PHL

That's not uncommon among hotels.

You saved yourself 25000 points but your benefits and HH point accrual are not supposed to be recognized.

Many, however, have reported giving their HH card on checkin at various HH properties and getting the recognition and points. YYMV.

azepine00

Given what we ve seen over the lasr several years why on earth would you think that hilton rewards loyalty?
If anything, they treat elites as captive audience...

Lockz

Agreed, Hilton doesn't have any way to encourage loyalty in some respects. I'm looking at holiday packages to Puerto Rico, and see that the Conrad San Juan has good value compared with other Hiltons (but not that competitive against non-Hilton hotels). I've enjoyed Conrad hotels before, but there's no reason for me to book there since I won't get any benefits, and I may as well try out another brand and see how they do.

cordelli

If you are talking about Priceline's name your own price where you don't know the name of the hotel, of course it can be less money. You are comparing apples and oranges.

If Hilton was to make available to members at a lower price, nobody would pre reserve at the higher price, or they would all cancel their higher priced rooms a few days before and take the lower priced rooms if they were available.

Hilton is in the business to make money, not to give rooms away at bargain basement prices. They want members to pay as much as they can get them to pay for the room, and if they have excess inventory, they will dump it through Priceline where they don't have to offer any points or benefits for the room.

Need

For many of the Priceline hotels, you could actually know exactly which hotel you will get before you bid. And historical data will also show you what is the lowest acceptable bids. I used to do a lot of Priceline biddings, but now I just got so much HH points that I could never use them all.

iahphx

I've actually always received on-site HHonors benefits when booking a Hilton hotel through Priceline. Maybe I've just gotten lucky. I've never received points.

Points and Money -- at least to the extent it's designed to copy SPG's "Cash & Points" -- is definitely a way to get rid of unsold rooms. SPG hotels rarely offer it at peak periods. Personally, I think it's a good way to encourage brand loyalty. I "care" a lot more about the SPG program than I do about HHonors largely because of C&P.

As far as Priceline being "opaque," it kind of depends. The vast majority of the time, I know which hotel I'm going to get -- and that's particularly true in a smaller market like Puerto Rico. As you may know, Hotwire and Priceline usually have similar inventory, and Hotwire gives out so many details that -- with the assistance of a site like betterbidding -- any sophisticated traveller would know with a high probability of success exactly which hotel they're getting. Since you can usually get a Hotwire hotel for a few bucks cheaper on Priceline (different business models, Hotwire charges everyone the same price so they need to be a little higher), it often pays to use the Hotwire rate as a bidding guide for Priceline. This adds a tiny additional risk that a different hotel could be lurking on Priceline, but it's rare, especially in a smaller market.

Bottomline, for savvy travellers, Priceline and Hotwire are direct competitors to programs like Points and Money. And I don't think I would EVER book a USA hotel award without looking at Hotwire first to see if I was getting decent value for my points.

cordelli

I fully understand how Priceline works.

I also fully understand how to work Priceline.

That doesn't change the fact that you can't compare a reservation made on a hotel's website (and not just Hilton) with one made opaque through Priceline, even if you know it's not opaque and say it's not fair that the hotel charges more than a blind bid on priceline does.

iahphx

How would you feel if you were looking for the lowest level award seats on an airline and they said they weren't available -- but they were then giving them away for low bids on an opaque priceline bid?

I know it's not the exact same thing -- but it's close. I do not believe the travel provider's own loyal customers should have to redeem miles/points for more than priceline customers get the product for.

cordelli

Step 1 Reread all my posts above

Step 2 Change the words Hotel and Hotels for Airline and Airlines

If you want to ask about rental cars too, take the posts above and switch the words Hotel and Hotels for Rental Car Agency and Rental Car Agencies.

Maybe I wasn't clear enough above. Comparing opaque Priceline bids, be they for hotels, airlines, car rentals or anything else Priceline has offered in the past or will offer in the future to a regular reservation through the hotel, airline, or car rental firm is comparing apples to oranges. They are totally different things.

It's kind of how Priceline is supposed to work, you are supposed to get better deals than you can by going direct. Otherwise they really don't have a business.

iahphx

Right, but based on PUBLISHED RATES. I've never heard anyone say that Priceline should give you a better deal than booking a loyalty award stay. That's pretty ridiculous, no?

Steve M

It's an apples-and-oranges comparison. "Points & Money" reservations are usually post-paid and have the same cancellation policy as rack rate reservations (that is, day-of-arrival, or perhaps 1 or 2 days prior). Even if you know for sure what hotel you're getting, Priceline reservations are a) 100% prepaid at time of booking, and b) non-changeable/cancelable/refundable.

I don't see the price discrepancy you mention any different than the situation where the Hilton website itself offers a substantial discount for prepaid/non-changeable/non-refundable reservations.

Lockz

I've been looking at hotel & air combinations on Priceline where the hotel and flights are known in advance. Comparing Priceline with the Hilton website, it's looking as though the costs are the same between the two (advance purchase on Hilton so same conditions) but the Priceline includes airfare. Big difference there.

farbster

How long does it take to get to the beach? It seems you have to take a boat? I read somewhere here that it takes one hour?

Also, how does it compare to Waikoloa Village in Kona? We went to walk around there and I was extremely disappointed. Granted, we were staying at the 4S, but it looked like many groups were there, with people and their necklaces holding their name tags/tickets or whatever. Seemed like you could be soooo far from the pools/beach etc.

I'm trying to decide between some resorts in PR and have looked at this one as well as some SPG properties like Vieques Island.

Our travel time is President's weekend 2013.

Thanks!

jerry a. laska

Short boat ride to Palomino Island. More info in the dedicated thread:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilto...-property.html
See also:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilto...t=conquistador
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilto...t=conquistador

ikonos

Not sure if you already decided but I just came back from this hotel. I was completely disappointed with it and it is a shame Hilton claims this hotel is part of a Waldorf collection. It is more like a cruise replica on land. As for the beach the hotel itself does not have a beach other than the Palomina Island. It takes about 30 mins for the ferry including your waiting for it, filling it up and going to the Island, however that island itself is another downer. The water around the island is full of sea weed and rocks even at the knee deep water. If I were you, I would go with a different hotel.