Miami Hotels & Priceline

[mrsfuzzmo]

We are sailing out of Miami on Jan. 31st, 2009. We are looking for 2 hotel rooms right downtown at the Port area, preferably within walking distance to Bayfront Marketplace.

 

My question is 3 part:

 

1. I know the Holiday Inn is right across the street and the Intercontinental is very nearby. I also see the Continental which looks a little shady. Are they any other decent hotels that are within walking distance to Bayfront Marketplace?

 

2. Do any of the downtown hotels provide shuttles to the port in the morning?

 

3. I'm probably going to Priceline them because the prices look to be about $200-$400 a night. That's crazy. So does anyone have any advice as to how much I can get one of these bayside hotels for on Priceline. I've read a few people who got the Intercontinental for about $150 and the Holiday Inn for $99. I have yet to get one of these prices accepted and I've gone up to $130. I'm wondering if I should keep going up in price, or if they may accept it eventually. Can anyone give me an idea of what they paid on priceline for one of these hotels?

 

Thanks for any help! We've got everything else set, except out hotel!

[BlueHerons]

3. I'm probably going to Priceline them because the prices look to be about $200-$400 a night. That's crazy. So does anyone have any advice as to how much I can get one of these bayside hotels for on Priceline. I've read a few people who got the Intercontinental for about $150 and the Holiday Inn for $99. I have yet to get one of these prices accepted and I've gone up to $130. I'm wondering if I should keep going up in price, or if they may accept it eventually. Can anyone give me an idea of what they paid on priceline for one of these hotels?

 

Thanks for any help! We've got everything else set, except out hotel!

 

You are looking in peak season and if the rack rates are $200-$400 per night, the hotels are probably planning on selling out and have not released inventory to priceline.

 

You have two options, book a cancellable backup and hope that priceline gets some reasonably priced inventory or book on hotwire.

[eandj]

Priceline and other bidding sites depend on getting rooms from hotels that MIGHT remain vacant. Thus the discounts. However, when you are traveling during peak season, the number of rooms decreases substantially and the discounts are much smaller.

 

If you have never bid before, I would advise you to learn the ropes on biddingfortravel.com or betterbidding.com. You cannot ask others what price they got a hotel room for if they got the low cost in Sept. in Miami...Jan-Easter in Miami is a totally different animal. Go to the Intercontinental Hotel site and see what the rack rate is for the night you need. Then see if you can get it for about a third off. Don't look at the Continental Hotel. It's seedy, as you say. If you are looking for lower costs and shuttle service, you might want to look at an airport area hotel.

 

There are no shuttles to the pier from the Holiday Inn POM or Intercontinental hotels. However a cab is only about $12.

 

Bidding on Priceline guarantees no hotels. Once you book with your charge card, you cannot cancel if you don't like the hotel you get. You might want to look at hotwire.com and easyclicktravel.com too.

[mrsfuzzmo]

Yes, I've bid on priceline a lot, that's why I was surprised that I couldn't get a price approved. We use priceline for most of our business trips to Manhattan, Atlanta and LA and usually can get a 4* for about $100.