Priceline Hotel: 2.5* Chowchilla Holiday Inn Express and Suites Gateway To Yosemite

[PokerWhammy]

I was looking for hotel near Yosemite & Fresno had some not highly rated hotels, so I searched around on HOTWIRE & saw Chowchilla come up with good ratings & decent prices.

I saw on tripadvisor that Chowchilla only has 3 hotels with the HIE at 2.5* & rated 4.5 out of 5. The other two hotels are a Days inn (2*?) & Chowchilla Inn (?*).

I think Hotwire is offering HIE & Days Inn. Shows 2* for $55 (4.0 out of 5 rating compatible with Days Inn) & 3* for $59 (4.5 out of 5 rating compatible with HIE)

So I went to PRICELINE & saw they offered a 2.5* in Chowchilla, so I started with bid of $40 & received counterbid to raise $12 to $52. I rejected & added free rebid zone of Merced & bid $45, which was accepted.

Merced zone now only offers 2* or less, so don't know about what happened to 3* Courtyard now.

Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $45.00

Subtotal: $45.00

Taxes & Fees: $12.62

Total Charges*: $57.62

[thereuare]

Thanks for the post and new hotel for the Priceline Hotel List.

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

Enjoy your stay.

[Colfax]

In PRICELINE's retail product the Merced Courtyard is now rated 2*.

I don't think I've seen a Courtyard rated 2* before.

My speculation is that the downgrade was at Courtyard's request. Courtyard was probably the only participating hotel in Merced at 2.5* level so that winning it on Priceline was a "sure thing". Now that it's 2* it will compete with several other 2* in Merced and people who really want the Courtyard will have some incentive to pay rack rate again.

[headtrip]

Colfax, even if what you say is true, it still doesn't make sense to downgrade the star rating, as it affects the pricing of the "premium hotel". The hotel controls the inventory and pricing of priceline rooms, so why would you want to cheapen the product?

[Colfax]

Colfax, even if what you say is true, it still doesn't make sense to downgrade the star rating, as it affects the pricing of the "premium hotel". The hotel controls the inventory and pricing of priceline rooms, so why would you want to cheapen the product?

Hi, headtrip.

Even though Merced Courtyard's been downgraded to 2* (on Priceline only; it's still rated 3* on Orbitz and Expedia), Courtyard's still the most expensive hotel in Merced, at least on a couple of random dates I checked.

In a large city Courtyard might not be considered a "premium hotel" but in Merced it is. I understand your point that a premium hotel doesn't want to be branded with a "2*" label, as they're expected to charge a 2* rate then. In this instance though the downgrade to 2* probably helps Courtyard maintain their pricing power, rather than undermining it. People who live in or visit Merced know that Courtyard's one of the best hotels there, whether Priceline calls it 2* or not; and Courtyard's still charging double what the other Merced 2* cost.

Let's say Courtyard has a $119 rack rate and a $60 Priceline rate, when available. If Courtyard's the only Priceline 2.5* in Merced then people will learn they can bid $60 and never get anything but Courtyard. Noone has incentive to pay $119 again.

With Courtyard a 2* though you can bid $60 and get Courtyard, or Ramada, or Quality Inn. In that situation some people who formerly used Priceline to get the Courtyard at $60 will now choose to pay $119 rack, rather than risk getting Ramada or Quality Inn.

Hotels generally don't want to be the only one at any quality rating in a Priceline zone because they're too easy to win that way. Here's another example:

Doubletrees are usually 3.5* or 3* on Priceline. But for a couple years the Doubletree Fess Parker in Santa Barbara was rated 2* on Priceline because no other 2.5* or 3* or 3.5* hotels in Santa Barbara participated. Now that some higher rated hotels have joined Priceline in Santa Barbara the Doubletree's been rerated.....from 2* to 4*! (And since Priceline doesn't offer 4* bidding in Santa Barbara that means the Doubletree no longer participates in Name Your Own Price there.)

[Colfax]

I want to add to my prior post..

My thoughts were pure speculation. I offered one possible explanation for a Courtyard downgrade to 2* but other explanations are possible too, besides mine. I didn't mean to suggest I know what's going on there.

Courtyard Merced gets pretty good reviews on TripAdvisor. It's probably a welcome win in Merced, however it's rated. I'm just saying it was probably easier to win when it was 2.5*--whatever the reason for the downgrade.

It will be interesting to see what comes up the next time someone tries bidding 2* in Merced.