Hotwire Hotel: 4* Toronto (Downtown) Sheraton Centre

[wernsk]

Thought I was doing a smart thing by making air reservations to Toronto over the Fourth of July weekend to avoid holiday crowds in the US only to find that Canada Day is July 1. I also see there is a Jazz festival in downtown Toronto around that same time. My plans are to try for a 4* hotel downtown in the $60-$80 range, but I hate to book a non-refundable room this early. I would however be willing to book now if I run the risk of nothing being available in a couple of months because of the Canadian holiday. Any advice you might have to share on the timing of my bidding would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

[thereuare]

Are your airline tix non-refundable?

[wernsk]

Yep.... I get Travelocity"]Travelocity fair alerts and it was $100+ less per person than the usual fair to Toronto from our Midwest location. We enjoyed Vancouver so much last summer, we thought we would try another Canadian experience. Couldn't pass up the low fair. Assuming now Toronto and Niagra will be crowded due to both holidays. Guess I should have done a bit more thinking on the dates, but too late now.

[thereuare]

....I hate to book a non-refundable room this early

So if you have plane tickets, and you have reason to believe that inventory will be tight, why would you not want to book your hotel room now?

[wernsk]

Fair enough question. Well, with non-rundable tix, if something should happen that would prevent us from going at that particular time (elderly parents), we could always pay a fee and use the tickets towards another trip at a later time. With Priceline or Hotwire purchases, the money for the rooms can't be re-couped in any way. If I'm planning to use Priceline or Hotwire, I usually try to book closer to the time of the trip, say within 4-6 weeks. I'm just trying to find out if anyone knows if there is any pattern of early sell-out for Priceline rooms for 4* hotels in downtown Toronto around a holiday like Canada Day. You could say I'm trying to hedge my bets.

[wernsk]

Just booked the Toronto Sheraton Centre (downtown) thru Hotwire for $67 per night for 5 nights. Did quite a bit of reading here (which is so helpful) and on other sites to increase my odds that it was indeed the Sheraton before I booked it . I wanted to post the details in case it would help someone else:

Hotwire

Toronto Downtown

Customer Favorite

Best Value

Amenities: Restaurant, Fitness Center, Business Center, Pool, Spa

$67.00 per night

$335.00 total

$59.02 taxes and fees

$394.02 grand total

Oops, I just realized that in my excitement to book the hotel, I forgot to use the SavingsBarn link for Hotwire. My apologies, I'll try to do better next time.

Thanks!