Priceline Hotel: 4*,5/11-13

[poy]

Hi, I've been following your site and should really commend you on your research and your generosity in sharing your information. Thought I'd give it a try!

We are a group of 4, on a budget, but would like to try a fancy hotel on the strip. Venetian is out of our league. We are willing to spend $100-120 per night. We dont really mind staying in just 1 room..but don't know if it's risky to get charged the extra pax. However, if we get 2 rooms, that leaves us with $50 per room. Is that enough?

I have been trying priceline for a month, but nothing yet. I am new at this and don't know hot to get free rebids. Been folloing hotwire and hotel website prices and they seem to be on an uptrend for my dates. Any help or suggestion would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks and more power!

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

As you've already tried Priceline, did you bid for one room or two and at what prices were you rejected?

This is a good explanation of re-bidding: PRICELINE TIP: Bidding Again Before 72 Hours (especially the visual near the end of the thread). Not sure if you've already read that or not, but feel free to ask any questions you may have after checking that out.

[bbbb]

$50 per night for a 4**** is not going to happen with the curent prices on hotwire.If you bid for one room theres no way of knowing you will get two beds until you check-in and that dont sound like it will work for you.If I were you I would book something with two beds that you can cancel and check hotwire everyday for 5***** on the strip to go $125 or less then bid priceline starting at $90 using free rebids to $110.go up $5 each rebid,theres a lot of free rebids for 5***** in Vegas.Keep in mind that you might not get a room with two beds at the Venetian,but all their rooms come with a pull out sofa.Please tell us how you have bid this already as far as one or two rooms,how much and what star level you bid.Someone got the westin 4**** on priceline just one week ago for $45.

[poy]

thereuare,

started my bid for 4*, from 40, going up to 45, then to 48, with no success..but that was around 3 weeks ago.. haven't bid since..bid for 2 rooms. Will check out the site you mentioned.

bbbb,

booked a back up last night for mgm's grand getaway package for $140,including taxes, per night. I would like to do excatly what you said and check regularly on venetian...however, i read somewhere that venetian checks for key card at the elevator when you go up to the room. Would this be a problem? It might be too obvious if I ask for more than 2 keys during check in. Anyone know how strict venetian is to excess pax?

[bbbb]

They do check for cards but are you all going to go your own way when your get there?Go back down after check-in and get two more cards,tell them you left yours in the room.Dont check-in with four people standing there, if you do go the Venetian route.Rates a high for your dates,lets hope they drop a little before your stay.

[thereuare]

Not sure if your MGM rate is for 2 or 4 per room (more and more hotels in Vegas are charging for additional guests in the room), but if only for 2 people i found the following rates:

Ballys - $129

Monte Carlo - $129

Harrahs - $99

Paris - $159

(all of the above rates increase dramatically for more than 2 per room)

Personally i like Ballys better than the MGM... mid-strip location and easier to navigate.

Monte Carlo - no theme which means not as many tourists getting in your way as you go back to your hotel room. Good location too.

Harrahs is mentioned if you're more on a budget than style. Room are perfectly fine and the location is GREAT, but pool area is lacking.

Paris mentioned since it gives you the 'glamour' factor for only a little bit more than your current MGM reservation.

[poy]

Thanks for all your suggestion...

bbbb,

this might be a dumb question...if all 4 of us go up the elevator, we just need to show one key card? Would the elevator person suspect that our extra people were not reported?

thereuare,

mgm is only for 2 pax...figured that this hotel, including the ones you mentioned will be less strict on excess pax than venetian. Do they also conduct those key checks in the elevator?...might try Ballys..Paris is really out of our budget.

[thereuare]

Key cards are generally just to get 'in' the elevator and one per group is sufficient. Even if it was more strict than that, you are allowed to have guests/friends who are staying at other hotels come up to your room.

Where key cards can become an issue is at the pool area. Some hotels require each guest to have a room key to enter the pool area (ie- a few years ago when staying at the Mirage each person entering the pool area needed to swipe a valid room key). Some hotels simply make you 'flash' a key, still others don't check at all.

If a 'swipe' or 'flash' si required and you only have 2 keys, have 2 people enter the pool area with both keys. After a few minutes have one person leave with both keys, meet up with your friend and give him one key, then enter (separately) to avoid suspicion. Repeat the process for the last person. :)

[bbbb]

Poy dont worry about the keys,as long as one person has a key your in.Theres a door on the second floor that has no one standing there ,all you do is enter your card in the door card reader and your all in,(all 38 of you).I have never been asked for a key at the Venetian pool.No one at this hotel will give you any problems as long as you dont have the whole army at the front desk when you check in.I had four at the desk the frist time I checked in and the guy said nothing.I did ask for two beds and they told me it would be a $30 upgrade.Dont worry,just have fun.I did have a bad expierience at a motel 6 in LA once,I went to check-in and paid for one,only to find me and my best-friend sleeping in one double bed that night.So dont try this at a motel 6 and you should be fine.

[thereuare]

I wouldn't expect any problems either, just behave yourself and you'll be fine.

I don't think the V checks for keys at the pool because it's only accessible thru the hotel room elevators and you need to show a key to get thru that area prior to getting to the pool.

[poy]

Thanks for your re-assurance. That's just the push I need to bid 5* in priceline. Hope we get it! Will update you.

[thereuare]

Poy, did you see this recent VENETIAN win?

[bbbb]

The first night (5/11) is $119 on hotwire tonight,and if you check the second night its $200.You could get the first night now on PL for $99 or less but the 2nd night could be a problem unless things change.If you bid the 1st by its self I would bid $85,$90,$95,and $99.You should also make sure you can drop the first night of your back-up without a price increase if you split up your bid.Thereuare,nice job catching that win and remembering Poys dates

[poy]

Hey guys,

4 heads are really better than one! Thanks for being my look out. I will check out priceline now..though I would probably not risk splitting the dates...we are on a month long vacation, which includes some cruising...so you can imagine the amount of luggages we have...It might not be worth the trouble to check in one day and check out the next with all those baggage. I'll check out hotwire and priceline now...will update you. Thanks again.

[poy]

I tried priceline but did not split my dates. Started at $85, going up to $105, in $5 increments. Got an offer for $144 per night but since I promised the group that I wouldn't go over our MGM booking of$129 per night, I didn't take it. I will try again, maybe after a week. I think I might be able to get a good rate for May 11..but May 12 is a fat chance...

[bbbb]

If you got a counter offer for $144 you could have refused that and used a free rebid and knocked at least $10 off that price.Priceline will always take less then there counter offer on hotels.Never take their counter offer unless your out of free rebids and have to have the room.

[StSebastian]

I had a case with Venetian where I refused the counter offer, then still couldn't get it even when I went back up to the counter-offer value. I went back a week later and got it for even cheaper than before.

Please note that Venetian will automatically assign PL bids into a one-bed room, and will charge you extra for the two bed rooms likely because of the people trying to avoid the extra person surcharge. This came up when I was checking in and we were two guys standing there, but after I pointed out we were a gay couple and probably would just stay in one bed anyway, I got my point across. I felt like I got a little attitude from the staff there for being on a $99 PL rate, but nothing big. They'd really hate if I went back to my friend that's a high roller at the Venetian and told him he should switch to Bellagio instead.

Luxor was a stickler for every single person showing key cards, even when we were obviously a group of 4, but Venetian let the two of us up with just one of us showing a card.

Just be warned that you may run into some problems when you get there with 4 in a room for 2. You may want to go for the 4* instead, but you could get the Westin, which is really not on-strip...it's a pretty decent walk for your average person to get up to the strip.

[bbbb]

StSebastian have you been in the high rollers suite at the V?If so how big is it?Ive been in the ones at the Hilton,Bellagio and Caesars.

[poy]

just an update...tried again this week at priceline and used all my rebids but only went as high as $115...didn't get it. Counter offer this time was $154..that's around $10 more than before. Should I be worried? Does that mean prices are going up?

[bbbb]

can you edit your last post and add your dates to it so were clear your dates have not changed.If it were me,I would ride it out to the end trying to get this for $99.The second night went up $40 per night on hotwire but I still think theres hope that it will come down before its all over.Just to let you know,Rio is $90 for your dates on hotwire so I dont think the town is that busy.

[sdduuuude]

Poy,

If you adjust your schedule by 1 night, the V is at $129/night for two nights on Hotwire (5/10 - 5/12).

[poy]

sdduuude,

Really wish I could do that but we are on a tight sked....vegas being between 3 other cities we plan to visit...bought our discounted, non refundable tickets also..

bbbb,

I will ride it out and check again first week may, right before we leave for the 1st city.. will try to edit my post...i'm new at this and im not sure if i'll be succesful.

thanks for all your help!

[thereuare]

What about booking the nite of the 12th via Priceline and then booking the other nite conventionally (or booking a back-up at this or another hotel while you continue to try for the first nite). Sure you may ultimately have to change hotels, but at least it gives you one nite as the V as it sounds like something you'd really like to try.

[poy]

Hi,

I tried again 3 days ago, going up to $120 this time for the V for the same period May 11-13..but failed. I checked now, and was surprised to see that hotwire price now for the 1st night has gone up to over $200. It was around $125 before, with the 2nd night before around $225, currently $195...now 1st night is much pricier than 2nd, it was the reverse before. Maybe I should've booked 1st night before while it was still low. Looks hopeless.