DIFFICULTY GETTING 3 or 4 STAR HOTEL IN FLL THROUGH PRICELINE???

[albertiger]

Hyatt Pier 66 will give you a seagulls eye view...for a price!;)

[newmexicoNita]

Hyatt Pier 66 will give you a seagulls eye view...for a price!;)

Right and most of us don't want to pay the price: we can see the ships when we get to the peir. LOL

[amusea]

If you book Pier 66 make sure you are in the tower. I think the lower priced rooms are in two story villas around the pool area. Be specific.

[xeena]

we have Dec 9th at Amerisuites FtL for $75/night. they have free cruise parking, free shuttle to pier and to airport and free breakfast. a good deal.

[xeena]

we reserved a night at the Amerisuites in Ft L Dec 8th....they have free parking for cruise, free shuttle to pier and to airport and breakfast...for $75 a night.

[burrma]

If you'll post the dates you'd like to try for, what "FLL" stands for, and what areas of town are acceptable to you, I'll do some research. After hundreds of priceline stays, I'm a self-proclaimed expert. :-)

I new to Cruise Critic but really appreciate all your advice. if I'm going on a cruise out of Port Everglades, so which area of FLL do you suggest I bid on through Priceline? How do I know if they will keep my car for the week if you stay there one night before the cruise?

[LDVinNC]

Try parksleepfly.com. When I checked, they had 3 hotels that offered the service. I booked the Hampton Inn Airport North for this Saturday (booked it a couple of months ago) for $119. We will leave our car there for 8 nights and they do have a shuttle to the port.

 

Most hotels will not allow you to leave your car for a week

[Cruise Raider]

You may want to check out Hotwire instead...but daily as the deals go quickly. If you know your hotels, you might even be able to figure out which one it is before you hit the finalize button.

We stayed at the Sheraton Yankee Clipper --- old and needs a bit of upgrading --- but ok location right on the beach and relatively close to the pier. The Sheraton website has an area for internet only bookings> found a most amazing deal on that site>

When we did grab a cab to go to the pier, however, they were stuck in line forever getting in and the cab fare was almost as much as the hotel room for one night....even though it is only a couple of miles away. Don't know any way to get around that one, though.

[newmexicoNita]

Nita,

 

The Hampton Inn in Planatation has an airport shuttle and a shuttle to Pt. Everglades. When I found that out, I booked it! I agree, you have to factor in taxi fares when you're looking at hotel rooms.

 

Roz

Roz, I think you are the one that put me onto this hotel about 2 or 3 months ago: I agree, I can see no reason to pay $200 a night to be in the touristy part of town for one night. Taking that in to consideration and the cost of traxies from point A to B etc I think $116 is a steal and of all the modestly prices hotel chains, I have always felt Hamton Inn is the most consistant.

 

Thanks for you advise way back when; now if next month would get here all would be well. Nita

 

ps actually I think we are using hhonors points for our stay.

[sk99]

We stayed at the Sheraton Yankee Clipper --- old and needs a bit of upgrading --- but ok location right on the beach and relatively close to the pier. The Sheraton website has an area for internet only bookings> found a most amazing deal on that site>

When we did grab a cab to go to the pier, however, they were stuck in line forever getting in and the cab fare was almost as much as the hotel room for one night....even though it is only a couple of miles away. Don't know any way to get around that one, though.

 

How much did you have to pay for the taxi? We are staying at the Sheraton Yankee Clipper before our 12/3 cruise. Do you know if this is always a problem to get to the port? Would we be better off by renting a car? I was not planning on it, since hotel should be close to the water taxi to get around FLL area, did not want to drive, park, est. Thank you.

[GulfCoaster]

we reserved a night at the Amerisuites in Ft L Dec 8th....they have free parking for cruise, free shuttle to pier and to airport and breakfast...for $75 a night.

 

We were told (also read it somewhere else on this board awhile ago) that the hotel was under new management and the free parking was cut out.

 

Anybody else heard of this?!?! Is the free cruise parking at this hote still status quo?

 

Thanks!

 

Mike

[jcrandle]

we have Dec 9th at Amerisuites FtL for $75/night. they have free cruise parking, free shuttle to pier and to airport and free breakfast. a good deal.

Just a caution, there are three amerisuites in the FLL area, so you need to be specific when hopping into a cab (or jumping into a shuttle at the cruise terminal) as you may wind up at the wrong one. We stayed at the one on 17th street three years ago, and took advantage of their shuttle to/from the port, and were pleased with the price/performance. We had booked on priceline, and used the biddingfortravel site for help in bidding. The hosts on that site are very helpful IF YOU DO YOUR HOMEWORK before posting. See their FAQ for the research you need to post prior to asking for help!

[Mlascheid]

We won the Hyatt Pier 66 on Priceline Nov. 2-4(Thur & Fri) for $88/nite.

[kiberkid]

We won the Hyatt Pier 66 on Priceline Nov. 2-4(Thur & Fri) for $88/nite.

 

Congratulations, that is a great rate. Is the Hyatt 3 or 4 stars?

[Mlascheid]

Congratulations, that is a great rate. Is the Hyatt 3 or 4 stars?

It is a 4 star.

[nansi]

Try parksleepfly.com. When I checked, they had 3 hotels that offered the service. I booked the Hampton Inn Airport North for this Saturday (booked it a couple of months ago) for $119. We will leave our car there for 8 nights and they do have a shuttle to the port.

Most hotels will not allow you to leave your car for a week

 

Great website you've recommended which we didn't know about. Driving from the Gulf Coast of FL, we could really use this!! We've usually done a $27 one-way car rental to get there and back, which works well if we don't have the added expense of a hotel stay. But if we had to use a hotel (for an early flight out of Miami for example) this would work a whole lot better!

Thanks so much! :)

[kiberkid]

It is a 4 star.

Wow. Good for you.

[torpeedo]

I believe the Amerisuites on 17th street has new management and has stopped the parking deal. I had read that on another thread. You should check with them before booking if that's an important thing for you. We are doing the parksleepcruise deal at the La Quinta for our Dec 3 Volendam cruise. 10 day cruise with a one night stay, transportation to pier and parking ran $160 which includes all taxes etc. We are cruising on Feb 4 also but that's superbowl weekend in Miami and no dice with parksleepcruise!! We have to stay up in Port St. Lucie Hampton and drive in to the port from there. Of course for only $500 a night I could stay at the Days Inn in FLL!! :eek:

[Mlascheid]

Wow. Good for you.

Kiberkid...

 

Thanks. We're looking forward to trying the Hyatt. :)

[amusea]

I believe the Amerisuites on 17th street has new management and has stopped the parking deal. I had read that on another thread. You should check with them before booking if that's an important thing for you. We are doing the parksleepcruise deal at the La Quinta for our Dec 3 Volendam cruise. 10 day cruise with a one night stay, transportation to pier and parking ran $160 which includes all taxes etc. We are cruising on Feb 4 also but that's superbowl weekend in Miami and no dice with parksleepcruise!! We have to stay up in Port St. Lucie Hampton and drive in to the port from there. Of course for only $500 a night I could stay at the Days Inn in FLL!! :eek:

 

I just wondered which La Quinta offered this service. There used to be only one La Quinta in North FLL on Cypress Creek. Now they have just bought the Baymont Inn at 3800 Commercial Blvd which is very close to the original La Quinta.

[Nasmas]

Successful 4* bids in the downtown and beach areas have been going for between $110 and $135 over the last several months.

 

It's expensive, but remember, rack rates are $200+ for these rooms, and hotels have very little incentive to turn rooms over to opaque services in beach communities that are popular year-round, especially with travel up 10% for the 2nd year in a row.

 

I suspect if you bid up to $135, you will get a 4*.

 

I suspect a 3* will be 90% of the cost ($120-ish), and the extra few bucks will be well worth it to go for the four. (FYI, a substancial price drop happens at 2.5* hotels... and a rise in amenities as well. Where 3* and 4* properties often don't have continental breakfast, and charge for things like parking and WiFi, 2.5* properties will offer these things for free.) 2* properties are also availible, but suffer the same problems with price differential that 3* and 4* properties do. (Just a few bucks difference, but a large difference in quality.)

 

I suspect you could get a 2.5* at around $70-80.

 

When you're bidding priceline, USE YOUR HEAD. Choose your star level, and a solid price to go in at, and stick with it. Once you bid, it's your last chance for 24 hours. REMEMBER, it's only 24 hours, and you're bidding on a hotel room for November, so don't get all click-happy if you don't win. Wait 24 hours, increase your price by $5, and bid again. If all goes well you'll have your win in a week or so.

 

(For 4*, and sometimes 3* properties, there's a theory out there called "rebidding" (google for "Priceline Rebidding"), which is extremely helpful.)

 

A few last tips... As you get closer to your price, Priceline will pop in, telling you that for another $25 (or something), you can have your hotel room RIGHT NOW! This is a sham, and if you continue using my strategy ($5 every 24 hours), you'll get it for less than Priceline's counter-offer.

 

Outside of priceline, I see that Hotwire is showing a 3-star in the beach area for $96.

 

 

Best of luck, and if you're confused by this, please just let me know.

 

-MW

I just have a question. I've never used Priceline bidding, so I am ignorant of how it works. If you bid and they accept it, do you have to take it? We're on the Westerdam on 02/25 and are booked in Amerisuites. That's not what we really wanted but it was by far the best price in that area. We wanted the Pier 66 but $350+ is a little more than we want to pay for a place to sleep. Any suggestions or do you know anything about Amerisuites? I've read really good and really bad.

[montekat]

I just won the Sheraton Yankee Clipper in FLL for $125 on Priceline by bidding on a 3 star in the FLL beach area. I had tried 4 stars in the downtown area but was unsuccessful. I have read good and bad reviews of this hotel and hope that the deficiencies will be corrected before we go in Feb.

 

Yes, once you win on Priceline, it is yours. You have to put in your credit card number and it is charged to it as soon as you win.