Online Travel Booking and Bidding Agencies - Chicago Hotels on Priceline???

I need a hotel the first weekend in August and was thinking of trying Priceline, but after looking at their site am wondering what hotels do they consider deluxe catogory? I want to stay on N.Mich Ave and there are several there that I don't consider in that category though am wondering if priceline does.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by tatmtr7:
I need a hotel the first weekend in August and was thinking of trying Priceline, but after looking at their site am wondering what hotels do they consider deluxe catogory? I want to stay on N.Mich Ave and there are several there that I don't consider in that category though am wondering if priceline does.</font>


Well, the problem is this, that you can't select which hotel it is. What you CAN do is look at the bidding history on the PL Board for that category and area and bid at the same price as others have been doing successfully, and cross your fingers.

Bear in mind that if you look at the lowest available prices on websites like Quikbook, Expedia, whatever, you will probably see that the successful Priceline bids for the five star hotels are lower than even the lowest available rate for the four stars.

Let me point out that I feel this is an occasional issue with Priceline about hotels being in incorrect categories. I don't know if Chicago is treated less justly than other locales, but it seems like it sometimes. I even have to think twice about even using Priceline at all for Chicago because I don't always have 100% faith that I will be receiving a satisfactory experience for the risk/price.

Bottom line: I have had good experiences with Priceline stays. I do use them frequently. However, I guess I am not the type of die-hard user who "can't live without it" and so if you have any doubts, maybe you should use another method to find a room? Good luck - http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/smile.gif

I agree with anonplz. If there's a particular hotel that you'd absolutely hate or must stay at, Priceline isn;t for you.

I have had particularly good results in Chicago, though. This weekend, I stayed at the Westin River North for $65/nite on Priceline. It's a lovely hotel with a gorgeous lobby and an especially pleasant Japanese garden just off the lobby's back door. I saved at least $60-80/night, which can pay for lots of cab rides (if you're not exactly in the location you wanted) or a nice meal or two at the Frontera Grill, which was less than 2 blocks away.

I got the 3* Lenox Suites in the North Michigan Avenue for $50 for an early August weekend. Good luck.

The one instance in Chicago where you will be guaranteed a deluxe hotel is when you bid for a 5 star hotel in the N Michigan Avenue Zone. Per biddingfortravel.com, the only hotels that have come up are the Drake and Le Meridien. I stayed at the Meridien in June for $90/night using Priceline and was quite satisfied. The hotel is fairly new, in a great location, and very nice. The 5 star deals are not as good as the 4 stars, but you are guaranteed a nice hotel.