Priceline Hotel: Help needed

[Lou]

Hello,

I think your site is wonderful! I noticed you had the Westin Diplomat Resort and Spa listed as a possible for the Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood area. I need three rooms for six adults on December the 12th, pre-cruise. Please provide step by step instructions for best results.....

Thanks so much and wish me luck!

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Hotwire doesn't appear to be showing this property for a search on your dates so we can gain any insight there (at this point). What is your limit for resort property in this area?

[Lou]

We don't really have a limit just want to get a good deal on a very nice property. It's pre- cruise out of port everglades so we would like to be on or near the beach and within about a 30 minute cab ride.....

[dbnyc]

hi Lou.

i just recently did a lot of research on Ft. Lauderdale hotels + booked a pre-cruise hotel for a friend.

the closest hotels to Port Everglades are: Renaissance Hotel, Marriott Marina, Amerisuites Convention Center, Embassy Suites, Hyatt Regency Pier 66, Holiday Inn Express Convention Center, and Comfort Suites Cruise Port.

some of those hotels are available on Priceline or Hotwire (check the Hotel Lists here) others need to be booked conventionally.

these are all in downtown Ft Lauderdale, and are all under 2 miles away from Port.

although the Hyatt Regency Pier 66 (see my winning bid post for details) is actually in the Priceline Beach zone. but it's not actually ON the beach. i think it's pretty close to the beach though. maybe you go by water taxi?

if you want to be closer to the beach, try: Sheraton Yankee Clipper, Marriott Harbor Beach Resort, Radisson Bahia, or Doubletree Oceanfront.

Best Western Oceanside Inn or Days Inn Bahia Cabana are budget options near the beach, but these might be more motel like. i didn't research them, i just know their location is within 3 miles of Port.

i think the Doubletree Guest Suites Galleria and Holiday Inn Oceanfront are near the beach too, but they are a bit further away from Port. still under 5 miles away though.

you can try to see what the rates at these hotels are like conventionally. book a backup hotel reservation first. get to know what the hotel rates are like, so you can figure out what kind of deal (or bidding limit) you might want to aim for. and then you can come back here and see about attempting Priceline or Hotwire.

hope this helps!

[thereuare]

Lou,

You have a few options, and this may get a little lengthly (and confusing :) ) so feel free to ask any questions that you may have or clarification of anything.

Doing a Hotwire search for your dates in the downtown area (properties mentioned below are what i believe them to be, but obviously they're not disclosed as such):

1 room: 3.5* Embassy Suites $64/nite

3 rooms: 2.5* AmeriSuites $62/nite

(if you really wanted the Embassy Suites you could take the risk of booking one room at a time, and hopefully this property will continue to show up for 1 room purchases, but there's a chance that after you purchase one room, you've purchased the last one available at that price and it won't be shown again, thus leaving one couple at a different hotel than the others... probably not a viable option for you)

Hotwire Beach area:

3 rooms: 4* Hyatt Pier 66 $119

So, given the above info I would try the following on Priceline...

If you'd prefer to spend the money to try for the Hyatt, you have 4 re-bids avaialble (read RE-Bids Explained if you're not familiar with re-bidding, as well, feel free to confirm with the board as to what you think your re-bid zones are if you're unsure)

Select 4* Beach zone and bid $80, if rejected

add re-bid zone and bid $85, if rejected

add re-bid zone and bid $90, if rejected

add re-bid zone and bid $95, if rejected

add re-bid zone and bid $100

(if you only want to bid say as high as $90, you can adjust the re-bids to increase by smaller amounts, say $80, $83, $85, $88, and $90)

If the above is unsuccessful (or more than you wanted to spend) i would close that browswer and open a brand new screen, selecting the Downtown zone (where you have one re-bid avaialble) and proceed as follows:

Select 3* Downtown zone and bid $51, if rejected

Add re-bid zone and bid $57

All of the hotels mentioned above generally receive good reviews, as does the Priceline 3* Marriott, not mentioned above (although most recently i've heard some mixed comments about the 2.5* AmeriSuites) and are the most common selections for pre-cruise stays... if you feel your needs are different (you'd rather stay further away in hopes of a specific property) just let me know and i'll advise further.

If/when you move forward with Priceline, don't forget to select 3 rooms from the drop-down menu.