If I make a bid on priceline and am not satisfied with the result am I allowed to cancel that bid and try again later?

Once you make a bid on Priceline and it is accepted, there is no changing it. Your credit card has been charged.

Yes and no. If you "win the bid" you cannot cancel - your credit card will be charged no matter what. If your bid is declined, you can change the parameters (star level or date for examplej) and retry immediately, or wait 24 hours and retry the original bid.

For excellent info, go to www.biddingfortravel.com and read thoroughly the FAQ's.

There are countless threads on using Priceline in the Fodors' past bank of info. Just put Priceline into the search function to read some.

To me it is neither gimmicky or scary. It is what it is. I love it exactly as it is too.

That's why you get the great deal. Because they can plug you into that's date scenario at the hotel that is currently not booked.

I've used it and/or Hotwire (and sometimes for different stops on the same drive trip) about 50 times in about 12 to 15 cities and never had a bad stay using either vendor. I usually bid 4 stars and do the bidding at 6 weeks plus out from the date. Often now, closer and to me the deal just isn't to that immense degree of less than 1/2 and often just a 1/4th of a 4 star's rack rate.

You can not cancel and your charge card is rung up immediately. One time I lost $40 during a blizzard condition day, not even a cypher for what I've saved in the long run. On one hotel stay I can think of in Chicago, I saved about $550 on that stay alone.

Thank you all for your insight. This looks like it is the way to go to find a decent priced hotel.

The way to avoid being dissatisfied with the result is to RESEARCH carefully all the hotels you're likely to get by reading the hotel lists on biddingfortravel.com and betterbidding.com and then reading reviws on tripadvisor.

If you see a hotel that gets awful reviews on tripadvisor, don't bid for that star level or that location. Otherwise, you do run the risk of getting it.

To avoid overpaying, make sure you read what others have been paying on the 2 websites and possibly get help for a bidding strategy from them as well.

If MUST understand the concept of a free re-bid before you start. If you don't, you're not ready.

One shortcoming of the hotel lists on those sites is that they are submitted by Priceline users, not by PL or the hotels themselves. Therefore, they are by nature always a bit incomplete and out of date. Never forget that you could win a hotel that isn't on the list yet. Somebody has to be the first! And it seems that biddingfortravel never takes a hotel off the list until it closes or announces that it's no longer working with PL.

One handy thing to know is that (on biddingfortravel, at least), the new hotels are just added to the bottom of the list for their zone, so the top ones are less likely to turn up and the bottom ones are more likely. If you're willing to wade through the messages about wins, you can get a very good guess as to what you'll get and what bid you need to place.

It's just hit me that you posted this under NYC. If you're using PL for NYC, by bidding ONLY 4* hotels, there aren't any real serious duds.

maclaurie, will you please tell me what a free rebid means.
I was reviewing biddingfortravel and this site appears to be a posting board for people to share the great deals they are getting.
Thank you.

The hotel FAQ at biddingfortravel has a good explanation of the concept of "free rebids". That FAQ is essential reading for anyone who is thinking of using Priceline or even making further use of the biddingfortravel site.

Here's a link to the FAQ for hotels on BFT. http://p070.ezboard.com/Hotel-FAQ/fp...opicID=2.topic
As Anonymous says, the answer is here (#9). Come back if you don't understand.

Here's a simple explanation of a free rebid: suppose Priceline gives some city two bidding zones, Downtown and Airport. The Downtown Zone, when you check, shows that it has 4-star hotels but the Airport zone would allow you to bid for only 3-star hotels, meaning there are no 4-star Priceline hotels in this zone. That means you can use the Airport zone as a free rebid zone when you are bidding for 4-star hotels downtown. Example:

First you bid say $70/night for 4-star, Downtown. Priceline rejects you. They say you either must wait 24 hours to bid again or, to raise your bid price and try again immediately you must change SOMETHING - dates, quality level, or add a zone. You don't want to get a hotel in the Airport zone, but in this case, you can add that zone to your Downtown bid as long as you KEEP the quality level at 4-star, because when you originally checked, Priceline didn't offer 4-star hotels in the Airport zone (and it won't change in a few minutes while you are bidding). It's a "trick" because Priceline still lets you add this other zone as a change to let you re-bid immediately, even though they know there are no hotels of your desired quality in that zone.

You need to check how many free rebid zones there are for your desired quality level at the outset of a bid, by checking each zone alone one at a time and noting how high it goes up. Note that Priceline zones work UP, not down. Priceline sees quality levels as minimums and can upgrade you. You could bid for a 3-star hotel and be upgraded to a 4-star if your bid price is high enough. But you would never get anything lower than a 3-star, only higher, when you bid. See below:

Say Priceline shows the Airport zone in some city you are bidding has only 1-star and 3-star hotels, but you are bidding for a 2-star in the Suburbs zone. Even though Airport has no 2-star hotels, it's not a free rebid zone for Suburbs because you could be upgraded to a 3-star if you bid there.

I've saved hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars (depending how you look at it) on hotels with Priceline over the years, and once you get the hang of it, it's really not much effort. I say "depending how you look at it" because in many if not most cases, I wouldn't have paid the rack rate at the hotels I wound up getting with Priceline; I would simply have gone for a Motel 6 instead, in a crappier location. Priceline has either saved me a ton of money or allowed me to travel in much grander style on the same dime.

The free rebidding trick is just intuitive once you do it a time or to.

Andrew, yes- that point exactly. When I don't win a Priceline bid where I want to be, I often postpone or cancel that trip, or if it is essential- I go to cheaper clean options. But the places I have stayed, especially mid USA baseball cities, I would never have afforded or encountered any other way.

But I don't even do all that rebiding. What I do is see what is offered, bid 4 star and get surprised. It stretches me into places I would never have considered. A few wonderful small boutique hotels in Chicago, Westin Cupples Station St. Louis, parts of Manhattan I didn't know as well- etc. etc.

It constantly astounds me that some people think money for lodging is so inconsequential that any "trouble" is too much. Especially since I have more money to tip, dine etc. etc. etc. when all of it isn't used just for the hotel bill. There are many of us that don't seem to have money trees in the backyard and still enjoy a higher end perk now and again.

But I am one of those people that likes the surprise aspect and does not have to be in control of all features of a vacation or trip to have a pleasing experience. I like it not set in stone as much as others- far more of an adventure. And what becomes a negative to some, I welcome as novelity. Love, love Priceline.

I too have saved a fair amount using Priceline and been able to stay at nicer places than I otherwise would.

An example: The rack rate for the Best Western near my brother's house in Sacramento is around $80/night, but using Priceline I can routinely get the Hyatt downtown for $60/night - add the Priceline fee and parking and my nightly rate still beats the Best Western. Now, the Best Western is perfectly fine, but why stay there when I can stay at the Hyatt for the same price? And since I have used Priceline several times, it really isn't any more work than any other online reservation site.