RETIRED: New Zone Boundaries, Star Levels, Name Changes?

[ilander]

Just pulled up Treasure Island under packages. It is 4* and shows casino, rest., pool, fitness, high speed internet, business, golf, and spa.

EDIT by THEREUARE: hi-speed internet NOT currently associated with this hotel under vacation package

[scopes]

If I'm understanding the packages correctly, I think the Sheraton NY Hotel & Towers has changed to 3.5* Amenities are: Rest, Fitness, HS Internet, Bus Center

[thereuare]

Indeed it has changed, and that's the first time i've seen a whole star change in rating with Hotwire, but it's nice to see that they downgrade as well as upgrade.

Thanks for letting me know.

If anyone else sees other changes throughout the board and any information that might not be current, please post.

THANKS for helping out!

[Hotelhunter]

Hi,

This is my first post. While looking for available hotels in las vegas through hotwire vacation packages, I came across a 3.5* hotel with the following amenities which is not in the list of possible hotels.

3.5* Harrahs Hotel and Casino Las vegas

casino, restaurant(s), pool(s), fitness center, business centre, spa

[thereuare]

YIKES! another buckeye fan :) There are 2 others that i know of on the board, so it will certainly get interesting around here come college football season (and even more so in November!)

Welcome to BetterBidding and thanks for the update, i'll add it to the list now.

[thereuare]

Please use this thread to report new zone groupings/boundaries for Priceline or Hotwire.

This will help us keep the Hotel Lists current with the same names for zones that Priceline and Hotwire use.

THANKS for everyones help!

[ilander]

The Florida list needs to be updated for changes in Gainesville. The Doubletree is now a Hilton and the Sheraton is now called The Paramount Resort.

[thereuare]

THANKS!

Do you know if they still participate with Priceline, and if so, have the star ratings remained the same?

I have recently added a new section to the "How Does this Board Work" to report zone changes, hotel name changes, star level changes, etc" and i'll eventually move your post there (assuming that's ok with you :) )

Here's a link to THAT THREAD.

[ilander]

Sorry about posting in the wrong place. Feel free to move the other one and delete this one if you wish.

As far as I know both still participate. Since Gainesville only has 1, 2, and 3 star bidding - no 2 1-2 or 4 star - my guess is the ratings remained the same. The Hilton is a nice 3 star and the Paramount a lower quartile 3 star.

Gainesville isn't exactly a hotel rich environment and if those two are not in the 3 star offering, I'm not sure what hotel would be a three star. Maybe the BW Gateway Grand, but I've never seen it come up on Priceline.

When you are updating the list in the past I have gotten the Fairfield Inn and the LaQuinta both as 2 stars in Gainesville, but I don't remember the dates or amounts.

[chobby100]

Note: The Sheraton on Kauai is now coming up as a 4.5* and the Hyatt as a 5* on the vacation package, (and also on the hotel product assuming both amenties are the same on both products). The lesson, don't go by star level exclusively - check the amenities as well.

Also, Kauai is spelled wrong on the vacation package title. No big deal as far as I'm concered as I often spell wrong, but just thought I'd bring it to your attention. :)

[thereuare]

Thanks for the updates!

Actually A LOT of changes in this zones and when users tell me of one or two (like you did :) ) it prompts me to look for others. I also added some more hotels to the list. Also, do you recall what date(s) you saw the Hyatt come up at 5* as i couldn't get it to appear in any of my searches.

As for the spelling, i appreciate that as well since many people may search the board by city/zone, and if one is mispelled, then that post many not come up on their results.

THANKS for the help! (great first post on your part)

[BEAV]

Priceline has combined the USE, USW & SOMA zones into one very LARGE zone called "Union Square - Embarcadero".

It should be noted that Hotwire covers this same territory with FIVE zones (USW, USE, Embarcadero/Financial, Convention Center & Nob Hill).

If Priceline is hot to combine zones, I'd suggest combining USE, USW & SOMA, while at the same time create a separate zone in the Financial/Embarcadero area. This would better separate the tourist areas from the business district. Actually, for a very short time last year, Priceline created such a zone in the Financial district, separate from USE.

[thereuare]

Thanks BEAV, does it appear that simply combining the lists of all the old zones under the new name would work, or have some zones actually been subdivided into different areas?

For Hotwire, San Diego i have just been informed that there is no longer a Mission Bay. If anyone has any information as to how the prior Mission Bay zone was split up/merged please add your comments.

THANKS!

[BEAV]

Yes, I believe combining the lists would be correct. As far as I can tell, that's all Priceline has done....combine the three into one. Other zones within SF remain intact (such as Fisherman's Wharf, Civic Center, etc).

Any SF locals (or those familiar with the City) by all means speak up if you see anything peculiar that I don't.

[WillTravel]

I found that Priceline Hong Kong still has the old San Francisco zone boundaries. If you go there, and compare the USE, USW, and SOMA zones to the new downtown zone offered by Priceline.com, it does look like they have just been amalgamated. I think it's safe to say the hotels from the hotel list in those three zones can all be combined into one.

However, there does seem to be a slight difference in how the line is drawn in the northwest edge of the new map, as opposed to how it used to be in the Union Square West zone. My guess is that this slight difference does not mean anything at all - it's just an artist's rendition. There also seems to be a slight difference in the southern border of the map, as opposed to how the SOMA zone looked - again probably just an artist's rendition. (It's possible I'm wrong here, because I didn't print out the maps and look at them with a magnifying glass, but the edges do seem slightly different by up to half a block or so.)

[BEAV]

I agree any slight boundary changes Will described won't place any particular hotel into a different zone. This is especially true of the southern boundary of what used to be the SOMA zone. There isn't (and never was) a zone south of SOMA as this is an industrial part of the City.

[BEAV]

And now a philosophical question......

What benefit is there to either Priceline and/or their hotel vendors by combining three zones into one?

I certainly can't think of any consumer benefit.

[thereuare]

It doesn't help the consumer at all.

It's supposed to help Priceline by making making it more difficult to target specific hotels, but in reality i think it will hurt everyone involved. If there is a known 'dog' hotel in a zone, users may choose to book direct: Priceline loses business and the consumer pays more. Not good for anyone :)

[WillTravel]

I don't think there have been any reported hotels in this area, but the Victoria Airport Area zone is now greyed-out. It's no longer possible to use this as a free rebid zone for Victoria.

[hannahb352]

While looking for Vegas packages I found a new one:

3* Fitzgeralds (Downtown)

Casino, Restaurant, Pool

[thereuare]

THANKS!

[djohannw]

According to Priceline's Vacation-product (and assuming they use the same ratings for the hotel-product), the Grand Hyatt New York (MTE-zone) is now rated three stars only instead of four stars previously.

Greetings - Dirk

[thereuare]

Thanks for the update, i've changed it on the "New York Master List".

It'll be interesting to see how quickly this hotel is raised to 4* once the renovations are complete.

[IndustrialPatent]

I can confirm Treasure Island and the order the amenities appeared from when I purchased my room nearly 18 months ago.

4* Treasure Island

Amenities: Restaurant, Pool, Fitness Center, Business Center, Golf, Tennis, Spa, Casino

- - -

Please note that Tennis is not included in the list above (taken from the vacation packages). After I completed my stay, I kindly pointed out that there were no Tennis courts at this hotel. They said they'd look into the matter but I never heard back from them.

[WillTravel]

I doubt the renovations are complete, but now the Grand Hyatt in Midtown East is rated 4* once again, according to the Priceline vacation packages.