Priceline for 5-star Maui hotel?
 

I had an idea and I'm not sure if it's a good one...I'd love to stay in a 5-star resort on Maui, but I only want to spend about $300 a night. I know that on Priceline you can specify the hotel quality, but not the hotel. If I were to "bid" maybe $250 a night on a 5-star hotel in Maui - could I go wrong? I mean, there's probably no such thing as a bad 5-star hotel in Maui, right?

did you check the website biddingfortravel.com. It may answer your question.

Sue - $250 sounds high for bidding on Priceline. Note that Priceline's definition of 5-star may be different from what you think as 5-star. I would put in a low ball offer considering the risk you are taking. For $300/night, you should be able to get it through regular channels.

Sue,<BR><BR>$250 would probably be a huge overbid, based on the info reported on http://www.BiddingForTravel.com. You'd probably have a winning bid, but you'd be paying more than you have to.<BR><BR>Here are the hotels in the "Resort" classification (they don't list them as 5-star on Priceline) that have come up on Maui. (This is as reported on BiddingForTravel.com.)<BR><BR>KULA-KIHEI zone on Priceline<BR>Renaissance, Wailea Beach Resort <BR>Maui Prince Hotel<BR><BR>LAHAINA zone on Priceline<BR>Sheraton Maui Hotel<BR><BR>The Renaissance has come up for prices ranging from $135-$140 (usually with up to $15/bid bonus money available via a link on the BiddingForTravel.com site) for stays in August-November 2001.<BR><BR>The Maui Prince has come up for prices ranging from $120-$145 (plus bonus money) for stays in January-March 2002.<BR><BR>The Sheraton has come up for prices ranging from $140-$155 (plus bonus money) for stays in September-November 2001 and February 2002.<BR><BR>So if all of these three hotels are acceptable to you, feel free to place a bid much lower than your suggested $250. <BR><BR>I don't see any free rebid opportunities in Maui (since both Kula-Kihei and Lahaina have Resort hotels), but if you've got some time before your vacation you could start low (say, $120 + bonus money) and rebid a little higher every 72 hours until you get a successful bid. That's what I'd do, based on this info. (I don't know when high-season and low-season times are for Hawaii, but if you're going during one of these periods, you might consider raising or lowering your initial bid some to take that seasonality factor into account.)<BR><BR>Usual disclaimers apply--no vested interest in your using Priceline or the Web site mentioned above, no guarantee you'll be able to match previous winning bids (although it's also possible you could even beat them), yadda, yadda. <BR><BR>Hope this helps. Have a great time in Maui--can't wait to get there myself someday!

Thanks everyone, especially Don, for all the great info. I'll look into all of it ASAP. Thanks again.

Sue,<BR><BR>Oh, just to clarify one point...<BR><BR>I listed the three Resort hotels that have been reported as coming up for Maui over the last six months. <BR><BR>Although these three have been the only ones reported as coming up in the past (according to the reports on BiddingForTravel.com), it's always possible that some different hotel that hasn't come up before will start coming up--possibly for the first time with your winning bid.<BR><BR>So be sure to understand this when using Priceline--just because these are the three Resort hotels that have come up for Maui in the past doesn't mean you won't get a different Resort hotel if you place a winning bid. <BR><BR>If you can't accept this uncertainty, don't use Priceline. If you can accept it, then go ahead and use Priceline.<BR><BR>Just wanted to clarify this...

Have you tried hotwire.com? Kind of works like Priceline but they tell you the price you will get, just not the name of the hotel until you pay. I haven't tried it for Hawaii but have had great success for hotel and airfares. They do list the hotels and airlines they utilize. I am not sure about Hawaii but it is worth a look. I recently got a 35/night fare at the Hilton Hotel at Seattle's SeaTac airport. I recently booked an airfare from the west to east coast with them that was about 150.00 less than I could find on all other major travel sites and it was in United, not one of the smaller airlines. You can specify the number of stops you will accept too. Just wanted to pass this along.