have come across a lot of questions/answers about this but I don't think anyone had asked how far ahead should one start bidding? does the price get better closer to the required dates? hope this is not a silly question!

Not a silly question, but an unanswerable one because there are so many variables.

Start bidding as soon as you're ready to commit to a nonrefundable hotel reservation. As your travel date approaches, the bid amount needed to win a room could get lower or higher, or availability could disappear completely if it's a busy season.

Some of the very best deals are gotten only a day or two in advance of travel due to hotels getting lots of last-minute cancellations of regular reservations, but IMHO that's living dangrously.

Question #2 on FAQ on biddingfortravel.com under hotels
http://p070.ezboard.com/Hotel-FAQ/fp...opicID=2.topic


"2. Is it best to bid far in advance or at the last minute or somewhere in between. When is the best time of day to bid so I will have the best chance of getting the best deal?

There is no consensus answer to the best time to bid because a winning bid is dependent upon hotels giving Priceline rates to sell which is at the hotel's discretion and determined by many different factors, including, but not limited to, special events, whether a hotel gets most of its bookings way in advance or much closer to checkin and how well the hotel revenue managers keep on top of their projected occupancy. Further, there is no best time of the day to bid. It's possible that you could bid successfully at an amount lower than what was rejected just a day or two before. "

I use Priceline a couple times a year. What I do is first find the best refundable hotel deal and book it. I then check to see what is happening event wise in the city to give me a better idea of my chances for sucess on Priceline. I then check betterbidding and biddingfortravel websites to see what the successful bids are for the time period I need.I then bid for a room and if unsuccessful I keep trying every couple days until we leave. I have gotten great deals weeks in advance and also the night before. If it doesn't work out I always have my back up. Try it, if you don't have to be a a certain hotel just an area, it is great.

There's no way to tell how far ahead to bid, because Priceline gets new inventory all the time, depending on how many empty rooms the hotels have to sell. You might think a big hotel would be busy due to a holiday or something, but they might have had a convention cancel or something and need to sell a lot of rooms near the last minute. Stuff like that does happen.

I've gotten great deals at the last minute even the day of check-in! Others I've obtained weeks ahead of time.

I'd probably not bid until you are 99.9% sure your plans won't change, since Priceline is non-refundable/non-changeable. That's why I recommend people not bid, say, 6 months ahead of time. Most likely bidding 6 months ahead won't get you a better deal than bidding 2 months ahead, anyway.

thank you so much for all your input as always. Andrew, it was great to hear that I do not have to start bidding now.....we are travelling in November.....was getting a bit uptight over this trip. Has anyone else noticed that there are less non-cancellable hotels now or is it just me not being able to find them?

As others have mentioned of the many PL variables-in season/ off season and an event in town-can play a big role in availibility of rooms.

I got a very nice hotel in Tucson on my first try about 10 days ago for $50/night for 5 nights starting Sat-
(nevermind that it will be about 100 degrees there, lol !)

Now, try that in February during the Gem
Show as I did and nothing, absoulutely nothing was accepted by PL. I started bidding 3 months prior to my trip
and up until about 2 days before I was scheduled to travel. I had to bite the bullet and go with my "sort of" refundable
hotel-at that time of year it seemed that all of them required you to cancel 48 hrs. prior or You'd be charge at least one night.

Have fun with it-it's just a great feeling when your bid is accepted and it's a truly good deal !

R5

kimmos, I think most hotels still offer a "cancelable" reservation. You almost always have to give them a credit card to hold the reservation nowadays, but almost always you can cancel within 72 hours or even 6PM same day in many cases. Perhaps you are seeing some of those "internet prepaid" rates that are a little cheaper but charge you one night's stay if you cancel at all?

Yes, the hotels now very stiff about cancelling, you should be a member of AAA or AARP or a senior to be eligible for a 48-hr cancellation. Not, Kimmos, it's not just you, I've noticed that too.

I follow basically the same procedure as Barblab. I think the key is to have something locked in that you can live with, so anything better is almost like free money.

Almost all hotels still have cancel-able rates. They just often is higher than their "non-refundable" or "web specials". Just make sure you read the rules before you book your backup hotel.

thanks so much....I only looked at expedia and hotels.com and for any cancellation there is a small fee, one night charge if cancel less than 48 hours prior. Any other sites you can suggest?

quikbook.com is a much better site. MOST of their bookings are "book now, pay later" and fully cancelable. Have a look.

thanks so much for sharing your knowledge mclaurie!