Patrick

Well, I finally did it. We need to catch a pretty early flight on Oct. 17 when we leave New York. Since we are "borrowing" friends' apartment and we want to clean, take the sheets and towels to the laundromat, etc., we felt we'd better do that the day before and spend our final night in a hotel. So thought I'd experiment with Priceline and see what happened -- committing myself to Midtown west so we could easily wheel our luggage from our apt. on 45th between 8th and 9th. Thought I'd try for a three star, but my bid of $110 was turned down. I didn't want to go lower as a couple of the choices there are pretty shakey as is, and I could even book a couple of them on line for very little more. So thinking I had nothing to lose I bid $130 for a four star. It told me that was probably too low. I bid it anyway. It came back that it was too low, but I had a "one time chance" to make another immediate bid if I added $22. So I did and got Times Square Hilton for $152. Since the lowest I could find on line for any of the hotels in question was $229, I'm surprisingly happy, but not as ecstatic as those who get such deals for about half of what I'm paying. (Note. Several hotels were showing full for that date on their websites, so pickings may have been pretty slim generally for me.)

Oh and yes I spent quite a bit of time studying Bidding for Travel. However, I have tried to register twice there so I could post my results, and it acknowledged my registration name and password, but whenever I try to sign on it just keeps refreshing the page asking me to fill it in again.

leslie

Patrick, glad you're happy with the price, but you should not have accepted the offer. You should have gone back and made another bid for an additional $11. Your free rebid zone would have been any other zone that did not have a 4 star hotel in it.

Patrick

Well, then guess I really don't understand how it works. I thought if you made a bid that is refused you can't rebid for another 72 hours for the same type hotel in the same area, the only thing I was interested in. I got the message that said the only way I could rebid was to raise my bid by $22, and that was a special "one time offer". No? Where they lying to me?

leslie

If you review the Bidding for Travel website, you will notice that each hotel is in a specific zone (eg. MTW, MTE, UES, etc.). You will also notice that each hotel is rated from 2 stars to 5 stars. If you bid at the 4 star level for a specific zone and your bid is not accepted, then you need to change some parameter (besides possibly raising your bid). A free rebid would be to add an additional zone to your 4 star bid, but that additional zone would not have any 4 star hotels in it, thus you would be bidding only in the same zone you initially bid in (getting a second chance), but just increasing your bid.

Hope this information is helpful to you, but you'll get more details if you read the FAQ from the Bidding for Travel site.

I find it easier to bid by setting up a matrix. It looks like the square for a logic problem, but visually it helps make sense of how to bid successfully without overbidding.

Patrick

Let me see if I got that right. After their turning down my $130 bid for four stars in Midtown West, I could have reentered a bid for Midtown West plus maybe lower east side (or some other place that didn't have a four star) and raise that bid to $141. Then maybe I would have gotten something in my original zone. But if not, I couldn't bid again for three days? Is that right? If so, I guess I'm happy with paying $11 more than that to get the hotel and be done with it.

leslie

Yes, you got the idea of it. But, if you review the FAQ at Bidding for Travel, you would understand why you overbid. Historically, when you get a counteroffer, you will find that splitting the difference will get your bid accepted.

Besides, all you needed was a second credit card and a second email address, and you could have started the process over again immediately. Or, your friend could have made the bid, thus avoiding the 3 day waiting period.

leslie

By the way, when you initially bid at the 3 star level, you were also including anything above 3 stars, but not less than 3 stars.

It's always better to start at the top, and then bid down lower levels, because you can start again afresh, and avoid the 3 day waiting period.

Gretchen

Sort of an aside--I needed a car in Myrthle Beach a couple of weeks ago and tried Hotwire. I got a price and then went to Priceline. For the first time in bidding on PL I couldn't get as good a price as Hotwire. That really surprised me.

OliveOyl

Patrick! Et tu, Brute? ~~sigh~~

Patrick

Well, the double credit card wouldn't work this time. Would you believe my partner thought he left his wallet at a restaurant our first week here? We called and they didn't have it. We turned this apartment upside down and didn't find it, so called and cancelled all his credit cards, only for him to find his wallet an hour later "hidden" is a sock drawer. So we're operating on one credit card in NYC.

OK, I think I got the idea of that part of the system, except for two things. First of all, Bidding for Travel suggests that there is always the possibility of new hotels being offered. So let's say I add another zone to my bid that seemingly doesn't have any four star hotels and actually get some new hotel there -- not shown as a regular on Bidding? I'd be stuck staying in a zone I really don't want to be in, right?

Secondly, leslie, your statement about splitting the counteroffer. Is that possible? Or do you simply mean splitting it in a new bid with the other credit card number and name. Surely you can't rebid at half the counter on the same bidding name?

OliveOyl, too funny. Yes, I too have fallen!!!

ncgrrl

Welcome to the dark side.

When the B4T site mentions new hotels being offered, it's in the same zone/star level. On the Priceline site, if it says there are only up to 3* hotels in the zone, they do not have any 'hidden' 4* in the zone. Every now and again, Priceline changes the inventory rankings, but you will know all the star levels available at the time of your bid.

Priceline, while offering a wonderful opportunity for us to get cheaper lodging, is a for-profit business. When they offered you the hotel for $22 more, they wanted to earn more money. Like negotiations on buying a new car, people/companies haggle over the price. You wouldn't go down to the car dealership and pay the price on the window without a counteroffer.

leslie

You won't need to have to start a new bid when you counteroffer, you would just need to add another zone, and you'd add one that didn't have any 4 star hotels in it. Although Priceline adds new hotels to its inventory, surprisingly, it doesn't happen very often in NYC. Those hotels remain fairly consistent.

GoTravel

Patrick, you don't have to split the counter offer at all. I was bidding on a hotel in Atlanta/Buckhead and priceline counter offered $14. I upped my bid by $3 and it was accepted. Priceline wanted $54 but I got the hotel for $43.

kodi

Congratulations Patrick, you did it!
I am fairly new to priceline, but have been very happy. The more money I can save, the more I can travel.
We are staying at the Hilton and got it for $96. Not to make you feel bad, but I was very lucky and worked on it a few months ago. But I do agree with you... even at $152, it's a deal. When you get an 'offer' to up your bid, I don't think it's a bad thing to just take it. The worry and fuss is then over and you can relax. I did this when we bid on a hotel in Savannah and was very pleased to have the deal 'sealed'.
Your wallet in the sock story made me smile. I used to travel with my mom and she frequently 'lost' her visa card. NOt always funny at the time, but fond memories. I always knew she had it tucked away somewhere. Thank goodness she never actually lost it.
Enjoy your stay at the Hilton.