Priceline Hotel: 5 stars Las Vegas Strip south 28-30.9.08

[XT600]

for 28.9.-30.9.08 Mandalay Bay own web site has a package offer for double 110 USD incl. BF and more, (20 USD upgrade to THEHotel)

As most of the wins for 5 star strip 5 seems to be Mandalay: is there a chance to get a rate below 100 USD for this (very low season?) period? :)

Thanks

[travelAlot]

That's a hell of a deal. 5-star success at Venetian I remember never being lower than $99/night and that was a couple years ago (Venetian just had a summer promo based on average daily temperature and offered $98 rates for certain days). However I believe that Mandalay Bay is 4-stars (extremely upper-4-star ala Caesars Palace) and THE Hotel at Mandalay is what is 5-star -- so for a 5-star, you'd want to bid no more than $115-120/night to save a significant amount of money (with PL's fees $125/night bid would equal THE Hotel's $130 rate).

That said, I would review the promotion details, especially if there is any cancellation window without any penalty (i.e. full refund of deposit). Some promo rates require full pre-payment AND stipulate no refund (i.e. if canceled, you forfeit all deposit/pre-payment). If there is flexibility, I would immediately book to lock in that tremendous rate. And then you can bid knowing what your pricepoint is -- i.e. go for 5-stars starting at $100/night, raise by $3-4/night until you max out at $115-116/night or 4-stars at $80/night, knowing you have Mandalay as a fall-back (and an excellent fall-back at that).

One good indicator of PRICELINE inventory may be HOTWIRE -- PL is always 15-20% cheaper but when you see rates around the low $100s for the 4.5-stars (Mandalay, Caesars etc) and 5-stars, then you know PL may be worth bidding for. Also don't forget the other top hotels' proprietary websites -- i.e. Venetian/Palazzo, Mandalay, Caesars, etc -- and be sure to sign up for their email promotions lists (sometimes there will be unadvertised promotions especially for low-occupancy times of the year). Please if you do bid or purchase direct, look for the support page links from this website -- that allows the website to be up and running so that everyone can help each other out.

Good luck....hope this helps.

[XT600]

Good to know that the 110 USD is good deal.

Here are the restrictions:

The TAN package includes:

- Fly Back Free Certificates**

- 10% off Dining Experience on selected restaurants*

- $50 off a mid-week Cabana (Mon - Thurs)

- 2-for-1 Spa Access

- 10% off Spa Treatments

- 2-for-1 House of Blues Breakfast

- $300 saving certificates to Mandalay Place

Suite Upgrade to THEhotel from $20 more a night.

Mandalay Bay reserves the right to cancel or modify this promotion at its discretion and without prior notice (???)

On "problem" is the location, Tresure Island would be 89 USD but w/o breakfast

No reason to bid at PRICELINE???

[travelAlot]

How you proceed depends on your preferences. I would book one hotel or the other -- most require just the 1st night's deposit and it is is refundable if your plans change and you cancel within 72 hours of arrival -- but like I mentioned (I cannot stress this enough), you MUST check the terms/conditions when/before booking. This way, if rates suddenly cfhange (as Mandalay's special indicates), you won't be kicking yourself.

Because your stay is mid-week, you may possibly be able to do better than the TI rate on Priceline. You don't want to roll the dice in hoping that you succeed when you have the chance to guarantee a rate. As far the hotels and their location, that again comes down to your preferences and logistics...i.e. Mandalay vs TI...if you won't have a rental car, I would think you'd much prefer the center-Strip Treasure Island...and if 5-stars are a must, then THE Hotel would be a preference based on the bookable rate.

BOGO breakfast coupon wouldn't be a big deal to me -- in Harrah's courtyard (coming from Flamingo), they're always handing out $5-off Flamingo/Harrahs buffet coupons which would make breakfast $9.99 (many coffeeshops with under-$10 breakfast specials, plus um ehr a Dennys in that area). TI may even give you a coupon book (Harrahs' properties do so it'd make sense that an MGM-affiliated property would offer incentives to its guests to dine and gamble on the premises).

[dahammer]

I've heard some really good things about TheHotel and you may want to check it out.

Mandalay Bay reserves the right to cancel or modify this promotion at its discretion and without prior notice (???)

This is fairly standard and basically means that this offer is here today, but may be gone tomorrow, so get it while its hot.

BTW, the board has a link to Mandalay Bay on the support page that helps to keep this board a free and valuable resource to all :)