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Priceline Hotel: 4* San Juan (Rio Grande-Humacao) Gran Melia


mau
By mau,
in

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I'm looking to book one room for 3 nights (checking in 01/29/2010 and checking out 02/01/2010) for 4 adults near San Juan, PR on hotwire. In my search, a 4 star hotel came up for $126/night (was $123 earlier tonight and $129 yesterday) that was a "Rio Grande - Humacao Hotel". Amenities listed were Resort, Beachfront, Casino, Airport Shuttle, Fitness Center, Pool(s), Restaurant(s), Business Center, High-speed Internet Access, Golf Nearby, Tennis Nearby and Spa Services. Does anyone know which hotel this might be? Also, does anyone know how much the Resort Fees would be? Thanks very very much!

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thanks so much, AaronJB! When I go to book a hotel on Rio Mar's website, I see it says "Resort Fee 14% per night". Do you know if that would end up being 14% of the regular room rate ($314 or more) or 14% of what I'd pay on hotwire (about $123)? Thanks in advance for any help!

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Thanks for the info! Unfortunately this hotel now looks like it is completely gone from the hotwire listing :-/ Guess I should have just booked it instead of waiting to hear from everyone. I was surprised it was completely gone after being offered at such a low price a few hours ago. Do you know if there is any chance it will come back in the result set? There is now a new 4-star in the area in the list that's a little more a night...I'll start a new thread and see if anyone knows what that is.

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I was hoping someone could help me identify the 4-star PR Rio Grande - Humacao Hotel I'm seeing for $156/night for 4 adults 3 nights (checking in 01/29/10 and checking out 02/01/10). I waited to hear back from everyone in our group and missed a better rate for a different 4-star hotel in the same area...I see this one is listed as "suite" and "near beach" instead of "beachfront" so I know they must be different. The complete list of ammenities listed is: Resort, Suite, Near Beach, Casino, Smoke Free Rooms, Fitness Center, Pool(s), Restaurant(s), Laundry Facilities, High-speed Internet Access, Golf Nearby, Tennis Nearby, Spa Services. Thank you so much!

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I asked about the area as the vast majority of users heading to Puerto Rico stay in San Juan... just want to make sure you know the Rio Grande area and that's where you want to stay.

Since you have about 5 weeks before your stay, i'd give it another 3-4 days to see if the previous HOTWIRE hotel re-appears.

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

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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  • 3 weeks later...

Sounds good! I did use the PRICELINE link from betterbidding to make my first bids yesterday. I selected 4* and Resorts in the Rio Grande - Fajardo - El Yunque area and bid $87. That was rejected so using the technique I had read about on this site, I added the Dorado area which I saw did not have either of these two hotel classifications and bid $90. That was also rejected. I felt comfortable adding Dorado because it still wasn't super super far from the area we want to stay, but chickened out about adding the other zones I know would have been safe but were on the other side of the island.

It will be 24 hours since those bids soon, so I'll increase my bid a little and try again. I had two questions, though. First, I read that the star level you choose is the minimum you will accept so if you start with a bid for 3*, you cannot immediately make a new bid for 4* because your 3* bid already included 4*. If I've got that correct, I was wondering how Resorts fall into that. Is making a Resort bid and then a 4* bid two different things in PL's eyes?

My second question was about hotels in the Rio Grande - Fajardo - El Yunque area. PL shows they have 4*, 3.5*, 3* and Resorts. When I look at the detailed map on PL of the Rio Grande - Fajardo - El Yunque area, it looks fairly small and I'd expect it to mainly consist of the El Conquistador, Rio Mar, Gran Melia and Las Casitas. I haven't read about all of those extensively, but I would think they would all fall into the 4* or Resort categories. That leaves me confused about what the 3.5* and 3* hotels in that area might be. I know they aren't officially listed on this board, but I was wondering if anyone with more PL experience (this is my first time) might be able to venture a guess (I promise I'd keep in mind that it's just a guess!).

If not a guess, then I would also find some general info helpful that might help me make a guess. For instance, I know there are other independent hotels in that area like the Fajardo Inn, the Luquillo Sunrise Beach Inn, etc. Is it common for PL to provide an independent hotel like that and classify it as a 3.5* or a 3*? The Fajardo Inn did look pretty nice and that's my backup if I'm not able to get a hotel through PL. There are 6 of us going and with PL, I know that means I'll need 3 rooms, but if I was just going to book Fajardo Inn directly I could do it on their website and get just 2 rooms (1 w/ 2 beds for $150 and 1 w/ 1 bed for $110), so I'm just a little nervous about ending up making a $100 bid for 3.5* and getting Fajardo knowing that I could have gotten rooms to accommodate everyone for $40 less and w/out PL's charge. Along these lines, I do not see mention of Room Service on Fajardo Inn's website or on Expedia's listing for it. I see PL's description of a 3.5* includes Room Service. Would that be enough to mean that Fajardo Inn could, at most, be classified as a 3*? If so, does that same line of thinking mean that one of the places I listed earlier might be missing one particular ammenity of the Resort and 4* classification and then would have to be the 3.5* option I'm seeing?

Okay, I'm done! I apologize that is so long and complicated! I would appreciate any possible help on any of these questions! This trip is for my boyfriend's 30th birthday and I'm just hoping to make it great without costing everyone too much!

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Resorts are rated between 4* and 5* hotels, so you can think of them as 4.5* rated in terms of the category hierarchy. Therefore, you could make a Resort level bid, then if rejected immediately make a 4* bid... but not go from 4* to Resorts without waiting 24 hours.

Independent properties are rated based upon the amenities offered and hotel quality of that specific property, just like the major chains (ie- not all hotels in the same chain are rated the same... there is rating variation from property to property). You can try searching PRICELINE's retail site for this area to see if any 3* or 3.5* hotels are listed... this aren't necessarily the same properties that participate in the 'name your own price' side of PRICELINE, but it will at least give you a sense of what they consider to be 3.5* and 3* properties.

Thanks for using our PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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Thanks so much for all of the information! I got the Gran Melia for my bid of $100/night each for 3 rooms, checking in 01/28/2010 and checking out 01/31.

As mentioned in my earlier post, I first bid on 4* and Resorts in the Rio Grande - Fajardo - El Yunque area and bid $87. That was rejected so I added the Dorado area which I saw did not have either of these two hotel classifications and bid $90 which was also rejected. The next day I bid $95 for 4* and Resorts in Rio Grande - Fajardo - El Yunque and after that was rejected, I bid $100 by adding in the Dorado area and that was accepted. With the comments I've read about the beach and a few other things, it wasn't my top choice in the area, but for weekend nights in January, with a gorgeous looking pool and large, comfortable rooms I'm definitely happy paying just $100/night for this hotel. Thanks again for all the help and let me know if I'm supposed to post any other information on this to be helpful to others.

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Congratualtions on your success!

Glad to see you're happy with the deal you received and, for the price, this property will work well for your needs.

Thank you for sharing your win with the board and using our PRICELINE link to begin your bidding.

Have a great trip!

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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