Priceline Hotel: 4* Chicago (NMA-River North) Westin Michigan Ave

[dfwinjurylawyer]

I'm stuck. I've bid up over the last several days in $5 increments looking for Loop or milleneum park using the standard process. I.E. I first bid $70 for milleneum park Botique for Sept 3-5, rejected. Add Loop, which automatically adds 4 star, increased bid to $75, rejected. Then add Midway to $80 - rejected, then add Skokie area $85, rejected.

I just got rejected at $150 a night and am out of bids for today. However, when I go on regular price line, not name your own price, I see the Palmer house at $159 a night, sheraton $149. What is happening that I"m not being awarded a room at the very least at the Sheraton? I seem to have bid more on name your own price and not been awarded a room than the price listed on "retail" Price line.

Could the fact that I start out seeking a botique and milleneum park is the only place in Chicago with botique be messing this up? I wouldn't think so b/c when I add other zones, 4 star is selected along with the botique. I'm missing something. Thanks for any insight you may offer.

[AmericaWestCMH]

The only zone in Chicago I see where the boutique option comes up is the North Michigan Avenue zone. The Millennium Park, Loop and Grant Park zone has 4* 3* 2* 1*.

I first bid $70 for milleneum park Botique for Sept 3-5, rejected. Add Loop, which automatically adds 4 star,

I'm confused, as Millennium Park and the Loop are lumped into a single zone, and does not contain a boutique.

[dfwinjurylawyer]

That was my bad, I named the zones wrong. I apologize.

The zones I used were:

North Michigan Avenue - bid for a botique

Add Millenium Park Loop - Price line automatically adds a 4 star bid (no botiques)

Then added Midway (no 4 stars or botiques)

Then added Skokie. (no 4 stars or botiques)

I worked my was up the bidding ladder in $5 increments adding zones. Ultimately today I bid for each of the 4 zones above 4 star and botique are selected for $150. This was rejected.

I then got on regular price line (not name your own price) and they list Sheraton downtown as 4 star for $149, and others with $10 of that on the same dates as I bid using name your own price.

So, why didn't my bid for $150 at least get accepted by the Sheraton? Since I usually am able to be regular price line signficantly, I'm surprised the other 4 star hotels downtown that were within $10-15 of $150 didn't accept it either.

[AmericaWestCMH]

That certainly is odd, maybe thereuare knows what is happening. Are you specifically trying for the boutique, which has been reported as the Ambassador East Hotel (which has hit-or-miss reviews on Trip Advisor)?

[dfwinjurylawyer]

I'd be happy with a 4 star in either the Loop or NMA. I started out trying to get the Abassador East based on a recommendation of a friend I trust. However, any nice hotel in the area will work. If push comes to shove I'll do the $149 Sheraton. I've had several successes on the name your own price site that signficantly beat regular Price Line, so this situation is quite perplexing. I actually figured I'd screwed it up somehow and someone would point out the error of my ways! :)

[AaronJB]

HOTWIRE has a 3* in the Water Tower/Gold Coast/North Michigan Ave. area for $122 (price may vary slightly) with the amenities: golf/tennis nearby/spa/fitness/business/hi-speed internet/restaurant. This is possibly the Hotel Indigo (a block from the Ambassador East), a newer hotel (opened last Summer after remodeling an existing hotel) that gets very good reviews. I would definitely recommend it instead of the Ambassador East, which seems to have gone downhill since it was no longer an Omni as of several months ago.

HOTWIRE also has a 4* in the same area for $92, although I wouldn't recommend it - it's likely the Millennium Knickerbocker.

I wouldn't recommend the Sheraton, either. I paid quite a bit less than $149 for that hotel via Priceline and found it disappointing.

[dfwinjurylawyer]

Bizzare conclusion to this, and lesson learned the hard way. I started the bidding over again this time selecting NMA only and 4 star, as oppossed to botique. I'd previously been rejected at $150, but I decided to go down a little from there and started the bidding at $140, jumping off from Savingsbarn.com, of course.

This time, on the first bid, my request for 4 star in NMA for Sept 3-5 was accepted on the first bid of $140 by the Westin Michigan Avenue Chicago. I suspect I must have over paid and that my previous attempts to get a botique were screwing up the process. Recall I'd start with NMA botique, add the loop which automatically checked 4 star in addition to botique. I can only assume that Price line continued to look for botique only in NMA. So, be careful believing your eyes because you may think you are bidding on 2 levels of rooms, when you are in fact only bidding on one level in the first location and 2 room types in subsequent locations!!!!!

If had started with 4 star in NMA, I suspect I could have done much better as I've previously been accepted for approximatly $100 a night. Lesson learned.

[thereuare]

Thanks for the post and for using the SB links for your bidding.

I guess it can't be said with certainty if priceline didn't check 4* properties on your boutique bid OR if inventory became available, but i've added this comment to the Priceline Star Ratings thread.

At least the price is still a substantial discount to the $200+ rate directly from the Westin website.

Enjoy your stay.