Priceline Hotel: 5* Strip North-Am I being realistic ?

[zackary71]

Greetings from UK...first post so go easy !

Recently discovered the addictive entity that is Priceline (and now know to link from this site :) ) and already bagged a 48% saving on Texas Hotel.

I'm coming in October for my 5th Vegas trip to celebrate the big 4-0 and have been trying unsuccessfully to nail Venetian, Wynn or Palazzo with a $90-$120 spread including 11 re-bids, for a 9 night stay.

I've stayed at Venetian previously and I can't see justification in bidding any higher as I can book Venetian direct named for only $300 more for the visit.

My fallback is T.I. Petite Suites (stayed in Tower and Deluxe before) but I know October is a peak occupancy month with a 120,000 convention in town whilst we're there.

Is it just a case of keep trying and wait 'til nearer the time or would you advise getting something now ?

Thanks.

[Dman]

Unless you are flexible with the length of your stay, and the specific dates, you are being unrealistic.

My take is that the hotels won't release any rooms at those sort of prices for October, unless their bookings are running really light leading up to Labor day. So the short answer is, you might see that sort of pricing, but you won't get it 4 months in advance.

The second and third issues are that you are talking about a 9 night stay, and that necessarily includes either one or 2 Saturdays, and might even involve 2 weekend stay with a Saturday check in and a Sunday check-out in october, which is the worst possible case for Vegas.

As an experiment, you should try to request those dates for a 5*, Strip north, on Hotwire and see what the dates yield. then try to request just the weekdays in the middle, then try to request just the weekend or weekends of the stay. I'm betting that, at this point, 4 months ahead of time, you might see the weekdays coming in at prices within your range - but at the higher end, but that the weekend dates will come in at prices above $150, possibly as high as $200. While the overall stay would come in at something in the $150+ range. Using Priceline probably would allow you to underbid those prices, but not by more than around $15-20 a night, and probably not this early ahead of time -especially if the weekend dates are included in your bid.

The fact is, Priceline and Hotwire's best deals come on off peak dates - and for Vegas in particular, Fridays will cost more, and Saturdays even more than that. For a lengthy stay in Vegas, how amenable are you to staying in more than one hotel? Because your best deals will certainly come during the weekdays - you might get much lower pricing if you split the bid dates. What I would do if I were you, would be to book a cancellable backup, and then get serious about bidding for this stay in August or September. Then, at that time, If you were willing to split the stay, I'd bid the weekdays for 5*, and see what you could get. Then, I'd try to extend the stay at either or both ends, with the knowledge that you probably will not be successful at similar pricing to what you paid for Sun-Thurs.

[zackary71]

Thanks for your reply Dman.

Really good advice-I got Venetian last time on Hotwire but it was 6 night stay and booked only 1 month beforehand. There's only 1 weekend in our stay and we're tied to the specific dates and aren't too keen on splitting stay between 2 Hotels. I think like you that a $140-150 spread would probably get the room but the price difference so nearly non existent against booking direct. I had a look at the different prices on Hotwire breaking the stay into chunks and the price is what I thought including the inflated Friday and Saturday price jump.

Will just keep trying !!

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

...already bagged a 48% saving on Texas Hotel.

Can you please add your win to the board as a NEW TOPIC so that others can benefit from the information and will be aware of your win when searching the topic titles on the board and in the Priceline and Hotwire Calendar of Wins. THANKS!

Keep us updated on your Vegas plans and if we can be of further help along the way.

Thanks for using the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board.