Priceline Hotel: 5* South Strip 5/14-5/17

[hottieandginger]

After doing some research, I tried bidding for a 5* on the South Strip today. My understanding is that the only 5* hotel on the South Strip at this time is TheHotel.

I started bidding at $60 and increased by $5 increments using re-bid zones. I ran out of re-bid zones at $110 (purposely avoided the North Strip).

Question: when I click on 5* hotels in the South Strip, PRICELINE tells me that the average retail price for a 5* hotel in the South Strip is $205. Is there a typical "discount" that works from a bidding perspective? For example, a 40% discount would be approximately $80, so I'd need to bid in the $120 range.

On tripres, TheHotel is $230/night ... not sure if that's relevant.

I avoided the North Strip because I'm avoiding the Trump Hotel for now. I'm not totally opposed to the Trump Hotel, but I'd really like a hotel with a good pool, and my understanding is that Trump's pool is nothing special.

Finally, HOTWIRE lists a Central Strip 5* hotel for $132 with the following amenities:

Casino

Fitness Center

Pool(s)

Restaurant(s)

Business Center

Golf Nearby

Tennis Nearby

Spa Services

It's recommended in 90% of customer reviews and has a 4.5 star rating on TripAdvisor. I would usually keep bidding on PRICELINE but I might go with the HOTWIRE option because it seems like that hotel is either the Wynn or Venetian (both good options).

Thanks for any advice/recommendations etc. I used the HOTWIRE and PRICELINE links to launch my bidding.

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

There is no 'magic' number which is the right amount of discount to expect, you're bidding correctly by selecting a maximum bid and then using your re-bid zones to increase towards that number.

While THEhotel is the only 5* hotel reported to the board, the new Aria and Vdaria are certainly new possibilities as well (as would be the Bellgio).

For the HOTWIRE property, with the 4.5/5.0 Tripadvisor rating this would looks to more likely be the Wynn than the Venetian.

Thanks for using our PRICELINE and/or HOTWIRE links to begin your purchase.

Let us know what you decide and how it goes or if we can be of further help.

[hottieandginger]

You can close this thread (more detail below).

I tried bidding again on a South Strip 5* hotel for the prior weekend. I started at $70 and bid in $5 increments up to $95. No luck so I changed my strategy.

I found a great "package" deal on Bookit. Round trip airfare plus 3 nights at the Wynn (5/14 through 5/17) for $738 total. The airfare was $340 (for two people) and three nights at Wynn was $397. However, the airfare was discounted due to the package deal (the cheapest I could find the flight was $400). So the "adjusted" price for Wynn was roughly $330 for three nights. (The Venetian also had very good package deals for three-night stays.)

I'm very happy with this result because my girlfriend wants to check out the "European" rules pool at the Wynn. I would have used PRICELINE but didn't want to risk the Trump (horrible reviews about the train).

Great website -- I always use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to launch searches!

[thereuare]

Thanks for the update and 'closing this thread with your decision... glad you found something that works well for your plans.

Have a great Vegas trip.

[hottieandginger]

Ironically, I got home tonight and had a letter from Wynn offering three nights for $299 and free tickets to Le Reve (with a stay of three nights or more). Oh well, can't win 'em all. :)

Just so everybody has the datapoint -- they gave us 3 nights at the Encore (Resort Suite King) for $299 ($334 with tax). They also gave us two tickets to La Reve (similar to Cirque) -- each worth $129. Really a great deal. I cancelled my hotel that I had booked yesterday.

(The "rack rate" for a Resort Suite King at the Encore is $286/night which I hope nobody pays...)