san juan hotels - priceline

[mappa2]

i have not booked thru priceline but would
like to at this time. i hope this is not a
dumb question but how do you arrive at a
sensible bid ? i would like the resort area
in november. anyone know what a reasonable
bid might be?

[mlbcruiser]

Go to www.betterbidding.com (http://www.betterbidding.com). You will have to practice navigating on it to get all the info. you need, but it's not hard. This site offers bidding tips and lists past bids accepted for various hotels, incl. some tips to help you guess the hotel you might be bidding on. There are lists for both Hotwire and Priceline properties. For last Nov. I OVERBID on a hotel. Bid too high and later saw on betterbidding that several people had gotten this hotel for quite a bit less. By the description I THOUGHT I was probably bidding on the Wyndham El San Juan, but it turned out to be the Wyndham Condado Plaza, which I could have bid about $30 - $40 less per nt. and probably gotten. At first I was really down. But, YOU CANNOT CHANGE OR CANCEL YOUR RESERVATION ONCE YOU HAVE MADE IT!!!! I REALLY wanted the El San Juan - had visited there a couple of times and it was so beautiful! (That was the only reason I didn't make a reservation w/a small, quaint place we had stayed at before.) However, we ended up REALLY enjoying the Condado Plaza. There was a nice little protected beach, then a side w/large waves. We had a balcony in the main bldg. overlooking the st., but could also see the cruise ships parked over at the new terminal to our right, and lots of things. Was able to park in their garage for a small fee. Good luck w/your bidding! Don't think you can go wrong as long as you choose a 4 or 5 star hotel/resort. Just DO YOUR BIDDING HOMEWORK FIRST! Hope this helps!

[This message was edited by mlbcruiser on 05-27-04 at 12:55 AM.]

[PeabodyNVL]

Say you bid the Resort category. Go to all the hotel sites first. If one hotel is considerably lower than the others (in my case it was the Caribe Hilton), chances are if you submit a low bid you will get accepted by the hotel with the lowest rate at that time. I bid $75 and was accepted by the Caribe Hilton immediately. Perhaps if I bid higher, I may have gotten accepted for one of the others, but I worried that I would still get accepted by the Caribe Hilton, but at a higher rate than needed.

The hotel was very nice and perfect for our one night stay. Since the Golden is leaving from the Pan American pier, not the pier in San Juan, location wasn't an issue.

Pea

5/9 Golden Princess  http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=191970&cdt=2004;5;9;23;0;00&timezone=GMT-0400
http://escati.linkopp.net/logos/time98.gif

[mappa2]

pea -

i have checked the price for the caribe hilton
on several sites and its around 195.00.(november). this is more than i wanted to pay
do you think i could get it for less on
priceline.

larry

[PeabodyNVL]

There's no guarantee you will get any hotel you want when working with Priceline. But, I've never been disappointed in the hotels I've gotten.

Check the other hotels in the resort category on their websites, not Expedia or Travelocity. If the Caribe Hilton has the lowest rates for the date you desire and you bid the right amount (at $195 you find have to bid more than $75...mine was $130 when I bid), you may get the Caribe Hilton.

I thought bidding is worth it as all of the hotels in the resort category get relatively good comments and are worth the money spent. You can barely get a room where I live for $75! http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

Go to Bidding Fun (http://www.biddingfun.com) or Bidding for Travel (http://www.biddingfortravel.com) for more information on how to bid and help.

Pea

5/9 Golden Princess  http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=191970&cdt=2004;5;9;23;0;00&timezone=GMT-0400
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[nreeder]

If you look at Bidding for Travel (links above) you will see that Caribe Hilton is going anywhere from $65 to $110 per night. It's going to vary according to month of year so you might want to go back a year's worth of posts there to see what it went for in November of last year. Again--with Priceline there's no guarentee you will get the exact hotel you want, but you will get something of equal value depending on the category of hotel you choose.
Thanks
Norm

Norm and Maureen Reeder
NCL Sunward 1982,Eastern Carribbean, Sky Princess 1989, New England, Holland America Westerdam 1992, Panama Canal, Sun Princess 1996, Panama Canal, Rennaissance R-3 1999, Tahiti, Grand Princess, 2000 Mediterranean, Sea Princess 2001, Mexican Riviera, Grand Princess Oct 2002, Eastern and Western Carribbean, Tahitian Princess Sep, 2003, Golden Princess Southern Carribbean, May, 2004

[mlbcruiser]

Won't hurt to try! If they turn you down, you haven't lost anything. Then you can always try again later. Are you set on the Caribe Hilton, or would some other highly rated hotel do? If not, you could always try HOTWIRE and see what they are offering their highly rated resorts for.

[mappa2]

hotwire is showing 182$ for resort hotels in
november. do you think its too early and
prices may come down? anyone have recommendations for smaller hotels fairly
close to the beach?

[NancyA]

Okay...I had to change my plane reservations last minute...we're sailing on the Golden out of San Juan next Sunday (June 6th). Well, to get the cheap flights we had to fly in on Saturday. I've read a lot of posts about Priceline being a great way to get a great price on a hotel so I went to the website this morning.
After checking out a bunch of San Juan hotels on different websites I had an idea of what I wanted. I was going to put in for a 2 star, then said "what the heck" and put in for a 3 star, decided to bid $78 and a couple of minutes later got confirmed. We are staying at the 3 1/2 star Caribe Hilton. Great looking 3 level pool (first pina colada was made there in 1954). Good luck in your bidding! I was very pleased with my first experience with Priceline.
Nancy

http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=4169e1&cdt=2004;06;06;23;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500
June 6-Golden

[mappa2]

nancy -

you made out real well. the caribe hilton
is listed as a resort hotel and should be
more expensive than a 3 star. have a good trip.

larry

[mlbcruiser]

Yes, mappa, I think you may still be too far out to get a really good deal. The hotel knows it has LOTS of time remaining to book it's rooms. In the meantime, I'd make a CANCELLABLE reservation someplace decent that you feel you can afford in case you don't find anything else, and keep periodically trying for the Caribe Hilton if that's what you want. I think I bid $105 for what turned out to be the Wydham Condado Plaza, though I guessed it was the El San Juan ( both listed as a resort) for Nov. and found posts on betterbidding indicating others had gotten this property for about $75-$80 previously. My bid was accepted the first time. I SHOULD have bid low, then retried when I was next elligible to try. I had plenty of time. Just didn't. Think I read the best hope of the cheapest prices is about one or two wks. out many times. But you just never really know.

[jemingway]

The best place in San Juan is the El San Juan Hotel. The rooms cost over $400.00 a night, but I got to stay there cheaply once on a group rate for a convention. It is the only 5-star hotel in the Caribbean. I like to pretend I could afford it. http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

JV The 4 stages of cruising: planning, anticipation, experience and reflection.