I have now been trying for about 2 weeks to get some rooms in Miami and Mexico City for a February trip. I know that President's weekend is in there, but last year got rooms over Easter weekend for way less than I am bidding now, and my bids are being rejected.

Is the gravy train over with Priceline? I've never had trouble like this before, and I don't think their business model will work if you wind up bidding on pigs in a poke if the cost saving is only going to be about 10% to 20%.

Marilyn, go to www.biddingfortravel.com to learn about bidding strategies for PL (free rebids, etc.). You can also find out about recent successful bids for the areas you are interested in.

It's possible that you're bidding too early for your February dates.

I agree with Betsy.
Inventory has probably not been made available to Priceline for that time yet.
I'm also trying to get a room for Feb. in Miami. No luck so far. If you look at the hotel rates (on the hotel websites), they are fairly high for that time (at least where I'm looking). Could mean high occupancy already.

I am very familiar with biddingfortravel, free rebids, strategies etc. Also I note that my successful bids for February stays last year were actually made a month earlier, in October, so I just don't get it. Fourteen of us went to Mexico City last year over the same relative weekend, and we all had rooms at the JW Marriott for $79 a night by this time.

I think Marilyn already said it. The gravy train is over. I've been unsuccessful on my last 3 attempts to use Priceline. In SOME cases now, you have to bid so high that you may as well as use a hotel's own website and pick your own place for a few bucks more.

Hotel occupancy has recovered from 9/11 and Priceline is back to what it should be, which is filling excess inventory and not being relied on to get cheap travel each and every time. Drats!

Within the past month we stayed at the brand new Munich Marriott for 55 USD/night, so in some places it's still possible to get good hotels for low rates. No, I don't work for PL!

I stayed just last weekend in Chicago at the Westin Michigan Ave through priceline for $150/night. I know that sounds high, but there was a major convention going on (apparently) and most hotels were either sold out for Saturday night or offering $300+ rooms for that night, so it was still a great bargain for that particular weekend.

There are several possibilities:

1) The weekends you've picked happen to be bad this year.

2) Though you made reservations earlier than this last year, this year they simply may not have made inventory available yet.

3) Priceline may have lost contracts with one or more hotels in those particular areas.

If you want to save, keep trying priceline until you get right up to your trip, with a cancellable back-up hotel. If this isn't worth the hassle, then don't do it.

I am certain that priceline will still offer great value to at least some people. When they fail to offer good value to enough people they'll either change their business model or close up shop. Until then, I'm going to use them as I've always used them, assuming I can get a good deal.

Well, I do plan to keep trying, and I know they probably still offer good value, particularly in some locations. But it becomes less enticing to me to have to pay as much as I would for--admittedly less of a property, ie, Holiday Inn rther than Hyatt Regency--and also give up the control that you do with Priceline.

marilynl, have you compared the hotel rates for that weekend against hotel rates for a less busy time? If the hotels are mostly booked that weekend, they may have little or no Priceline rooms available. Also, you have to base your bid price on the best rates for your dates, not on what you or others have paid in the past for the same area.

How much have you been bidding, what is the best rate you get otherwise for those days?

I have been using Priceline recently for hotels in Florida and Ohio and have still been able to get great deals, though I am paying more now than I did two years ago (when the travel industry was very slow). Priceline has also raised their service charge a bit. Still, I consider it the best way to go, though it doesn't always work.

Andrew

Just talked to a friend of mine at the New Orleans Marriott. He said they used to offer 50 Priceline rooms a night on average and that's now down to less than 1/2 of that. The Priceline rate is also $10 higher.

I can't imagine any hotel in Miami giving out heavily discounted rooms during February -- perhaps the highest of the high season! If you find deals there it will only be at the last minute, and probably only with hotels that aren't filled up for a good reason.

Hotel occupancy is pretty much back to where it was before September 11th. You will see far fewer rooms on priceline for much higher amounts.

You might as well forget dirt cheap rooms in South Florida in February. That is peak season.

As it has been said over and over again, you cannot compare what you got in the past when trying for something now or future on priceline.

The traveling public has been so spoiled by cheap rooms over the past couple of years.

Do a search for dates in the past and you will see all kinds of people were afraid to travel because of either the terrorists or because of war. People were honestly afraid to go to Disney.