Hotwire Hotel: Bidding help for San Juan

[thingleton]

We tried bidding through Priceline just before the holidays and get rejected at 75$ for a pre-night stay on 4/24 before cruising on 4/25. We booked a room at the Howard Johnsons that we are able to cancel if we are successful at bidding before leaving. We are paying $105.00 per night at the HJ and I am hoping that I can get the Caribe for less than that including taxes and fees. The Caribe would also be much closer to the port than the HJ.

I know that you can not guarantee that I will get the Caribe Hilton but I was wondering if I can get some bidding strategy for Hotwire on the best chances for the Caribe on my date. Is it too early yet for trying again? Is the Caribe even available? Are there major differences between the Caribe and the Wyndham Condado or even others in which I can tell what I am ultimately bidding on? I see that some of the Hotels on the Hotwire list are rated a 3.5 stars but I don't remember seeing that rating on priceline. Only 4 stars or resort level. Is their a major difference in 3.5 and resort? Thanks as always for the help

Toni

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding.

A few points of clarification. I think you understand how Priceline works, but with Hotwire there is no bidding. Hotwire will show you hotels in the zone(s) you are considering, along with the star rating, amenities, and price. The name of the hotel will only be shown after you've agreed to purchase it. When using Hotwire, you can look at the amenities shown and compare it to our HOTWIRE HOTEL LIST PUERTO RICO in order to try to figure out the hotel beforehand (we can help too :) ). However, keep in mind that nothing is guaranteed and there could always be more than one hotel in each zone with the same exact star rating and amenities. This is the major difference (and advantage) of Hotwire vs. Priceline, in that Hotwire gives you a method of targeting or avoiding certain properties. On the otherhand, Hotwire often costs a little more than Priceline.

You may also want to do some additional reading in this thread: I've Never Used Priceline or Hotwire

Keep in mind that hotel taxes in Puerto Rico are steep, about 11% for hotel tax and another 10% or so if the hotel has a casino... so even with bidding $75 you're getting awfully close to your $100 maximum after you consider taxes and Priceline's fee. To keep things simple, we quote all suggested bids and winning bid prices on this board as pre-tax (this avoids confusion and also keeps things straight if/when cities change their tax rates).

Regarding the star ratings, Priceline and Hotwire use entirely different star rating systems. Priceline uses a Resort level, while Hotwire doesn't, although Hotwire does sometimes use a resort icon. Hotwire also uses half stars at all levels about 2 stars, while Priceline only uses a half star rating at the 2.5* level.

At this stage of the game i think you'd need to bid about $115 to be successful on Priceline, but this could change (better or worse) as your dates get closer. If you decide that you're willing to raise your maximum bid to this level let us know and i'll suggest a strategy on how to proceed to get there (so that you're not making a big jump from $75 to $115, which i don't recommend).

Feel free to ask any additional questions the above may have raised.

[thingleton]

Thanks for the help. I also wanted to know if you have seen the Caribe Hilton available around my dates or am I too early.

Again thanks for the help.

Toni

[thereuare]

I don't believe it's currently available for your date via Priceline and it's not showing up on Hotwire.

[thingleton]

Hi there,

I decided to try Hotwire to see if the Caribe Hilton might be available for my dates of 4/24-4/25 pre-cruise and I need two rooms.

I was able to see that the Caribe Hilton was not amongst the hotels presented to me but I was very surprised at the price. At the top of my search was my dates and the fact that I was looking for 2 rooms. When the list came up-- One of the 4* hotels came up at $264.00. It said "$264.00 per room per night" Is that correct? Or is this price actually for two rooms? For some reason I thought that the advantage of using Hotwire was to get discounted rates but it seems to me that if this is the price per room it is more expensive than if I was to book the condado at $200.00 a night. Any help or advice would be much appreciated. Maybe I am just not understanding how Hotwire works.

Thanks Much!!

Toni

[thereuare]

Some hotels discount more than others. My guess is that the 4* hotel you're seeing is the InterContinental, which is not known for discounting their rates too much. For hotels that participate with Hotwire, it doesn't cost them anything to input a rate into the system, so if they're not going to input a discounted rate they might as well input a 'full' rate. If Hotwire doesn't have any discounted properties to show at that level, they'll show the hotel's 'full' rate and maybe the hotel gets lucky.

However, due to Hotwire's double the difference guarantee, if prices get too far out of line than we can take advantage of it! If i'm correct on the above being the InterContinental, they have a $229 rate available, which using the 2x the Difference Guarantee could get you in there for under $200/nite. (not great, but good for example purposes)

Another example: you state that the Condado Plaza is available for your nites for ~$200. If you search Hotwire for your dates but for only one room you'll see what i believe to be the Condado for ~$130... which does present a substantial savings!

If the Caribe is what you're looking for, i see their website has a non-refundable web rate of $110/nite which seems good relative to the other prices we're currently seeing. Since this rate is low, this may mean that Priceline/Hotwire inventory will become available as you get closer to your dates, but this propety is known for often not releasing inventory until a few weeks before arrival (they seem to release inventory in big date ranges, so if your stay is near the beginning of the range it could only be a few weeks from arrival). You'll have to weigh the risk of it not becoming available via Priceline/Hotwire vs. the $110/nite. We've seen it cheaper than this thru Priceline/Hotwire, but this is a pretty good rate for booking direct.

Have you tried bidding this at all thru Priceline?

Let us know if you have any add'l questions and keep us updated as to what you decide to do.

[thingleton]

Thanks thereuare for the help.

I did check the Hilton website this morning before posting and the rate was $170.00 non-refundable 21 days advance booking. I din't see $110.00 or I would have grabbed it. I checked again after reading your post and it is still $170.00 so maybe I am not looking at the right thing. Let me know if I am not searching right but I went on the hilton website, then put in San Juan and the dates.

I will continue to look at the website for deals. I still have 2 months before the trip and I have 2 rooms as a backup that I can cancel if priceline, hotwire or the hilton website comes through.

Toni

[thereuare]

Dates are on the right... look at the last price near the bottom... do i have it right?

(if you select 1 person it's $110, 2 people is $120)