urvim

I signed up too, but did not get a "subscription confirmation" e-mail like the site said I would. Anyone else?

update: got it...

needtofly

Wirelessly posted (iPhone : Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5G77 Safari/525.20)

How about the cancellation policy? What if we didn't book it within the 15 minutes window, can we cancel the reservation without a penalty?

BEAV

Without creating an account, I signed up two different email addresses to receive the 15 minute booking window "hint". I did receive a reply to both addresses acknowledging. However, when I tried to create an account using both of those email addresses, the site kept saying those addresses were already taken. I ended up creating an account from a 3rd email address I hadn't previously signed up to receive the alerts. Once I got an account established using the 3rd email address, I then signed up for the alerts and all appears to be well.

Like MrHalliday, I think it's a good idea to get an account set up so that, hopefully, you don't have any glitches if/when it comes time to purchase.

fsuga

I just talked to a chick named Marcy in their customer service department because I wanted to know how the room taxes would be calculated: either at rack rate, or at the $1 rate. She said it is based on what we actually pay for the room. I'm still skeptical about that, but we'll see.
I also asked her if the deals started today, and she said "the last week in January." I told her that the website said the deal was 2 weeks long, so how could it be the last week, and she replied with "it says starting in January there will be 2 weeks."
So I guess the sale will start later and go into Feb.
That sucks because I was ready to book New York, Rome, and Madrid today while the airlines are having semi-decent fares. Guess I'll have to hope there's still good prices at the end of the month.

BEAV

I just went through a dummy booking process to see what their refund policies are like. While they may vary by hotel, here are the results for the one I was booking for Jan 26, 2009, one night:

Does this mean as long as you cancel 8 days (or more) before your check-in date, all you'll be assessed is a $25 cancel fee? If you cancel 2-7 days prior, you "eat" one night's lodging?

Let's just hope if you're booking within the 15-minute window, the prices will be displayed at $1 and you'll know before you pull the trigger you're buying a $1 room as opposed to a $400 room.

robhakari

Signed up for the site as well. We'll see if anything comes from it

damaxer91

This whole promo reeks of scam to me!

starflyer

I'm less than impressed so far. I did some comparison shopping of several Choice Hotels in one city for a one night stay.

Hotel 1:
Standard rate on the Choice Hotels web site was $90 versus $140 on the LastMinuteTravel.com web site.

Hotel 2:
Standard rate on the Choice Hotels web site was $99 versus $162 on the LastMinuteTravel.com web site.

Hotel 3:
Standard rate on the Choice Hotels web site was $100 versus not available on the LastMinuteTravel.com web site.

Also, the cancellation and change fees directly from Choice Hotels are far more accommodating than those on LastMinuteTravel.com.

Maybe I can find some deals when LastMinuteTravel.com goes to an all-opaque booking mechanism, but I'm going to pass for now.

BEAV

I'll wait to pass any premature judgement. However, I'm not getting too excited, either, after the Leading Hotels fiasco.

BEAV

So is it safe to assume since nobody received any 'hint' emails yesterday, we can put this promo on hold until next Monday?

ttlax

I didn't receive a "hint" so I would think so but you just never know but I did receive a confirmation email if others are still wondering about that.

lo2e

Sure looks that way, unfortunately... I also received the confirmation email, so at least if they DO send one, I know I'll get it.

BEAV

Same here....

fsuga

As I posted earlier, the lady I talked to in their customer service dept said it will begin the last week in January, which is the 26th.
I've also read some stuff on other sites where they talk about a sale very similar to this one that they did in Europe a little while back. $10 (or pound) rooms. And from what I saw, it appeared to work. Here's hoping the same happens for us.

BEAV

While one should NEVER question what a phone center rep says () , the website does say "Monday through Friday for TWO weeks in January". So while you may be right about Jan 26 being the first day, I'd keep my eyes pealed on Monday the 19th too....