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Hotwire Hotel: failed whistler bids


sabrinalane03
By sabrinalane03,
in

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  • 2 weeks later...

$58 was rejected for the same date in the same zone as previously posted. The hotels still have the same price listed. I am wondering if anyone has a suggestion as to what number would not be lowballing it but also wouldn't be bidding too much. If the rates are $89 canadian I could essentially wind up bidding 60 and then with the taxes and fees the total would be around 75 american.

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While I admire your tenacity in not giving up... it's possible the hotels just aren't releasing inventory to priceline right now.

You've booked a refundable backup reservation, right?

There may not be better advice than to keep bidding at a level that offers you SOME savings, and hope that the inventory opens up. If it doesn't, you'll have to pay full price.

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The Whistler Blackcomb website has the "Mountain Retreat Hotel & Suites" available, king or queen bed, for $80 CAD / $69.75 USD for your two nights. Click "Whistler Hotels". On the right is a "Vacation Planning" section where you enter your dates. Then click "Start Planning", then "Search". Sort the results by price and you'll see this property. It appears to be fully cancelable up to 48 hours before your stay, but you'll want to verify that for yourself. Perhaps you should consider that option.

Although now that I look more closely, it's 45 minutes south of Whistler. Is that too far?

Here's one more thought: A lot of the hotels seem to have length-of-stay requirements, minimum 3 or 4 nights. Have you considered bidding for an extra night at the end of your stay you won't use? If you bid $50 for check in March 27 check out March 30 (three nights) and it was accepted, you'd effectively be paying $75 per night for the two nights you actually use. If you bid $40 for check in March 27 check out March 31 (four nights), you'd be paying $80 per night.

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  • 3 weeks later...

It is up to 74 a night. I waited too long to buy a room directly through a hotel because now I will be paying more for a room than I would have if I had bought one when they were 89 canadian a night. Does anyone know why the rates are so high? It is now more for a one star in whistler than a 4 star in vancouver. Last year I got a room in whistler for 50.

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What do you think of this?

Here's one more thought: A lot of the hotels seem to have length-of-stay requirements, minimum 3 or 4 nights. Have you considered bidding for an extra night at the end of your stay you won't use? If you bid $50 for check in March 27 check out March 30 (three nights) and it was accepted, you'd effectively be paying $75 per night for the two nights you actually use. If you bid $40 for check in March 27 check out March 31 (four nights), you'd be paying $80 per night.

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I am only staying one night. 3/27-3/28. What I think I might do, even though commuting will be a pain is travel to whistler the morning of 3/27, travel to vancouver the night of 3/27, and the travel back to whistler the morning of 3/28. I just don't want to pay for three nights but only be there one. It might even be cheaper to just pay the overpriced 130 for one night at the best western listel instead of paying for 3 nights on priceline. Thanks for the suggestion. It is just my luck that there is some sort of a celebrity ski festival in whistler on the 28th. That is probably why the rooms are more expensive this year than last year.

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Just thinking about your dilemma. What about considering staying in Squamish if you are only there for one night? It's still a bit of a drive - about 45minutes- but,unless there's a bunch of snow on the roads, shouldn't be too bad> Lots of Whistler employees live in Squamish as housing is so expensive in Whiistler.

Of course, you'd miss the nightime ambience of Whistler but it's a suggestion.

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I lost with 79. for a 2* or 1* I am so annoyed that I am now going to be paying more than what the full price was when I started months ago. Since I don't have a car, I don't know how I would get from squamish to whistler aside from paying for a taxi or are there greyhound type buses that go from squamish to whistler? now that I saw that someone got a 4 star for around 130 a night I am going to go up to 85.

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I didn't realise you don't have a car. How are you getting to Whistler?

I'm pretty sure there are buses from Whistler to Squamish but the time and cost would likely be too much to make this worthwhile.

Why do you have to be there for that particular night? As you haven't yet booked anything you might be better off going later. March is very much high season. This, weekend for example, the sun is shining and the snow is perfect. Wonderful Spring Skiing!

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The answer to your question is probably 'no', there's no way to cancel. But I'm responding only because of your reference to trip insurance.

A friend of mine had the misconception that trip insurance allows one to get out of any travel plan at will. I suspect that some board readers here might think likewise. I want to caution that if you read the literature that comes with trip insurance policies, you'll realize that it generally covers trip cancellation due to death or serious illness of the traveler or immediate family, or inclement weather. It does *not* usually reimburse you if you don't take the trip because you didn't feel like it or your boss wouldn't let you take the time off or a pal has fallen ill and needs you to tend to her dog.

I personally have never found justification to purchase such limited travel insurance:

- My regular healthcare plan (Cigna HMO) covers all medical expenses wherever I may be, including evacuation. Check with your employer or insurer - you might have all the coverage you need;

- Most airline tickets can be reissued for a later trip for a reasonable service fee. This does not include tickets purchased from Priceline or Hotwire, but unlike their hotel rates, I rarely find their airfares enticing enough to forfeit miles and peace of mind;

- Priceline has readily cancelled and refunded a hotel stay I booked when a hurricane prohibited travel to the location;

- Priceline would probably permit a once-in-a-lifetime refund should you die or fall seriously ill;

- Trip insurance seems to cost some 10%-20% of the trip cost (air+hotel). If instead of paying an insurance company to insure every trip, you'd put the same amount of money in a piggy bank, you'd quickly have enough money accumulated in that piggy bank to cover any travel-related loss. Same principal that drives many companies (including the one I work for) to self-insure their vehicle fleet or cars their employees rent on business trips.

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