Hotwire users...can you answer this

[stprdi]

I am going to try bidding on a resort in San Juan. What prices have you got your rooms for and which resort? We'd be looking downtown area to Isla Verde. Also, we'd like a ocean view, how do we go about that? Thanks.

[jjb415]

A good source for information pertaining to bidding for hotels on Hotwire is www.betterbidding.com. It is a site that helps you identify hotels offered on Hotwire plus much more informaion. You can also check tha San Juan boards in this forum. A sticky post at the top of the board has a thread for winning bids on Priceline & Hotwire. Happy travels.

[nicole1082]

Hi! I didn't use hotwire, but I did bid on priceline for the same thing. All of my bids up to $70 per night were rejected for a 3 star and higher hotel in the same area. I didn't want to risk going lower than that with the stars because I'd read some pretty bad reviews of some of the two star hotels in San Juan. It stinks, but it seems like San Juan's hotel prices are over inflated due to the cruising industry's ports there. We ended up taking one night in the HJ Old San Juan, overpriced at $115, but close to the docking point. And on the way back we got a 4 star hotel for $75 (a priceline bid) in Rio del Mar, the Wyndham. It's near the rainforest so we are going to tour that with a rental car.

Anyway, that is how my bidding went!

good luck!

[signman]

You don't bid on Hotwire. You do on Priceline and you should never bid unless you have checked http://www.biddingfortravel.com Unless a property only has ocean view rooms, there is no way to guarantee that with PL. Sometimes at check-in though you can pay extra for this type room.

[Desertbelle]

We purchased four 3 1/2 star rooms on Hotwire for $109 plus taxes each and recieved the Sheraton Old San Juan Hotel & Casino. We are pretty happy with the hotel and the price.

[stprdi]

Thanks for replying. We will be booking one room for 3 adults so understood that we bid on Hotwire instead of Priceline. I have searched the biddingfortravel site and betterbidding but still confused....a bit:D

[signman]

Did you at least learn from BFT that PL only guarantees a room that will accommodate 2 adults (which could mean only one double bed)?

[eandj]

I am going to try bidding on a resort in San Juan. What prices have you got your rooms for and which resort? We'd be looking downtown area to Isla Verde. Also, we'd like a ocean view, how do we go about that? Thanks.

 

You have some definite problems here. You do not mention WHEN you need the room? Prices vary from day to day. No use asking what others have paid, if it's not for the same general time. Secondly, you cannot request an ocean view room or a room with specific bedding requirements.

You need to spend a lot of time on the help pages (biddingfortravel.com) and ask a moderator to help you if necessary. Because you give up a lot of control over which hotel you get, type of rooms etc., if I were you, I wouldn't use a bidding site for a pre or post cruise, unless you're prepared to accept what you get..as these are non-cancellable reservations.

It's more fun to learn about bidding when you are not so particular about the hotel, rooms, bedding etc.

[jaycor99]

We have used hotwire many times

Last year in San juan we got the Rio Mar for 129.00 for 4 nights-we were happy with that because we did rent a car

this year we wanted to stay in San Juan in Jan 2008-we booked 3 1/2 star and got the Sheridan in old San juan for 176.00-that is still a good price but we could have gotten it cheaper.

 

We did learn this little tip-we booked tues thru Friday and got the sheridan for 176.00 per night.

If we had booked tues thru Thurs we would have gotten it for 109.00 per night and then we could have booked an extra night for friday-Friday was 199.00 but we still would have saved over 200.00

 

Play with the dates-book 2 nights and then 2 nights and see what prices come up.

I think when you book any nights that include a weekend night the whole pricing changes

 

We have never been unhappy with hotwire hotels-mind you I think that you sometimes get better prices on priceline but I do not like the bidding thing

[fti]

You have some definite problems here. You do not mention WHEN you need the room? Prices vary from day to day. No use asking what others have paid, if it's not for the same general time. Secondly, you cannot request an ocean view room or a room with specific bedding requirements.

 

You need to spend a lot of time on the help pages (biddingfortravel.com) and ask a moderator to help you if necessary. Because you give up a lot of control over which hotel you get, type of rooms etc., if I were you, I wouldn't use a bidding site for a pre or post cruise, unless you're prepared to accept what you get..as these are non-cancellable reservations.

 

It's more fun to learn about bidding when you are not so particular about the hotel, rooms, bedding etc.

 

Note that moderators on biddingfortravel are virtually non-existent anymore. If you use betterbidding.com you will probably get more assistance from the moderator there. But use both sites to cull information about past winning bids, hotel lists, etc.

[NancyChgo]

I got Marriott Isla Verde Beach Resort for $105 for 9/23 (1 night post-cruise) on HOTWIRE.

 

I got Intercontinental Resort Spa & Casino for $108 ($139 after taxes/charges) for Sat nite 9/15 (pre-cruise) on PRICELINE.

 

good luck!