WE GOT THE DOLPHIN ON HOTWIRE!! FOR JULY

[glo]

All renovated rooms at the Swan and Dolphin have Heavenly Beds

 

[jaadin]

Can anybody answer my previous question, is there a way to guarantee I am getting a WDW resort on priceline or hotwire? I am ready to bid if someone can clarify, thanks!

 

[Disbug]

jaadin Alas, no guarantees! But some serious legwork and hunches at work here! Periodically Hotwire will change their amenities and most of us try to keep up with what is the Swan and Dolphin for obvious reasons! I also got the Dolphin through PriceLine for $69/night for a week. Then once you have your room you can request to add on extra nights at the rate you bid. Pretty cool! You can start reading over on the Budget Board and try the betterbidding.com and biddingfortravel.com links to bid smarter. Hope this is helpful!

 

[cindala]

We got the Dolphin on Hotwire as well, but for $92 a night 7/3-7/5, the July 4th weekend!

We are a party of 4, and on the Hotwire website it says that they guarantee a non- smoking room for two, and that if you need it for more, you should contact the hotel directly and request that. I plan to call the Dolphin and let them know.

jaadin,
There isn't any way to tell for sure that you are getting the Dolphin on Priceline, but you can make a much better educated guess on Hotwire.
Try this:

1. I went to Hotwire and clicked on Hotels only, and typed in
the city: Lake Buena Vista

2. On the next page is a map, click only on the area that says
Walt Disney Area, nothing else.

3. The Dolphin is a 4 Star Resort in this area and comes up with
the following amenities: rest-pool-fitness-business-golf-
tennis-laundry.

4. Based on research on betterbidding.com, I was about 90%
sure that this was the Dolphin, and it was.

Good luck trying! I know I am sure happy that I tried! I wound up saving more money, even though I had the Dolphin already booked for $129 with the teachers rate.

 

[madelyn]

Disbug

You mentioned being able to add on extra nights at the Priceline/Hotwire rate directly through the hotel? How and when do you do this? Directly through the hotel and can you make reservations or is it something you do when you are at the hotel and they will agree if space allows?

 

[Muffy]

Originally posted by Disbug
I also got the Dolphin through PriceLine for $69/night for a week. Then once you have your room you can request to add on extra nights at the rate you bid. Pretty cool! Hope this is helpful! [/B]

Disbug! Please tell us how you can extend your stay at the Dolphin with a priceline reservation and get the same rate?! I'm loving the idea and taking notes!

Muffy

 

[Disneyglobegirl]

I was able to get the Dolphin at Priceline.com for $70 a night too for our visit in June -

Not sure how Hotwire does this but I was also able to add an extra day through priceline - ( after you win you can go to a help page and it will tell you how to add extra days) - they will check if the hotel that you won has the extra days open and if they do you can add it at the same price you orginally got through Priceline - There are restrictions though - you can add days however not more than what you originally bid on - if you only bid for 2 days you won''t be able to add more than 2 days. Also they will tell you that you need may need to check out and recheck back in because your add days show as an different reservation - I have already called the Dolphin and requested 2 double beds and I also requested that if we need to check out and check back in for the extra day if we could stay in the same room - the person I talked to was very nice and I think they will try their hardest to accommidate requests. I'll post how it goes after our trip

 

[madelyn]

Disneyglobegirl,

Thanks for the tip on how to add on more nights to your existing Priceline reservation. I did find the link to add more nights from the HELP page. However, it also says that you have to add the nights within 30 days of your original booking and my first bid was accepted on 1/13/04! So I don't know if I will be able to add on nights this way even if I want to and still need to talk with my husband about it. It was a little impulsive for me to book the original reservations since my husband and sister still don't have vacation time off and we don't have plane tickets. Also, pre-paying right after the Christmas holidays really inflated our credit card bill, if you know what I mean.

 

[keriannhoward]

What would be the best bidding strategy on Priceline after you've checked the price on Hotwire? If the price for what I assume is the Dolphin on Hotwire is 138 a night, what would be a safe bid on Priceline? Am I even able to get Dolphin on Priceline at all? If I don't get Dolphin on Priceline, what other hotels are possible that I would get?

Thanks for all this information! I had no idea you could check stuff out on hotwire!

 

[hellokitty]

dont know about best bidding stragety. there really isnt one.

we bid on priceline at least 7 different times and put in
amounts from $50 all the way to $100 and did not get a single
resort

that is why we choose to gamble on HOtwire,

priceline is
a gamble to though because you still are not guarenteed
a certain hotel either....

so not sure what to tell you becuase in the end I cannot
say you will get the Dolphin on either, it is luck of the draw.
here is a list by stars from www.betterbidding.com

Orlando (Disney World Vicinity)
Resort Disney Dolphin (rare)
Resort Disney Swan (rare)
Resort Gaylord Palms Resort
Resort Hilton
Resort Marriott World Center
Resort Wyndham Palace Resort And Spa
3* Grosvenor
3* Hotel Royal Plaza
3* Hyatt
3* Radisson Universal
3* Renaissance World Gate
3* Sheraton Safari
2.5* Best Western Lake Buena Vista
2.5* Clarion Maingate
2.5* Courtyard by Marriott Downtown Disney
2.5* Courtyard by Marriott Little Lake Bryan
2* Comfort Inn Lake Buena Vista
2* La Quinta Inn Lakeside REVIEW

 

[madge]

Originally posted by CarolA
I am at the Dolphin on a Hotwire stay.

I have a room with two double beds which I did not request so I assume you could probably get one.

The best part is I have a balcony! Not the best view, but still.....

Carol....are you still at the Dolphin? If you are, you missed the Tennesee snowstorm it was on the news here (2 hrs north of nashville) last night....

if I did't like my starpoints so much, I'd try hotwire

 

[hellokitty]

wow a balcony, that's great!!
hope we get lucky and get a great room, too!

 

[CarolA]

I came home to NO snow. Apparently the snow fell south of Nashville and everything here is just fine.

I want to caution everyone that there are NO gurantees with either Priceline and Hotwire. Their inventory changes all the time and the icon rule is a little hard to follow. If your vacation will be ruined if you don't get the Dolphin think LONG and hard before you do this. I bought one time thinking it was the Dolphin and got Celebration (which is a very nice hotel). I figured out the difference was high speed internet icon for Celebration and business center for Dolphin, but since Dolphin has high speed they could someday change the icons.

 

[sprtnfan]

I just wanted to thank you all very much for this information! I had a 5 night stay booked for the Poly concierge for this Saturday. Well, last week DH came home and said he had been laid off from his job! I don't work and we have 3 very young children. Since the trip was already scheduled and I am in a wedding in South Beach, we have to go. Thanks to this posting though, I was able to get 2 nights at the Dolphin for $120 a night for Saturday and Sunday nights. Since we were planning on spending $350 a night at the Poly, this is a great savings for us. I would never have considered using Hotwire before because I wouldn't have wanted to stay off-site, but using the betterbidding.com and biddingfortravel.com and this posting, I was able to make an educated guess that what I was seeing was the Dolphin. It was and I can't tell you all how happy my DH was. So, THANK YOU all for helping make my trip!

 

[cindala]

sprtnfan,
Congratulations on getting the Dolphin! Hope you have a great trip and that DH finds something real soon!

 

[hellokitty]

that's great , go and have a relaxing trip !!
Hakuna Matata!!

Leave your worries at home.

check out the

www.swandolphin.com

site for some awesome photos and info.