Priceline Hotel: 3.5* Chicago (Millenium Park - The Loop - Grant Park) Club Quarters Central Loop Chicago

[maitaimaven]

disclaimer: i've never used priceline/hotmail before, but i have just today been reading up on some of the tips.

i need advice on getting a nice river-view room for 2 adults. on the priceline map, i see that the Millenium Park- Loop-Grant Park for 3.5 stars includes 3 of 6 hotels that i liked when reading thru tripadvisor.

priceline has river view rooms at hotel 71 for appx $221/nite and i was tempted to just book that for the guarantee of hotel and view.

however, i was curious if i give a high-ish bid like $150 instead of 40% off, will i be given more than one option? do the amenities for hotel 71 or river hotel make them obvious that i could tell if it's them? if the bids aren't view-specific, are the hotels likely to put me in the cheapest (worst rooms?)

and honestly, if my wishes are too specific to be using a tool like this, feel free to tell me so! however, this is one vacaction where we might well be able to gamble the low price since our needs are more like preferences. will our vacation be ruined if we don't have a river view? probably not, esp if we're saving $150 bucks!

[AaronJB]

Welcome to Betterbidding. :)

Given the discounted rates of PRICELINE and HOTWIRE, reservations are for basic/non-upgraded rooms. River view is often a paid upgrade - you can ask, but the hotel can say no or charge more. Hotels are not likely to put you in the worst rooms (if there is a real issue, you can call PRICELINE or HOTWIRE), but upgrades should not be expected.

I would strongly suggest *not* to try to bid higher in an attempt to get or avoid a particular property, because you could wind up overpaying for the hotel you would have gotten more cheaply. The services (especially PRICELINE) are about getting a hotel cheaply versus getting a specific hotel cheaply.

With HOTWIRE showing amenities, one can make an 'educated guess" as to which hotels are showing, but only one hotel shows at each star rating in each zone for each set of dates and it may not be the hotel you were hoping for.

Each service offers its own set of pros/cons, and which is best for a particular person depends on what they are looking for from the stay.

In terms of upgrades, I think it depends on how much you're going to be in the room. I've stayed in a river view room at the Westin River North, which offered what I would call a "classic" Chicago view. However, if I was not going to be in the room a lot, I wouldn't consider spending the extra.

What would be your desired max budget per night, and which zone/s in downtown Chicago would you be interested in staying in?

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

[maitaimaven]

thanks for the speedy reply!

as a max budget, $250. as to zones, south of the river (called millennium/loop/grant) is my first choice, and the north michigan would be second.

so if i make a bid on more than one zone, i'd at least get to choose between two hotels--one in each zone? further, if it's hotwire, then i get the amenties, which are hints about which hotels they might be? i haven't really seen examples of what sucessful bids with multiple choices on it looks like.

i'm really tempted to try it the way you folks do-- less attachment to the specific hotels, but super savings. however, it's hard to give up my love of the funkier hotels, or the great placement right on the river. our friends will be staying in the trump hotel, and i like the thought of looking out of Hotel 71 at them right across the river. i would be sad if i was stuck in the Hard Rock.

so PL and HW will offer hotels based on random availability, right? not necessarily put the low bids in the less expensive hotels?

and isn't club quarters a members only joint? but i guess PL & HW grant you one-time membership or something?

[thereuare]

so if i make a bid on more than one zone, i'd at least get to choose between two hotels--one in each zone?

No, once you place a bid, if a hotel accepts it, you're told the name of the hotel and you own it, and it will be in one of the zones you had selected. Once you submit a bid you're not given any further choices... if a hotel accepts your bid it's a done deal.

if it's hotwire, then i get the amenties, which are hints about which hotels they might be?

Using the BiddingHelper.com search box at the top of the board and after doing your search look at the PRICELINE TAB, on that page is everything you have have control over... the zone, star rating and bid price. Then look at the HOTWIRE tab... those are hotels offered for your dates, you have the option to choose any of them and complete a purchase (learning the hotel name after you book) or simply close the browser and 'walk away'.

i'm really tempted to try it the way you folks do-- less attachment to the specific hotels, but super savings. however, it's hard to give up my love of the funkier hotels, or the great placement right on the river... i would be sad if i was stuck in the Hard Rock.

The opaque providers are not for everyone, or for every purchase, but if you're willing to be flexible the savings can be terrific. If you do decide to move forward with an opaque purchase i think HOTWIRE would be the better choice for you since at the very least you could have a guess as to the property, as well as often see other facts about the hotel such as previous guest review ratings and a TA rating... both of which can help ensure it's a hotel that you'd be happy with.

so PL and HW will offer hotels based on random availability, right? not necessarily put the low bids in the less expensive hotels?

No, it's not random... you state the amount you're willing to pay (your bid) and PRICELINE sees if any hotels is willing to accept that amount for a room. If you bid $100 they obviously can't assign you to a hotel that is only willing to accept $125 as their minimum.

and isn't club quarters a members only joint? but i guess PL & HW grant you one-time membership or something?

They've started to sell direct and thru 3rd party booking agencies.

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

[maitaimaven]

oh well, i screwed the pooch on this one!

i bid 104 for the millenium park area, and re-bid using lincoln park, hyde park, ohare north, and skokie, and was rejected.

today i luckily looked at priceline's area list, and some hotel in lincoln park had upgraded to 3.5, so i knew not to include that as a re-bid zone after waiting the prequiste time for rebids.

also, i got the message that i could rebid without changing anything if i upped to $131, which surprised me.

so i went back in and decided to test the waters at $115, and my bid was accepted!

only problem was i somehow missed that club quarters central loop was 3.5 stars! or perhaps like my lincoln park perameter, it changed overnight? so we are stuck there! i would have been VERY pleased with club quarters wacker, and i thought that's what i was getting, until it finally dawned on me, and i feel really bad.

so i wasn't careful enough. i guess i can call priceline and or club quarters and see if by chance they'll let me change properties since they're both club quarters for a fee, but that seems unlikely to me since i understood the risk (just missed one or more hotels that were sneaking into my zone).

[crito]

Sorry, that is disappointing.

For future reference, your particular wants and needs were probably better suited to Hotwire than to Priceline. Hotwire works very differently.

With Hotwire, you pick a date and a city (and narrow it down to zones if you want) and Hotwire shows you a list of hotels, without their names of course but with lists of amenities. You'll see in each zone one hotel at each star level (as long as there are any at that level available -- with your zones you'd be likely to see 4*, 3.5*, and 3* hotels). Then using the tools on this site you can often get a pretty good idea of which hotel each one is likely to be, and *then* decide if you want to book it.

So next time you're looking to save a bundle but have some desire for certain hotels rather than others, come back here and let Better Bidding help you find the right choice at Hotwire! And for this time, at least you really did save $150 on this stay...

[thereuare]

Sorry to hear you're disappointed with the results... upgrades (and downgrades) can happen at any time. Hopefully you'll be able to make this work for your needs (or work out an upgrade/sister property change with the hotel for a fee)

Thank you for sharing your win with the board and helping us update the Priceline Hotel List wit the new star rating for this property.

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

Enjoy your stay.