Hotwire Hotel: Resort hotel waikiki 4* hotwire help?

[skydoc]

I am using PRICELINE and this site for the first time. After perusing through the boards I decided to try the strategy suggested. However, I would like to check if I'm doing it correctly. I was trying to book a trip in Waikiki area from April 8-14, 2011. I researched this area on this site and saw that people were successfully bidding in the $110 area for 4 star hotels (I may be somewhat wrong about this). Therefore, I started with a bid of $80 and selected 4* waikiki. After it was rejected I immediately bid again at $85 but this time also added Diamond head region (which I had noted only had 2-3 star hotels). After this was re-rejected I added a third zone which had 1-2 stars only. After doing this 4 times I had run out of dummy zones that I could use and I had to stop. This means that tomorrow I can put in 4 more bids starting the first at about $100 and incrementally ratcheting it up.

I assume that this is the strategy that is recommended on this forum and it seems to work quite well. The only caveat of caution is that if a zone has "resort" hotels in it it can not be used as a dummy zone.

The other concern I have is that I am travelling with a wife and two young children. I am relying on the fact that there will be two beds (one for my wife and myself, and the other for the two kids). Is it possible that I will be assigned a room that only has one bed? That would be quite a nasty surprise.

[skydoc]

Any ideas on which hotel this would be?

4 star resort in Waikiki beach. Amenities: beach front, pool, restaurants, laundry, children's activity program. $25/day resort fee.

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Please keep all posts for the same stay in the same thread.

All that is guaranteed thru PRICELINE is double occupancy... this means you could receive a hotel with only one bed and the hotel may be unable, or unwilling, to accommodate your request for a room with two beds (or there could be an additional fee)

If you want to guarantee accommodations for everyone in your family you'll need to use HOTWIRE and search for quad occupancy. Did you include 2adults/2children when you saw the offering above on HOTWIRE... as i'm not seeing the amenities above for a 4* hotel in the Waikiki Beach zone when searching your dates for quad occupancy.

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

[skydoc]

This is interesting. You're correct in your observation that you're not seeing the same hotel that I'm seeing. I initially put down that I wanted 2 rooms for 5 people (I'm travelling with my own family of 4 plus a single grandparent). I simply assumed that whether I put down 1 room or 2 rooms would return the same results. However, when I put down 2 rooms I get a list of amenities that seems to suggest the Hilton Hawaiian village for $173 (I infer that from the fact that it is a Resort with "Children's Activities" amenity). However, when I put down 1 room (4 people) I no longer get this option, instead I get a hotel for $159 which has beachfront, fitness center, pool, restaurant, business center, laundry and Internet. Do you know why changing the number of rooms would change the hotel? Perhaps the second place only has one room left whereas the first place still had two? Or perhaps the first place has a two room suite? What do you think the second hotel could be? This has been a good learning experience on how to use Hotwire. I would never have realized this issue if you hadn't pointed it out.

[thereuare]

There are a few reasons why different hotels may show with a different number of rooms and/or occupancy... none of which is likely that the hotel is offering a 2 room suite :)

You mention one possibility that the hotel has only offered one room to the opaque suppliers and therefore that offering is not an option when searching for 2 rooms, so a hotel which has offered 2 rooms available is offered on the search.

Another possibility is that hotels can load rooms with a variety of criteria attached to them. Some hotels like to load rates 'run of house' which means that the room will be assigned at check-in based upon what is available when you check-in at the desk. Offering rooms in this manner makes it easier for a hotel to manage their room inventory since they have not assigned a specific room type, they can therefore be flexible and shuffle these 'floating room type' reservations in a manner to more easily accommodate their hotel direct paying guests. Similarly hotels can load rates for 'double occupancy' which still gives them a lot of flexibility.

Hotels could also load rates for triple or quad occupancy and only these properties are among the pool of hotels queried when searching for 3/4 people since a 'run of house' room may not be acceptable if all that is available at check-in is a room which will only accommodate double occupancy.

So... how many rooms/adults/children do you need and what is the HOTWIRE offer appearing when using these parameters?

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

[skydoc]

Thanks for the explanation. We are 5 people and need two rooms. One room will be for four people and one room is for a single person. The HOTWIRE offer is as I've stated above ie: $173 when I search for 2 rooms and $159 when I search for one room. I believe that the $173 must be Hilton Hawaii village since it is a resort with children activities. I have no idea what the $159 is for.

[thereuare]

It doesn't seem as if the $159 property is a realistic option since it's not for the number of rooms and guests that you need... or do you intend to potentially only purchase one room for fewer guests than you will actually be? What is the full list of amenities associated with the $173/nite property?

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