Priceline Hotel: 4* Las Vegas (Strip North) Mirage

Hi all,

This is my first post here but I've been following this forum for months now. What an excellent resource.

I've planned a trip to Las Vegas for February 2012 from Europe. We're five or six people going (all guys) so I just have a few questions before I'll attempt to bid for a room.

1) Is it possible to get even cheaper deals if you are bidding for three rooms at once instead of doing three individual bids for one room each and risk staying at different hotels? That is to say, are the hotels likely to lower their accepted bid amount if you book more rooms at once? Or is it perhaps the contrary?

2) We're looking for each room to be one with 2 queen beds given that we're all guys, but that's not an option you can select when bidding. The hotels all do seem to have rooms with the two-bed option, though, so how high is the risk that if our offer gets accepted, we will stand in a situation where we'll be stuck to a single bed to share? I've read something about calling the hotel after the reservation and putting in a request for a room with 2 queens instead, but what is the likelihood of our request not being honored?

3) Does the likelihood of getting a nice deal increase or decrease depending on how many nights you book? Is it cheaper to try to split our 6 nights into 2 x 3 night bids?

And yeah, we are starting all of our searches with the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links :-)

Welcome to Betterbidding. :)

Multiple rooms will not result in increased discounts, unfortunately.

In terms of bedding, PRICELINE only guarantees one bed/double occupancy. One can call the hotel and put in a request in advance or do so at check-in, but there have been a number of examples of hotels charging additional for rooms w/2 beds and you may run the risk of that.

Rates really are a case-by-case basis and depend upon traffic for the particular dates; more dates do not result in a better deal. If there is a convention or other event during a portion of your stay, splitting your stay into two parts may be a benefit. However, if regular rates are largely even across the board for the stay, then that would not be of interest.

What are your exact dates of travel and desired budget per night?

Thank you for using the site's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchases and searches.

Thank you :-)

What would the extra charge typically look like per night?

Our precise dates of travel are: arrival 30 January, departure 5 February (Monday-Sunday). We're hoping to keep the budget at $80 per room per night (+ resort fee on top, whatever that may be), and the hotel must be on the strip. We're trying to avoid Stratosphere (too far away from the center of the strip) and Luxor (for other reasons), as well as the lower quality hotels such as Hooters.

What would the extra charge typically look like per night?

Depending upon the property, for two beds in the room it could be nothing, or $15-$30 per nite. Are you looking for two people per room and would simply like separate beds OR are you looking for triple/quad occupancy per room? (strategy and suggestions may differ)

and the hotel must be on the strip.

Would the Westin be acceptable... it's in PRICELINE's Strip South zone but not directly on the strip?

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

Two people per room and simply two separate beds. But please let me know the strategy/any suggestions for the other alternative (triple/quad occupancy) as well.

We're pretty set on staying on the strip itself, so although the Westin looks to be right next to it on the map, we would absolutely prefer a property on the strip...close to the center of it, the better. Unless you have some fabulous recommendation of Westin :-)

Thanks again.

If the Westin isn't acceptable (and you're coming all the way from Europe i'd suggest staying on the strip)

The only way you'll be able to ensure separate beds in the room is by using HOTWIRE and searching for triple/quad occupancy, but keep in mind that the second 'bed' could be a rollaway, pullout sofabed, etc... or booking thru HOTWIRE and choosing a hotel which shows the 'Bed Option' along with the amenities (although this is coming less and less common as hotels try to remain flexible in room assignments for 3rd party bookings). Otherwise you can 'roll the dice' and hope for two beds i each room... consider it your first bet even before you get to Vegas! :)

You can also try our Las Vegas Rate Checker which will allow you to choose your room type, but even the hotel's own websites state that they'll try to accommodate your preferences but it's not guaranteed.

You may also want to try SPLITTING YOUR PRICELINE BID, and trying for a 5* hotel for the Sun-Friday nites of your stay at a 5* property, then moving to a lower rated hotel (which still may ultimately be more expensive given the weekend nites) for Friday and Saturday. Rates for Sun-Fri don't look that cheap at the moment, but February is a long way away and rates in Las Vegas fluctuate more than just about any other hotel market.

Do you have a firm count of how many rooms and guests you'll be?

Based upon the above let us know your thoughts and we'll take it from there.

The strip it is :)

I like the idea of splitting the bid. This way we could get a far better accommodation for the same price from Monday-Thursday, and can go for a lower quality option for the last two nights. It does not necessarily need to be a 5* (though it would be nice :)), 4* is sufficient as well.

We do not have a firm count yet, as we are waiting for one or two people to make up their minds in the coming days whether they will be coming along or not. But we will definitely be three people from 30.1 - 3.2, and four people from 3.2-5.2. At just four people, that would put our room count to 2 rooms with 2 beds in each room. With 5, we would likely try to go for one of the rooms with 2 queens and maybe an extra bed (if Las Vegas hotels offer that service?), and the other room with just 2 queens. Should we be six in the end, then we'd obviously go for three rooms.

With regard to the rate fluctuation, according to another thread I read through on this forum, the general advice was that the priceline/hotwire rates do not become cheaper over time. So do the rates actually fluctuate if we were to wait 'til, say, November instead of next week?

Let us know once your number of rooms and guests are firm and we'll check current rates at that time.

In regards to whether it is better to book nor or wait, there is no correct answer, as it all depends upon the 'unknown' of how bookings and cancellations for the hotels will come in relative to their current expectations. See the related 'Bid Early or Close to Check-in' link in our PRICELINE FAQ for a further discussion on this subject.

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

Okay, so our number of guests is firm: we will be 5 people in total. Happy to do either 3 rooms with 2 beds each, or 2 rooms with 2 beds each and one with an extra bed. Please advise on strategy, thanks in advance :-)

We're hoping to keep the budget at $80 per room per night (+ resort fee on top, whatever that may be)...

Happy to do either 3 rooms with 2 beds each, or 2 rooms with 2 beds each and one with an extra bed.

Can you please clarify your budget a bit, as if you're quoting your budget in terms of room rate, the total cost will be very different if you're bidding for 2 rooms vs. 3 rooms.

Let us know the above and we'll have a look at your options.

Thanks for using the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board.

We're hoping to find one for around $80-90 per room per night for the Monday-Friday stay, and then Friday-Saturday we'd go for another bid for a much worse hotel just to keep our budget in similar range.

It doesn't necessarily have to be a 5*, or even a 4*, as we won't be doing much else than sleeping in the rooms (obviously). We are trying, however, to avoid Hooters (one of ours isn't too keen for that sort of place) and Trump (bad reviews on TripAdvisor), but otherwise the actual hotel itself doesn't really matter, as long as it is on the strip and not all the way out in either extreme (like Stratosphere, for instance). But the more awesome the hotel, the better for us, I suppose.

The 'problem' is that you can't bid the 4* level in the Strip South zone since you could therefore land the Westin, so you're restricted to:

5* Strip South and Strip North (but not Strip North Condo)

4* Strip North

At the 5* level in Vegas you have ELEVEN re-bid zones. If you're not familiar with re-bidding please read Priceline Re-Bidding Explained and feel free to ask questions and/or confirm your re-bid zones with the board before proceeding.

Select 5* Strip North and Strip South...

Bid $70, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $73, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $75, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $78, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $80, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $83, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $85, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $88, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $90

If the above is rejected post back and we'll revise for a 4* strategy, although i'll add some comments/suggestions before doing so. (if rejected, when replying, please clarify how many rooms you're bidding)

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

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

PS- please read your messages

Thank you! We've been using USD all along. We landed a winning bid at $75 per night at The Mirage from 30 Jan - 3 Feb, which is one of the hotels we really wanted to stay at. Excellent. Will get onto booking the Friday and Saturday at a less expensive hotel soon. Should I start a new thread for the winning bid or will mentioning it here be enough?

Congrats on your success. :)

Nice deal, and glad you were able to get a hotel you wanted. Please start a new thread for the additional portion of your stay.

Thank you for sharing your win and please use the site's PRICELINE or HOTWIRE links to start your purchases and searches.

Enjoy your stay.