Too early to bid on Priceline for Oct?
 

I am a beginner at Priceline but after reading about the wonderful deals others were getting in London for 4 star hotels - I gave it a shot. I was offered a hotel for about $200! Now that's probably not bad for London, but it's way more than the other people who posted paid.

So I thought maybe it's early days yet?
Carol

Yup, that's too much. I got my 4* hotel in London for August at $70 a night... go lower! Those 'offers' when your bid fails? Ignore them. They are always higher than what will be accepted if you try. You have plenty of time!

Go to one of the bidding websites, like www.betterbidding.com or www.biddingfortravel.com. Do a little research on 'free re-bids' and ways to make sure you have the best price. Since you have plenty of time, you have the leisure of abandoning a bid and starting over in 3 days... with a slightly higher price.

If you're ridiculously too low (for example, there is some bottom minimum that priceline won't even process as a bid - - below $20?) thenn there never is a "too early" nor a "too late".

But if you're vaguely in the price range, then this is one of the beauties of priceline... if you're too early now (three months ahead - - and yes, it probably is too early; the hotels are not yet nervous about too many unsold rooms) - - then it will not be "too late" three days from now. Just add $5-10 (or 5-10%) and try again in three days!

Best wishes,

Rex

Do read, as GreenDragon recommends, biddingfortravel.com. Look at the reviews of potential hotels in the area you're bidding, read the bid results and when you're ready to bid, get assistance from the board. I just looked and there are a couple of Oct 4* winning bids under $70.

Hi Green Dragon, Rex, & Betty,
Yes, I have read Bidding For Travel - until my eyes crossed....
I only saw about 4 for the entire month of October in the last 3 pages, and none for the early time when I'm going. I am only interested in the Mayfair zone, as we are going to try to walk to the theatres, etc. There's almost no activity right now in the 4 star Mayfair zone.
But thanks for all the suggestions.They are good ones - and I will wait a couple of days and try again.
And I do think I"m early, Rex - so I won't have to get panicky at this point!
Carol

You could also check last year's October 4* Mayfair offerings for an idea...

Green Dragon,
I didn't think about checking for Oct a year ago. I did give it a quick look last night - but kept getting kicked off the site. Still didn't look like many in October.
Strange, we were here for two weeks about 5 years ago and the reason we came in Oct is because our hotel (The Burns) dropped to about half/price what it was in September. Maybe Oct is considered high season now in the UK? But it was chilly and some rain - not the best weather that year.
Anyway, I'll keep looking and thanks,
Carol

Carol, unless you are bidding for a long stay you should have no problem getting a Mayfair 4 star for around $100 in Oct, and it's not too early. Just keep bidding every 72 hrs.

LAWoman,
Those are encouraging words! I will keep bidding.
But that brings up some questions - I have not run across this in the bidding directions - but I skim fast and may have missed it.
How do you "abandon" a bid?
In my case, they made a counter offer of 166 pounds to my offer of 100 pounts. I didn't want it, so I added a 4* in an area that didn't have 4 * and raised my bid a bit, but still go the same offer of 166. So I was ready to leave but didn't see a place to opt out, so I just left the site. Is there a better way to do this?
I am surprised at how few people post to the "Bidding for Travel" or the "Better Bedding". It goes for 2 or 3 days with no update. Is there another place to see what is actually being bid and awarded?
Thanks,
Carol

There's no need to "abandon" a bid. When they say "Sorry" to you, that bid is already finished, done. You can rebid with other dates/zones/class, but that's a seperate bid.

Yeah, it seems kind of slow for London on biddingfortravel.com. Compared to US locations, number of people traveling abroad is much lower.

Brahmama, there's info at Bidding for Travel about the strategy for bidding a PL counteroffer. You say you bid 100 pounds. (Are you sure it wasn't 100 USD? I don't think you can bid in pounds on PL) Your counteroffer was 166 USD (?). I believe (but I'm not absolutely sure) that the strategy suggested on BFT is to rebid for half the increase in counteroffer, or $133. Unfortunately, you can't "just skim" at BFT. You have to learn all the nuances of bidding, but if you're willing to do this, your reward can be significant savings.

Hi Betsy,
Thanks for your response. I have read all the suggestions and was referring to "skimming" when I read through the 2nd time, looking specifically for something about "Abandoning the Bid" because I read that in someone's post!
Yes, you are absolutely correct. I did offer 100 USD of course. Then when the counter offer came for 166 USD I added another zone without a 4 star and raised (leaving on the Mayfair) it to a paltry 105 USD but I received the same thing again.
I guess at that time I *should* have gone to 125 USD or whatever my top limit was! I was a little nervous!
However, I think I want to wait until I see the hotels that are beeing awarded before I bid my limit. I have read some reports that some hotels were more desirable of course. I really just need to be in that area and I'm sure I'll be pleased at anything I can get for under $125 (plus tax)
Any other strategies that you might suggest? Of course I would love to get the Waldorf Hilton but it's not come up for quite a long time.
Carol

There aren't any "free rebid" zones in London anymore for 4* bidding, although there used to be. That means that if you want Mayfair-Soho, you should not add any other zone to your bid, because all of the zones have 4* hotels. So you could end up with a location you didn't want. You'll just have to wait the required interval between bids.

And thank you for THAT piece of info in particular! I think I added something like Whitecastle - (whatever I had looked at only went up to 3 *) and I would have been horrified to have been award a 4* in Whitecastle!!
Carol

Carol, a lot of people rely on the hotel lists at BFT in order to determine free rebid zones. But that is not a safe way at all, and the disclaimer at the top of their list states that. I'm not sure which zone you added, but some people wrongly think the London Bridge zone is "safe". But it's not, it is just that no reported hotel has been awarded there, but there certainly is the risk of "winning" there. You can tell this is a possibility by going to Priceline, and selecting the London Bridge zone. It gives you the option of selecting a 4* hotel.

Carol, how many nights do you need?

Would just bid $100 for Mayfair, don't counteroffer, and don't worry if you are rejected. You have lots of time.

I seem to have more luck in the morning, for some reason.

Willtravel,
Thanks for the tips. I'll just stick with Mayfair from now on!
LA Woman,
We only need 3 nights. I am going to do just as you suggested - keep rebidding the 4* in Mayfair and you're right - we have a bunch of time left. I'll give the morning a try too! I'm thinking the hotels may come down mid-fall.
Carol

OOPS! Big change on Priceline. We had been out of town for a few days, and I just re-tried Priceland and guess what? NO MAYFAIR!
I guess they couldn't get any hotels to give them rooms?
Anyway, the closest area to Mayfair is now: Bloomsbury - Marylebone - Soho
I certainly don't want to be stuck in the northern part of Bloomsbury.
So I guess I'll have to rely on the discount sites - lastminute.com, superbreak.com etc.
I was so disappointed......
Just wanted to let you know.
Carol

What do you mean by "No Mayfair"? The zone is there, with available bids from 2* to 5*.

Carol, you went to the wrong section of the priceline website (the section that is like hotels.com and gives you guaranteed pricing).

If you want to bid on a room, go to priceline.com and use the blue section to the left. Choose the yellow-orange tab "hotels". Make sure you are comfortable with your entries - once you've bought the room, there's no turning back!