, then continue to do Hotwire searches for your date until you can reasonably identify the hotel (based upon star rating and amenities) as one that is acceptable to you.

Personally, i wouldn't worry about being within walking distance to Bayside, as no matter where you are in the downtown area, it shouldn't be more than a $5 cab ride. Even after a roundtrip ride, you'll still likely save much more than $10 on your hotel room. Priceline will likely be the cheaper option compared to Hotwire.

Continue to search Hotwire as per above, or if you'd like a Priceline bidding strategy, let me know and i'll post one for you (if you decide to go the Priceline route, do you understand Re-Bidding?)

[jkloni]

Thank you for responding so quickly!

I have used Priceline only once - for a 1 night pre-cruise in Honolulu October 2002. I got the Sheraton Princess Kualiani for $65 instead of $170. It was scary but at the same time quite exciting. And the hotel was lovely. Especially for the price.

So if you can give me advice on how to go about bidding for a downtown Miami hotel I'd really appreciate it. And I don't really have to be in walking distance. It would be nice to be close to the water and the shops and restaurants. But I'd rather have a great hotel at a great price.

And I think I understand the rebidding. I will have to re-read it to be sure though.

Thanks again.

[thereuare]

I would start by:

Select the # of rooms you need on the screen where you input your dates

3* Miami Downtown

bid $27, if rejected

add re-bid zone and bid $34, if rejected

add re-bid zone and bid $40

If you're turned down at this point, i would think that it's only an issue with Priceline not having access to inventory yet... so DON"T get discouraged. (i can give you a follow-up strategy with higher prices in order to get this 'done' earlier, but i wouldn't recommend that at this time)

Let us know how you make out or if you have any additional questions.

[jkloni]

I'm going to do exactly what you have recommended. I am in no real hurry. So I am willing to wait to get the price I want.

Do you think because I will be bidding on several rooms together I may have to pay more?

Having made the decision to use Priceline to get our rooms has been the biggest relief. It was just too difficult to sort out all the hotel options listed on the discount hotel websites. Priceline uses respected hotel chains, so no one will be disappointed with the hotel and we'll get a price lower than the not-so-good hotels.

I have emailed our friends to find out whose doing what so I'll know how many rooms to bid on. It may take a day or two. But I most certainly will keep you informed and post results.

Without your help I would have probably bid way too high. Who would have ever thought the Sheraton would go for $27 when the rates are listed as $159 on hotel-discounts.com?

Thanks again.

[thereuare]

Well... i haven't ever seen the Sheraton go for $27, but we have seen the Hyatt for that amount :) All things being equal, i think you'll ultimately have success for <$50/nite (probably less, as you see, the current strategy i provided doen't go above $40)

The number of rooms you bid on should not play a factor in the price, although i have seen one or two examples of a higher bid required than is typical when bidding multiple rooms.... however, as we didn't see any other bids accepted for these exact dates, we have no way of knowing if a higher price was generally required for those dates (due to increased demand) or if the issue was the multiple rooms. My guess is that the hotel required a higher rate, regardless of rooms, but no way to know for certain.

[jkloni]

First bid for Downtown Miami $ 27 rejected

2nd bid Dwntwn and added rebid zone $34 rejected

3rd bid added rebid zone $40 accepted

$189.24 total for 4 rooms

$160.00 room total

29.24 taxes and fees

$47.31 total per room

I'm very happy. Hotel.com had this hotel for $159.95 for the night of 10/17. We wanted a decent hotel less than $50. Realized yesterday the ony way to do it was Priceline.

Thanks so much to this board and especially to thereuare.

I actually could have probably gotten the rooms for $38, but was not experienced enough to figure that out while bidding. A learning lesson....

Thanks again. I'm loving this board!!! :)

[thereuare]

Thanks again.  I'm loving this board!!!

.... and we love having you here!

Thanks for the follow-up, and i'm glad it all worked out for you (and you group).

Have a great stay and a great cruise!