Priceline Hotel: 5 Star Orlando Disney Area / Waldorf & Caribe questions

[puppylove]

Hi all - new to the board and appreciate all the help and info here!

 

Quick 1 day stay on November 17th to the IDrive/Sea World area of Orlando but willing to be within 15 or so minutes in any direction

 

Found a military deal at the Caribe Royal for $128 + $30 food credit + no resort fee + room upgrade/late checkout, so basically $100 + tax for the night. An accepted bid would have to be under $75 to make sense since they just started charging a $20 resort fee (not waived if we don't use the military deal.)

 

Then had the idea of a 5 star, hoping to keep it around $200 if possible. The only option it seems is the Waldorf, listed as the only 5 star hotel in this price in the general area at $266 pl for the express deal. Am I on the right track?

 

Questions:

 

1. Where should I be with bidding for the Waldorf - the lowest direct rate from their own website over the next 2 weeks is $199 for the day before which sadly we can't do. Is a bid of $150 unreasonable? This + the $30 plus taxes would work.

 

2. Seeing in previous posts most accepted Caribe bids are low $80's to high $90's - worth bidding any lower than that or just stick with the military deal should the Waldorf not work out?

 

Thanks all!

[AaronJB]

Welcome to Betterbidding. :)

A few notes: there may be other 5* possibilities than the Waldorf. Additionally, when you mention Caribe common bids, if you bid for a 4* in a particular zone, you have to be willing to stay at any 4* in the particular zone.

 

To back up briefly though, which zones exactly (by name) would be acceptable in that you'd be willing to stay anywhere within the zone boundary?

 

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPS and HOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.

[puppylove]

Thanks!!!

 

Which others in the area/surrounding ares are 5 star under $300?

 

Good point about the bidding, Like the Caribe over some other 4's as it's more resort'ish/different and we will be on site the entire time day/night before checking out. I guess I would consider anything similar but definitely don't want a generic regular hotel without restaurant etc attached or some nice grounds etc..  Since I won't be guaranteed any of that it sounds like I should just bid on the 5* and if I don't get the price I want, stick with the direct military Caribe deal at $100...

 

These are the areas that work:

 

Disney Area - Lake Buena Vista East

Disney Downtown - Lake Buena Vista

Disney Maingate - Celebration Area

Disney Maingate West

Downtown Orlando

Intl. Drive - Convention Center

Intl. Drive South - Sea World

Universal Orlando Resort Area

[thereuare]

Few more points...

Currently the only zones that offer 5* bidding in the Orlando region are:

Disney Maingate West

Disney Downtown - Lake Buena Vista

We can try, but i'm doubtful that $200 will be enough for a 5* property.. you're more likely looking in the $225-$250 area. However, $200 may be enough for a 4.5* property (such as the Omni Championsgate, as an example).

Let us know your thoughts and how you'd like to proceed and we'll advise accordingly.

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPS and HOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.

[puppylove]

Do we know the others in those zones that are considered 5 star? Four Seasons/Ritz are out of price range, and the only other i see is the Reunion Resort - this to me looks like a 4 star, similar to the Gaylord but more adult-ish.

 

I got a $179 Waldorf military direct but on a different day - great price though! Good to know for the future when we have more flexible dates.

 

DH likes all the 'fun" things in the Gaylord pics, but is just so huge, plus $20 parking, $20 resort fee - overall about $125 more than the Caribe for the night, so prob not worth it.

 

I think if I knew which 5 stars were in the mix, I could chance it with some bidding then default back to the Caribe military as a backup

 

Thanks for the help :)

[thereuare]

You can see all hotels reported to the board in the respective Priceline Hotel List or Hotwire Hotel List (and see the comments at the top of each)... but this is not how it is determined which zones contain 5* hotels.

To know which hotels offer 5 star properties, we use the technique from re-bidding, which you can read abut here: Priceline Re-Bidding Explained

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPS and HOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.

[puppylove]

You can see all hotels reported to the board in the respective Priceline Hotel List or Hotwire Hotel List (and see the comments at the top of each)... but this is not how it is determined which zones contain 5* hotels.

To know which hotels offer 5 star properties, we use the technique from re-bidding, which you can read abut here: Priceline Re-Bidding Explained

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPS and HOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.

 

Ok so I was on the right track, just wasn't sure if I was missing something :)

 

So looks like if I choose LBV and Sea World as the areas, for 5 star - it's just between Waldorf/Four Seasons/Ritz (last 2 being so much more, so unlikely)

 

Just emailed with Caribe and they said there's an error on their website -- the military deal does not include the resort fee (which it says it does on the page.) I'm trying to get them to honor it but they don't seem to willing.  Still a good price though and a lot less than Gaylord

 

Will update with results of the 5 star bidding!

[puppylove]

Update - $175 rejected.... used Ratedrop for an alert, and will probably rebid up to around $225...which put us at around $300 total.

 

Caribe replied and agreed to honor the price mistake (guess they couldn't say no on Veterans day!) so factoring in the $30 credit its $98 + tax total....upgraded deluxre room is 600 sq ft suite which is a nice bonus!

 

Guess we just have to determine if the Waldorf etc is worth 3x as much....

 

Thanks again for the help!! I can see how it can get addicting! :)

[AaronJB]

Thank you for keeping us updated on what you decide and let us know if you have additional questions. In terms of the Caribe, are you seeing a listing of interest on Hot.wire or PRICELINE EXPRESS that's comparable on price/star rating?

 

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPS and HOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.

[puppylove]

There were a few 4's that looked similar (resort style) -- Wyndam Grand, Gaylord but after fees etc it's only a bit more to do a PRICELINE EXPRESS 5* (Waldorf?) or via bidding...

 

Since there are so many 4's it would be more of a risk then we want I think, and the Caribe with the 600sf king deluxe suite + military deal is exactly what we want within a resort & cheapest of all the 4's..

 

Interesting, just since we started looking 2 days ago at the Caribe on PL, the price has just today gone down to $99 for the PRICELINE EXPRESS!

 

The Stash awards program actually offers a good bunch of extras:

 

Stash members will always receive the following benefits when staying at Caribe Royale:

 

Complimentary upgrade to Premium internet service

Coupon for The Island Spa

1 Complimentary drink coupon

1 20% off coupon for the Tropicale restaurant

2 complimentary bottles of water

Members may request a free suite upgrade at check-in, based upon availability

Early check-in and/or late-check-out, based on availability (excluding villas)