Priceline Express Deals

[jlbf06]

I'm looking at 10/25-27, 3* Bonnet Creek with 4.0/5 rating. It's coming up at $115/night but against a list of $346/night. I'm guessing All Star Music but could this be a suite with such a high original price?

 

[Bozni]

This is Hotwire. Deals come and go quickly. I don't doubt that you found these All-Star listings late last night but those weren't there yesterday afternoon when we were discussing a deal PP asked about. Yesterday there was a deal for $142, and you told PP it was likely Pop because of the 4.1 rating. But PP's $142 posting was 4.0, had double beds, and was in the AK area - that was an All-Star, not Pop.

As of this morning, theres a 4.1 rating for 3-star at $139 that probably is Pop, but it wasn't there yesterday.

Weird, granted I'm more of a Priceline connoisseur. It seems like Hotwire varies their pricing a lot more than Priceline. Even in my own searching I'll notice the price fluctuate a few dollars from one search to the next. So, I'm sure two people searching the same parameters may not always yield the exact same result.

 

[Bozni]

Weird, granted I'm more of a Priceline connoisseur. It seems like Hotwire varies their pricing a lot more than Priceline. Even in my own searching I'll notice the price fluctuate a few dollars from one search to the next. So, I'm sure two people searching the same parameters may not always yield the exact same result.

I'm looking at 10/25-27, 3* Bonnet Creek with 4.0/5 rating. It's coming up at $115/night but against a list of $346/night. I'm guessing All Star Music but could this be a suite with such a high original price?

It is probably an All Star, but I wouldn’t put too much stock in the original price as an indicator of it being a family suite. See attached screen shot. The deal above the one you’re talking about is almost certainly Pop (has “murphy bed” review), but it lists the original price as $284 (58% off) which is a higher rate than I’ve ever seen for Pop. I’m not sure how Hotwire gets away with inflating the original price and then advertising such a large discount. Seems disingenuous at best.



All that said, it could very well be a family suite. I’m pretty new to the Hotwire game.

 

[jlbf06]

Thank you! Reading back and looking at those figures, this does seem a risky assumption! It could well be a standard room.

 

[Louie7080]

How did you get out of it? I thought the opaque deals were always final.

I did the same sort of thing as VAlegacy did with a Hotwire opaque Disney booking. I think I was able to cancel it within a few hours of booking. If it is ok with the resort to cancel, then it should be ok with Hotwire. For me I wanted to cancel a POP room and book French Quarter instead so I told Disney I was planning on still staying there but just at a different resort. That probably didn't make a difference to them and they wouldn't have known for sure if that what I was going to do but that is how I started the conversation.

 

[Louie7080]

It is probably an All Star, but I wouldn’t put too much stock in the original price as an indicator of it being a family suite. See attached screen shot. The deal above the one you’re talking about is almost certainly Pop (has “murphy bed” review), but it lists the original price as $284 (58% off) which is a higher rate than I’ve ever seen for Pop. I’m not sure how Hotwire gets away with inflating the original price and then advertising such a large discount. Seems disingenuous at best.

View attachment 464751

All that said, it could very well be a family suite. I’m pretty new to the Hotwire game.

I've seen Disney hotel rooms be listed much higher for transparent bookings when Disney doesn't seem to have much inventory listed on their own site. For a trip this past fall I was looking for rooms at WDW and the prices varied alot between what Disney had and what PL, HW, etc... had. So I don't think they always inflate the price just to mislead on their opaque listings but maybe they do sometimes? I do understand that sometimes an opaque listing for the Swan and Dolphin doesn't always list the resort fee but you still get hit up with it when you check in. That is probably purposefully misleading though I wonder if you present screen shots if you can't get out of it. Still it would be a problem for someone thinking they are getting a Disney hotel because it doesn't list a resort fee.

 

[hereforthechurros]

@JJTNY has this handy spreadsheet so you can compare amenities and such.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aS1G6Tlg4_IWEQMvm5jqIDA4Ltn0gB6z29Sb6zfpndA/htmlview

Does this spreadsheet still work? Seems locked for editing.

 

[SarahC97]

Does this spreadsheet still work? Seems locked for editing.

I'm not sure. @JJTNY is the spreadsheet still available?

 

[JJTNY]

Does this spreadsheet still work? Seems locked for editing.

Howdy - Think

I'm not sure. @JJTNY is the spreadsheet still available?

Howdy - It looks like the "/htmlview" at the end of that link is sending people to a read only view of the sheet.

If you use this link it should work fin: https://jjt.page.link/PE_Simple_Finder

People who have used it before may notice that I added a simple finder tab to the sheet - all you have to do there is select Location, Star & Guest Ratings and enter the number of Guest Reviews shown on a PE deal and it will tell you the possible resorts. Because almost all resorts have a unique combo of those values, you'll usually see only one possible resort.

If you do get a result that suggests it could be 2 different results, you can click over to the Full Finder tab and do the same thing, plus select the amenities shown on the deal.
Lots of people using the sheet lately, so might get a little crowded over there once in awhile.

 

[diz_dad_orl]

I just booked AKL 5/1-5/3 $296, showed original price as $549 (price of Savanna view) which was a supposed 46% discount. Linked it to MDE and got a standard room. Bit of a bummer...

It's not guaranteed, but last year when we booked AKL on Priceline we were given a standard room. I asked upon check-in about paying to upgrade to club level, which we were prepared to do. The cast member told me they didn't have any club level rooms left, but she said she'd put me in a room with a great view. I think we ended up with the best-placed room in the entire hotel. It was surely some of the "Disney magic" people talk about.

 

[Ashley Marie]

It's not guaranteed, but last year when we booked AKL on Priceline we were given a standard room. I asked upon check-in about paying to upgrade to club level, which we were prepared to do. The cast member told me they didn't have any club level rooms left, but she said she'd put me in a room with a great view. I think we ended up with the best-placed room in the entire hotel. It was surely some of the "Disney magic" people talk about.

The AKL front desk CMs are great. On one stay, the CM actually turned her computer screen to show us different views we could choose from out of rooms she had available when I had a standard room booked. On our other stay there, we had pool view booked for a few nights before the savanna view room reservation I’d gotten through Hotline. The CM made some adjustments to our room assignments and got us in a savanna view room to stay in the whole time that was conveniently also close to the pool/lobby, rather than having to switch rooms mid-stay.

 

[MarBee]

Hello!
I am seeing a 3.5 star hotel in Disney Springs for $164/night (price is 50% off). Dates are 2/21-2/26. 8+ guest rating and amenities that include: free internet, no smoking rooms, handicapped rooms, outdoor swimming pool, fitness center, restaurant, and swimming pool. No resort fees showing. 100 reviews.

I got the message: someone recently got DoubleTree by Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista.

Could this be CSR?

I currently have All Star Sports booked for )150 a night through Disney so I’d like to pull the trigger if it’s a Disney moderate.

Thanks in advance!

ETA: In the taxes and fees are $240 so I’m wondering if they lumped in a resort fee with taxes sneakily

 

[kmhowell]

Hello!
I am seeing a 3.5 star hotel in Disney Springs for $164/night (price is 50% off). Dates are 2/21-2/26. 8+ guest rating and amenities that include: free internet, no smoking rooms, handicapped rooms, outdoor swimming pool, fitness center, restaurant, and swimming pool. No resort fees showing. 100 reviews.

I got the message: someone recently got DoubleTree by Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista.

Could this be CSR?

I currently have All Star Sports booked for )150 a night through Disney so I’d like to pull the trigger if it’s a Disney moderate.

Thanks in advance!

ETA: In the taxes and fees are $240 so I’m wondering if they lumped in a resort fee with taxes sneakily

I think this may be the Double Tree because of the 100 reviews. (& would make since with the sneaky fees!)

 

[JJTNY]

Hello!
I am seeing a 3.5 star hotel in Disney Springs for $164/night (price is 50% off). Dates are 2/21-2/26. 8+ guest rating and amenities that include: free internet, no smoking rooms, handicapped rooms, outdoor swimming pool, fitness center, restaurant, and swimming pool. No resort fees showing. 100 reviews.

I got the message: someone recently got DoubleTree by Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista.

Could this be CSR?

I currently have All Star Sports booked for )150 a night through Disney so I’d like to pull the trigger if it’s a Disney moderate.

Thanks in advance!

ETA: In the taxes and fees are $240 so I’m wondering if they lumped in a resort fee with taxes sneakily

I agree with others - DoubleTree is only 3.5* 8 resort with 100 reviews in Disney Springs on Priceline. They have been leaving mandatory (resort) fees off a LOT of deals lately; wouldn't surprise me if they started rolling them into the generic "taxes and fees". (That would make their not telling people about resort fees on hidden deals even more egregious IMHO, since their terms of service say you are liable for those fees whether they tell you they are there or not!)

For the record: when I searched those dates, I saw the same deal for $160 and the taxes/fees on the booking page was only $130.20.
A good example of Priceline randomizing prices and fees to confuse things.

 

[Leigh L]

Hello!
I am seeing a 3.5 star hotel in Disney Springs for $164/night (price is 50% off). Dates are 2/21-2/26. 8+ guest rating and amenities that include: free internet, no smoking rooms, handicapped rooms, outdoor swimming pool, fitness center, restaurant, and swimming pool. No resort fees showing. 100 reviews.

I got the message: someone recently got DoubleTree by Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista.

Could this be CSR?

I currently have All Star Sports booked for )150 a night through Disney so I’d like to pull the trigger if it’s a Disney moderate.

Thanks in advance!

ETA: In the taxes and fees are $240 so I’m wondering if they lumped in a resort fee with taxes sneakily

I don't think it's CSR since it's in Disney Springs? Wouldn't CSR be located in Bonnet Creek?

I tried those dates (please excuse my earlier post - I edited this one since I now ran Priceline search with the correct month instead of the wrong one ).

I clicked on a couple of the Express Deals at different price points and not getting the hint, "You've stayed here before", and I usually get that for CSR (or ASMo) since I've booked both of those through PLE.
Unless they aren't offering that hint anymore? Does anyone know?

 

[ILuvDisney78]

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[Animal]

I think this may be the Double Tree because of the 100 reviews. ☹ (& would make since with the sneaky fees!)

Yup. Stay away from the 8+ 100 reviews 3.5 star in Disney Springs. I see it so often I scroll right past it!

 

[MarBee]

Thanks everyone! I’m so desperate I ignored some info- like the fact that I booked at CSR before and it would have told me that
Sigh.
Back to stalking

 

[ClapYourHands]

Weird, granted I'm more of a Priceline connoisseur. It seems like Hotwire varies their pricing a lot more than Priceline. Even in my own searching I'll notice the price fluctuate a few dollars from one search to the next. So, I'm sure two people searching the same parameters may not always yield the exact same result.

Hotwire deals can come and go really quickly. Then they resurface, sometimes with the same price and sometimes with a different one. I feel like some of the other hotel brands stick around longer, but Disney resorts fluctuate a lot (maybe because there's such demand for them?). I'm not sure if it's some algorithm that tests to see if they can get some bites at a higher price or if they are selling out of inventory and replenishing it or something totally different.

I think the great thing about this thread being so active is that people can reply in real time while looking at the same listing. Some of the listings for different hotels are so similar to each other that if you don't have the actual listing in front of you, it can be easy to misidentify it.

 

[ClapYourHands]

Yup. Stay away from the 8+ 100 reviews 3.5 star in Disney Springs. I see it so often I scroll right past it!

Unless you want to stay at the Doubletree. It gets good reviews over on the Orlando Hotels and Attractions boards. I was seriously eyeing it until I found an All-Star deal that was cheaper.