Splitting PRICELINE Bids and Other Random Thoughts

Here's my take on it.

Priceline uses many different hotels during the year, in order to obtain the lowest price. For example, during the month of January, they may have a particular hotel partner, but in August, they could use a different hotel.

They buy their hotel rooms at wholesale, in advance, and then sell them to you at a predetermined amount, plus their fee.

What this means is that for each individual hotel there is a predetermined price. Hence the term, Priceline.

All you have to do is bid over the priceline, and you've got your room.

Would I split bids? I might. But in doing so, I would be aware that I will pay an additional service charge.

Try extending the stay for one of your trips. It will charge you $5? more in service fees. I imagine booking a single night would also have the same increase in service fees.

You can always bid for a longer period of time, and then if it doesn't work bid for a short period of time and try Hotwire for the other amount.

If Priceline and Hotwire are charging the same amount for a room (rare, but it does happen) then Hotwire has the better amount for the two.

Hotwire seems to be more price sensative than Priceline (thank God for Priceline!)

One other note: bidding a lower amount will save you money on taxes that some cities charge. Some cities are now going after travel booking websites, because they don't like the fact that they lower prices for consumers. But hey, if you really wanted tourism, would you charge them a tax?!

They buy their hotel rooms at wholesale, in advance, and then sell them to you at a predetermined amount, plus their fee.

Priceline does not buy rooms at wholesale. They don't buy anything until your bid is accepted. Priceline functions as a "market maker" by matching up "offers" (rooms for sale) with "bids" from prospective customers. The "offer" price is established by the individual hotel, not by Priceline. As for having a particular partner in January and not in August, again, this is determined by the specific hotel. For example, Sandusky Ohio in January probably has lots of rooms available, so a hotel may offer some of its inventory for $50. In August, when the Six Flags Cedar Point amusement park is running, the same room may be offered for $200. Priceline exists to allow hotels to sell off excess room inventory that might otherwise remain empty.

One other note: bidding a lower amount will save you money on taxes that some cities charge

this is a misnomer, because if the minimum "offer" that a hotel will accept is $50 and you bid $60, the additional $10 goes right into Priceline's pocket. Taxes are based on the ammount that Priceline remits to the hotel or in this example $50.

I believe it makes sense to split bids if a weekend night is significantly higher than a weekday night. For example, you be able to get a low bid accepted on a Thurs, that would not be accepted on a Thurs, Fri, Sat

this is correct, because your bid per night must be equal to or exceed the minimum "offer" price that the hotel is willing to accept for all dates of your stay. Lets say a hotel offers rooms to Priceline bidders for $50 per night during the week but on weekends, rooms are offered at $70 per night. In this case, it would take a minimum bid of $70 to be accepted, so splitting your bid is a great idea and will more than make up for an additional service fees layered on by Priceline.

Call it whatever you want, with black boxes, we're more worried about what they do, as opposed to what is inside them. There is a definite agreement by Priceline and certain hotels as to when, and at what price, they will offer their rooms.

"We will set aside x number of rooms at this particular time at this price..."

There are times when regular paying hotel guests can't get a room, because they have all been booked through priceline, even when the price has gone through the roof. It's wholesaling.

As to split bidding, I have yet to see the same hotel appear with 2 different prices in a short period of time on Priceline. Prices might rise a little from one year to the next, but if you're bidding on the same hotel, it should be the same price. Specific hotels may want specific room prices that will clear their inventory. As a side note, I have found some $90 hotels to be worse than a $70 hotel in the same star range. The $70 hotel having a lot more inventory than the $90 one.

The whole weekend thing is more a matter of whether or not they have inventory for that time.

Let's say that you're bidding on an extended stay. Priceline is selling Hilton rooms for $80 a night during part of your stay. On the other part of your stay, they're selling some other hotel brand. The two hotels have different pricing levels, so it looks like you're bidding more for the same hotel. But you're not.

You might be bidding on a hotel room that sells for $100 dollars a night, and not know it. That's why sites such as this are useful, because they tell you which hotels are going to be on certain dates.

Priceline and Hotwire are very different in this regard. Hotwire offers many hotels at many prices. Priceline offers one hotel at one price, until they run out of inventory, then they might either switch inventory or not allow any bids unless they can book a hotel at its regular price.

In general, I would try bidding the longer stay and then reducing it a day at a time, or changing the dates to continue bidding. You're going to have to pay an extra service fee for splitting for your bid, as well.

Which brings me back to taxes. Enter an $80 price for a hotel in a special region. Then enter a $100 price. You should see a difference in the taxes charged. Some locations have specific taxes that they charge hotel customers, these are reflected in the fees. Whether or not Priceline is remitting those taxes is another matter. We still have to pay them.

Correct me if I'm wrong on any of this. :)

SavingMoney,

How about posting some of your wins to the board? :)

There are times when regular paying hotel guests can't get a room, because they have all been booked through priceline, even when the price has gone through the roof. It's wholesaling.

This is VERY rare.

I have yet to see the same hotel appear with 2 different prices in a short period of time on Priceline.

I see it just about every day.

Hotwire offers many hotels at many prices. Priceline offers one hotel at one price, until they run out of inventory, then they might either switch inventory or not allow any bids unless they can book a hotel at its regular price.

We have different opinions on how the system works... but let's try to keep this thread on topic to "splitting bids" as this thread is often linked to user's posts and this is where they are directed to learn about the positives/negatives of splitting their bids. If you'd like to continue the other discussions here start a NEW TOPIC. (EDIT: decided it would be best to separate this thread which has now been done)

Correct me if I'm wrong on any of this

no need for correction, you lost me when you mentioned black boxes, think what you want about how Priceline operates, this is still America after all....

by all means, post a few of your recent wins, if you have any, as that is the main purpose of this board

WHAT? So you're telling me (I know you are, I am just surprised) that for every dollar I bid OVER the hotel's "priceline", that PL get's the dough?

Wow! That's a revelation!

How did you find that out? I believe you, it just makes me wonder more about the "gimicks" they might be playing to up the prices.

Priceline offers one hotel at one price, until they run out of inventory, then they might either switch inventory or not allow any bids unless they can book a hotel at its regular price.

I don't think that this is true. I believe that priceline might have multiple hotels available for a particular date. Each hotel has given priceline a rate. Hotels might have the same rates but probably not. when a bid is made priceline randomly selects a hotel and checks if the bid is above the acceptable price, if it isn't then another hotel is checked, this continues until all hotels have been checked.

If the bid is above the acceptable price then that room is booked immediately.

Saying that Priceline has a lot of different hotels in the same star level is going to cost other people a lot of money in overbidding. Inventory and the time of year are the main factors.

The only exception to the rule might be if you bid too much and the bid goes to a hotel that they can sell you on the non-bid service. Or, alternatively if you bid too high for a lower star hotel, and then bump the bid up to a higher star hotel, which they do.

That is why it is important to do rate research. Trying to target a particular hotel by bidding higher can be costly.

If what you say is true then Priceline has access to only one hotel at a particular star level in a particular zone at any given time.

I don't think that is true especially for Downtown zones in large cities. I have seen bids accepted at 2 different properties(same star level) for the same dates

That is why it is important to do rate research.

Which is the reason behind the BetterChecker Hotel Rate Search. It allows you to search multiple sites that you want without having to type each website url into the browser and then re-enter your dates at each site.

If what you say is true then Priceline has access to only one hotel at a particular star level in a particular zone at any given time.

This has already been discussed above... priceline typically does have access to more than one hotel at one star rating in a given zone.

I don't know if this helps or not, but my first bid on Priceline came up with a new hotel. It turned out to be a fairly plush resort I never would have thought in my price range (upgraded) and so I asked "why priceline". I was told they had a 2 week lull in bookings and so the manager thought he'd give priceline a try. I ended up with about a 75% discount on rack rates + the place to myself. Sure enough, the day before I was leaving - van loads of people were coming in with a nearly constant line checking in.

This didn't seem like priceline buying up bulk rooms, but more like an 'auction' on rooms based on what individual hotels set as their acceptable bottom line rate when they are slow (in this case). Obviously, some hotels have had a good enough experience with priceline filling up vacancies they are routinely offering rooms.

It might be interesting to get another hotel manager's perspective.

As to split bidding, I have yet to see the same hotel appear with 2 different prices in a short period of time on Priceline. Prices might rise a little from one year to the next, but if you're bidding on the same hotel, it should be the same price.

The Laguardia and JFK airport zones have big price swings during the week. The Laguardia zone is usually cheap on the weekend and the JFK zone is cheap during the week.

Example I recently won the 3* Marriott in the Laguardia zone on a Sunday for $105. I have bid this same zone midweek many times at the 3* level up to $125 with no wins. I am sure that the Marriott has rooms on Priceline during the week but it will take more to get them than on the weekend.

The only exception to the rule might be if you bid too much and the bid goes to a hotel that they can sell you on the non-bid service. Or, alternatively if you bid too high for a lower star hotel, and then bump the bid up to a higher star hotel, which they do.

A lot of hotels do hope to get bodies in the Hotel so they can sell other services. Parking, internet, food, bar ect. These can be profit centers for the Hotel but they know that no one will use these services if no one is in the Hotel. Usually the more *'s the more of these other profit centers the Hotel has. This is why you can often win a 3* hotel for a 2* price.

because if the minimum "offer" that a hotel will accept is $50 and you bid $60, the additional $10 goes right into Priceline's pocket. Taxes are based on the ammount that Priceline remits to the hotel or in this example $50.

Now then, if this is correct, which I believe it probably is, then if we could find out the tax rate and the service fee on a successful bid, then we could hypothetically know exactly the lowest rate they would've taken, or again, exactly what Priceline is paying the hotel. How could we find out the tax rate? Shouldn't the percentage rate be the same as if I had bought the room at retail?

Figuring this out, if all is accurate, would give one a lot of information as to exactly what particular hotels are accepting and one could really hone their bids. Any thoughts?

Priceline used to list the taxes and fees separtely, so it was easy to figure out the correct amount. However, they have since changed this and now combine the taxes and fees into one amount. Since their fee is variable (dependent upon the winning bid amount) it is now no longer possible to use this information to our advantage.