Priceline Hotel: 4* Montreal Hilton Bonaventure

[Travelling]

This is in the Downtown zone

Amenities:

Shuttle, Restaurant, Fitness Center, Spa Services

My possible guess so far is the Novotel as that's changed it's icons before. This is the Victoria Day weekend so I assume rates may be higher than on an average weekend.

It has that new "Best value" tag but I assume that makes no difference to identifying it.

Any other ideas?

[thereuare]

Not really sure which property this is. The Novotel is a guess simply because all those amenities have been associated with the hotel at one time or another and the amenities associated with this property have been known to change. However, i don't think we can say that with any high degree of certainty, as there are probably quite a few other hotels in the that also fit this description.

[Travelling]

I feared you say that but thanks for the effort. It seems rates are quite high for Montreal that weekend and $63 was the lowest I'd seen and I've been looking for a while.

I can't really gamble too much with the hotel because there will be 3 of us. I would quite like the Delta because they do rollaways and have rooms with 2 beds.

I'm looking at Les Suites for Ottawa and Le Centre Sheraton for Toronto but I'm not getting very far with the Montreal bit of it yet.

[thereuare]

IF the Novotel would be sufficient for your needs, you could purchae the Hotwire hotel for the first nite and learn the identity. If it suits your needs, then book the other 2 nites (the same hotel (based upon amenities and star rating) comes up when searching for the first nite and then again when searching for the last 2 nites).

Risk is that the hotel doesn't suit your needs and then you'll either have to:

1) Deal with it for one nite

2) Book a second room (ideally this hotel will present itself again after your first purchae)

3) Eat the cost for a one nite stay (although options #1 and #2 seem better than this)

Don't know the make-up of your group of 3 (family, guys, girls, mixed, etc) but if rates are really that high for this weekend, getting 2 rooms at $61/nite each doesn't seem that bad and could make things a bit more convenient during the stay. Not sure of how this compares to 'regular' prices in this area for this weekend, but at worse i'd imagine it makes 2 Hotwire prices comprabable to 2 'traditional' bookings yet gives you more room and an extra bathroom.

On the otherhand, still plenty of time for the inventory to mix it up a bit.

When you mention Ottawa and Toronto, would those be in lieu of or in addition to this trip?

[Travelling]

I will have a look at the Novotel, check out its location etc. It's surprising but the range of hotels offered and the prices seems to vary on a daily basis for the Montreal dates. I'm really not sure it is likely to be the Novotel but I suppose we won't know unless I give it a go.

Ottawa and Toronto are in addition to Montreal for this trip. I am just worried I have done all this a bit too soon and I should leave it a couple of months before thinking about using Hotwire or Priceline for this trip.

Thanks also for your ideas of booking the first night and taking it from there depending on the results. I'll have a think about what it's best to do.

[Travelling]

Thereuare, I think I am coming round to thinking that this one is the Novotel after all. The amenities match exactly the Novotel's when you look at the Packages section.

I am going to take a look at the Novotel and see if it suits our needs. Another place I have found which looks good for us would be the Chateau Royal Hotel Suites. On Hotwire it's only available for 20/5 and not for the other days. I assume it's probably the same for Priceline, but the danger there being that there are a couple of other options that may come up at that star level. Failing that, I suppose I could see if the other days do come up on Hotwire (or buy the one night from Hotwire and the other two separately direct from the hotel or othewise).

[Travelling]

This was a winning bid on www.priceline.co.uk. I bid alternately with a friend (using up a number of free rebids each) - starting at

[thereuare]

It's a great feeling when your trip is completely planned... now you just have to wait for your holiday to start!

I think both Hotwire and Priceline each have their pros/cons and each should be used in particular times. Hotwire is great when there are hotels you want to target or hotels you want to avoid; as well their zones in many areas are smaller (as i recently learned is the case in Seattle... where 4* Priceline bidding is 'ok', but 3* bidding can land you where you dont' want to be, so for 3* bidding it's recommended to use Hotwire since they have 2 downtown zones compared to Priceline's one).

[Travelling]

Counting down the days! Just a train trip and a couple of days car rental to sort out and we're there.

I agree entirely that both Priceline/Hotwire have their merits. For example, I very nearly went for the Sheraton Centre in Toronto on Hotwire. I didn't want the Strathcona to turn up as a Priceline win at 3*. It was only when I saw a flurry of people getting the Courtyard Marriott for low $30s that I decided to risk it and have a go. Thankfully it paid off and I got the Courtyard.

Anyway thanks for your help in sorting these hotels out. The Niagara Falls one was touch and go after a frantic time on Sunday debating the Hotwire DD guarantee! I think that's the one I'm most pleased with (the Renaissance Fallsview on Priceline for $35) but when I compare the rates I've got on all of them with those I've seen elsewhere I certainly can't grumble.

[Randi66]

What did you end up going with?

[Travelling]

Randi66 - I ended up bidding for a 4* on Priceline so unfortunately I can't shed anymore light on the above discussion, in particular whether it was the Novotel with changing icons.