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Priceline Hotel: 1* Victoria Accent Inn Victoria


WillTravel
By WillTravel,
in

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Just for fun, I tried up to 165HKD on Priceline Asia for a 1* in Victoria for May 9-11 to see if I could get anything (including a rebid that included the Victoria Airport zone). That failed. The bid might sound really low, but the processing fee on Priceline Asia is 65HKD. Considering Paul's Motor Inn's special Orbitz web rates, there was no logical reason to go much higher.

Currency exchange site: http://finance.yahoo.com/m5?&a=1&s=CAD&t=HKD&c=0

This must work a little differently, because after the 165HKD bid (and then clicking the URL in the email), I got a screen saying that if I wanted to bid again I'd have to raise the price by at least HK50, or else change one of the parameters. That's obviously different than the standard Priceline.

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Just a few comments/thoughts .....

I only see 2* and 2.5* hotels in the Victoria airport zone (no 1*).

The Victoria airport is located at least 15 miles north of the city. The airport zone hotels/motels are probably in the town of Sidney. There is a Travelodge, a Quality Inn and a Best Western located in Sidney, maybe one of these participates in Priceline? I know you have visited Victoria before, but don't know if you know the airport area. It can be a 30 minute drive to downtown. I would not recommend staying there unless you are happy with that aspect. Sidney is a nice little town, however.

One other 3* hotel in Victoria is the Coast Harbourside, which is also a nice hotel but its rooms may be a bit more bland than the better Laurel Point rooms (but no guarantee you would get one of the Laurel's better rooms through a Priceline bid, of course). I think thesqueegeekid is right about the bid amount, $40 to $45 US for a 3*.

There is a hotel called James Bay Inn (www.jamesbayinn.bc.ca) which I am rather fond of. It is also an historic hotel and although its rooms are basic and a bit small, it is a nice building in a great neighbourhood (James Bay!). You can walk to lots of stuff from there, but again, you are not right in the downtown core nor do you have a water view like you might at Laurel Point, Coast Harbourside or the Empress. Its rooms start at $58 or $68 Cdn for your dates in May for conventional booking.

Some hotels raise their prices a bit for May or June, then again for July to September, so there may be 3 different rates - Winter, Summer and a "shoulder" season either side of Summer.

The Empress is a lovely hotel with a lot of colour and history and fabulous service. You might be lucky and get it for $70 US through Priceline for your May dates. June would certainly be $80 or more.

Sounds like you were happy with Paul's though and maybe you will get it again at a 'real deal' bid amount!

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Scorp, when I say 1*, I mean 1* or better. I went gradually down the scale from 3* to 1*, adding the Victoria Airport zone at some point. So I would have gotten a 2* in the Victoria Airport if it had been available for the price I bid. Priceline will upgrade you to the next star level if there is a hotel available for the price you bid.

<P>I like the Victoria downtown area, but I wouldn't mind occasionally staying in a different area. I've been in the downtown area so many times.

<P>We will probably stay in a private room at a hostel one of those weekends ($35 Canadian, no extra tax, but shared bath). I noticed on Orbitz last night that Paul's special web rate of $49 Canadian is no longer available -- in fact last night it looked like Paul's was sold out. A hostel is a different experience than a nice hotel, but I enjoy both.

<P>James Bay Inn sounds great. I'll keep it in mind. I wouldn't mind the Empress as a special treat - but I tend to only stay at 4* hotels if I have an employer paying for it!

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I got this rather odd letter from Priceline HK. Has anyone gotten anything like it? A few days ago, I also tried a rebid on Priceline HK, going up to 180HKD per night, I think.

First of all, they started off by calling me Mr, although my name is female :)

Is this legitimate? I had never heard of this 200HKD cash refund thing. If I followed their advice and went up to 270HKD for my bid, and had a two-night stay, and I added the 65HKD fee and deducted the refund, then my total expenditure would be (before tax):

270*2 + 65 - 200 = 405 HKD for two nights (about $52 USD, which is very reasonable). But this whole rebate thing just sounds weird.

The domain of the agent's email address is hpcln.com, which is indeed Priceline HK. I've never heard of an agent encouraging you to phone him/her either.

Subject: Re:Your Priceline Hotel Request for VICTORIA - 09May to 11May

Dear Mr [Lastname deleted]

Thank you for using Priceline. While we could not find a hotel to

accept your offer according to the travel dates, star ratings, price and

zones that you specified, if you can be flexible with the

(date/star/price/zone), we did find a hotel that meets your requirements. Please call

our hotline [telephone number deleted] or reply to this email, our customer care

team will assist you in any way we can

May I suggest you to up-bid to around HKD270 , then the chance of

getting confirm will be very high !

I can also offer a HKD200 cash bonus refund to your credit card if

this offer can get success

Please let me know if you are interested then I can do the re-submit

for you and arrange the cash refund

Thanks for using Priceline !!

[Name and telephone number of agent deleted]

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Well, to follow up on myself ...

I wrote back to the Priceline agent. She assured me that I would get the 200 HKD refund posted to my credit card by April 30. It apparently is a special promotion (Lucky Money).

I agreed to let her resubmit the bid. It took about a half-hour for me to get an email that my bid had been resubmitted. Finally, however, I got the email that the bid had been resubmitted and I would know within 1 hour whether it had been accepted. I checked in a couple of minutes, and got this bid:

Accent Inn Victoria

3233 Maple St

Saanich,

British Columbia V8X 4Y9

Here is the breakdown:

Your Offer Price: HK$270

Number of Rooms: 1

Number of Nights: 2

Subtotal: HK$540

Taxes: HK$88.90

Processing Fee: HK$65 (per offer)

Total Lodging Charges: HK$693.90

If I get my 200 HKD back, the total will be HK$493. That works out to about $92 Canadian total for two nights, which I can't argue with. I'm happy with the area of this hotel. My daughter will be thrilled that it's across the street from a major shopping mall.

Note that while the hotel address says Saanich, this is in the Victoria zone (not the Airport zone). Regardless, I am fine with it.

Web page: http://www.accentinns.com/victoria/index.html

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The odyssey continues. I emailed the hotel to ask for a room with two beds. They told me there were two reservations under my name, one with a king bed and one with two beds. I have emailed the customer service rep at Priceline HK to make sure I haven't been charged for two rooms. The Princeline HK web site indicates it's only one room.

If Priceline HK is charging the taxes correctly at 17%, the room charge per night (exclusive of the processing charge and taxes) is somewhere around 252 HKD.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Too late, but a revision of my math. The tax calculation should be as follows: 88.90/0.17 = 522.94 Priceline HK payment for the two nights, so the per night Priceline HK rate is about 261.47 (not 252 as I posted).

That works out to a US rate of about $34 a night, I think. I suspect that if you bid that amount on Priceline.com (if for some reason you didn't want to use Priceline HK), you would be likely to win a room in Victoria, although of course it wouldn't necessarily be at this hotel.

Of course, that high a price is only needed for high season - I had a US $19 win on Priceline.com for a different hotel in Victoria in March (Paul's Motor Inn, which I think I've posted about here).

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I think you will be very happy staying at this hotel, by the way. It used to operate under a different name, but was always considered a very well-run property. Brannigan's restaurant is very popular with locals, especially as a breakfast and lunch spot.

If they have room, they may offer you a room with a kitchenette or extra sitting area.

Although technically located in Saanich, it is a short drive or bus ride to downtown Victoria (and not a very long walk, if you are a walker). Also, close to the Galloping Goose Trail for a bike ride, roller blade or walk.... :)

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  • 4 weeks later...

You were right, Scorp - it was a very nice hotel. Review here:

http://www.betterbidding.com/index.php?act...ST&f=421&t=888&

After all that, I checked my VISA statement online and saw that I was credited on May 16 with $34.44 Canadian. Based on the interbank rate for that date, I lost about 3% on the credit. But I can't really complain too much, I suppose.

I'm still owed HK100 that hasn't been credited yet for a later London bid on Priceline Hong Kong.

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