Priceline Hotel: Strategy for 9/9 (3 nights) 4 or 5* on Strip

[sylvaine]

I'm completely new at this! In fact, this will be my first attempt at bidding but I've already learned a lot from reading previous posts.

My back-up is the Alexis Park at $79/night. We'll be in Vegas for three nights: 9/9, 9/10 and 9/11. Of course, I would love to snag the Venetian for $99, but would also settle for a nice 4* up to $129. Hotwire comes up with $191 for 4*, $232 for 5*.

Checking the very handy link to the Convention schedules, I found out that the International Vision Expo is taking place at the Venetian during our dates (20000 attendees!)

So, should I start bidding right away and try to get the Venetian or a 4*? Are rooms at the Venetian more likely to be released sooner or later? If I wait until about 7 days before departure (which seems to have worked for several posters bidding for the Venetian), do I jeopardize my chances to get a 4*?

All suggestions welcome. Thanks!

[bbbb]

With those rates you posted from hotwire for 5* your going to be looking at about $210-$220 a night for Venetian on a PL bid.

[thereuare]

With the rates you mention above i'm not optimistic about your chances for a 4* at $129 or better, but rates change very fast in Vegas so it's worth a couple of shots.

You have 4 re-bid zones when bidding at the 4* level. If you're not familiar with re-bidding it is explained here: PRICELINE RE-BIDDING EXPLAINED and we encourage you to ask any questions that you may have. Feel free to confirm your re-bid zones with the board and remember that zones that have Resort properties are NOT re-bid zones... even if they don't have 4* hotels.

This is how i would proceed:

Select 4* Strip

Bid $105, if rejected add re-bid zone and...

Bid $115, if rejected add re-bid zone and...

Bid $120, if rejected add re-bid zone and...

Bid $125, if rejected add re-bid zone and...

Bid $129.

I will also add that compounding to your bidding problem is that the Thursday nite stay will likely be much less than the remainder of the weekend. Unfortunately, Priceline does not average price your stay and your bid must be high enough to win a hotel room for each nite of your stay. The bottom line is that this means you will almost certainly be over-paying for Thursday nite. This is explained further in SHOULD I SPLIT MY BID?

Lastly, QUICKBOOK has the Alexis for your dates at $68/nite.

[sylvaine]

Thanks for all the good suggestions. I'm leary of splitting this bid, and not just because of the inconvenience of switching hotels. When I look at rates for many 4* hotels over this three day period, it looks like Thursday night is "cheap", Friday night VERY expensive, and Saturday night "average". I sort of expected Friday and Saturday to be virtually identical. So, I get the impression that the only way to get Priceline to accept a "reasonable" bid would be to split my bid in three separate stays and that's a lot of inconvenience! Maybe my best strategy is to just try my luck with a low bid on Priceline but mainly check Hotwire and see if they come up with something interesting?

[thereuare]

Given the multiple rate changes for your stay i think Hotwire may end up being a better choice in this instance than Priceline. However, i've often said that neither Priceline or Hotwire are often the best choice in Vegas... it's unlike any other hotel market in the country and there are almost always some sort of deal to be had on the cheap.

QUICKBOOK also has a good deal at the Imperial Palace for your nites and the location is excellent. However, the REVIEWS are mixed, as they are for the ALEXIS PARK.

PS- the rate mentioned above at the Alexis should be $60, $68, $68 for your nites (not $68 for all 3 nites)

[sylvaine]

I ended up sticking with my reservation at Alexis Park. I checked Hotwire every so often but didn't see any "downward movement" on rates for that weekend. I felt we got a good value at Alexis Park. Granted, it is not on the strip itself but it was nice to get a break from the action at night and enjoy the jacuzzi even past midnight! The property was undergoing some extensive remodeling but that wasn't a problem.