Los Angeles, San Francisco, & Las Vegas 5* Hotels April 2001

[masterkik]

Hi,

I would really appreciate advise and help as am new to Priceline and Hotwire, and have read the notes on how it all works but still confused as a lot of my questions would not be answered. So looking for a strategy advise as not much time left now and a bit desperate, so have listed a few questions below:

1. We are travelling to Los Angeles in April as a family with 2 adults and 2 children ages 11 and 15 years of age, but not too sure if when bidding this is taken into account, and if not how do we get around it.

2. We were thinking of staying at a 5* for a change as have never been able to afford, but now maybe we could with the Priceline option as Martin Lewis from www.moneysavingexpert.com mentioned. We were thinking of Beverley Hills, Hollywood, or maybe Downtown as the location so not too sure what is the best approach and best bids we should go with.

3. I don't know if winning any of the options would also give us a complimentary breakfast, parking, and inernet option, as we will be hiring or renting a car from the airport so don't want to end up paying the redicolous charges for hotel parking or for breakfats for a child who might just have a bowl of cereals.

Hope to hear back soon, thanks.

Regards

masterkik

[AaronJB]

Welcome to Betterbidding. :)

It would be greatly appreciated if you could post the information regarding each stay separately in the California, Nevada and New York forums.

A few thoughts:

PRICELINE only guarantees double occupancy/1 bed. While it is possible to make a request with the hotel, the hotel could say no or charge more for a room with two beds. It varies depending on hotel and day, but overall, there is no guarantee. This is especially true in NYC, where I would especially not recommend using PRICELINE for four. HOTWIRE is a better alternative, as while exact bedding is not guaranteed, HOTWIRE will allow one to search for 2 adults/2 children and guarantee some sort of bedding (2 beds commonly, but can be 1 + sofabed or other combination.)

There is no way to guarantee a particular amenity on PRICELINE. With HOTWIRE, you can look for listings with a particular icon (such as complimentary breakfast.) Note that free breakfast is more commonly seen at the 2.5*-3* level and more infrequently at the 4-5* level.

Parking, unfortunately, is expensive in every major city and appears to be getting pricier as the years pass. It's not unexpected to see $45-50 in Chicago and a bit more than that in NYC. Additionally, note that many Vegas properties charge resort fees. HOTWIRE will list an approximate fee on the detail page for the listings, but given the structure of PRICELINE, there is no way to know even approximate fees before bidding.

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