Priceline Hotel: 5* Las Vegas (Strip North) The Venetian

[traveler53]

Bid on Friday 9/6/13, started at $90 and increased in $5 increments using free bids. I received a counteroffer message at $100 (wanted an increase bid to $135). Ignored counteroffer and kept bidding in $5 increments. At $110 received another counteroffer message ( again wanted an increase to $135). I again ignored and won at $120. Total= 2 nights $240 + $40.68 fees and taxes =$280.68 plus undisclosed resort fee probably $25 (plus Tax on resort fee?--not sure if resort fee is subject to tax).

One odd aspect of this bid, before bidding I had followed the Express Deals for about two weeks. The Express Deal price for a 5* hotel in North strip was continually listed at $177. On Friday 9/6/2013 the Express Deal on a 5* North Strip hotel was listed at $154. As mentioned it had previously been consistently listed at $177. It seemed to be the same hotel as the hotel listed in previous two weeks since it mentioned a 9.0 customer satisfaction rating in all listings. From the regular hotel listings on Priceline, the only hotel with a 9.0 customer satisfaction rating in that zone is the Palazzo. When I clicked on the express deal at $154, the screen said the price had just been reduced to $133. With the BIGCITY6 10% off Priceline promotion, the Express deal price would have been $119.67. So I decided to take the Express Deal. However after entering my credit card information, and pressing the "Buy My Hotel Now" button, I received a screen that said the Express Deal was no longer available. However when I went back to Priceline's web site Express Deal section, a PRICELINE EXPRESS Deal for a 5* Hotel in North Strip at $133 was posted. In other words, the listed Express Deal Price was not at $154. any longer it showed the reduced price of $133. Curious and a bit grumpy, I tried about 6 or 6 more times to "Buy My Hotel" as listed in the Express Deal section at $133 and each time when I tried to "Buy My Hotel Now" , Priceline gave me a screen that said the deal was no longer available.

I was puzzled by that and decided to use the Name Your Own Price method. I ended up with the sister resort to the Palazzo (The Venetian) for $120 per night. All in all I was happy with the result but still a little peeved about the Express Deal experience. Just for grins I kept checking to see if the $133 deal at the .9 customer satisfaction rating remain posted. Sure enough it has remained on the site right up through today. Since I already had a hotel room I did not try to actually buy it, although I suspect I would get the same screen that the Express Deal was not available. I called Priceline about it and after navigating the maize that is the "customer service" division at Priceline, I received only the canned answer: "Inventory continually varies". The customer service division is in Mexico ( and you have to jump through several hoops before you can even get there) so I did not really expect a satisfactory answer. From now on I will stick with the Name Your Own Price version of Priceline.

Two other observations: (1)the Express Deal WebPage that you get after you click on a specific Express Deal shows the resort fee as part of the total price--listed separate from the taxes and fees total. So if you use a PRICELINE EXPRESS Deal, the hotel must not charge you the resort fee at check out unlike the Name Your Own Price arrangement where you pay the resort fee at the hotel. (2) Tracking the trajectory of prices on Express Deals does seem to provide valuable information on the likely range for a successful Name Your Own Price bid. My guess is that the Name Your Own Price level is generally within $10-$25 of the Express Deal Price. Prior to last Friday, for about two weeks I had been occasionally bidding and I had been bidding up to $135 ( Starting at $90. and increasing in $5 increments.) At that time the Express Deal price was at $177 and I had no success at that bid level. My experience following Express Deal prices is limited; but it seems a valuable bidding tool.

[AaronJB]

Congrats on your success and Welcome to Betterbidding. :)

Sorry to hear about your experience with the Express Deals listing. Unfortunately, that does happen at times and has been seen with both HOTWIRE and PRICELINE Express.

Very nice deal for the Venetian.

Thank you for sharing your win and please use the site's PRICELINE or HOTWIRE links to start your purchases and searches.

Enjoy your stay.