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Priceline Hotel: 4* Miami Coral Gables Omni Colonnade


jeaniere
By jeaniere,
in

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I need help in bidding for a 3* Downtown Miami 9/20/03-9/21/03 for 4 rooms for a pre-cruise stay. I have looked up rates on the hotels websites and the cheapest is Sheraton for 85.00 Others are marriott-biscayne bay for 139.00, Hyatt for 100.00. I believe my rebids are Key Biscayne, North Miami, S.W. Miami, Coral Gables. Are these correct? Please help.

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Key Biscayne and Coral Gables are NOT re-bids zones as they each have hotels that are 3* or higher.

When bidding 3* in Downtown, you need areas that do not have 3* or higher (in other words, zones that only offer 2.5* and lower).

Based upon the rates you supplied, i would think that Priceline probably has inventory at the Miami Hyatt Downtown, which often goes for $27/nite, and this is where i would start my bid. If that's unsuccessful, the next likely candidate is the Sheraton at $40 (but of course, no guarantees, as hotels can be added to this area at any time).

I've stayed at this hotel and i think it's great for a one nite pre-cruise stay.

Feel free to ask any additional questions you have.

If you move forward, let us know how it goes and your results. Good Luck.

If you'd like me to "walk you thru" the bidding process via Instant Messenger (AOL or Yahoo) so you can ask any questions along the way, let me know.

PS- for anyone reading this in the future, be sure to check the re-bids zones yourself before each bidding cycle to make sure no hotels have been addded which would make the zones no longer a "free re-bid" If you have questions, please ASK!

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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Is $30 your maximum bid? (if it is, it's ok, but just want to know for guidance purposes)

If you're not successful at $27, i don't think you'd be successful at $30. If the Hyatt isn't available for your dates, the next lowest accepted bid i've seen in the area (which wasn't an over-bid) is $40. Since you have 2 re-bids in this zone (which if you don't understand i'd be more than happy to explain to you in more detail via email or IM) i usually recommend bidding $27, $35, $40.

Based upon my explanation above, i usually don't expect the $35 bid to yield any accepted results, but i throw it in "just in case" something has been added to the area or one of the hotels have lowered their Priceline rates (as jumping from $27 to $40 is a big step up).

Since your dates are far enough away, i would guess that the Hyatt has not yet released any inventory to Priceline (this can change at any time) and you can keep trying at $27 for the next few weeks. If you'd rather just "get it done", then i suspect a $40 bid may be necessary and likely land you the Sheraton.

Lastly, i did some research and found a $140 rate for the Hyatt for that nite. This doesn't change the strategy at all because it's still within the range of a typically accepted $27 bid, but didn't know where you saw the $100 rate.

Any questions, feel free to follow up. Please keep us updated.

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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I originally got $140 for the Hyatt about 3 weeks ago and then checked earlier this week or the end of last and got $100 I just now checked and it must have gone back up. I am really trying for the Hyatt and $27 sounds really good as I am bidding for my friends as well as myself. I thought I would wait the 72 hours and try again with $27. Since I still have 5 months and it is a slow travel season due to hurricanes I am going to keep trying $27 for a few weeks. I will let you know when I am successful. If after a few weeks I will jump to $40 and hopefully get the Sheraton. The Sheraton is showing $85 on their website for the date I am looking for. Why would Hyatt take $27 for a $140 room and Sheraton $40 for a $85 room?

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Why would Hyatt take $27 for a $140 room and Sheraton $40 for a $85 room?

Some properties are willing to discount more than others, which probably takes into a variety of factors such as rent, operating costs, cash flow, etc. Hotels are in a sort of catch-22 in that they don't want to "give away the ranch", but they also collect NO REVENUE for an unused room. (similarly, we often see higher rated hotel on Hotwire sell for less than lower rated hotels in the same search)

I've seen the Hyatt go for as low as $27 when they're website was showing $225! If you don't see the rates for the Hyatt increase dramatically i think you will ultimately be successful. If you really want to save the money, i would just continue bidding the Hyatt (by keeping your bids at $27 and re-bids at $30) until end of July/beginning of August, assuming your comfortable waiting that long and trying this bid every few days. In the meantime, it's always a good idea to book a fully cancellable back-up.

Thanks for keeping us updated on your progress.

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well after bidding and rebidding and not getting anything, I decided to change my strategy. I read other post about the Coral Gables and Coconut Grove area and it sounded real nice. We are going on a cruise and it says only 6-10 miles from port. I started out bidding $41.00 for a 4* and got turned down then I added S.W. Miami for a re-bid at $45.00 and it was accepted. I received the Omni Colonnade in Coral Gables.

Price $45.00

4 rooms

1 night

Sub: $180.00

Taxes 22.52

Proces: 23.80

Total $226.32

The way I figure I paid about what Priceline paid. I think this is a great deal and am very happy. The place looks great. I hope someone posts a review soon. Thanks for all of your help.

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  • 1 month later...

Well my Norway cruise was cancelled and I am now booking on the Holland America Zuiderdam but my problem is it leaves on the day we were supposed to stay at the Omni. We are going to need a hotel the day we arrive back from the cruise. Is there any advice you can give me as to what I might do to switch this reservation so we don't lose our money? I called Priceline yesterday and told them the story and they were no sympathetic and said basically "too bad" I then called the hotel and left a voice mail message for the manager explaining the situation. I have not heard back from him as of yet. Maybe I could Priceline again if anyone has had any luck with this situation. Does anyone know who I can talk to to get anything going on this. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I don't want to lose $230.00. Thanks.

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If is a different cruise line. NCL who owns the Norway is offering people who had bookings a $50.00 onboard credit if they book again in the next year. That to me is an insult as I have to pay alot more money to go on Holland America. I did talk to the cruise line regarding my hotel charges and they said to submit the bill and they would take it into consideration but only offering $50.00 for being displaced is nothing I am sure they won't care about my lost money on a hotel. They will probably say if I had booked with them I would have not had to pay. I also would have paid three times as much to get a hotel with them. If I would have bought trip cancellation with Priceline for the $5.00 would it have taken care of this? I'm not sure as it is not my fault but the cruise line. Any other suggestions?

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I haven't really looked at Priceline's insurance option, so i don't know the answer if this would be covered.

My attitude towards their insurace is that it's not worth it, unless you have a known health condition or other coverable reason that you suspect may be a problem for you keeping your plans. In this case, the insurance would have been greater than 10% of your room price. Since it wasn't known that this trip would need to be cancelled, we'd have to assume that you would purchase insurance for all your trips. When you book on Priceline, do you think there is a greater than 10% chance that you won't end up staying at the hotel? If the chances are less than 10%, then you're better off turning down the insuracne each time, and you'll still come out ahead of the game, even if you're a 'no show' for less than 10% of your hotel stays (the math changes somewhat when your bids are much higher, which i think this is one of the MAJOR problems with this insurance.... insurance premiums should be based on potential loss, which is VERY different for a $35 accepted bid and a $150 accepted bid, so the $5 premium could be very expensive at times and relatively cheap at other times)

You may be surprised that the cruise line is willing to compensate you more if you write a letter. Remember, that to automatically compensate everyone on the ship is A LOT of money, if there are 5000 people on the ship and they give an extra $25/pp, that's $125,000! (then mulitply that by how many cruises they have cancelled on this ship, in addition to their own lost revenue and you're talking millions) I would be that less than 10% of the people complain to the extent of writing a letter, so if they give those 500 people more money in order to keep them happy (and keep them as customers) than it's money well spent. by the cruise line.

In the letter, i would say that you booked due to their reputation (and if true, that you've cruised with them before) and that you find their $50 credit insulting since you are 'out' $xxx (and then list the losses you have incurred other than the hotel). Mention that you have been telling many people about your upcoming cruise and now hav had to tell them of the cancellation, and they too all find the $50 insulting. Finish the letter with what action would like to see taken (ie- how much you'd like them to refund) and that you look forward to their reply.

Good Luck.

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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