Priceline-WOW!!

[Disneyglobegirl]

Thanks to all the helpful posts here about Priceline and biddingfortravel.com - I read the Q & A throughly at biddingfortravel.com and nevously made my first priceline bid today. And guess what?? I got 5 nights in June at the Dolphin for $70 a night!! I am so thrilled! This is only our second trip to Disney World and our first time at the Dolphin WD Resort. I an excited!!

Thanks again for posting great Priceline advice!

 

[princessmomma]

Congratulations! You will love the Dolphin, great location, bus service and great beds!

 

[tiberius]

I am glad it worked out for you! Of course, there was no guarantee that you would get the Dolphin...but you would have has a great place at the resort level. At the Dolphin, it is both great and "magical".

 

[Blondiex46]

congrats. I am trying to figure out whether to do Priceline for the 3rd hotel (outside the park, the other 2 are in the park). Any tips you can give other then biddingfortravel reading? thanks

 

[maggiew]

Congratulations! That is a GREAT rate! You will have a fabulous time. We went there last June (with hotwire rate of $81) and had lots of MAGIC!

Maggie

 

[Disneyglobegirl]

Thanks Everyone! I am very excited to be staying at the Dolphin - however I was prepared to accept any of the resort level hotels that were listed as possibilities. To anyone wanting to try priceline pleae read the Q & A throughly at bidding for travel- also read reviews of all the hotels in your * rating that you may get - after reading all the resort reviews I was confident that I would be happy at any of the ones listed - I was thrilled we got the Dolphin and wouldn't hesitate to try priceline again - the only time I wouldn't consider Priceline is if I really had my heart set on a certain hotel as there are no guareentees. Goodluck to future bidders!

 

[tinaluis]

Wow!!! Congratulations on scoring the Dolphin and taking the Priceline plunge. We use Priceline exclusively for our trips to WDW and have never been disappointed. We don't bid resort level, always 2.5* or 3*, but that suits us just fine and we've been able to visit about 2x a year because of the low rates. Once again, congrats and enjoy your trip.

 

[thesmiths]

My friend and I are going at the end of this month. We are currently booked in the Pop Century -- but would love the Swan or Dolphin for around the rate you got, but we don't really want the other "resort" hotels offered through Priceline. I'm not familiar with it (if you couldn't tell). What is the likely hood of getting the swan or Dolphin?

 

[Disneyglobegirl]

Hi - first when using Priceline.com there is no way to guareentee a certain Hotel - I highy recommend reading the hotel Q & A at www.biddingfortravel.com- they are very informative about how to bid on priceline and what research to do on your hotels. You pick the desired rating you want and you will get hotels that are rated in that range. The hotels that were coming up for the Resort rating were : Swan, Dolphin, Wyndam, Marriott Center, Hilton and Gaylord Palms. All are really nice hotels and I would have been happy with any of them. If you wouldn't consider the possibilty of getting any of the other hotels I wouldn't try priceline as there is no guareentee for a certain hotel.

 

[thesmiths]

Hi Disneyglobegirl,

Thanks for the information. That's about what I thought. I'll take a look at the other hotels. Who knows, maybe we'll like all of them too!

Congratulations! It's a great hotel in the best location!

 

[Rpsemont]

CongratulationS!

We love the dolphin and after many coworkers getting it through priceline we finally succeeded last year for our Feb trip. (mind you I had been bidding resrot level since Nov and was only successful in late Jan for a Pres week trip) Anyway, I think for us it was around $70, too. I jumped off my chair and may heart just fluttered when I saw I got the Dolphin! (It's the little things in life, you know?)

If you don't have a starwoods preferred guest card, be sure to order one. While they have changed their policy and will not give guaranteed upgrades on pricleine reservations, that doesn't mean you won't get some preferred treatment and MAY get an upgrade. Plus you'll get points on any extras - food charges, valet parking , etc...


Have a great time!

 

[MamaKate]

Originally posted by maggiew
Congratulations! That is a GREAT rate! You will have a fabulous time. We went there last June (with hotwire rate of $81) and had lots of MAGIC!

Maggie

Hello! I'm new to the whole bidding on hotel rooms and I would like to know if there was any amenity symbols that might distinguish the Swan/Dolphin from other hotels on Hotwire??

Also, the Swan/Dolphin is a 4-star hotel, right .

Thanks for the help!
,
Katie

 

[maggiew]

Copied from a different thread:

The Dolphin has always appeared on Hotwire with these amenities:

4* Dolphin
Amenities: Restaurant, Pool, Fitness, Business, Golf, Tennis, Laundry

BetterBidding is a site which will help you with Hotwire (and Priceline) bidding.


Be careful because I think there is a 3-1/2 star with the SAME amenities. So check the stars! I think the 3-1/2 star is the Hotel Royal Plaza.

Maggie

 

[Disneyglobegirl]

LOL - I was just going to post a link to time101's post about Hotwire. You beat me to it Maggie.

Quick question for you Maggie - when you stayed at the Dolphin were you able to take advantage of early entry or Enights? Everything I've read says that you can when staying at the Swan or Dolphin but I've read some reviews where people were complaining that they weren't allowed to do early entry or E night.

Thanks!

 

[maggiew]

We had absolutely no problems getting into Early Entry while staying at the Dolphin. In fact, they weren't even checking room keys if you entered EPCOT at the International Gateway.

We didn't do any eRide nights.

Maggie

 

[Disneyglobegirl]

If you don't have a starwoods preferred guest card, be sure to order one. While they have changed their policy and will not give guaranteed upgrades on pricleine reservations, that doesn't mean you won't get some preferred treatment and MAY get an upgrade. Plus you'll get points on any extras - food charges, valet parking , etc...

Thanks for the info on the Starwoods preferred card! I just went to the website to sign up! I was able to get 250 points already for filling out a survey

By chance do you know if I can call in a request for 2 double beds - or do I just request that when we check in - Priceline only guareentees double occ. , which could be a King bed, but I;ve read that most people who won in Orlando were able to get their requests for 2 doubles. Thanks!!

 

[Disneyglobegirl]

Thanks for the info Maggie! I am more interested in Early Entry then enights! And it is good to know that all went well - We did Enights on our first trip in 2002 and it was really hard on the kids - too long of a day so we may not even attempt it this time around.

Thanks again!

 

[Robinrs]

Congrats, the Dolphin is an incredible hotel and that is an INCREDIBLE rate!

 

[Mercy]

Congratulations!! Our last trip we won the Dolphin via Priceline, it was fabulous, especially for the price! I think we got it for $75/night. We loved it so much we booked it for our next trip using the Entertainment card, our rate this time is $147/night, but even at that.... it is still a great rate for a wonderful hotel!! Enjoy!

 

[Rpsemont]

By chance do you know if I can call in a request for 2 double beds - or do I just request that when we check in - Priceline only guareentees double occ.

Absolutely! I always call and request (not demand) two double beds. Usually they say no problem. YOu may also want to request a specific view or location. After all, it never hurts to ask! Then show them your Starwood card when you check in. Have a great time. We really loved our stay here.

Be prepared for $10 day resort fee and $10 night valet parking fee (which in DH's opinion, is well worth it - personally, I think walking is good for you and I'm really cheap! LOL!)