Here I am! I went to Barnes and Noble looking for hotel and travel books, Wow you guys are awesome! So, I paid $150 for Pier 66, April 19th. I still need to book the rest of my vacation. I seached for a 4*, not a resort, that may be where my mistake lies. I really wanted to be near the ocean, I live in freeeeezing Massachusetts! SO, should I try again for the Marriott under resort or pay the full price? Thanks so much!!

If you bid for a 4* hotel on Priceline, and there are resort hotels in the same zone, it's possible your bid will give you an "upgrade." Even if you don't want the upgrade.

As far as I know, $150 was probably way too high a bid - something less would have worked.

Mocha1, please don't bid on Priceline again until you read the info on Bidding for Travel (http://pub210.ezboard.com/bpricelineandexpediabidding). It appears you may have over-bid. Study BFT and learn how Priceline really works and how to make the best bid.

yes you overbid. the average going price for hyatt there seem to be $80. hyatt is a 4*. should have asked for resort to get marriott harbour beach.
you have to look at biddingfortravel.com before using priceline. good luck with rest of your booking.

Thanks for all the advice, yes, I did overbid but now I've read on BFT and will try the resort tommorrow. I guess the Marriott is not taking too many bids. But, I learned alot tonight, thank you.

Mocha1, don't beat yourself up over this, at least you didn't end up paying more than they charge for the room, and you saved over $30 off the internet rates (according to OliveOyl.) Don't think of it as a "mistake" but as a "life lesson".

What other days are you looking for in FLL? If you let us know, we'll be more than happy to assist you. Meanwhile, find out from Priceline if there is anyway to get an upgrade as suggested by WillTravel.

Before you bid:

You say you "paid" that much for the Hyatt. Do you mean on Priceline? If so, it's non-refundable. Which means that if you also bid on a resort property, you will now have TWO reservations in Fort Lauderdale for the same days. You'll be paying an arm and a leg just to be in a particular hotel. Seems insane to me!

On the other hand, if your Hyatt reservation is not through priceline and is totally refundable, then by all means try for the resort class on priceline if that is what you really want, then cancel the hyatt if your priceline bid is accepted.

But I think you'd be crazy to bid again on priceline a second time if your first bid is priceline. If you have that kind of money to throw around, then why both with priceline in the first place??????

OK, sorry, I mis-read your post. You're talking about bidding for additional days.

Then, why not try on priceline before committing to a full-price bid?

That said, I don't think you'll freeze at the Hyatt! It'll be plenty warm there for you.

If you go back to PL and bid for a *resort* for your remaining days, there are 3 possibilities:

(1) You'll win the Marriott
(2) Your bid will be declined
(3) You'll win some other resort hotel that hasn't been reported to BiddingforTravel yet.

The folks at BFT are very careful to point out that they have no official relationship or other source of inside information about Priceline, they rely on reports from PL users. The lists of hotels for each city are constantly changing -- new ones are added, or the star rating of a hotel that's already on the list changes. One thing that rarely happens is the removal of a hotel from BFT's lists, so many of the hotels they list might not be making ANY rooms available to PL right now. If you have the patience, you can go through the messages at BFT to see if a hotel you're interested in has come up recently, this will give you a better idea of the odds of winning it.

When planning a vacation in advance, a common PL strategy is to make a regular, cancellable reservation elsewhere, then keep bidding on PL until the last minute.

Mocha-try priceline for your additional days-but only check off Ft.L. beach area and only resort. The Marriott is the only one that has ever come up. You have plenty of time for rebids if your price is rejected.

Mocha1, because your bid was high, it's a good thing you only bid for one night, but I'm curious as to why you did it that way? Were you sort of testing the waters?

Looking at Marriott's website for 4-20, their rates are running $299 for a non water view, $339 for an Intracoastal view, on up to 379 for oceanfront. Looking then at BiddingForTravel, the last winning bid posted there for the Marriott was $95 for a pre-Christmas December stay, sort of low season.

In your shoes I'd ask for bidding assistance on BiddingForTravel. You'll need to complete the "form" in your request, but she can give you a strategy and good starting point so you won't waste your time starting too low, or overdo it starting too high. The last couple of people she gave assistance to for that hotel she was recommending a very high starting point, something like $130, but they had no success (different check-in dates than yours so don't let that deter you). Because that is high season, you need to get cooking right away on that, and if not, then have a cancellable back-up.

Heartburn, PCLN won't "upgrade" her now, if that's what you thought WillTravel meant. Sometimes you can bid at a 4* level, but the hotel you end up winning is a resort, not 4*. This can be good or bad, depending on the resort, as some resorts wouldn't even qualify for 4*...they just aren't that nice. That is not the case with this Marriott, but at this point in time, with the winning hotel awarded, she won't now be upgraded to resort.

Anyway...good luck mocha, and let us know if you can get what you wanted through Priceline. If not, and if you don't want to pay Marriott's rates, you can go back and bid 4* and be pretty much assurred of getting Pier 66, providing they still have PCLN availability. (As a hotel gets close to selling out, they remove their inventory from PCLN.) It is the only 4* listed for FLL Beach. I know they say others might suddenly show up, but that is highly unlikely. Pier 66 is surrounded by water so I honestly don't think you will be unhappy, although of course it'd be preferable to be right on the beach.

Thanks for the "upgrade" info, OliveOyl. I had no idea how that worked--didn't know if it was something you ask for or was just something that happens when a better hotel accepts your bid.

I haven't seen the Marriott HB show up lately on PCLN, so Mocha might be better off just bidding on the 4* and getting Pier 66 for $80-$85/nt. It's a great hotel.

My favorite bids for Ft Laud are:
Beach/Resort (Marriott HB)
Downtown/4* (Hyatt Pier 66)
Downtown/3* (Marriott Marina or Embassy Suites)

I think these are the best hotels in the area. The reason I don't care for the Beach 3* is because of the hotels offered for the price you pay. I'd rather stay on 17th Street and get a nicer hotel. However, if you want to stay real close to the beach, go for the Beach 3* category.

oops... the Hyatt Pier 66 is BEACH 4* (NOT Downtown 4* as previously posted by yours truly.) Sorry for any confusion.

BTW... Downtown 4* is the Renaissance.

Thanks for the help. I did use BFT and tried again for 160.00, No luck! So I may be finding a hotel and paying full price. How is the Ireland Inn? It is right on the beach. Or would I be better off at the Hyatt, I did get a rental car.

To answer Oliveoil, yes, I only booked one night one Priceline because I have never used it before. Have you used it and had good luck in the past?

I've never used PCLN Mocha but understand the system, more or less. My husband works for Hyatt and I became interested in following pricing there for his hotel as well as competitors, then in understanding how the system functions. We can stay stateside at no cost, but I'd considered using it in Paris and London. When it came right down to it though, I just didn't want to risk it, preferring to pay the going rate and being assured of the hotel I wanted.

Heartburn will be a great help with other hotels in Lauderdale--if you've bid 160 with no luck, I doubt Marriott has given PCLN any inventory. Rooms are offered through PCLN when you don't expect to be full or close to it. You are there at the tail end of Spring Break and most likely they will sell out without using PCLN. Make sure you have something to fall back on if you want to keep trying though. The industry as a whole is much healthier and you don't want to find yourself, really staying on the beach, but with no walls around you!!

When you are at the Hyatt, by the way, be sure to take a walk through their marina. The yachts in there are absolutely unbelievable!!

Mocha-If you cannot stay at the Marriott or lago Mar,and you want to be on the ocean, the next best place is probably the Radisson Bahia Mar. It has a walkway right over to the beach, and a decent pool.Good location. Another place to try is the Marriott beach place towers-they are all condos, and are also across the st. from the ocean,and attached to the outdoor Beach Place Shopping mall.Good location-I have never seen their pool. Prices are cheaper here than at the other Marriott. From there, I would pick one of the Sheratons-either the Yankee Clipper. or the Trader(right across the st. from ocean-walkway going above A1A to the beach. They both have an "entertainment" rate-call and find out what it is. Usually it is 1/2 price of the rack rate. Then you can go to entertainment.com and print out the coupon -if you decide to do this, let me know and I'll tell you how-I just did it for a Marriott in Palm Springs and got a great rate.
If those don't work out, next down on the list would be Best Western oceanside(right next to the Clipper,on the beach, but view blocked by the Clipper.) Then there is a Days Inn Bahia Cabana-across the st. from beach, and on intercoastal-small pool in the courtyard-good casual restaurant overlooking waterway. Good Luck!

thanks for all your help! My final plans are Hyatt 1st day for 150.00, 2 following nights Marriott Harbour Beach for 180.00. Now these are good rates for the dates but not really the deals I've seen for other dates, I used Priceline, (I could be staring at air conditioner vents every morning)! We'll see!

Cocoa-thats still a great price for the Marriott-even if the room doesn't have a view, the property is awesome!!!

Mocha, when you get to the Marriott ask how much it would be for an upgrade to a room with a better view. You might get it for free if they have the rooms available and you are standing in front of them. Even if you have to pay a few dollars more for a good view, it will be worth it.

BTW, the great prices you've seen in the past were most likely prior to January, that's when the rates skyrocket at all the hotels in the area.

I just drove by the beach (actually, I TRIED to drive by the beach) yesterday and it was wall-to-wall cars! If you don't need a car, don't bother with it. You will end up paying $15-$20 per day to park it at the hotels, plus the cost of the rental. You can easily take a cab between the hotels, they are less than a mile from each other.

You will love both hotels and see both things that make Fort Lauderdale so beautiful, the intracoastal with all the yachts and the ocean. A good tip while on the intracoastal is to get up early, make yourself a cup of coffe in the room and sit on the balcony to watch all the fishing boats, etc., heading out to the ocean. I did this one morning at the Marina Marriott (across the intracoastal from Pier 66) and it was beautiful.

If you get a room at Pier 66 on the south side of the building facing the roadway, don't despair, because you'll get a good view of the port with all the ships (try to get on a floor as high as you can -- for a great view -- no matter which direction you are facing.)

JD and Heartburn, I will enjoy that FLA sunshine that I so badly lack here in Beantown. JD, I had to laugh, when you wrote back you called me Cocoa, a decaf mocha! I did see that Marriott has a Starbucks near, so I'll drink one for you! Iced!