Priceline Hotel: 3* Poughkeepsie-Fishkill (Kingston-Saugerties) Holiday Inn Kingston

[SKooT1027]

I have a weekend commitment this coming weekend (all day Sat and Sun) up at Ulster Community College in Stone Ridge, NY. The closest priceline zone is the Kingston-Saugerties area. I'm trying to get the Courtyard Kingston, which I have seen won before on here. However, nothing has been posted for this area in over a year, and at the time this hotel was won at 2.5*. When I go to priceline.com and find the hotel, it lists it as 3*. Also, the hotel list only lists 1 hotel for this area (1 3*), but priceline gives me the option to select everything from 1* - 3*.

Can anyone help me figure this out? Does priceline always offer all of the lower zones, even if none exists? In that case, would I be best off bidding on the 3* (since that's currently where it's listed on priceline.com) or 2.5* and hope it gives me this one?

Thanks

edit: Dates are Friday 6/19 - Sunday 6/21

[dahammer]

I have some ideas about this Kingston inquiry, but can you please update your previous Hotwire Hollywood California topic that you started?

[SKooT1027]

Updated it. I forgot to update bc I never ended up going through PRICELINE or HOTWIRE for that trip. My friend who I went with booked it through like Expedia or something before I could give priceline a try.

[dahammer]

thanks for the follow up. Like most Marriott Courtyards, I believe this has been upgraded to a 3* but has not been reported to betterbidding. Its possible that there are other properties (of all star ratings) in the Kingston area, but these have just not been reported to the board.

[SKooT1027]

Okay thanks. I tried bidding up to $65, and was rejected on all of them. It seems priceline implemented a new warning system saying your bid is too low and most likely will not be accepted? I ran out of zones/stars to rebid today, so I will try again tomorrow and see if I have better luck.

[dahammer]

It seems priceline implemented a new warning system saying your bid is too low and most likely will not be accepted?

This "low chance" warning has been shown for a few years now, just ignore it, it does not correlate to whether your bid will be accepted or rejected.

[SKooT1027]

This "low chance" warning has been shown for a few years now, just ignore it, it does not correlate to whether your bid will be accepted or rejected.

Really? I never recall seeing that before. Interesting.

Forgot to bid yesterday. Tried 3 more times today, no luck.

3* $68 - Kingston-Saugerties - rejected

3* $73 - Added Airport Area (no 3*) - rejected

2.5* $78 - Kingston-Saugerties (airport area removed) - rejected

It's amazing how much more expensive lower quality hotels are when they're up in the middle of nowhere. I'll try again tomorrow. Going to check Orbitz, etc to see if I can come close and may just purchase through them otherwise

EDIT: I kept bidding up by changing the dates (doing 1 day instead of 2). Ended up getting Sat night for $119 + fees for the Holiday Inn Kingston. I'm not very happy. I was expecting the Courtyard Marriott. I have a commitment all day Sat and Sun, and was going to do Fri and Sat night up there to make it easier, but I think I will just drive up early on Saturday morning instead. I'm not going to pay almost another $150 for a Holiday Inn.

FWIW - Winning Bid Was:

2.5* $119 - Kingston-Saugerties

I bid all the way up in about $5 increments with no luck.

[thereuare]

Thank you for sharing your results with the board and helping us add this property to the Priceline Hotel List.

Sorry to hear you're disappointed with the results... this is a slight savings (~20%) off a traditionally booked room at this property for this nite. Due to lack of competitiion, it can often be difficult to get "great" (read: 50% off) deals in areas where there are not many hotels.

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.

Enjoy your stay.