Bidding on line
 

My husband and I are planning our first trip to Hawaii for 8 days. Is this sufficient time to visit 2 islands... I am thinking Maui and Big Island? Goal is to relax but we like festive island fun activities, ie. volcanoe helicoptor, etc.

Is there a trick or special know how in order to bid effectively with priceline and bidding for travel sites? Thanks!

Go to this site and READ everything. Read the FAQ twice.

Don't try and take shortcuts. It could cost you hundreds. If you bid correctly, you'll save hundreds.

www.biddingfortravel.com

It's always good to check out www.biddingfortravel.com or www.betterbidding.com for suggestions and help.

I think the best thing is you get an idea of what bids have worked in the past and can make some informed decisions before you try. Remember, though that every day the rates change at hotels.

I agree, you need to read the faqs at biddingfortravel and understand how to effectively bid.

And don't post anything on biddingfortravel.com without reading and following all the FAQs -- or you will get YELLED at!!! ;)

wliwl- LOL! I agree. I'm a lurker there for that very reason.

Yes, you will get yelled at by Sherry the Administrator if you try to post something on biddingfortravel without providing all required info.

You might want to do a search on this website as several threads have featured brief tutorials on priceline and/or hotwire.

Actually Sheryl, not Sherry the administrator seems to be on leave for awhile.... so the moderators are slightly different at the moment.

Ah, maybe biddingfortravel.com is safe at last for us mere mortals.

Sorry, I meant Sheryl.

I've never posted any questions there because I've been too scared. The whole bid help sheet is so long and inflexible.

I agree too about Sheryl. Consider it a saving grace she's on leave b/c I've seen her get nasty w/ some people. I usually use www.betterbidding.com instead b/c of her.

I only do the hotels myself, but do them fairly frequently and I've never had a dud yet. Maybe I've been luckier than some.

And never forget about the no cancel rule, because it is. Someone can say that again and again here, as it is an important aspect of Priceline.

I have found that Sheryl in the last year has mellowed. I have not noticed any unreasonably terse comments regarding not "following" the directions as stated in within the website. At least, in my opionion, nothing that would make me "vilify" the woman for unnecessary nastiness.

As we know, the amount of material is overwhelming, especially for newbies.

I have no idea what has brought about the change, I think one thing is that she may have more help moderating the site, which is good for her and the users.

She does try to run a tight ship and doesn't want things to waiver from the obvious information that is needed. After you understand the site.

She has deleted some of my posts when they didn't "fit" the category or I was off topic.

I do believe lurking for awhile is a good choice, you can get alot of good information by just reading the threads and seeing what the procedure is that way.

<<I've never posted any questions there because I've been too scared. The whole bid help sheet is so long and inflexible.>>

The information requested on the bidding assistance for is all absolutely essential for determining bidding strategy.

Even if you don't post a bidding assistance request, you should do all of that homework for yourself before bidding on your own - for the best results anyway.

You might also want to check out the Priceline packages - with these you can pick hotels and flights. I've gotten some really good deals there, though haven't been to Hawaii.

You don't really need to post an assistance on biddingfortravel.com. The process is somewhat complicated, but you can read this post of mine in the Canada board a few months ago. The example was Toronto, since that's the OP was asking, but the general method is the same at most metropolitan areas that have more than one bidding zone:

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34707601