MichaelBei

Wow ! This is very interesting, never seen this before. Apparently the Residence inn does have Priceline rates for the following night, it is just slightly more expensive: $186 versus $46 for Sunday night!! See below. I don't need the room bad enough to spend over $200 more for the second night, so I guess I will decline. I wonder how much Priceline pads on from the hotel's Priceline rate when they make this kind of counterproposal? How often does this kind of thing happen? I know there is more demand for rooms Monday, but that still is quite a jump in their Priceline rate. QUOTE: WE HAVE A GREAT DEAL FOR YOU! We searched the Residence Inn Washington Vermont Avenue, however we were not able to find an additional night for your price of $46 per room, per night. Your credit card has not been charged for Request Number XXX. During our search we found a rate of $186 per room, per night. If you are willing to accept this new price, you can get your additional night right now. Act fast - Hotel inventory is constantly changing and these rooms are subject to availability. To accept this new price just review your offer details and follow the steps below. Your Offer Details Check-In Date: Monday, August 29, 2005 Check-Out Date: Tuesday, August 30, 2005 Hotel: Residence Inn Washington Vermont Avenue 1199 Vermont Avenue Washington, District Of Columbia 20005 202-898-1100 Summary of Charges Additional Nights: 1 Number of Rooms: 1 Room Cost (per room, per night): $186.00 Subtotal: $186.00 Taxes and Service Fees: $34.18 Total Cost: $220.18

Thanks guys for the comments. I was surprised to get this on the first try, but I thought it was worth a shot since Sunday nights are often difficult for hotels to fill. This is also close to where I need to be on Sunday. Looks like from the rules I have until midnight Sat. to try the add a night feature, so I guess I will try sometime tomorrow. I don't think this affects ability to bid again in 72 hours, so I can still try for Monday the regular bidding way after I check in Sunday if it comes down to it. Otherwise, I have backup plans.

First Bid accepted. 1199 Vermont Avenue Washington, District Of Columbia 20005 202-898-1100 Your Offer Price: $46.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $46.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $13.52 Total Charges: $59.52 Bids of up to $59 rejected for following night, 8/29; including white house, conv. ctr., and dupont zones at 2.5 star. Don't know if it is worth it to try the add a night feature next.

There clearly is an effort by many hotels to treat Priceline guests in a special way. My experience is that when I get this line, it is usually from the lower class hotels. I think Marriott brand hotels have always tried to honor my requests. Days Inn, LaQuinta, Hilton often give me the Priceline made me do it line - we are unable to change anything in your reservation, mean Priceline just won't let us give you a non-smoking room -- yea, right! :)

Thereuare, I appreciate very much you're trying not to make this an ad overwhelmed experience, and I hope you are able to stick to that. But I would like you make your travel / vendor links at least more prominent on the page so I don't forget to use them when I can. At least use larger fonts, and a little bit of color and graphics to make it stand out: :) http://www.betterbidding.com/support.html :) :) :o Maybe you could also put the link in the main part of the board somewhere as well. Also, if you could put together a more generic webpage that you offer to folks who want one that includes an unobtrusive link to your partners on the page that would be suitable to use as one's automatic internet startup page - I love your work, but it might not work to always start up right at Gotta get out of town??. I know you don't want to beat your drum so much that folks start having hearing loss, but you can do it a little more than you are now, imho. Keep up the great work!!

I stay a lot in small towns. Well over 90% of the time, I am not successful with Priceline. I have seen a number of 1 and 2 star bids reported in these towns that require bidding up to a few dollars below the hotel's published rate to be "successful"; sometimes the net rate after adding on Priceline fees is higher than what you would have otherwise paid. Since I (almost) never bid up to more than 15 or 20 dollars below the published rates (that's only about $6 to 12 dollars below published rates after you add Priceline's fee) I am rarely successful. I suspect that inventory is often non-existent in small towns in th sense that only 1 or 2 hotels participate with Priceline and for any given night they more often than not haven't made any rooms available through Priceline. Case in point, I have tried numerous times over several years to get rooms in small towns along I-81 in Virginia, including: Bristol - I have seen the Courtyard won by others, occasionally the LaQuinta is cheap enough for me to priceline it, although they are more sloppy here at maintenance than most LaQuintas. Marion - always rejected quickly, never even an offer to rebid immediately Wytheville - always rejected quickly, never even an offer to rebid immediately Radford - always rejected quickly, never even an offer to rebid immediately (indicating inventory) Christiansburg - always rejected quickly, never even an offer to rebid immediately Staunton - always rejected quickly, never even an offer to rebid immediately Harrisonburg - I have received counteroffers, the Four Points there has been won by others. Never has been cheap enough for me to take it over the Marriott Courtyard which I book myself. New Market - always rejected quickly, never even an offer to rebid immediately Woodstock - always rejected quickly, never even an offer to rebid immediately So, almost all of the time, I don't use Priceline when traveling in this area (Roanoke has Priceline hotels, but the locations are not good for me - not close enough to I-81). Same is true for most other smaller towns I stay in. Priceline, does not, in my opinion let you know when they have no hotels offering rooms at discounted rates for the specific night you are bidding, they only grey out a town / zone for you when there are currently no hotels participating at any level (at least that's my story and I am sticking to it).

Thanks so much for the tips guys! I'll try to show up as early as possible for this, but if Priceline is really willing to refund my purchase price if I am walked, then I won't be too concerned about the inconvenience. I will report back later my experiences. BTW, the total on this was $48.96. I checked, taxes are still 10% in Columbia for this hotel. That means Priceline's fee for this reservation was $48.96 - 37 - 3.70; or $8.26. They should be making boatloads of money now on their "name your price" reservations with these fees.

I have heard of this happening before, but this is the first time I have experienced it. You can find my winning bid at: Winning Bid at Sold-Out Hotel in Columbia, MD I am to stay there tomorrow. Anyone know what to expect here? Hopefully they won't try to leave me on the streets, I've paid already. If they walk me to another hotel should I expect an equal quality hotel, any kind of incovenience benefit (dollars off a future stay, whatever). What's Priceline going to do about this, if anything?

Very surprising development! :) Using a brand new credit card, bid $35 for Colum-Jessup and Hanover-Ft Meade zones, 2.5 star, counterbid offer to $44, instead added bwi and bid $37, success. Hotel is completely SOLD OUT for Saturday night, even for multiple night stays. What should I request / ask for if I get there and they tell me they don't have a room for me? Hilton Columbia 3-star Check-In Date: Saturday, July 23, 2005 Check-Out Date: Sunday, July 24, 2005 Columbia - Jessup 5485 Twin Knolls Road Columbia, Maryland 21045 410-997-1060

Price is $23 / day now. Getting garbled screens though, hotwire seems to be having some programming issues right now.

Try searching on Marriott.com and holiday-inn.com; I believe both have properties in this area. I think I bid once in this area and got a counteroffer, but didn't follow through on it.

First time ever to find a workable deal on Hotwire for anything (always has been either no savings or very miniscule on anything I have tried for for hotel, air, or car). This is about $40 less than the best rate I could find thru regular reservations; Priceline bid of $18 was rejected. Car Rental Mid-size car @ $20.95 per day x 5 days: $104.75 Taxes/Fees: $37.34 Car Rental Subtotal: $142.09 Rental Company: Avis Car Type: Mid-size car Rental Days: 5 Pick-up: Tue, Nov 22, 2005 Drop-off: Sun, Nov 27, 2005 Used $30 Entertainment Coupon, final cost will be $112.09. Tried to go through the link for this board, but not really sure if it takes after also having go through the Entertainment Coupon link as well. Good deal for Thanksgiving, usually prices for peak travel periods go up not down if one waits until closer to the rental date, at least in my experience.

Frequently rental car agencies extra hour / day charges are going to be a lot higher than what you paid, especially if it is during days in which they expect to generate higher profits from business customers. Call your car agency and ask them what the charge is. If it is too much, you can always come back to the airport early and enjoy a meal / beverage there. Ps - if you have a winning bid, please post it.

Back to the original post by biddingforhotel; some additional comments. I hope he/she follows up on this interesting topic. I am not sure whether this practice by Priceline is as commonplace as you think it is. At least, if thousands of others are being forced to raise their bids well beyond the hotel's minimum sell level they haven't picked up on any evidence of such hanky panky going on. Folks often report here rebidding by adding zones not active for the star level they are trying for and eventually getting a hotel in their original zone. Forced overbidding clearly doesn't routinely happen to Priceline bidders. Whatever Priceline doing to the "chosen" few (or many?), it is not a total ban on credit cards. They apparently have targeted certain users (perhaps the compulsive rebidders who frequently try to hit a hotel's minimum price on the nose?) for their unstated, undeclared "special" treatment. As best I can tell, this appears to mean first bids from their chosen customers for a hotel zone will (usually?) be accepted normally, but any attempt to rebid for your targeted zone by adding non-active zones will be rejected without consideration (possibly though, an excessive bid will still be accepted, as biddingforhotel implies). I don't know if you are going to be able to locate hundreds (much less hundreds of thousands) of users out there who have experienced this kind of special, unethical treatment by Priceline and have a clue as to what has been happening to them. Most users probably don't try to rebid multiple times for the same zone at the same time; and most users won't have a clue if they are being forced by Priceline to overbid. Nonetheless, best wishes biddingforhotel and let us know how this turns out for you. Because of this garbage, I generally don't bid Priceline any more unless I have lots of time on my hands and the potential savings are quite large. Those conditions seem to be met less and less frequently for myself.

Priceline Does Sometimes Lie about Availability Unfortunately, I must say that the op is basically correct, whether he has the data to back it up I don't know, but I do. I have proven this in my case to my own satisfaction by the laws of probability (it would take me a couple of days of work to do all of the calculations on paper, but I know I could prove it to any reasonable person that the probability of what has happened to me over the last couple of years is esentially zero without some rejecting of valid bids over the hotel's rate by Priceline). This now includes several times having a lower bid having been accepted IN THE SAME ZONE immediately after a higher bid was rejected: Priceline Rejections I do not know how often this happens - It does not appear to happen to most people yet. But I have seen others post such experiences on the internet, I don't think I am the only one. Unfortunately, there is no possible recourse against Priceline for doing this, as to gather an iron tight case in a court of law would require spending lots of money on hotels you don't need and then lots of legal fees.

Thanks for your comments. Looks like this place may be ok, anyway, just as long as its decent and clean we'll be happy for one night. I guess it is nice to know that it is possible to get a hotel through Priceline in this area, although presumably highly unlikely during the peak summer season. This place was priced lower than anything else that looked like a 2 star hotel but I did not consider it in my bidding because few Days Inns could be legit. classified as 2 star. In spite of the lack of savings, I'm happy to break some ground here with Priceline. :) Maybe someone else can try $30 or $35 and see if there are bites at that level.

Good questions WillTravel. I did once have a profile. I haven't used it in a long time, being concerned that something negative was associated with my profile after I realized what was happening. I don't use that email for Priceline anymore. I have tried switching email addresses several times, but this isn't always enough to avoid the WDWYB mode. In the Nags Head case, I used an email address that was recently associated with a winning bid. Incidently, I did use the same credit card that was rejected in Williamsburg, Va recently for a winning bid in Taipei, Taiwan a few weeks ago. The interesting thing about that bidding session was that my rebids involved changing dates rather than adding zones so each bid was technically a first bid for that zone - date combination. After 4 tries my bid was accepted. Perhaps I should find that old profile, go in it and change my address and everything - with the intention of never using it. Don't really know if there is a problem there, and again, don't have a clue as to why there would be. Note that the WDWYB mode is very frequently but not always observed with all of the credit card - email combinations that have been a problem. It is still possible to get a bid accepted there - but strangely they have always been first bids for the zone when they were accepted. I also have been able to get some rental car offers accepted with the problem credit card - email combinations.

First bid accepted: Days Inn Kill Devil Hills Ocean Nags Head Beach 201 N Virginia Dare Tr Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina 27948 252-441-7211 Very surprised Days Inn came in as a 2 star - sure hope it is a lot nicer than a typical days Inn. Would have bid lower if I had thought this was a 2 star hotel. Your Offer Price: $40.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $40.00 Taxes & Service Fees: $12.29 Total Charges: $52.29

Interesting development. I tried an experiment today. I cleared my computer completely of all information related to Priceline, then used my old credit card to bid in Nags Head Island, NC (see 4/2/05 winning bid there) with an amount that I thought might be accepted. I won a hotel on the first bid. No rebidding opportunities there. As I have opportunity to try for hotels in the future, I will try the same process a few more times to see if this works reliably. However, it is a real pain to have to clear out your computer and reboot before every single bid.

WillTravel, Your hypothesis is a good one, it fits all of the experience I have had. The only reason I hesitate to run with it so far is that, so far as I know, no one else has reported having the same experience. I am waiting to see if, in response to my post here, if anyone else comes out of the woodwork who has had the same kind of experience. If your hypothesis is correct, than the bogus rejections have nothing to do with which credit card I use other than they may use them and other personal info to id me as a low-profit customer who is targeted for "special" treatment on rebids. I wonder if the Priceline computer counts the number of times a user rebids, and if they exceed a certain quota, figures they are a low-profit customer and starts feeding them rejections for rebids that are only narrow margins over the minimum hotel price. This would explain my experience completely. It would also demonstrate dishonesty and deceit by Priceline (but something they could never be prosecuted on because no one could ever prove it in court). Priceline could honestly institute such a program by simply stating that adding a zone may result in an increase in the minimum amount they will accept for the original zone (but I don't know how the hotels would feel about that).

Don"t know any reason why Priceline wouldn't like me, unless it was because before this started it was sometimes somewhat of a recreational effort for me to try to hit as close to the minimum acceptable bid as possible by copious use of additional "dead" zones without hotels at the level I was trying for. With their higher fees (now up to $8 to $10 for a single hotel night after you separate out the taxes), I don't think that should bother Priceline much any more. I only try to change locations I am bidding from after it seems obvious that something strange is going on (my first experience with this, which I at the time thought was a fluke, was when I bid for a hotel for the exact same nights as someone else had gotten and the same price and got rejected.) I tried for a couple of other locations and got the same result, That was with bonus dollars added (back when Priceline often made such offers directly) and I remember at the time I thought that the bonus money wasn't working. A couple of days later I added a zone (there were many opportunities to do this), just happened to be on another computer and for some odd reason I got accepted for the zone I had previously been rejected at that price. Over the course of a couple of years, I grew to understand that Priceline since some point in time triggered by events unknown to me) began to take me on a journey into the twilight zone. This business of getting someone else to try for a room (perfectly legal) or changing locations before continuing on with my own bidding ONLY has taken place as a RESULT of Priceline LIEING to me and telling me there were no rooms available at the price I offered when in fact there were. Priceline has now played this game with me so much I can't believe it is an accident. I no longer believe that Priceline will always sell a room at the price a hotel makes the room available to them. I know that is what most everyone says is the way Priceline works, but since they have pulled this one on me maybe 25 times (exact number can't be determined because I can't of course always know for sure when they are doing this to me), I now know better. An experiment I would like to try, but probably won't because it requires me to throw away money, is to bid like $10, $20, and more over what appears to be the minimum hotel price after I have accepted a counterbid offer and it has still been rejected by Priceline to see if there is a higher "special" price Priceline is looking for for me. If that works, then I try for a second room at the real hotel price from another location to see if that works. My firm belief is that it is Priceline who is engaging in unethical behavior - not me.

:) Priceline has repeatedly decided, seemingly on a total lark, that they don't want my business even when they have availability. Ok, I am really, really fed up with this and I can't believe I am the only one this has happened to. I want to know if anyone else out there has experienced something similar and what you've done about it; also looking for good, creative ideas as to how to get rid of the problem. I have found that, through a lot of pain and frustration, that Priceline frequently rejects my bids when they have availability, i.e., if a hotel is available at $43, I only have a 20% chance of getting a $43 bid accepted, someone else has a 100% (as far as we can tell from the way Priceline is suppose to work) chance of getting accepted - this exact scenario has happened to me many, many, times. If you don't believe me, I can easily drag up 25 examples of this that date back from January of 2002; also there are some examples of this I have posted under my winning hotel bids in various places such as SC, DC, and VA. I have never failed to pay a Priceline bill or been a troublemaker of any kind. Here are some things I know by now or still don't know: 1. So far, if first bids of the day are of adequate amounts, they have always been accepted, regardless of which credit card used. 2. If there is some erroneous "bad credit" assignment associated with certain credit cards, it isn't consistently applied, because occasionally bids still get accepted with the problem cards. And Priceline has never had a problem getting paid from my account. 3. Counter offers to bid at a higher amount may be made when the "we don't want your business" (WDWYB) screen is turned on by Priceline; however, when the WDWYB screen is on, Priceline will reject me within a few seconds even if I accept the counter bid amount. 4. Thank God for counter offers on hotels, without them, it would have been much, much harder to figure out what the Priceline demons are doing to me. 5. The WDWYB mode probably isn't turned on by a particular IP address, it can happen sometimes on different computers. 6. I don't know a foolproof method to prevent the WDWYB mode from being turned on by Priceline. Name change? Change email? Move to another location? Federal witness protection program? 7. Is there any way I can know in advance if the WDWYB mode has been turned on by Priceline? 8. Should I go for broke and take this issue to the top at Priceline? If so, how should I approach it with them? Your comments and suggestion are appreciated.

Ok it has, happened to me again!! Bid $40, counter of $52, bid $43, rejected. This time with a 3rd credit card that is new (see my previous posts under SC, VA, MD, and DC. This has happened to me many, many times on different computers and 3 different credit cards at least now - I have to go to a a friend's computer and have them bid and hope my first bid is high enough. Went to a friend, bid $43 accepted in the same zone rejected 5 minutes before. This has happened to me, again and again and again. HELP!!! NAASSTTTY PRICELINE DEMONS BEGONE!!! :) :)

Hi folks: Well, this was my second oldest credit card that has some bidding history for a few years (and many winning bids, but a few highly questionable rejections recently; the oldest card seems to have been the main problem before. Perhaps Priceline has a quota for me because I am too cheap and don't like to pay too much over the minimum winning bid?? :) :) Maybe I need to get one time use credit card numbers like Priceline has? It's maddening though - I end up having to pay more, and more importantly, waste a lot of time when Priceline pulls this kind of stuff on me. BTW, surely I can't be the only person in the US this has happened to?

Very disturbing!! Bid for crystal city $50 & $58 addding springfield. REJECTED IMMEDIATELY Went to another computer, added Dupont circle, Bid $55. ACCEPTED in crystal city. :) :) This is abouT the 20th time this has happened to me in the last year by strong suspicion, and at least 6 or 8 times now with IMMEDIATELY REBIDING - a lower bid was accepted after a higher one was rejected. I have no clue what is going on, but it is very, very, very disturbing. Glad I got a room though.