Lastminutetravel.com to go opaque too?

[Diamond Dog]

I've just received an email from www.lastminute.com saying that, as of today (1st Feb 09) they are becoming a completely 'opaque' seller, similar to Hotwire & Priceline.

I'm not sure if you guys are interested, but have you thought of including them on your site, as they're offering similar services to the two websites you track now?

[MissPoofy]

You're absolutely right and their prices overall are horrible. But get in this week (as was last week) on their hotels for $1. I won a 4 night stay at the Sanibel Harbour in Fort Myers, FL. You can win up to 7 nights for $1 at what they claim are 15,000 hotels nationwide. All you need to do is book during their 15 minutes a day when hotels go on sale for $1.

Cheers,

Miss Poofy

[Diamond Dog]

Yeah, the prices look bad - the info provided is quite interesting though ; it actually had the name of two of the hotels in the write ups!! Not very opaque, one might say?!

When was that sale - I've just seen there's one due this week too?

[MissPoofy]

Yes, it starts again tomorrow (Monday). I'm not sure if we are allowed to put a link to other forums, but, you may want to do a search for lastminutetravel.com and discussion. You'll find a bunch of flyer talk people discussing it. Beware, you'll want to practice practice practice. Spend a couple of hours researching it today.

They went opaque actually a week ago at the start of this hotel for $1 campaign. So yeah, they have not rewrote all of the descriptions yet, so you can really take advantage of these deals by actually knowing which hotel is which! Keep in mind that during the 15 minutes where hotels are 1 dollar, a lot of the 5* and 4* resorts magically disappear in a lot of the popular destinations.

Good luck! If you want more info, just send me a private message.

[dahammer]

there's a link to Lastminutetravel on the BetterBidding Support/Travel Links page.

[Diamond Dog]

there's a link to Lastminutetravel on the BetterBidding Support/Travel Links page.

Which aanyone should use, if they're going with www.lastminutetravel.com

My point was will this board be offering advice for that website, as it does for the other two websites - or, at least, keep an eye on it? Maybe start a thread where people can report wins?

[thereuare]

Actually, LastMinuteTravel no longer has a referal prorgram and the link in the support page doesn't work anymore (just haven't had the time to take it down)

We did have a tool to assist with their opaque deals in the past and we will look into re-instating it.

[Thespian]

By coincidence, I went to lastminutetravel.com yesterday to research New York City hotels. I noticed that they'd gone opaque and wondered whether they hope to become as big as Priceline and Hotwire.

I also noticed that they list a huge number of 1-star and 1.5-star properties, and that their 3-star hotels tend to be the less favorably reviewed ones.

I had hoped that LMT might become a third viable opaque site, but based on their selection of hotels, I'm not holding my breath.

[max bet]

If you go to (sister site?) easyclicktravel.com, you will see identical listings with hotel names. They are a dollar or two different in price, but the listings, star ratings, and web page is virtually identical.

[sandybill]

I booked one Friday night in Downtown Chicago for the Westin at $104, which I could not touch on Hotwire for that night (July 10). Hope it works out!

[sandybill]

I booked one Friday night in Downtown Chicago for the Westin at $104, which I could not touch on Hotwire for that night (July 10). Hope it works out!

Booked - got the confirmation number and ran it at Starwoods website and there it is - all booked safe and sound!! One thing - if you are traveling with 2 adults and 2 children and want to guarantee 2 beds - make the 2 children adults - because I had to call and straighten this one out.