PPPP Posted November 9, 2009 Report Posted November 9, 2009 I'm looking for a 3* hotel in the South Beach area. One night, 2 rooms. Can anyone give me ideas as to how much I would need to pay? Any strategy? Thanks!
Romelle Posted November 9, 2009 Report Posted November 9, 2009 There are several ways you can get an idea as to probable rates: The Calendar of Wins just above, entering your dates. I'm guessing you mean South Beach, Miami? So you would select Miami - Priceline. You could also select Miami - Hotwire for another estimate.Search on South Beach using the search function - top of page upper right, or the Quick Search - top center.Try Hotwire directly, using your dates (Priceline tends to give slightly better deals than Hotwire, but this will give you a cap for your bidding.)For someone to suggest bidding strategy, could you please post back with your exact dates(rates vary hugely by date), and an idea of your budget. Also, clarify whether you mean the South Beach area in Priceline, or a different one. Romelle
PPPP Posted November 9, 2009 Author Report Posted November 9, 2009 There are several ways you can get an idea as to probable rates: The Calendar of Wins just above, entering your dates. I'm guessing you mean South Beach, Miami? So you would select Miami - Priceline. You could also select Miami - Hotwire for another estimate.Search on South Beach using the search function - top of page upper right, or the Quick Search - top center.Try Hotwire directly, using your dates (Priceline tends to give slightly better deals than Hotwire, but this will give you a cap for your bidding.)For someone to suggest bidding strategy, could you please post back with your exact dates(rates vary hugely by date), and an idea of your budget. Also, clarify whether you mean the South Beach area in Priceline, or a different one. RomelleThanks Romelle!As for my budget, it's really as cheap as possible...we would like to stay in South Beach area in Priceline. I haven't checked Hotwire yet. That's a good idea! I will do that :)
Romelle Posted November 9, 2009 Report Posted November 9, 2009 I just saw your date - 11/28 - in the title of your first post. Sorry I missed it before.There is an $80 3* 11/27 for South Beach Central - Miami in the Calendar of Wins. Again, prices vary widely by date but this is a clue.Another approach for figuring out where to start bidding is to look at the hotel web sites and their rack rates. Then start your bidding maybe at the 40% level, hoping to get a hit by 50%, but still happy at 60%. There is a list of hotel names people have reported here in the very first Florida post - one in the Hotwire area and one in the Priceline area.I see there are three different South Beach areas for Miami. When you are bidding, take time to understand which one seems to be less expensive, and then start with that one. As you increase your bid, add in the other two, one at a time. That way you can bid three times in a 24 hour period - say $50, $60 and $70. Romelle
PPPP Posted November 12, 2009 Author Report Posted November 12, 2009 I see there are three different South Beach areas for Miami. When you are bidding, take time to understand which one seems to be less expensive, and then start with that one. As you increase your bid, add in the other two, one at a time. That way you can bid three times in a 24 hour period - say $50, $60 and $70. RomelleI tried that last night but my bid wasn't accepted :) What do you suggest I should do next?
yellowdog Posted November 12, 2009 Report Posted November 12, 2009 How high did you bid? South Beach only zone?Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.Yellowdog.
PPPP Posted November 12, 2009 Author Report Posted November 12, 2009 How high did you bid? South Beach only zone?Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.Yellowdog.I went with Romelle's suggestion. There are 3 zones in South Beach so I did one zone for $50, 2 zones for $60 then 3 zones for $70. I used the provided links to bid but didn't win :)
Romelle Posted November 12, 2009 Report Posted November 12, 2009 It looks like you are going to have to work on up, but now you know you aren't leaving money on the table with an overbid. If I were bidding, now I'd try something like 73, 76 and 79. If nothing worked now, next session I'd probably try $80, 81 and 82. Hotwire has a 3* South Beach Central for $84 so that could be an option. Generally, one can do a little better via bidding on Priceline than using Hotwire. Also, Hotwire ratings sometimes are more generous than Priceline's.Romelle
PPPP Posted November 13, 2009 Author Report Posted November 13, 2009 So I tried to bid for $90 and it was still rejected. So I ended up going to hotwire and booked the 2.5* for $89. Right after booking it though, I found bookit.com has it cheaper at $75 so I called to file a low price guarantee. Does anyone have experience with it?
PPPP Posted November 13, 2009 Author Report Posted November 13, 2009 This ended up being cheaper on bookit.com. I found out after the fact :) I've called Hotwire about it. Hopefully the refund will go through.
AaronJB Posted November 13, 2009 Report Posted November 13, 2009 Sorry to hear that the deal was disappointing through HOTWIRE, but if you did find a rate cheaper at another website, there's no reason why the HOTWIRE double-the-difference request should not go through.Can you confirm the amenities showing with this HOTWIRE listing?Thank you for using the site's HOTWIRE link, and let us know how the double-the-diff request goes.Enjoy your stay.
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