how to get specific 4 star hotel when 2 are available in same Pricelin

[kaylad24]

Hi all. Hoping someone can share a tip with me to get a specific hotel I want. I am visiting New Orleans on 11/11/11, staying one night. I specifically want to stay at the Hilton Riverside, which is a 4 star hotel in the Convention Center and Warehouse Arts District (Priceline Area 1). That night is currently going for $279 on all the travel sites. But there is another 4 start hotel in the same Priceline area 1, the Wyndham Riverfront, at $179 on all the travel sites.

Are there any tips to ensure I get the Hilton? Should I "overbid" at a price of, let's say, $200, overshooting the Wyndham but still under the Hilton price point? Or is it possible I could still get the Wyndham by bidding $200? That's the only possible method I can think of that may ensure I get the Hilton instead of the Wyndham. Of course, I'd love to save as much money as possible, but I'm afraid if I start bidding low ($60-$130) I will automatically get the Wyndham.

Please help!

[AaronJB]

There is no way to ensure/increase the odds of getting a particular property when bidding on PRICELINE. If you bid more than retail for one of the potential properties in an attempt to avoid it, you could still get that property. It's definitely not recommended to try and overbid in an attempt to get a particular property. Additionally, there are other properties in the zone - the hotels that have been reported to the board can be found here: Priceline Hotel List Louisiana (there could also be hotels not yet reported to the board.)

HOTWIRE may be a better option, as one can make an educated guess as to which hotels are showing. Are you only looking for the Hilton or would other properties be acceptable?

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

[kaylad24]

Hey Aaron. Yes, I'm intent on staying at the Hilton Riverside. Thanks for letting me know about the overbidding. I think I'll just call up the hotel manager and ask for a better rate directly, see if that works.

Hotwire isn't showing the Riverside at all, btw.

[hohogap]

Lastminutetravel.com has a rate of $236/night for the Hilton New Orleans Riverside for 11/11/11. It's available on LMT as a rated 4 1/2*, but it's definitely the Hilton Riverside New Orleans. Not much of a savings over the rack rate, but should give you an idea of a possible negotiated rate directly with the hotel if that is within your budget. Good luck!

[kaylad24]

Thanks I'll check it out! Hilton wouldn't give me a lower rate. Said they were almost sold out, but I'll check this out. I also see that Hotels.com is showing the other 4* property that I don't want, the Wyndham, as only having 4 rooms left (on Hotels.com. So maybe I'll wait a few days to see if the Wyndham sells out for the night and then check to see if the Hilton is still showing up in Priceline, and then bid. In the meantime, I went ahead and booked a room at the Hilton at the $279 rate incase none of the above pans out.

About to check out LMT. Thanks all!

You're right...that 4.5 star on LMT definitely looks like the Hilton. It says standard room though, and I currently have reserved a King Superior Room, which I'd like to keep, at the $279 rate, so I think I will pass and just bite the bullet. Seems my requests are too specific to actually get a deal lol.

Thanks guys!

[hohogap]

Are you a HiltonHHonors member? When I've booked through LMT, I send the general Hilton web site address a note that our "travel agency" at work didn't put in my HHonors number in the reservation and could they add it to the reservation? They have forwarded it to the hotel, which recognizes it and places it on my reservation and it shows up on my summary of hotels booked on my HH account. My last time at the Hilton Chicago O'Hare (on airport) they upgraded me for free as if it were a direct Hilton web site reservation, although I still didn't receive HH points. And you can determine that the LMT hotel IS in fact the Hilton by "looking behind the curtain." It's explained in a thread started by BEAV. Search "Turico Holidays" on this site and the first post will explain it to you. I'm trying to get the New Orleans Hilton hotel through LMT for January 14-16, 2012. It was "on request," and denied availability yesterday. I'll keep checking and GOOD LUCK!

[vanpoodle]

I just tried that, but Hilton said:

"Thank you for your message to Hilton Reservations and Customer Care. It is my pleasure to assist you today with your reservation request.

In researching your request, our records indicate that the stay does not qualify for HHonors credit because it was booked on a third party website. Please see the definition of ?stay? under the Terms and Conditions of the Hilton HHonors program. This rate is also ineligible to receive credit for any incidentals that are paid at the time of your stay.

You can get guaranteed low rates on our web page www.hiltonfamily.com and receive HHonors points. For more information on "Our Best Rates Guaranteed", please visit the following link http://www.hiltonworldwide.com/en/ww/ourbestrates/overview.jhtml?cid=OM,HH,BRG,FeaturedBanner&adId=BRG,FeaturedBanner.

For future reference, you may verify this as well as other policies specific to eligible rates on-line by accessing the following link: http://hhonors1.hilton.com/en_US/hh/terms.do#accrual_of_points.

We appreciate this opportunity to assist you and thank you for your continued loyalty! If you have any further questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to let us know."

My husband has a gold Hilton membership so not sure if we'll be eligible for the slighter nicer room or not upon checkin.

[hohogap]

Interesting. When I sent the same email to Hilton, they just responded that my request had been forwarded to the hotel for inlcusion in my reservation. Didn't get the points, but the desk clerk treated it like it was just a regular reservation, gave me a complimentary GOLD upgrade and I did get points for the meal I ate there (which ultimately did count as a night's stay, but generally that doesn't happen, no matter HOW much you spend).

[vanpoodle]

Thought I should give an update here.we used the gold card at checkin. Hotel was full so she could not upgrade us and was giving us grief for not having told the hotel in advance about the gold card. I told her that I had tried but it clearly didn't work and left it at that. Anyhow, we got free breakfasts every day. We are coming back next week and might have the upgrades then. Our room is very very small, can barely walk around the bed, so would be nice if they do.