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Family of 5


immdc
By immdc,
in

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My husband and I enjoy travelling with our 3 children ages 6, 8 and 16. We usually book hotels online through Expedia or Travelocity"]Travelocity. We tend to get one room with 2 full or queen sized beds and a rollaway. Is it possible for us to bid for a room and guarantee room for 5? At the savings I've seen on this site, I'd be willing to get two rooms but they would have to be connecting. Can they guarentee connecting rooms? Any hints or advice would be greatly appreciated!

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You can't guarantee a room for 5 thru Priceline or Hotiwre. However, as you've seen, two rooms thru the opaque services can often be had cheaper than one room booked conventionally... but you won't be able to guarantee connecting rooms.

After your purchase is made you can call the hotel and put i a request for connecting rooms, but it is just a request and at the discretion of the hotel (and availability). Depending upon the maturity of your 16 year old she could be responsible for the younger children and call you if there were any problem, or the parents could split up in a 'worst case scenario'.

Whether the above compromises are worth the savings involved is at your discretion.

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

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I have always had the fear that I would get stuck with a king bed only with Hotwire or Priceline. That still may be the case with Priceline, but I want to draw your attention to an aspect of Hotwire. Hotwire asks for the number of children. It would be quite disingenuous of Hotwire to acknowledge my two children and not provide a bed for them. Is there still a danger with Hotwire?

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When Hotwire added the "how many children" box to the website, I called them and asked if that was to guarantee enough beds. They said no, it was to make sure they didn't book you into an "adult only" type hotel. They reconfirmed their policy that the only guarantee is that the room will accomodate 2 people, and bedding/smoking preferences were by request only.

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Hi, I just thought I'd point you guys to a paragraph on Hotwire's Hotel Customer Care page.

"Q: How many beds are in the lodgings?

A: All rooms booked on Hotwire will accommodate the appropriate number of guests in each room, based on the total number of guests you provided and the number of rooms you requested. While we cannot guarantee the number of beds in a property room, some properties may offer pull-out couches or cots. If you have specific needs, please contact the property directly. Our partners will do their best to make your stay as comfortable as possible."

Hope this helps.

April

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You can't guarantee a room for 5 thru Priceline or Hotiwre.  However, as you've seen, two rooms thru the opaque services can often be had cheaper than one room booked conventionally... but you won't be able to guarantee connecting rooms.

After your purchase is made you can call the hotel and put i a request for connecting rooms, but it is just a request and at the discretion of the hotel (and availability).  Depending upon the maturity of your 16 year old she could be responsible for the younger children and call you if there were any problem, or the parents could split up in a 'worst case scenario'.

Whether the above compromises are worth the savings involved is at your discretion.

I think that's sound advice, thereuare. There are significant risks in booking a SINGLE priceline room for a family of 5. Although if you didn't advertise your family size and travelled with an inflatable air mattress, you could probably get by 19 out of 20 times. Your biggest problem (other than comfort) would be room occupancy limits (usually 4) sometimes imposed by management and/or local fire marshalls.

The only likely problem of booking TWO rooms for a family is the connecting room issue. From personal experience, it does get messed up probably one out of five times -- and that's WITH a phone call in advance. But I suspect you'd have a similar "screw up factor" if you booked direct. In either situation, you're usually able to at least get nearby rooms, so if you're willing to put an adult in each room if you have to, it works.

Regardless of whether you book direct or with priceline, always call the hotel a couple weeks in advance to tell them you want connecting rooms. Get the name of the person who helps you. Then call back a day before you arrive and -- if you're paranoid and want to further boost your chances -- call back the morning you're scheduled to arrive. And then it's better if you don't check in too late. And then hope the front desk staff is reasonably intelligent and helpful :) Wish it weren't so, but that's my experience.

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Here are a couple of my thoughts and experiences - I hope they help:

There are no guarantees on what room you are going to get on Priceline...Even the best researched plans and strategies may yield unpleasant results, so if you only want a specific type of room/adjoining rooms, then probably Priceline is not for you.

That being said, if you are willing to take a chance, you may be able to get exactly what you want, especially if it is a multi-night stay. Here are my experiences below:

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  • 1 year later...

I previously booked a room for myself and two teenage daughters through Hotwire to Miami and there was no problem when we arrived at the hotel as they automatically allocated a room with two king beds. I'm tempted to try again through either Hotwire or Priceline as the savings are so great. Anybody had any problems getting a triple room on arrival please?

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