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From: Walt on 8 Mar 2007 18:50
In article <1173392890.612085.299800(a)n33g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>,
Mikey 4:30 <mike(a)sludgecore.net> wrote:

> Hey y'all...new to this group, so wanted to say hello and give all a
> small word of warning if anyone here is trying to save a buck or 2 on
> the Venetian...
>
> I wanted to book 2 nights at the Venetian (Apr 1 for 2 nights) and
> being the deal hound I am, I found that priceline.com had rates
> SIGNIFICANTLY lower than those advertised on the Venetian's brand new
> and shiny website ($159 for a venezia bella suite room vs. $219 on V's
> site). Mind you, this wasn't an 'opaque' (name your own price) price,
> but a standard booking price if you just felt like booking a room thru
> priceline's regular reservations system. Even regular Venetian suites
> were $119 vs $199!
>
> I called the Venetian to ask what their policy was on price matching.
> Well, they have the "Suite-est" rate guarantee, which states that if
> you book first on the Venetian website and find a lower price on a
> third party reservations site WITHIN 24 HOURS that they will match the
> price and give you a complementary upgrade upon confirming the price.
> This is done by filling out a form and waiting for an answer - which
> should take 24 hours.
>
> Being that there is a new, shiny website for the Venetian, there are
> still new, shiny bugs in the system with broken links, etc. I tried
> 5 TIMES to send this form in, then finally had to call reservations
> again and they did it for me manually.
>
> 48 hours later - NO ANSWER or notification of any sort. So, I called,
> and they said that they had no record of my request. Wonderful. The
> price on Priceline had now changed by this point, but they said they
> would honor the price I quoted them anyhow and still give me a nice
> upgrade to a view suite. Very cool...
>
> 5 min later, I get my confirmation via email that my claim has been
> denied because the price I had quoted did not match the price on
> priceline.com. Hoorah. They quoted me a piece of their terms and
> conditions that states that the rates are honored at the time the
> price is confirmed by the reservationist, REGARDLESS if time has gone
> by and the price has changed. I think that this policy is a little
> skewed (DUH) and a little unfair if you think about it.

And that's how Sheldon Adelson became a billionaire. The End.

Seriously, it all worked out for the best. You hung in there and got
the "view" upgrade to boot.

As a new guy, you should be aware that the screen name "Big Mikey" is
used by a loathsome loser who is almost universally reviled here.
Switching to "Mike 4:30" should be sufficient to differentiate yourself
from him and avoid the abuse that he invites on a regular basis.

--- Walt
From: matt on 8 Mar 2007 19:09
On Mar 8, 4:36 pm, "Mikey 4:30" <m...(a)sludgecore.net> wrote:
> 1) most third party discounters want full pre-pay...sometimes that
> isn't all that convenient at the moment.

Look closer at the Venetian's "Suite-est" offer. The Venetian usually
will not let you back out of their cheapest rates.

> 2) if you cancel, most if not all of them charge anywhere from $25-
> $75 cancellation fee even if cancelling more than 72 hours in advance,
> and a few (mainly opaque dealers) have zero cancellation policies and
> you lose it all if you need to cancel - whereas most hotels will issue
> you a full refund of your deposit if you cancel in a reasonable amount
> of time if you book direct.

This was a lot more true in the past. Most of the reputable
consoilidators have more reasonable policies these days. I think they
most still do charge a fee, but $75 sounds very steep. Again, look at
the Venetian's cancellation policy for the rate you got; it may be a
no cancellation.

Anyway, I have never booked a room in Vegas and then had to cancel it.
It hink people do it far less than they think they might, and pay for
the fear.

A bigger concern for me is the added fees by consolidators. These
should be taken into consideration when comparison shopping.

> 3) Even though the upgrade isn't fantastic, its an upgrade
> nonetheless (even if it isnt the one the reservationist hadn't told me
> I was getting)...

Come on, man, how much is your time worth? Esitmate how much time you
spent ont he phone, worrying about this and filling out forms. Apply a
dollar value to your leisure time and then determine if the upgrade
was worth it.

> 4) If I'm playing for a long time and take a hit in the wallet (which
> I usually do!) there is actually a chance of getting my room comped
> because I booked thru the hotel and NOT thru a prepaid 3rd party,
> whereby I'd get zippo in room comp...

Not if you prepay for your room. Again, look at what the policy is
for the rate you got at the Venetian. I don't know that it's a pre-
pay, but their lowest rates usually are. And, really, are you
thinking your room at the Venetian is going to be comped?
Realistically? If so, you should call the casino and ask for a host,
tell them your level of play and see if you can get casino rate or
better going in.

I run cheaper than most (maybe not cheaper than BR), but I put a value
on my time, especailly for aggravation and frustration, and an
upgraded view wouldn't cut it for me.

Matt

From: Mike 4:30 on 8 Mar 2007 20:26
On Mar 8, 7:09 pm, m...(a)bigempire.com wrote:
> On Mar 8, 4:36 pm, "Mikey 4:30" <m...(a)sludgecore.net> wrote:
>
> > 1) most third party discounters want full pre-pay...sometimes that
> > isn't all that convenient at the moment.
>
> Look closer at the Venetian's "Suite-est" offer. The Venetian usually
> will not let you back out of their cheapest rates.

My rate is NOT prepaid and is completely refundable...if it weren't
then I very well may have just booked with Priceline initially...or
not booked that room at all...

>
> > 2) if you cancel, most if not all of them charge anywhere from $25-
> > $75 cancellation fee even if cancelling more than 72 hours in advance,
> > and a few (mainly opaque dealers) have zero cancellation policies and
> > you lose it all if you need to cancel - whereas most hotels will issue
> > you a full refund of your deposit if you cancel in a reasonable amount
> > of time if you book direct.
>
> This was a lot more true in the past. Most of the reputable
> consoilidators have more reasonable policies these days. I think they
> most still do charge a fee, but $75 sounds very steep. Again, look at
> the Venetian's cancellation policy for the rate you got; it may be a
> no cancellation.
>
> Anyway, I have never booked a room in Vegas and then had to cancel it.
> It hink people do it far less than they think they might, and pay for
> the fear.

I have had to cancel rooms in the past - sometimes my job requires me
to move things around... I usually know far enough in advance, but
it's good to know that even if I had something pop up, or if I
received a way better deal at a competing hotel that I could very well
cancel my reservation without penalty...

And yes, $75 does sound steep, but as an example, tripreservations.com
states that if you cancel 14 days prior to arrival then the
cancellation fee is $50 PER PERSON, not per room - thats $100 if you
have someone going with you, and more if it's family, obviously...
after 14 days prior its $50 per person plus one full room night -
ick! now, because of this I would never use them to book a room, but
if I can leverage a better rate with it then who is it hurting?

> > 3) Even though the upgrade isn't fantastic, its an upgrade
> > nonetheless (even if it isnt the one the reservationist hadn't told me
> > I was getting)...
>
> Come on, man, how much is your time worth? Esitmate how much time you
> spent ont he phone, worrying about this and filling out forms. Apply a
> dollar value to your leisure time and then determine if the upgrade
> was worth it.

I certainly am not stating that it was necessarily 'worth it'...the
premise of my initial post was stating that to some it very well may
not be worth it if they went thru what I did...you obviously feel that
it wouldn't be worth it for you for the upgrade... for me it was more
than just the upgrade...and believe me, I wasnt happy with how the
whole thing went down - partially due to new, shiny bug-ridden
website, the other part may in fact have been apathy, but again, that
is why I said 'be wary'

>
> > 4) If I'm playing for a long time and take a hit in the wallet (which
> > I usually do!) there is actually a chance of getting my room comped
> > because I booked thru the hotel and NOT thru a prepaid 3rd party,
> > whereby I'd get zippo in room comp...
>
> Not if you prepay for your room. Again, look at what the policy is
> for the rate you got at the Venetian. I don't know that it's a pre-
> pay, but their lowest rates usually are. And, really, are you
> thinking your room at the Venetian is going to be comped?
> Realistically? If so, you should call the casino and ask for a host,
> tell them your level of play and see if you can get casino rate or
> better going in.

Again, my room isn't prepaid... And realistically, no, I don't
anticipate my room being comped, and no, I am not a high roller for
that place - but who knows what happens...the possibilities are
endless!

>
> I run cheaper than most (maybe not cheaper than BR), but I put a value
> on my time, especially for aggravation and frustration, and an
> upgraded view wouldn't cut it for me.
>
> Matt

I value my time as well - like I said at the top of my first
post...'be wary' :-)

From: Burt Cohen on 8 Mar 2007 21:18
Mike 4:30 wrote:
> On Mar 8, 7:09 pm, m...(a)bigempire.com wrote:
> I have had to cancel rooms in the past - sometimes my job requires me
> to move things around... I usually know far enough in advance, but
> it's good to know that even if I had something pop up, or if I
> received a way better deal at a competing hotel that I could very well
> cancel my reservation without penalty...
>
> And yes, $75 does sound steep, but as an example, tripreservations.com
> states that if you cancel 14 days prior to arrival then the
> cancellation fee is $50 PER PERSON, not per room - thats $100 if you
> have someone going with you, and more if it's family, obviously...
> after 14 days prior its $50 per person plus one full room night -
> ick! now, because of this I would never use them to book a room, but
> if I can leverage a better rate with it then who is it hurting?
>

If you look at the final booking page at tripres.com where you would
wind up entering your credit card info, you'll see that the actual
cancellation policy is $25 total for 7 days prior to arrival - a much
more reasonable policy.

I've booked with them a number of times in the past and recommend them.
Especially since they occassionally will have outrageous deals that
are downright silly.


>
>>>3) Even though the upgrade isn't fantastic, its an upgrade
>>>nonetheless (even if it isnt the one the reservationist hadn't told me
>>>I was getting)...
>>
>>Come on, man, how much is your time worth? Esitmate how much time you
>>spent ont he phone, worrying about this and filling out forms. Apply a
>>dollar value to your leisure time and then determine if the upgrade
>>was worth it.
>
>
> I certainly am not stating that it was necessarily 'worth it'...the
> premise of my initial post was stating that to some it very well may
> not be worth it if they went thru what I did...you obviously feel that
> it wouldn't be worth it for you for the upgrade... for me it was more
> than just the upgrade...and believe me, I wasnt happy with how the
> whole thing went down - partially due to new, shiny bug-ridden
> website, the other part may in fact have been apathy, but again, that
> is why I said 'be wary'
>

I agree with Matt here on just about everything except planning a trip
to Vegas, where I enjoy spending lots of time trying to eke out the best
deal possible.

-Burt


--
"You just cannnot do wea r short dresses with no underware and later say
your reputation was shamed."

-Big Mikey

From: BR Eagle on 8 Mar 2007 21:20
"Mike 4:30" <mike(a)sludgecore.net> wrote in message
news:1173403602.588600.71500(a)n33g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
> > I value my time as well - like I said at the top of my first
> post...'be wary' :-)

Then what are you doing hanging around here?

Is it St. Patrick's Day yet?



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