milemarker0

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...

NeoPatrick

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!

djkbooks

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.

NeoPatrick

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.

djkbooks

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.

mollmatt

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...

NeoPatrick

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.

NeoPatrick

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.

JJ5

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!

NeoPatrick

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.

JJ5

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.

msteacher

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.

NeoPatrick

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.

Pugsley

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.

Judyrem

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.

JJ5

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.

Cali

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.

NeoPatrick

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.

NeoPatrick

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.

Cali

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