Priceline Hotel: Help - Miami 3.5* Downtown

[mickcur]

Require 3 rooms 05/07/12 - 05/10/12 3.5* Miami downtown

I have made 2 series of bids 24 hours apart. There are 4 rebid zones, so on my first attempt started at $60 and increased in $2 increments until I hit $90 without success.

Next day I repeated the above but started from $80 and went up to $110 and still no success. I note today that on the non bid part of the Priceline site they are willing to sell me 3 rooms at the Hilton downtown for $178 per night. I thought I might of got it at $110 :(

Thinking of maybe trying the Miami Beach zone in the next few days but at the 4* level, or maybe the Hollywood beach area also at 4*, but that's at least 30 minutes away(we have a car). Or maybe even the airport. I can get the Sofitel near the airport for about $95 on a non refundable rate, but don't really want to stay at the airport, although it's probably closer than Hollywood beach.

Any ideas or suggestions for a bidding strategy? Our limit is $110. Trying to avoid the south beach area because of so many choppy reviews and charges/parking. We could possibly reduce the number of nights to 2 as we are going to Key West after Miami and could spend the extra day there instead.

So in a nutshell, ideally we would like 3 rooms downtown 3.5* 3 nights

Thanks in advance.

[thereuare]

Thinking of maybe trying the Miami Beach zone in the next few days but at the 4* level, or maybe the Hollywood beach area also at 4*, but that's at least 30 minutes away(we have a car). Or maybe even the airport. I can get the Sofitel near the airport for about $95 on a non refundable rate, but don't really want to stay at the airport, although it's probably closer than Hollywood beach.

Do your plans bring you to this area in order to spend time 'Downtown'? What about the Coral Gables zone... hotels are usually within your budget and not too far from Downtown.

We could possibly reduce the number of nights to 2 as we are going to Key West after Miami and could spend the extra day there instead.

Not sure i you already have a place to stay in Key West but that area is notoriously a tough PRICELINE bidding zone... you'll usually find better price/value ratio in the other zones you've mentioned.

What are your thoughts about Coral Gables-Coconut Grove?

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

[mickcur]

Do your plans bring you to this area in order to spend time 'Downtown'?

Not really, although if we get time we would love to check downtown out. We want to spend most of our time in South beach, but we don't actually want to stay in South Beach due to cost/fees/parking/noise.

Not sure i you already have a place to stay in Key West but that area is notoriously a tough PRICELINE bidding zone

We already have flexible accommodation for Key West, obviously not through Priceline bidding. Our original plans were 2 nights Miami/2 nights KW. I was attempting to change it to 3 Miami/1 KW. I will try again for downtown in a day or 2 and try for 2 nights and stick to our original plans.

I never thought of Coral Gables. It certainly looks a lot closer than Hollywood beach. Thanks for the idea. I will try that if my next attemp fails.

This site is awsome!

Thanks and regards.

Michael

[thereuare]

Keep us updated on your progress and let us know how your next round of bidding goes and we'll take it from there.

Thanks for using the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board. (and also thanks for the compliments on the site :) )

Good luck!

[mickcur]

An update.

Not having much luck. I was going to wait a few days, but found some bonus cash in my profile so I gave it another shot. I reduced my stay to 2 nights and did the same bids starting from $80(+7) and upto $110(+7) and came up with nothing. Also did a seperate bid at $111(+7) for Miami Beach zone, and again came up with nothing. Still got Hollywood Beach and Coral Gables to have a go at. Any other ideas?

[thereuare]

For which two of the three nites did you bid? Which star level and zones did you make at each bid amount?

Please note that you can still use your Bonus Cash along with the board's PRICELINE links as follows...

1) click the link in the PRICELINE email to deposit the bonus cash into your account (usually you're given a form to enter your email address)

2) close the current browser

3) use a link on the board to access PRICELINE

4) go to the MY PROFILE >> MY REWARDS link at the top right of their home page

5) use the bonus money link in the MY REWARDS section of your profile (not a link from an email) and bid as usual

Thanks.

[mickcur]

Just an update.

Looking for 3 rooms for 3 nights Miami Downtown 05/07-05/10

I have just tried again with no luck. Started bidding at $79 plus the $5 bonus cash, added in all my rebid zones at $2 increments and went up to $109 plus the $5 bonus cash and pulled up nothing. We have other options up our sleeve, but will try again in a few days or a week or so and will keep you updated of the result. I'm pretty sure it's the 3 rooms that is the problem, but it's just a hunch.

[thereuare]

Are you bidding 3.5* or 4*?

If 3.5* i think you may be looking at ~$120-$140 based upon current prices.

When searching for 3 rooms HOTWIRE has what appears to be the Mayfair Hotel for $119/nite in Coconut Grove, if this zone is still of interest as an alternate area.

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

[mickcur]

A final update!

A made a further attempt with Pricline (using the link) to try and get 3 rooms/3.5*/Miami downtown/05/07 to 05/10 3 nights. Starting at $81 adding in all my re-bid zones at $2 increments and made a final bid at $115 per room per night. Once again with no luck. I think this was my 4th attempt. On another forum (for cruises) they were all quite excited by the Intercontinental Downtown Miami, and they were all booking it through another website (LMT).

Their website is quite a bit different from PL, and they also have secret hotels, but if you continue on through the booking without completing it, you can tell what hotel it is. Well, there was the Intercontinental for my dates with 3 rooms, with a banner saying call us direct for a special offer.

Long story short, I got the 3 rooms for $110 per room/per night plus tax...I think this is a pretty good deal. So Priceline didn't win this time unfortunately. The added bonus is that the LMT booking is fully refundable up to 3 days before departure! So I might even have a low brow bid on PL just outside the 3 days to check my luck.

Thanks for all the fantastic help.

[thereuare]

Glad you found something that works well for your plans and closing this thread with your decision.

Have a great trip.