Priceline Hotel: Bidding Help Resort Grand Hyatt Kauai

[xikingix]

Hi All,

I always use your PRICELINE / HOTWIRE links, just had a couple of questions for bidding in this area for 2 (possibly 3) rooms for the dates of 11/17-11/22:

1) I'm trying to win multiple rooms, am I better off trying to bid individually or as a group?

2) Seems as there is only one other rebid zone?

3) I have been bidding from 160-190 since last week with no luck, I am okay with going higher but is it too early? Advance rack rate is currently around $310.

4) How often should I be rebidding? I've read it's better to keep them infrequent?

5) I'm not seeing this resort show up on HOTWIRE, does that mean anything for PRICELINE?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[thereuare]

1) I'm trying to win multiple rooms, am I better off trying to bid individually or as a group?

It's usually a non-factor, but if it does have an effect, it's a negative one. However, unless you're willing to risk winning different hotels, or one room at a discount and other rooms at full retail, then you should bid them all together at once.

2) Seems as there is only one other rebid zone?

Correct.

3) I have been bidding from 160-190 since last week with no luck, I am okay with going higher but is it too early? Advance rack rate is currently around $310.

It's not too early to try, but might be too early to chase this higher and higher. With this noted, i don't think we have ever seen a win at this property in the month of November (and only a few in December), so this may be the start of high season (when the weather is cold and/or poor everywhere else, it's high season for Hawaii), and there would be little reason for the hotel to discount... certainly not discount very deeply. If you're unsuccessful with PRICELINE, would you pay retail rates to stay here OR choose a different property or location on the island?

4) How often should I be rebidding? I've read it's better to keep them infrequent?

It won't effect your bidding, it's more of a frustration point of view... we sometimes see people 8+ months out bidding every day, and you just won't see rates change that frequently so far ahead of the stay. Every 3 days would seem sufficient given your ~4 months out... if you feel 'lucky' or get the urge 2 days since your last bid no problem bidding again.

5) I'm not seeing this resort show up on HOTWIRE, does that mean anything for PRICELINE?

It would be good if you did see it on HOTWIRE, but the fact it's not on HOTWIRE doesn't mean it's not on PRICELINE.

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

PS- please follow-up your previous Priceline Chicago thread with whatever you ended up doing for that trip.

[xikingix]

I think I’m going to limit the bidding to two rooms and pay retail on the third if necessary. Costco Travel has a package right now where if you factor in car rental + resort credit + resort fees + daily breakfast, each room comes out to an effective rate of ~$260 a night, so I’m going to try to keep bidding under that. It’s not a deep discount as people have been getting, but as you mentioned, I have not seen very many wins in the later months of Fall/early Winter. I’ve also noticed most wins have been coming 0-2 months of travel, which makes sense since it is the most popular resort on the island, we’re probably unlikely to get a discount this soon.

As far as backup, there’s currently code for 20% off rack rate for Wyndham (Coupon Code: 1000005930). The Koloa Landing at Poipu Beach Wyndham Grand Resort is very nice judging by the photos and reviews, we’ll surely get our money’s worth, but the biggest drawback is the proximity to the beach and ongoing construction. I’m not too wowed by the other resorts on South/East ends of the island, and I’m afraid the amount of rain we may see in the North if we choose any of those resorts.

I’ll be sure to update this thread as our travel approaches, thank you again for your help.

PS – I’ll be sure to update the CHI thread as well.

[xikingix]

Ended up going with Costco Travel for our package, they just added complimentary room upgrade to Pool View. Didn't realize how expensive a 6+ passenger rental car was going to be over the duration of our trip, it only cost an extra $160 to upgrade the Costco Travel package for a van, plus $18 for an additional full sized car. Also found out that Costco no longer covers the resort fee as it had in the past (although I believe this would be waived for Diamonds). Subtracting the cost of all the additions of the Costco package, not including the additional rental car, we booked each room at $202/nt after tax.

[AaronJB]

Thank you for closing the thread.

Enjoy your stay.