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Sydney Apartment/cottage/house etc



 
 
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  #1  
Old April 25th, 2009, 03:54 PM posted to rec.travel.australia+nz
Linda Hardy
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Posts: 21
Default Sydney Apartment/cottage/house etc

Hi,

Going to Sydney for a week in November, looking for a self-catering place, 2
bedrooms, for 3 people, prefer an apartment or cottage/house, whatever I can
find, don't mind where in Sydney it is so long as its close to public
transport, so it can be out in the suburbs.

Does anyone know of any reasonably priced apartments, looking at under $200
per night?

Have looked at all the usual websites, take-a-break, stayz, rent-a-home and
searched on google but going insane looking at it all.

Thanks for any advice.

cheers


Linda


  #2  
Old April 26th, 2009, 12:38 AM posted to rec.travel.australia+nz
Kerry Raymond
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Posts: 34
Default Sydney Apartment/cottage/house etc

Going to Sydney for a week in November, looking for a self-catering place,
2 bedrooms, for 3 people, prefer an apartment or cottage/house, whatever I
can find, don't mind where in Sydney it is so long as its close to public
transport, so it can be out in the suburbs.

Does anyone know of any reasonably priced apartments, looking at under
$200 per night?


The issue is really one of price, as this is very dynamic. I stayed for one
night in Sydney a week or so ago and got a 1-bedroom loft apartment (with a
full kitchen, laundry etc and a fold-out double/queen in the lounge room) at
the Medina Sydney Central for $150 and that's right next door to Central
Station and major bus routes (can't get much more conveneint to public
transport than that!). Now the alleged "rack rate" on that room is $400 per
night, but they weren't busy (all this recession etc) so the prices were
down. But I bet if I was there the same time as some big event, it would be
the full $400. So, looking so far ahead, it's really hard to predict what
prices will be like.

One of the impacts that Wotif (and similar services for airlines) has had on
accommodation etc is that it has shown people that you don't really need to
pre-book a long time in advance (and indeed that you often get a better deal
often if you don't). That has in turn changed people's behaviour to stop
booking a long time in advance. So the whole industry is now a lot more
"last minute" than it used to be.

For myself, I'd wait until within 3 months of your holiday and then use
Wotif.com to make the booking.

Or if you really want to lock in your accommodation now, use Wotif to find
the places that are in your price range over the next 3 months and then
phone the hotel and ask what's the best deal they will do you you for
November -- since you are booking for several nights, you may well get a
better rate just because of that.


Kerry


  #3  
Old April 26th, 2009, 02:15 AM posted to rec.travel.australia+nz
Linda Hardy
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 21
Default Sydney Apartment/cottage/house etc

Hi Kerry,

Thank you for the advice, I'm so used to booking things well in advance, but
with the way the world is right now maybe waiting will be the best bet.

Went to Sydney last year for New Year's Eve, tried booking in accommodation
4 months in advance and struggled to find anywhere, just did not want to
have the same problem.

cheers


Linda

"Kerry raymond" wrote in message
...
Going to Sydney for a week in November, looking for a self-catering
place, 2 bedrooms, for 3 people, prefer an apartment or cottage/house,
whatever I can find, don't mind where in Sydney it is so long as its
close to public transport, so it can be out in the suburbs.

Does anyone know of any reasonably priced apartments, looking at under
$200 per night?


The issue is really one of price, as this is very dynamic. I stayed for
one night in Sydney a week or so ago and got a 1-bedroom loft apartment
(with a full kitchen, laundry etc and a fold-out double/queen in the
lounge room) at the Medina Sydney Central for $150 and that's right next
door to Central Station and major bus routes (can't get much more
conveneint to public transport than that!). Now the alleged "rack rate" on
that room is $400 per night, but they weren't busy (all this recession
etc) so the prices were down. But I bet if I was there the same time as
some big event, it would be the full $400. So, looking so far ahead, it's
really hard to predict what prices will be like.

One of the impacts that Wotif (and similar services for airlines) has had
on accommodation etc is that it has shown people that you don't really
need to pre-book a long time in advance (and indeed that you often get a
better deal often if you don't). That has in turn changed people's
behaviour to stop booking a long time in advance. So the whole industry is
now a lot more "last minute" than it used to be.

For myself, I'd wait until within 3 months of your holiday and then use
Wotif.com to make the booking.

Or if you really want to lock in your accommodation now, use Wotif to find
the places that are in your price range over the next 3 months and then
phone the hotel and ask what's the best deal they will do you you for
November -- since you are booking for several nights, you may well get a
better rate just because of that.


Kerry




  #4  
Old April 26th, 2009, 10:46 AM posted to rec.travel.australia+nz
Kerry Raymond
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 34
Default Sydney Apartment/cottage/house etc

I would not expect November to be anywhere near as busy as New Years Eve.

Kerry

  #5  
Old April 27th, 2009, 05:24 AM posted to rec.travel.australia+nz
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 13
Default Sydney Apartment/cottage/house etc

[Default] On Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:11:22 +1000, Alan S
offered the following words of wisdom:

I also found the hard way that the star ratings on
http://www.check-in.com.au/ are self-rated.


Great advice that I've taken onboard. I also understand from a travel
agent that the entire star system in Australia is flawed. Apparently,
five star equates to four and so on.
  #6  
Old April 27th, 2009, 06:23 AM posted to rec.travel.australia+nz
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 13
Default Sydney Apartment/cottage/house etc

[Default] On Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:03:36 +1000, Alan S
offered the following words of wisdom:

On Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:24:40 +1200,
wrote:

[Default] On Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:11:22 +1000, Alan S
offered the following words of wisdom:

I also found the hard way that the star ratings on
http://www.check-in.com.au/ are self-rated.


Great advice that I've taken onboard. I also understand from a travel
agent that the entire star system in Australia is flawed. Apparently,
five star equates to four and so on.


I can't quite agree with that one. Depends where you're
coming from. I would put our RACV/NRMA/AAA star standards a
bit below most of the USA but a long way above most of
Europe.


I haven't seen those particular star ratings (RACV/NRMA/AAA), but what
I was told was the Australian star ratings are not equivalent to the
"Qualmark" ratings given out in New Zealand and used by the New
Zealand AA. The way it was explained was to me was that a four star
Qualmark accommodation rating is equivalent to a five star rating in
Australia.

BTW - the agent was referring to online ratings and those contained in
the glossy brochures given out by the agency. The RACV/NRMA/AAA
standards might be different and I'll check if our Automobile
Association has a reciprocal agreement with their Aussie counterparts.

http://www.qualmark.co.nz/


  #7  
Old April 27th, 2009, 07:50 AM posted to rec.travel.australia+nz
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 13
Default Sydney Apartment/cottage/house etc

[Default] On Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:33:40 +1000, Alan S
offered the following words of wisdom:

On Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:23:15 +1200,
wrote:

[Default] On Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:03:36 +1000, Alan S
offered the following words of wisdom:

On Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:24:40 +1200,
wrote:

[Default] On Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:11:22 +1000, Alan S
offered the following words of wisdom:

I also found the hard way that the star ratings on
http://www.check-in.com.au/ are self-rated.

Great advice that I've taken onboard. I also understand from a travel
agent that the entire star system in Australia is flawed. Apparently,
five star equates to four and so on.

I can't quite agree with that one. Depends where you're
coming from. I would put our RACV/NRMA/AAA star standards a
bit below most of the USA but a long way above most of
Europe.


I haven't seen those particular star ratings (RACV/NRMA/AAA), but what
I was told was the Australian star ratings are not equivalent to the
"Qualmark" ratings given out in New Zealand and used by the New
Zealand AA. The way it was explained was to me was that a four star
Qualmark accommodation rating is equivalent to a five star rating in
Australia.

BTW - the agent was referring to online ratings and those contained in
the glossy brochures given out by the agency. The RACV/NRMA/AAA
standards might be different and I'll check if our Automobile
Association has a reciprocal agreement with their Aussie counterparts.

http://www.qualmark.co.nz/

From my wanders around the North Island, staying in
Auckland, Rotorua, Taupo, Napier and Wellington in 2006 I
would say that Australian and NZ stars are much the same
with one exception. In Oz it is unusual to find a hotel or
motel over 2 stars without an aircon, in NZ it was unusual
to find any hotel below four stars(or sometimes with four
stars) with an aircon.

Cheers, Alan, Australia


Having just returned from a two week road trip from Northland (where
we live) to Wellington and back, I would have to agree.

The Museum Hotel in Wellington had aircon and so did two of the more
upmarket motels we stayed in along the way. But most of them didn't
and none of them had superking (or California-king) beds. NZ
accommodation still have a long way to go before it gets up to the
basic standards we found in the US.

PS - Free Wi-Fi is also something NZ motels have yet to take on in
most places. It's like moteliers are still back in the 1990's or
earlier. Quaint, but not very user friendly.

Cheers, Bob, NZ

  #8  
Old April 28th, 2009, 11:31 PM posted to rec.travel.australia+nz
Kerry Raymond
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 34
Default Sydney Apartment/cottage/house etc

Another tip. Once you have got it down to a short list it is
often worth ringing the hotel direct and seeing if they will
match the internet offer. Sometimes, not always, they will.


To use Wotif (and probably others), the hotel has to agree they will not do
a direct booking that matches (or beats) the internet offer. For obvious
reasons, Wotif doesn't want to lose its commission on the deal. However, the
hotel may be motivated to do so to secure the booking (and avoid paying a
commission to Wotif). To prevent this, Wotif actively shadow-shops to test
if hotels are doing that and will stop dealing with hotels that appear to be
doing it. So if a hotel is getting a lot of business through Wotif, they
will be hesitant to put that relationship at risk and therefore disinclined
to match/beat a price you claim to have seen on Wotif.

Kerry

  #9  
Old April 29th, 2009, 05:30 AM posted to rec.travel.australia+nz
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 13
Default Sydney Apartment/cottage/house etc

[Default] On Wed, 29 Apr 2009 08:31:06 +1000, "Kerry raymond"
offered the following words of wisdom:

Another tip. Once you have got it down to a short list it is
often worth ringing the hotel direct and seeing if they will
match the internet offer. Sometimes, not always, they will.


To use Wotif (and probably others), the hotel has to agree they will not do
a direct booking that matches (or beats) the internet offer. For obvious
reasons, Wotif doesn't want to lose its commission on the deal. However, the
hotel may be motivated to do so to secure the booking (and avoid paying a
commission to Wotif). To prevent this, Wotif actively shadow-shops to test
if hotels are doing that and will stop dealing with hotels that appear to be
doing it. So if a hotel is getting a lot of business through Wotif, they
will be hesitant to put that relationship at risk and therefore disinclined
to match/beat a price you claim to have seen on Wotif.


That stop the hotel we stayed in recently (I won't name it for obvious
reasons) from offering us the exact same rate as Wotif.

The reason I rang the hotel direct was to ask a question that wasn't
covered on their website and asked if it would be possible to book the
room - a suite, actually - on the phone.

I didn't even have to ask for the same rate because they simply
offered it to me. But they didn't know that I'd first checked them out
on Wotif.

  #10  
Old April 29th, 2009, 07:46 AM posted to rec.travel.australia+nz
Kerry Raymond
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 34
Default Sydney Apartment/cottage/house etc

I didn't even have to ask for the same rate because they simply
offered it to me. But they didn't know that I'd first checked them out
on Wotif.


My guess is that there is a difference from someone just ringing up and
booking (as you appeared to be) and someone who says "I see your price on
Wotif is $X -- can you do me a better deal?".

Kerry

 




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