Recent offers for upscale and high-end hotel bids on SkyAuction.com indicate the hotel industry is reaching out in a big way to third-party sites to offload rooms.  SkyAuction.com has always been a great place to find one week timeshare condos for last minute arrivals at incredible bargains. 

The rate for a 7-night condo stay has only changed from $195 per week to $295 per week since I successfully bid for a one week condo at Samoset Resort in Rockport, Maine through SkyAuction back in 2000.  Many of the condo offers are successful auction wins at a bid of less than $10 and after the service fee and tax of $295 in many cases, the timeshare condo is yours for less than $325 for a week at resorts where the nightly rate would run $200+ to book directly. 

Loyalty Traveler Trip Tip:  Check reviews for hotels and condos if you have never heard of the place.  Some hotel advertisements look great and the cost might be really low.  A quick check to TripAdvisor may have you reconsidering your bid options.

SkyAuction.com Hotel Offers that Caught My Eye This Week

Some properties have minimum bids, but most of the hotels shown here did not have that restriction.  Generally, hotel auctions on Skyauction.com have per night service fee and taxes of either $32 or $49 per night in addition to your successful bid price for the hotel.

Most of the hotels listed below had average daily rates at $200+ for a good portion this past year.

San Diego Starwood Hotels Luxury Collection U.S. Grant Hotel $99 per night. The fine print says tax can be as high as $75 taking most of the good value out of this deal.  Looks like tax may be on standard rack rate of $600? 

The U.S. Grant made the Forbes Top 400 Hotels of the World list.

Palm Springs/Palm Desert area, JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort, with a bid of $22 and a daily service fee of $49.  This hotel is one of the nicest properties in the Palm Springs area and quite a bargain at under $100 per night.

 JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort, Palm Desert, California has lagoon gondola boat rides from lobby

Westin San Diego is currently bid too high at $140 per night to be a deal, but the property is pushing rooms on SkyAuction and future offers may have lower bids.

The Lodge at Sonoma, a Renaissance Resort is currently sitting at $6 per night and after the service fee and tax of $49 per night is a northern California wine country getaway budget vacation for $55 per night.

The Huntington Hotel, Nob Hill, San Francisco is across from the Fairmont San Francisco and the InterContinental Mark Hopkins.  Current bid of $50 would make this hotel a steal at $99 per night.  Sample rate check on the Huntington Hotel website for July 10-15, 2009 shows $275 per night + 14% city tax.  The auction allows reservations through August 31 for up to a 7-night stay.  Bidding ends at 4:00pm EST Friday, December 5. 

Omni San Francisco is another upscale hotel property near the Ritz Carlton San Francisco and currently sitting at less than $70 per night.

 Omni Hotel San Francisco

Mexico City, Marquis Reforma Hotel & Spa, a Leading Hotels of the World member is as low as $125 night at the current bid.

Vancouver, British Columbia – Marriott Pinnacle looks like it could win with a $21/night bid.  After taxes the daily rate is $53 for a top rated hotel in downtown Vancouver.  The winning bidder can choose a stay up to 10 nights and hotel reservations for summer 2009 are allowed.  Rates may continue to drop in Vancouver, but you will be unlikely to get anything as good as $53 per night for a Vancouver upscale hotel in summer 2009.  Marriott Vancouver http://www.skyauction.com/action/offer/1468407

Marriott Pinnacle, Vancouver, British Columbia

A Starwood St. Regis suite, San Francisco
SPG Category 6
20,000 points/night low-season
25,000 points/night peak season

A sign of the times?

St. Regis on LuxuryLink.com I would have anticipated, but luxury at a discount through SkyAuction was not a “For Sale” I envisioned.

Wednesday, March 5 had a Skyauction listing for a per night bid, for up to a 7-night stay at the St. Regis San Francisco. This hotel property occasionally drops to $299 per night during the slowest weeks of the year. San Francisco has a 14% hotel tax meaning the lowest nightly rate possible through a regular booking is payment of $340/night out the door, after taxes, if you don’t park a car or charge any other goodies.

An SPG member could earn as few as 598 Starpoints/night at 2 Starpoints/$1 status. Gold member earn 897 Starpoints. Platinum member might have 1,397 Starpoints with platinum amenity 500 points.

600 Starpoints has a value of $21 if purchased. A person without elite status and no expectation of going for elite status will really only gain $21 extra value for a regular stay booked through Starwood channels.

Skyauction is a generally good website for getting great deals on last-minute 7-night condo timeshare stays. I have booked a half-dozen hotel stays through Skyauction going back 8 years to 2000 when I picked up my first 7-night timeshare stay for $214 at the Samoset Resort in Maine (regular rates were $1,500/week).

St. Regis San Francisco, winning bid was $253 per night with a $65 fee to be paid directly to the hotel (+14% tax on this $65?) . The rate of $318 is a savings of about $22 per night on the lowest available rate I have seen at this property over the past couple years.

A 5-night stay at the St. Regis San Francisco for March 28 to April 2, 2008 is listed as $404/night for a nonrefundable rate. There is a $413 refundable AAA rate. The 5-night refundable rate is $2,356 for a paid reservation through Starwood websites.

A 5-night stay using the special SPG 25% discount weblink: St. Regis is not listed as available for this special offer.

Skyauction = $318/night x 5 nights = $1,590 and a savings of $766 for a 5-night stay.

But don’t count on getting the St. Regis for a low bid under $100. There is a minimum reserve which is somewhere around $200 bid. (Presently, A $162 bid for St. Regis Ft. Lauderdale has not met minimum reserve.)

St. Regis Ft. Lauderdale is available on Skyauction for bids closing on Sunday, March 9, 1:00pm EDT.