Priceline Hotel: Resort Aruba Marriott Resort and Stellaris Casino

[bschrager]

Great board as always and I did close out my 2 older threads that were still open.

Based on other users winnings used the PRICELINE link here and we got the Marriott on Palm Beach for the same $85 a night as others have gotten. Does anyone have any experience with the room type they received at check in?

Also if it's ok to post, Jet Blue has a one day sale and we got $149 each way non stop from JFK to AUA which is basically an unheard of price.

Thanks again.

[AaronJB]

Congrats on your success. :)

Very nice deal for this property, and posting the JetBlue sale further down in the "other" section of the main forum would be greatly appreciated.

Room selection can't be guaranteed and availability definitely varies from day-to-day; while upgrades are not included with PRICELINE or HOTWIRE wins, you can try writing the hotel and asking for basic requests (higher floor; if the property is not in a dense area, a higher floor may luck out with a decent view, despite not being an upgraded room, etc.) They could say no, but it's worth a try.

Thank you for sharing your win and using the site's PRICELINE link.

Enjoy your stay.

[bschrager]

Thanks, I added the airfare sale to the other section.

[bschrager]

Question and please move this if it should not be part of this thread.

Has anyone ever upgraded to one of the Tradewinds Club rooms after booking through PRICELINE?

If I am seeing things correctly for an extra $125 a night per room you're guaranteed a room on the 8th floor with oceanview and then have the other amenities that come along with it. Something we are considering but was curious if anyone has done it already.

[thereuare]

I don't know of anyone who has done this at this specific property, but it has been done at other properties depending upon hotel policy.

You can start by contacting the hotel and asking if an upgrade would be available and if so how much. If they flat out tell you 'no', i'd then suggest to them that the price difference between the club room and standard room is $125/nite and if they would be willing to upgrade for that price.

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

[bschrager]

Little more information for other people.

I placed a call to the Marriott in Aruba and spoke with a nice gentlemen about upgrading my room.

For the $85 per night it is for a room facing the new Ritz Carlton construction. While I am very happy with that the wife and I were thinking of upgrading.

Upgrades go for an extra $50 per night per room class so,

For an extra $50 a night we could upgrade to a garden view.

For an extra $100 a night we could upgrade to a island/oceanview.

For an extra $150 a night we could upgrade to a pool/oceanview.

For an extra $225 a night we could upgrade to the Tradewinds Club level which includes an oceanview room on the 8th floor, reserved beach palapa, and all the other amenities that come with the Tradewinds Club.

[thereuare]

Thanks for the info.

It appears there are many room classes as this property, is the $125 price difference you quoted previously the price difference between the hotel you're assigned and the Tradewinds Club room... or is that price difference for a different room and the Tradewinds Club?

Let us know if you decide to take one of the upgrades or not.

[bschrager]

The $125 price was from what I found on the web, nothing quoted from the Marriott just from reviews and such so I have no idea what room category they started from. That's why originally I was asking other people for any experiences because I was unsure. After calling this morning I do know in my case I am starting from the lowest room category working up and from what it appears is that you pay for an upgrade to the highest regular room level, not including suites before the Tradewinds Club, so pay the $150 a night upgrade to a pool/oceanview (8th floor only, adults only) and then it's $75 a night for the Tradewinds Club for a total of $225 a night.

My wife and I decided that we deserve a really nice vacation since we work so hard so we decided on the upgrade to the Tradewinds Club. We've been to Aruba many times and we mainly go to just relax at this point, we've seen and done everything we have wanted in the past. Our vacation is not that long so we're going all out and plan to be at the hotel most of the time. We do enjoy time on the balcony, and with the other amenities like breakfast, lunch, soft drinks and water, alcoholic drinks from 6-9pm with small appetizers and such, plus a reserved palapa (beach hut) in a private area with non alcoholic drinks included it is worth the $225 a night upgrade. I called back and did confirm our upgraded room, had a choice of a king with a good view or a really nice direct oceanfront with 2 queens, we sleep on a queen at home so we went with the oceanfront room with 2 queens.

We look at it like most hotel amenity prices are jacked up especially Aruba so for the 2 of us to have breakfast and lunch at the hotel with drinks, we're not big alcohol drinkers so the alcoholic drinks from 6-9pm is fine for us and the palapa (beach hut) situation can be hectic at times, just knowing we have a reserved hut, we don't have to get up early in the am to fight for one, or wait in line or lotterys the day before and that's worth enough in it's itself.

Based on the cost of booking the Tradewinds Club direct from Marriott's site with a AAA discount we are still saving about $100 per night overall, without the AAA discount the savings are $150 a night.

Hope this information can be of help.

[AaronJB]

Sweet deal and glad you were able to work with the hotel for a very, very nice upgrade. :)

Thank you for letting us know about your experiences working with the hotel for the upgrade.

Enjoy your stay.

[bschrager]

For those interested......wife and I had a great experience at the Marriott, the $225 a night upgrade for us to the Tradewinds Club was well worth it. We had the one of the best oceanfront rooms on the 8th floor with a direct view of the ocean both ways with a huge balcony. Had no problems getting a palapa on the beach, the services the Tradewinds lounge offered were great and the food was really good. All around the service at the hotel was top notch. Be aware there was a $29 a night tax plus a $24 resort fee added on every night but still everything was well worth it and with Priceline for the original booking we saved a good amount of money overall.

[thereuare]

Glad to hear you enjoyed your stay and found the upgrade worth the money.