Priceline Hotel: 2.5* Orlando (Downtown) Ivanhoe Plaza

[dfwinjurylawyer]

I just totally over paid for a 2.5 star hotel in dowtown Orlando, but, at least I can add some knowlege to the data base. Downtown Orlando does have a 2.5 star hotel through Price line. Ivanhoe Plaza lists their lowest rate on the web at $79 a night. I paid more. Here is how I got a little too cute and got burned.

I started trying to find a 4 star downtown, the Westin, but it was booked on April 26, so I lowered my expectations to a 3 star. After several gyrations over a few days I was rejected in downtown for 3 star for $95. I panicked as my date is approaching. I check the pinned list, no 2.5 stars downtown are known. I run a regular price line search where I can see the hotels names, evt and NO Downtown 2.5 star hotels show up. Plenty in other areas have 2.5 stars, but not downtown. I click name your own price and intend to up the price from $95 and include 2.5 star in downtown only to see if I can get a 3 star hotel, since no 2.5 stars are listed. This time Price line accepted at $100 for Ivanhoe a 2.5 star. I'm furious, why would Ivanhoe not be on the regular priceline page but accepted on "name your own price?" So, I run another price line check on down town...Ivanhoe still doesn't show up as an option.

So, check for yourself, but I think there are limitations to the strategy of running a price line check to see what star levels are available in an area, because in my case, there was a 2.5 star downtown under name your own price, but not under the regular price line check where you see the hotel names. I don't think this was user error, but, if someone sees what I did wrong, I'd love to learn and avoid this in the future.

[thereuare]

It has been mentioned on the board many times before... not all hotels that participate in the "non-opaque" version of priceline necessarily participate in the "name your own price" segment (and vice-versa)

This is the correct way to determine your re-bid zones. From Priceline Re-Bidding Explained:

The way to check what star levels are available in each zone is to open a Priceline page, check ONLY the zone you are inquiring about, and then proceed to the next page (as if you were going to select a zone)... this will give you the available star ratings in that area. You can then hit BACK on your browser, uncheck the current box, check the next box, and repeat the process. It is important to do this before EACH attempt at adding a zone that you really don't want, as new hotels can be added and the star ratings can change at any time.

You can still contact Priceline and get a refund of $16/nite since they have a "best price guarantee" when you name your own price and i would submit a claim to them.

Is this just for one nite 4/26 or is that just one nite of a longer stay?

Thanks for the post and new property for our lists.