Priceline Hotel: Easy Click Travel (and perhaps PL/HW too) Question

[DoLFaN]

I have a question about reserving a hotel in Cocoa Beach, Florida, for the dates of June 13th-June 16th, a three night stay. Now, I did not want to jump the gun on where to post it, becuase I do not want to necesarily use hotwire or priceline. On easy click travel it is cheaper to get the Holiday Inn than at Hotwire (I believe).

However, my delema is: I am a college student planning a summer trip with a bunch of friends, upwards to 8, and perhaps even more. I know on easy click I can book up to three rooms, (One 2 sleeper w/ 1 bed, One 2 sleeper w/ 2 bed, One 4 sleeper) at 71$/night per room at the holiday INN (Ocean front is a MUST as we surf, and this is a great deal for a decent ocean front!). However, as my friends are college students, I know they can be unreliable and dropout...thus leaving me with hundreds of dollars possible down the drain on my credit card.

So, I want each of my friends (mostly couples) to book their rooms on their own. Being that we all want to be in the same hotel (for obvious reasons) I want to most definitly go with the Holiday INN. I also want them to book thru Easy Click so they can save 30$, and also want to go (high price will scare them off).

My question is: Will we be able to do this? Will I be able to make my purchase with easy click, then 20 minutes later have a friend make his purchase with easy click at the same price, then 20 minutes later have my other friend make his purchase with easy click also at the same price, and so on and so forth?

I ask becuase I don't want to have some friends not get the awsome discount and then not want to go. But I also don't want to book it all on my credit card and potentially lose hundreds of dollars.

So, would I be able to safely have my friends bid seperatly at the same hotel?

Thanks for all the help :)

-DoLFaN

[dahammer]

the dynamics of group travel, ahhhh...those were the days......I always went by the motto, in God we trust, all others pay cash.... :)

All you can do is to present this to the group as a great deal and have everyone buy at the same time and those that don't might run the risk of paying lots more for a room that might be away from the group or possibly be a block off the beach.....you snooze, you loose :)

[DoLFaN]

Yea, but the thing is I'm not sure sure if this'll fly with them. Is there a way I could call Easy Click and book via their site or somthing? Or be like "Yo, I got friends, they want the same deal, hook em up!"

lol. Basically, does the deal run out if someone already grabs it? Or does it keep rolling? The hotel is supposed to be is pretty big. I don't think they're going to fill hundreds of rooms for a weekday stay. If it was the weekend I would understand, but...

Well, what do you think?

[ufjoe21]

I'm a Graduate student, and I've never done the buddy trip, people just use and abuse you. Trust me it's not worth it, you SHOULD take your girlfriend or a date on a trip and just get 1 room for 2 instead. A much better use of your money!!!

:)

[dahammer]

reservations made with Easy Click may be cancelled, check the terms and conditions on the website, I believe rooms may be cancelled up to 72 hours before check in. The problem is that rates can fluctuate and may go up based on availability. Also, you might want to think twice about using your credit card to reserve the room for someone else in case there is any damage to that room, you don't need the headaches. :)

I used to run a bus trip to Hunter Mountain with friends and relatives (30+ first cousins alone) and it was always a hassle to get people to part with their deposit $$. I would always get the line "when do you need to know whether I'm going or not" and my answer was always the same: "the day before I sell the last seat on the bus" :) People will say they want to go, but you'll hear every excuse in the book as to why their words never turned into action....I agree with ufjoe21.

the waves in Cocoa Beach will still be rolling in whether your friends come or not, and Ron Jon's surf shop is open 24 hours a day, don't forget to get a decal for your car :o

[DoLFaN]

UF Joe...University of Florida?

If so we're practically brothers

Anyways, I apreciate the advice, but I believe in more the merrier

Is it possible to cancle perticular rooms, or would I have to cancle the whole bill? The deal is... yea taking my girlfriend up and just her would be great, but for 3 days it can get a bit old. Need some buddy's, some testosterone.

Perhaps I should simply take a close look at the ECT terms of use. Hmm...

Any other sugestions (not advice :))

But thanks for everything so far

[thereuare]

You can book via EasyClickTravel and cancel the rooms you don't need to use. Cancellation is 72 hours before check-in date.

It would help this board if you used our EasyClickTravel link and not phone in the orders... although i agree with the others, have your friends commit to the current price or they're on their own later.

[DoLFaN]

Oh, i would only ask the questions via phone, but most certainly book via better bidding!

Yea, i guess I will just have them buy on their own. I just hope ECT holds up the price for probabley 3-6 purchases. We'll see I guess. I will give an update when it happens.

But until then, how about taking bets on whether or not I can get this accomplished? :) Hehe

Thanks for the help! Keep it coming if you still got it. And don't worry thereuare, there is nothing more I want than to help this site :)

[ufjoe21]

UF Joe...University of Florida?

If so we're practically brothers

Anyways, I apreciate the advice, but I believe in more the merrier

Is it possible to cancle perticular rooms, or would I have to cancle the whole bill? The deal is... yea taking my girlfriend up and just her would be great, but for 3 days it can get a bit old. Need some buddy's, some testosterone.

Perhaps I should simply take a close look at the ECT terms of use. Hmm...

Any other sugestions (not advice :))

But thanks for everything so far

Yes UF.

Use priceline instead and get 1 room. You'll save money in the long run, and you won't have to worry about anybody else's money but your own.

EasyClickTravel is terrible, their star ratings are EXTREMELY innaccurate. Very few people have used it to make reservations on BB, if all else fails I'd used Orbitz or Hotels.com first.

[ufjoe21]

if you absolutely have to have friends there, then say

"hey guys me and my girlfriend are staying at XXX for XXX nights in XXX,FL", if you guys want to meet us there that'd be awesome but you gotta handle your own expenses and travel plans

Hotels don't like it when a group of rowdy college kids all try to show up at once, besides one of your friends start causing trouble they call security and you all end up getting kicked out. College kids cause more trouble in hotels than high school students are.

But if you insist on having friends there, say "I used XXXX website to get our room, and I'm sure you can get a similar deal if you do XXXX", that way friends will come along and most likely be in same hotel and you don't have to worry about travel plans.

I too have racked up lots of credit card debt and am currently digging myself out of debt, but I have a longdistance relationship with a girl, so I have to constantly make hotel reservations and I manage to save and handle my travel expenses while still paying off my previous debt. Those big trips were fun in high school, but after that stuff like that gets old, like I said if you really want them there tell them exactly what you did to get YOUR room, if they really want to go they can make the same plans. If they're in the hotel down the street big deal, everybody ends up saving money in the end!

[DoLFaN]

Yea I think that's what I am going to do. Thanks a lot UFJoe and the others.

I'll give you all an update when I have one

Thanks :)