Priceline Hotel: 4.5* - 5* Disney world hotel help, 8/4 - 8/17

[thereuare]

It's possible that HOTWIRE has put a temporary charge on your credit card but i'm doubtful that it is a 'firm' charge... you can use Skype to call them for free or use their email support to confirm that you have not been charged.

 

I'd also suggest using the 'direct pay' by credit card and not go thru PayPal... why add one more element of complexity to the transaction and give any company to point the finger at the other (PP saying it's HW's issue and HW saying it's PP's issue); keep it simple and just pay PRICELINE / HOTWIRE directly with your credit card.

 

Was it still the original 5* offer that you tried to purchase or did you try one of the 'new' properties two posts above?

 

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

[spacnk]

Does Hotwire have a Skype account?  How can I call them for free using Skype.  I thought you still have to pay skype if you call a landline through Skype right?

 

For the Priceline deals I tried to pay via PayPal and via direct and both did not push through.

 

For Hotwire I wil still trying the original 5* offer.

 

Here's my theory - I have a feeling that maybe both the priceline 5* bonnet creek offer is the same hotel as hotwire's offer.  Let's say they are the same hotel.  And let's say it's the Waldorf.  I think when we do press Pay Now, Price line and Hotwire, both go to waldorf's website or their system and checks if the room is available?  And maybe Waldorf tell's them that rate or the room is not available anymore.  So both transactions fail and are cancelled.  This is probably too far fetched because I cannot imagine Waldorf allowing third party sites to view their database so I can be completely wrong.

 

But how else could you explain these failed transaction for two separate websites offering a similar product?  I just can't quite understand it.  Until now they are both still offering the same deal.  How long do they refresh their availability?  Assuming it is not available.

[thereuare]

With Skype you can call a landline 800 number (or any toll free number) without any fees (at least that was the case a few years ago the last time i tried it)

 

Your theory above is mostly correct... hotels load discounted rates into a system that can be accessed by PRICELINE / HOTWIRE (not the hotel's direct database of inventory).  For any given search PRICELINE / HOTWIRE will access these rates, but as this is a resource intense process (when doing thousands of searches / transactions per hour) they will get prices and inventory from their own history from the last time these dates where included on a search, assuming the most recent search was done within a 'reasonable' amount of time (this differs based upon the market, length of time before the trip, and a few other factors).  Once a user clicks the BUY NOW button the system then takes the additional step of making sure that the inventory is still available, and this works sufficiently 99% of the time, but the less than 100% is a trade-off for having the system work efficiently (in terms of showing search results quickly).  So i believe you are likely correct, that the transaction is failing once the purchase is attempted as the inventory is not actually there any longer.  Usually the inventory is removed immediately from their internal history once a transaction fails (like yours above) but i have seen instances where (for whatever reason) it takes awhile for the search results to be refreshed.

 

Not sure if you want to mess any longer with this specific 5* hotel, but as i was typing the above you could try (and i would try this with PRICELINE since they are the ones that have not shown any charge on your credit card) is to use this PRICELINE EXPRESS link to do a search from their home page for the first nite of your stay, then do a search for just the second nite, then the 3rd, then 4th, etc, etc. until you have done a PRICELINE EXPRESS search for each nite of your stay directly on their website.  This may refresh their internal history and possibly refresh the rate/availability that you're seeing when you search for your entire date range of 8/4-8/17.

 

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

 

Let us know how you'd like to proceed and we'll go from there.

[spacnk]

as an update I wasn't charged in the end.  so all good.

[thereuare]

So in the end what is it that you ultimately decided to book?

 

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