Priceline Hotel: Priceline over New Years

[Northofsouth]

I'm thinking about a family vacation to Cancun or Puerto Rico leaving just after Christmas (Dec 26,27) and returning Jan 3rd. Are Priceline hotel rooms generally available over New Years or will I be wasting my time? Any guidance or experience is appreciated?

[thereuare]

It depends upon actual demand and occupancy levels at the hotels... you won't know unless you try, and you may have a chance more so this year than other years due to the economy (and in Cancun as well due to concerns regarding swine flu)

However, if you do choose to use PRICELINE note they only guarantee accomodations for double occupancy, so depending upon the size of your family, you may need to hope you can get a room with more than one bed, book more than one room, or look at HOTWIRE where you can search for up to quad occupancy per room. As well, searching HOTWIRE will give you a feel of prices/rates for these dates... while each uses their own star rating system so you may not be comparing apples-to-apples, you can at least get a general feel for prices. If HOTWIRE shows rates that are very high you'll know that demand is pretty tight... if rates are more reasonable you'll know you have a decent shot.

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

Let us know once you're ready to move forward and we'll advise accordingly.

[Northofsouth]

Thanks for the post.

Given New Years is a premium night I was thinking that hotels may make that one night unavailable and hence bidding on 5 or 6 days with New Years included might be a waste of time.

I did find a Priceline and Hotwire Calendar of Wins entry that showed a successful bid over a 5 day period that includes New Year's eve so some hotels must leave this night available.

Thanks.

[AaronJB]

I think that bidding for NYE is definitely not a waste of time, but I'd have a ceiling price-point in mind and work up to that point, then if it isn't accepted, try again a few days later. As always, certainly also check retail prices occasionally to see if any fluctuations are occurring. Also, certainly please feel free to ask any questions on the forum.