# Priceline for atlantis or Turks and Caicos anyone?



## lobsterlover (Feb 4, 2011)

I recently learned if you bid on priceline for "Resort" for Cayman Islands you will get either Marriott or Westin. Someone boasted getting Marriott for April at $99 per night but they booked last fall.
I was looking on there at Atlantis. If you just want to book direct Atlantis is the only resort listed for Paradise Isle.. Has anyone had experience with this?
I'd love to try this for Turks and Caicos too.
Thanks


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## LAX Mom (Feb 8, 2011)

With priceline you have to be willing to take whatever they give you. You might think it will be one of a couple properties then a surprise will pop up. I had this happen once when I bid on a city in Europe. I checked www.biddingfortravel.com everyone that had posted in the past year had received a room at the same hotel. I figured it was a safe bet to get the same place. Surprise! I was awarded a different property.


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## Robert D (Feb 8, 2011)

Lisa, how was the property you got?


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## ada903 (Feb 8, 2011)

I thought about trying it for Turks and Caicos, but we need a full one bedroom, we ended up being lucky and trading with an owner from Alexandra Resort, we are headed there in April.  I am still crying over how much the plane tickets were, but it's a dream of mine to go there.

One thing you can do is look at what inventory priceline has for the regular priced hotels - see what they have under four stars, three stars, etc.  Although inventory can be and is different from the regular prices to the bidding prices, there is a lot of commonality, and with turks being so small a place, I don't think there are hotels under the bidding portion that you don't see under the visible regular price inventory.  Also I would use kayak.com and do a search for your dates to see what the lowest price hotel is in your star range, it will give you an idea of which places you could get.  I would not go under four stars - I think Comfort Suites is considered three stars, so if you want something more upscale, go for four stars.  Also, you can bid every 24 hours if you get rejected, so you have time and you can start low and add few dollars each day to the bid.

Alternatively, book a hotel you can cancel and bid shortly before departure when prices are lowest, to see if you can get a better price.

There are a few new construction places that are cheaper if you are willing to walk across the street to get beach access, a very nice one is called Villa del Mar Turks and Caicos, they had some good specials when they opened at first: 

http://villadelmargracebay.com/

Most of the time you should find specials such as rent five nights, stay seven. 

Also, try vrbo.com - you can find some nice places by owners, for example you can renter cheaper from an owner at Alexandra Resort than directly through the resort or from a website like expedia.


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## lobsterlover (Feb 9, 2011)

Thank you for the ideas. 
You mentioned the Alexandra Resort. Funny thing is I was looking at that property and kind of figure I will get a rental there as well. After all, its impossible going back to a room after having one bedroom villas especially with 2 kids.
I saw a couple of reasonable rentals but I'm looking for March 2012 so I'm a bit early!! I've never seen it come up on RCI.


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## learnalot (Feb 9, 2011)

lobsterlover said:


> Thank you for the ideas.
> You mentioned the Alexandra Resort. Funny thing is I was looking at that property and kind of figure I will get a rental there as well. After all, its impossible going back to a room after having one bedroom villas especially with 2 kids.
> I saw a couple of reasonable rentals but I'm looking for March 2012 so I'm a bit early!! I've never seen it come up on RCI.



I believe the Alexandra is primarily affiliated with II, although I see that it is listed in the RCI directory.  In any case, exchange availability is very limited.


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## LAX Mom (Feb 9, 2011)

Robert D said:


> Lisa, how was the property you got?



It's a long story but it worked out okay. It was only a 2 night stay prior to a cruise. 

We were able to cancel the priceline reservation (that's the long story) and I booked directly with the hotel we wanted. It isn't easy to get out of a priceline reservation but I was very persistent. The reservation was for a hotel that was undergoing major construction. Many of the amenities were not being offered because of the renovations. The restaurant was closed, no room service, no air-conditioning, etc. Those things didn't matter to me but because of these issues it didn't qualify as 4* with priceline.  It took numerous phone calls to customer service and I finally got them to cancel the reservation and refund my $$$.


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