Hotwire Hotel: 2* Dallas (Arlington -Grand Prairie) Homestead North Arlington

[waltero61]

Looking for any assistance anyone can give on any Arlington hotels.

Would like to be near Ameriquest Field.

Very little, if any, info on Arlington hotels on this site to date.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[thereuare]

Since this is in the Hotwire forum, is that the service you are looking to use (or are you looking at Priceline?)

For either, what type of star rating hotels are you looking for and what is your budget. What are the zones, as per Priceline and/or Hotwire, that are close enough to (or include) Ameriquest Field that you are willing to accept?

[waltero61]

I always use Hotwire or direct book with hotel. I don't particularly like Priceline.

In any case, I don't think I'll need any other assistance with an Arlington hotel.

I just reserved a Howard Johnson Express within very close walking distance to Ameriquest Field for a measly $56.98 per night. This rate includes parking. This is about half the price of the other 2 hotels that are walking distance from the ballpark, The Courtyard by Marriott, and the Wyndham Arlington DFW South.

If you have any info on those two hotels for about the same price as the HO JO, I might be interested in investigating further.

Thanks for your reply.

[thereuare]

We do have a lnk to Howard Johnson in our SUPPORT PAGE

[waltero61]

Hello again thereuare.

This is the last city on my road trip that I haven't purchased yet. I already have a reservation at the Howard Johnson Express Inn-Arlington at Ballpark/SixFlags for $56.98 per night (not including taxes).

Going by the winning bids in this area in the past, I believe that the 3-star that I'm bidding on is the Hilton Arlington. Past winning bids have been in the area of $45 - $50.

This hotel is definately a step up from HoJo's (better amenities), and it offers an airport shuttle service (which HoJo's doesn't), a savings of approx. $60 round-trip.

That being said, I started bidding today.

Started with a $40 bid for a 3-star in Arlington-Grand Prairie for 4 nights 7/24 - 7/28/06 and was rejected.

Added Arlington South (no available 3-stars) and increased bid to $42 and was rejected.

Added Fort Worth NE-Bedford (no available 3-stars) and increased bid to $44 and was rejected.

Added East Dallas-Mesquite (no available 3-stars) and increased bid to $46 and was rejected again.

That's it for today. All of the other available areas have 3-stars available and are of no use to me.

So I'll wait 72 hours and give the same routine another try starting with $42 this time and working my way up to $48. If I'm still not successful, I wait another 72 hours and start with $44 and work up to $50, etc...

Would appreciate your opinion if it is actually the Hilton Arlington that I'm bidding on.

Thanks again.

Walter

[thereuare]

I think it will take between $46-$55 for you to have success for the above dates and that is the range i woudl be targetting.

This area is not bid very frequently, so although the Hilton is the only 3* hotel in our lists, there could always be others. For example, i see there is a Wyndham in this area as well, and if they participate with Priceline it would likely be a 3* property; there coudl be others as well.

[waltero61]

You're slacking off, it took over 2 hours for you to reply. Did the wife send you out to pick up milk or something? Only kidding.

Once again, I appreciate and value your experienced input.

If it indeed did turn out to be the Wyndham, that would be even more convenient than the Hilton. Quite honestly, if I can get either for under $65, it would be a great bargain. Especially since the Wyndham also offers a free airport round-trip shuttle.

I'll go back to bidding on Wednesday and see what happens.

Stupid question: How come the photo I selected in my profile doesn't show up under my name in my posts?

[thereuare]

The space under your name is called an 'avatar' and can be changed thru your control panel, which can be accessed thru the MY CONTROLS link near the top of the page.

However, your picture in its current form is too big (in KB) for your avatar so you'll need to resize it and make it smaller first. If you don't know how to do this or have trouble let me know thru the PM system and i'll walk you thru it.

[waltero61]

Placed 4 more bids tonight with no success.

Using your suggested bidding guidelines I started with:

Arlington-Grand Prairie at $49

Added Arlington South at $52

Added Fort Worth NE-Bedford at $55

Added East Dallas-Mesquite At $58

All 4 bids rejected.

Guess I'll have to wait until Saturday night to try again.

Wonder why Priceline hasn't come back at me with a counter-offer? I've read other peoples bidding histories and seen these mentioned. I haven't been offered any free rebids either, I've also seen these mentioned.

Could it be that my bids are even close to what they are willing to accept?

[waltero61]

I'll be bidding through Priceline again on Sunday morning.

Any suggestions on what my opening price and bid increments should be?

[waltero61]

Started bidding on Priceline again using your Savings Barn link.

Bid $55 on Arlington Grand Prairie

Added Arlington South and bid $58

Added East Dallas Mesquite and bid $61

Added Fort Worth Bedford and bid $66

All 4 bids rejected.

Will start again on Wednesday and hope for more luck. I not willing to go above $75. I already have the HoJo at about $60 per night, so that's my back-up.

Might try Hotwire again and see if there's anything new brewing there.

Any ideas why this area is getting so expensive for a 3*?

[thereuare]

It's supply vs. demand... i'm sure Spring Training is part of their "season", so if they can sell the majority of their rooms on their own, there is little reason to give deeply discounted inventory to the opaque suppliers. As i often say, "When you're stuck in traffic... you're part of the problem" :)

Incidentally, rates have gone up since i had previously thought it would take between $46-$55.

[waltero61]

Started bidding on Priceline again using your Savings Barn link.

Bid $65 on Arlington Grand Prairie

Added Arlington South and bid $69

Added East Dallas Mesquite and bid $73

Added Fort Worth Bedford and bid $77

All 4 bids rejected.

Still no counter-offer from Priceline. Do you think that this is because my last bid is not even close to the price that they are willing to accept?

Don't think I'm prepared to go any higher. Maybe I'll just wait a month or so and see if the prices come down. What do you think?

[thereuare]

I wouldn't read into a lack of counter-offer as you not being close. The counter-offers don't really have a pattern in terms of 'close' and some areas don't see counter-offers at all.

There just aren't that many hotels in this area at the 3* level, and as mentioned above, i'm sure this is part of their in-season. If hotels expect high occupancy, they probably dont' want to give away rooms at rock bottom prices this early if they expect to sell a majority of them on their own. I've checked a few 3* hotels in this area and rates are about $150/nite (which is higher than off-season)... so it's not unreasonable, given the demand, that hotels would not want to sell a room at 50% off, they'd rather take their chances and see if they can book it on their own down the road. A hotel may be willing to take an offer at 25% off (just as an example), figuring a "bird in hand...", but at half price their current thought is obviously "i'll take my chances... i'll have other opportunities down the road to discount it if i have to".

[waltero61]

Can you change the topic title to : Up to $77 with no success?

[waltero61]

:) Here we go again. Decided to give Priceline another try.

Using the same bidding routine as in my previous posts I bid $75, $77, $79 and $82.

All 4 were rejected.

The Howard Johnson Express @ $59 per night is looking better and better every day.

Maybe I'll take my own previous advice and wait a month or two before I resume bidding.

[waltero61]

:) I've noticed that there have been alot of views to this forum.

Is there anyone out there in Better-Bidding-land (other than thereuare) that can provide some input to this thread that would assist me in bidding this area?

As always, would appreciate any help possible.

Thanks,

Walter

[waltero61]

On Hotwire, Arlington - Grand Prairie (Mid-Cities) 7/24 - 7/28/06

2* - kitchenette, laundry facilities for $23 @ night

2.5* - airport shuttle, restaurant(s), pool(s), fitness center, hi-speed internet, golf nearby, laundry facilities

$49 @ night

3* - complimentary breakfast, pool(s), fitness center, business center for $82 @ night

Any guesses ?????

[waltero61]

:) Figured I had a better chance of getting Hotwire advice if I started a new Hotwire thread, obviously you didn't agree. Sorry.

:) Tried Priceline again today, for the heck of it, with the same bids as last time except for the last one which I raised to $83.

Once again, all 4 bids rejected.

[thereuare]

None of the above have yet been identified, but here would be my guesses:

2* Ramada Limited or an Extended Stay type hotel (homestead, extended stayamerica, etc)

2.5* no guess

3* Wingate Inn

[waltero61]

:) Just for the fun of it, I resumed bidding today.

I backed up on the price a little bit. I went back to the prices I used in Post # 13 ($65 - $77).

Still no luck.

I'm hoping that another 3-star in the area (the highest-rated hotel available in this area, currently) might join the Priceline ranks and I might get lucky.

I'll continue trying every week or so and post results until I achieve success.

If not, HoJo's Express it is.

[waltero61]

Same bidding routine as previous post with no success.

[waltero61]

Decided to give up on Priceline.

Went again to hotwire and got a 2-star for $24 per night.

See Hotwire forum for more info.

[waltero61]

Considering there are no hotels higher than a 3-star in this area, I decided to skimp a little on the budget and go lowball for 4 nights.

Got the Homestead Dallas North Arlington on 1221 N. Watson Rd, Arlington for a measly $24 per night. $121 total with taxes and fees.

It was listed as a 2 star with kitchenette and laundry facilities as the amenities.

This is an Extended Stay America property, so you only get the basics.

No room service (unless you pay $10 extra), no toiletry refills, etc... You can get fresh towels at the front desk.

If you just need a place to sleep and shower, this looks like it might be the place. Looks very clean and well-kept on their website. I'll post whether or not if that's the case after I stay there in July.

The website had the same room for $225 with taxes and fees for same 4 nights.

By the way, if you go thru Hotwire, you get one queen bed only. I'll bring an air matress and me and my son will be set to go. Considering we have the 4 star Sheraton before and the 4 star Omni after this stay, we'll tough this place out to save a few bucks on an already expensive trip (less expensive thanks to Better Bidding and Hotwire).

Please add this property to your pinned list.