My newest Priceline win.
 

I'm posting this here and now I will be raked over the coals for my "stupidity", but here goes anyway.

I decided we might want to spend the night in Fort Lauderdale before flying out on Sunday, June 1 to NYC, instead of getting up early to drive over from Naples. I read Bidding for Travel. I studied. I comparison checked.

It seemed that the best I could do with anything I liked (including the 3 stars Priceline) near the aiport was a little over $80 with AAA rates.

So I bid Airport for 3 stars at $52. Refused. Added Downtown. Refused. Next (2 days later) I added Coral Springs (a little far, but OK for a nice hotel) and added 2.5 star because it only showed one hotel (Marriott) above a 2.5 star, bidding $52. Meanwhile I carefully checked all the listed 2.5 stars within my zones and they'd all be fine. Refused. Increased to $55. Won Coral Springs LaQuinta, despite it showing as a 2 star. A call tells me it is newly renovated -- maybe that's why? With taxes, a total of $68.95. Well, that's fine, still sounds pretty good. Now I check LaQuinta's AAA rate and it is $67.50. So I saved $12.50? No. LaQuinta adds taxes of $7.43 on the $67.50 for a total of $74.93. Priceline adds $13.95 to the $55 for taxes, for a total of $68.95. So I saved $5.98. (By the way, why DOES Priceline add $6.50 more taxes than the hotel would -- even on a lesser amount than the hotel charges since it is supposedly a percentage?)

So go ahead. Tell me all I did wrong. I'm not exactly complaining here as it will work out, just saying that it takes one big amount of study, cross referencing, planning, etc. and still there can be some surprises with Priceline. Consider my $5.98 savings payment for my continued training.

It wasn't wrong at all, it's the nature of Priceline.

As, "continued training", it's a bargain. As a rate per/hour, well it's just interesting research to do while taking a break.

I will start by saying you did much more research than I do when using Priceline, but go on to comment that I may use it with different intentions even if with less attention to detail.

I first used Priceline shortly after 9/11, when very few people were yet traveling. I routinely got the Hyatt Regency Coral Gables for about $45, which felt positively like STEALING.

The cost savings have in my opinion become less noticeable now that the travel industry is more robust, but there are certain markets for which Priceline still remains a good option. Returning to that "different intention" comment, though, what I mean is that I use Priceline to get a BETTER hotel than I am willing to pay for through more traditional booking services. Given that, I never bid less than 4-star, and usually only try it in destinations that I perceive as still offering "deals," which for me would be Mexico City and London.

Well at least you didn't end up in some fleabag cursing Priceline because the rack rate was lower than your Priceline bid. ;)

NeoPatrick,
I think Priceline adds an additional fee for each hotel win in addition to the taxes. It used to be $5.00 per win, now it must be $6.50.

I guess the most "frustrating part" was that I thought I was so clever adding in Coral Springs,"knowing" I wouldn't get it as there was only a three star that wouldn't win my bid. That's a trick I thought I had successfully learned, but then found that they re-rated a 2 star to a 2.5 star so I win that area anyway.

I should probably also point out that many people would probably be thrilled with winning what might be "listed" as a $110 hotel for $55, but the fact is that I suspect people often haven't checked directly with other sources to find that $110 hotel was available for a lot less than that. I am somewhat chagrined by posters who proclaim they just won a $300 hotel for $90 on Priceline and I look to see that NOBODY would have been paying anywhere near that $300 price to begin with. And I also suspect savings are often much greater with higher end hotels than the "budget" ones.

mollmatt, I guess that explains it. So one should always deduct $6.50 from their supposed savings on a winning bid?

From what I understand, Priceline's fee is no longer a set amount or even a set percentage, but $6 or so is fairly typical.

apparently when it was set percentage, someone figured out an algorithm to determine how much the hotel really cost Priceline,and then people use that to place lower bids. So Priceline now uses a more secret formula to come up with the numbers.

NeoPatrick, the problem you and I and others face when using Priceline is that there is no way to determine all the possible hotels in a zone/category. Though you think you saw "all the listed 2.5 stars within my zones and they'd all be fine", as you found out, you didn't really. Priceline's own "regular"(non-bidding) section is not necessarily the list they take their "name your own price" hotels from.

Sounds like you did as much as you could, and at least you have a good attitude about the results!

Part of the problem is that BFT has been dormant for quite some time and may not have the newest info (such as adding the LQ to the 2.5* list). But I heard that Sheryl is back and hopefully BFT will get the traffic back and Sheryl will update all the hotel lists.

BTW, I'm a bit confused about your statement about Coral Springs zone. Do you know there is 2.5* in Coral Springs? Or do you think there's only 3* in Coral Springs?

These days before I bid, I check BFT + BetterBidding, and also check hotwire, before making a decision whether I want to use PL or not.

The $5.98 savings will get you 2 Starbucks in NYC.

BTW, are you still going to Hawaii?

Isn't Priceline the concern which was moving rooms in Canada and keeping the refundable tax for themselves?

yk, I'm confused, I guess. On BFT there were only two listings for Coral Springs, a 3 and a 2. Where else was I to look to find that they have 2.5 hotels?

And no, Hawaii is out for now. I sometimes question my sanity in taking Lee with his Alzheimer's to NYC for a month. Tooling around Hawaii seems even more insane. Besides, I was finding it more expensive than going to Europe instead -- which we're also not going to do this year!

I see you have posted at BFT and Sheryl has been quick to answer you. I agree with what she said: the lists can change as Priceline re-rates hotels, and it is possible you inadvertently dropped the quality level down to 2-star without meaning to.

I guess I misread your original post. But what I'm seeing is that you bidded for 2.5/3* and you ended up getting LQ. Is the LQ listed as a 2.5* or 3* on your PL win? You said,
<< Won Coral Springs LaQuinta, despite it showing as a 2 star. >>

From this, my understanding is PL gave you a 2* LQ despite you bidding for a 2.5/3*???

What is even more confusing is that if you just isolate the Coral Springs Zone....they only show a 3*, 2*, and 1* option....they don't even show a 2.5* option.

On your reciept does it say the La Quinta is a 2.5*?

Just saw your message on BFT too.

That is indeed strange.

I would think you could look into it if you really wanted to, assuming you could get through to Priceline for a bidding history.

Just knowing you from your posts, I would think that you are very thorough...and didn't choose a 2* based on your concerns.

Yes, I've been posting back and forth with Sheryl, and I'm more confused that ever. Since I'm very nervous about bidding there and check everything clearly before the final bid, I find it hard to believe that I somehow added 2 star to my choices. I was NOT going to bid if I had to drop to that rating in even just the airport zone as there were some hotels I didn't want there. Before I clicked the final bid, I checked dates, zones, and stars very carefully. She asked what my winning bid said -- it says nothing about rating, nor does my actual receipt. But when I go to the bidding history for my account it shows that it was a 2 star I won. Now that makes no sense to me, as I can't believe I "inadvertently" added the rating that I specifically was adding zones to avoid dropping to. And it is very surprising that if somehow I did click a 2, that I got the LaQuinta in Coral Springs instead of a couple of the 2 star "fleabags" in downtown and airport zones which normally go for less than it. Something is very weird here.

When I called this LaQuinta to check my reservation, and mentioned that I was surprised I had won it since Priceline (actually BFT) rated it as a 2 star and I had bid a 2.5 star, she said that their ratings have probably recently changed due to their complete renovations -- so I thought that made sense. Actually it makes a lot more sense to me than the thought that I somehow both checked a number I was specifically avoiding, AND missed seeing it on the screen before bidding.

In fact one thing I learned from this bidding process is that after you've lowered from a 3 star to a 2.5 star in one zone, and add another zone, you apparently can't raise the star level to 3 again. I was trying to do that to add in Plantation, and it wouldn't let me "uncheck" the 2.5 rating, so I ended up logging off -- and then it was two days later before I went back to the site to start over again, this time back at 3 star and then lowering to 2.5 star and then adding in Coral Gables, because I thought they had no 2.5 star hotels, only 2 and 3 and I would be safe as I was bidding 2.5.

Milemarker, again on both my receipt which I printed and on the email I got that I click and see that I won the $55 bid -- neither list ANY rating at all! Is that something new? Did they used to list the rate you "won" at?

Anyone can make a mistake. I know people who have. It's one of the pitfalls of online bidding. Priceline actually is known to offer a one-time "redo" in cases where you really screw up - you know, bid $500 instead of $50 for a 2-star hotel. In this case, it's not a horrendous error as the original poster admits.

Is it possible Priceline themselves made a mistake? I suppose. I'm sure lots of people claim Priceline made a mistake in cases like these. Priceline must have some sort of canned explanation as to why that's supposedly impossible. Of course, I have no idea how their service is setup internally to know for sure.

Patrick - You're right. The PL receipt no longer lists the star rating of the hotel. I checked my receipts for Jan. IIRC, they used to list the star ratings.

Anyway, at least you got a newly renovated LQ instead of some fleabag motels.

Oops. We've been overlapping with our posts.

And make that Coral Springs in my last long post -- not Coral Gables!

Hi patash2 -

On the PL regular site, LQ Coral Springs is a 2*, although that doesn't matter.

And on the bid site, there is no 2.5* offered for CS. If you bid 2.5, and were told that it was a 2.5, then I think you have a good case to complain.

It doesn't matter whether it was renovated. That's not what you bid for. ((*))

I always thought they did....I seem to remember 5 stars that were "shaded" to the level that you won...I'll have to see if I have an old reciept laying around somewhere.

Very strange...

"In fact one thing I learned from this bidding process is that after you've lowered from a 3 star to a 2.5 star in one zone, and add another zone, you apparently can't raise the star level to 3 again. I was trying to do that to add in Plantation, and it wouldn't let me "uncheck" the 2.5 rating, so I ended up logging off -- "

Yes, that is frustrating...you have to log out and start an entirely new bid...

Oh and this is interesting. Although I posted my bid process on BFT as a 2.5 star, I see that Sheryl has gone back and changed my title to read 2 star!

You say that you added Coral Springs and 2.5* and your $52 bid was not accepted. And, then you increased your bid to $55 and won a 2*.

But, on each rebid, you have to change the areas or star level in addition to increasing your bid. Did you click on 2*?

Something doesn't make sense, because LaQuinta Coral Gables is listed as a 2* when you search dates without "Name Your Own Price".

Also, (2 days later), did you start a new bid?

Whenever bidding fewer stars than previously, it's ALWAYS best to start a new bid.

The more time that passes, the more I'll forget exactly how I did it, but the basics are right (I also left out adding Plantation at 3 stars at one point). Now I'm not sure of the order when I started bidding over two days later, but it was a new bid. I think I started again with the $52 bid for 3 star only Airport and Downtown, then added Coral Springs, then raised the bid to $55 and added 2.5 stars. I'm not sure if those last two steps were together, or separate or in which order. Maybe I lowered the two zones to 2.5 stars before I added Coral Springs, and raised the bid all at once -- but it seems I did another step in there someplace. But that's the basic idea. My final bid was 2.5 stars in Downtown, Airport, and Coral Springs zones at $55. It said I won it, but without telling me that it was a 2.5 star or anything else.

The main scheme for adding in the 2.5 was because it looked like there was only one choice I could get added -- the Airport Courtyard where we've stayed before.

I should have been more specific.

If you start a bid for a 3* in Area A for $50, then add Area B and increase your bid to $52, then add Area C and increase your bid to $54, and all are rejected...

It is just not a good idea to select 2.5* and increase your bid because there may be 2.5* hotels available for less than $50.

I agree with Jed, I think you should contact Priceline (well, good luck with that...but you might get a response eventually..) and ask them to check your bid history to see if you inadvertantly hit 2 star.

There is no 2.5 star offered in Coral Springs so I don't see how they could give you the La Quinta since it certainly can't be considered 3 star, if you are only supposed to get a 2.5 or 3 star hotel in the Airport,Downtown or Coral Springs zones. They don't offer a 2.5 in Coral Springs.....if you received a 2.5 in the other 2 zones, it would be understandable but no one should expect to receive a 2.5 star hotel in that zone if they clearly tell you to select another star level if you put in a single bid for 2.5 in only Coral Springs. I'd try to contact them and get moved to a 3 star. If you have a long history of bidding with them, they might work with you...

You're right, which is why I think I lowered to 2.5 in the two zones at the same bid before adding Coral Springs and raising the bid. Or would it have let me first do the original bid but adding the extra lower rating, then another bid with the lowered rating and an added zone, before raising my price? Or maybe I had to raise the price at the same time I added the third zone? I know that I tried a couple things it wouldn't let me enter until I changed or added something else.

mollmatt, no I don't have a long history with them, having only done one Priceline hotel before. That's why I was so cautious about it all.

And as I said, the end result really doesn't make much difference. We're going over in the evening, will sleep and take a shower and leave first thing in the morning to get to the airport. It's not worth the aggravation of trying to reach them and getting changed to another hotel at the same price. And as I've said, I have no qualms with the actual hotel, just glad I didn't somehow get one of the 2 stars in my original two zones -- mostly which would have been much worse than this option.

I don't use as much study/research time as you did, but find after years of doing Priceline, that I will never go less than 3 star, for all kinds of reasons. Actually, for most large city locations, I do 4 star only. And if studying the various sites for bidding information and options, and not get an acceptance after about 3 or 4 days of trying variables, I usually do hotwire or .quikbook, in that order.

I'm still always getting a better rate than AAA or AARP or the specials of that establishment which does accept my bid.

Priceline is much better for some cities than for others. My Ft. Lauderdale Priceline win was the Renaissance, the winter before last.

All told, NeoPatrick, the last two times I've used it and in Baltimore and in D.C. too, it was a great deal, but not the immense deals of years previous to 2005. It's a generalization, but often it is accurate.

It is hard to remember what you did, if you have so many numerous steps over many days. LOL!

JJ5, I generally agree, and was only doing 2.5 star because it looked like only one possible option -- which was fine. Besides, this seemed like a great experimental opportunity for using Priceline -- a hotel that really didn't matter much!

But oddly enough, on Hotwire the only 2 star in Coral Springs HAS to be the same LaQuinta and is $79. If I go to the LaQuinta website I can get that at $67.50 with AAA or senior rate. And that doesn't take into account that Hotwire adds on MORE for taxes and fees than the hotel itself will, for even more savings booking with the hotel. That's generally been my experience. I have yet to book on Hotwire, because I always seem to find what must be the same hotels for less with discounts direct from the hotel -- something I'd much rather do anyway.

That's true and interesting.

Yes, you need to be very careful with Hotwire. I had quikbooks beat it twice, and you don't need to pay until the stay occurs and it is cancellable up to 48 hours before.

But, to me, it is still rather fun to tread through the possible mindfields of these discount brokers for rooms. It stretches you to find different types of places too, and I really like that.

One nighters like that ARE really good times to experiment.

I have found that I've gotten really good deals on priceline when I book very close to the day I need it. For example, I had a sudden trip to visit Providence, RI, and booked a room at a good hotel for the next night for $40. Several times I've booked 3 or 4 star rooms in NYC for under $150, but I bid just a day or two before I needed them.

I think it makes sense that if it's close to the booking day, the hotels know the rooms will sit empty, so it's in their best interests to let them go for a very low price. I've never had much luck with priceline booking well in advance.

Just my experience... thought it might be helpful.

To be honest, I didn't expect to get anything at this price (and on a Saturday night). I had planned to start at this price, and when refused, go back and try again closer to the date. Looking at the winning bids on BFT seemed to tell me you don't get much in Ft. Lauderdale for under $70 or $80, in the 3 star category -- often much more.

Wow, that really concerns me. It appears that you did everything right (except for relying on what biddingfortravel.com said as far as what star levels are available in each zone since their info isn’t always up-to-date). I always go to Priceline and isolate each zone immediately before I bid to confirm the star levels in each zone (the levels that a zone doesn't offer are grayed out when you choose that zone, and you have to do this one zone at a time). But that didn’t seem to matter in this case since Priceline itself showed no 2.5*s in that zone. So it looks like you did everything correctly and there is no way you should have won a 2* when bidding for a 2.5*. Even if that hotel had recently been renovated, it still hadn’t been upgraded in the Priceline system. I hope that you accidentally added the 2* level or Priceline had a computer glitch, because that just isn’t right. I really hope (and believe) that if you had decided to dispute this with Priceline they would have refunded your money.

I hear you Patrick! I tried Priceline for downtown Portland and was not successful at all...and did mega research too. msteacher, I think you are right about waiting till later. I have a backup reservation which is not bad, but I will try Priceline closer to my date.

Judyrem, I've used Priceline about 30 times minimum now, although I have never done Portland. It is much better for some cities than it is for others, but honestly I have had exactly the opposite results as
Pugsley. The farther out, the better price I have gotten, exactly the opposite.

In fact, for Chicago or NYC, those two and for my trip to D.C. there was NOTHING won that was a great deal within a month of the date, and it hasn't "fallen" that way in this last year or two, as far as I can read on the dates and prices, and wins posted on the two bidding for travel websites that I look at.

Chicago, I NEVER get anything last minute now that is a deal.

NeoPatrick, I have used Priceline a ton of times and have been happy about 99% of the time, but haven't used them in the past couple months so will keep my eyes open now that they don't list star ratings on your wins. I have learned in recent times that I just don't want to use them in certain cities and certain areas if there is a possibility I won't get the hotel I want. There is a LaQuinta in Mpls. that is also a 2-1/2* and if I bid in that area I don't go down to a 2-1/2* but that would be difficult now if they don't list the hotel star levels correctly on the bidding information. Thanks for sharing your experience - I will keep my eyes wide open when bidding on Priceline from now on. I don't rely on the Bidding for Travel hotel lists as they haven't been updated but hopefully they will be updated now. I just wonder if Priceline didn't make an error on your bid. Wonder how you can find out if that is the case. Have a good stay anyway.

Speaking of Bidding for Travel. I noticed that Sheryl changed the title of my bid post there. I had posted originally 2.5 star. . ., but after the discussion she apparently changed the title to say 2 star. Now my post itself seems to make no sense. But even funnier. I went back to my original post because I saw that at the very end I had typed that I had saved $4.98, instead of $5.98 -- so obviously the math was incorrect if anyone wanted to do all the figures. I thought it made sense to make it right. So Sheryl has "scolded" me for editing my post as that makes the other posts "no longer make sense". HUH? It was only her change that makes the other posts no longer make sense!

And no, I'm not going to pursue this with Priceline. I really don't feel it's worth the effort. I'm happy with what I got -- even though it is further from the airport than I was originally looking for (maybe 30 minutes). But frankly I think I've ended up with a better hotel than some of those I could have gotten if I had won a 2.5 star bid in the airport or downtown areas. And my original goal was we'd spend the night instead of driving over early in the morning so long as we didn't have to pay nearly $100 to do so. We're paying $ 68.95, so that's fine.

Oh. I've also learned that in the future I will copy the actual page of my bid before I submit it, so if someone says I didn't bid what I'm 99% sure I did bid, that I can at least look and see.

I will remember to copy my original bid in the future too. Thanks for the tip NeoPatrick.