Priceline Hotel: Bidding Help for Toronto

[grapejuice]

I'm going to try and do 'name your own price' for a 4* hotel in Toronto (Downtown Area) July 17th -21st. I would be quite happy with any of the 4* hotels on the list EXCEPT the Westin Harbour.

Do you experts reckon there is any way to avoid just this one hotel?

Similarly, if I began naming my own price at say $28.00 USD per night, which 4* hotel am I likely to hit upon first if I incrementally increase my bid until the first acceptance?

Thanks for your help, and great site.

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

You can't avoid the possibility of the Westin when bidding on priceline. If there is a particular property you are trying to avoid then you may be better off using Hotwire where you can often take an educated guess as to which property it is beforehand... or at least have a guess as to what property it likely isn't.

if I began naming my own price at say $28.00 USD per night, which 4* hotel am I likely to hit upon first if I incrementally increase my bid until the first acceptance?

Do you intend to start your bidding at $28? If so, i think you'd be wasting your bids (continue reading) and your time.

Not sure if you've ever used priceline before, but you can't continue to bid indefinately. Priceline will only allow you to make the same identical bid once in a 24 hour period... so you can't just bid $28, $29, $30, $31, etc, etc until you are accepted.

If you let us know your maximum bid we can suggest a strategy for you to follow.

[grapejuice]

Thanks for the clarification.

We'll actually need a one-off night on the 12th in Toronto as well as the five night 17-21st stay later that week. I'm going to attempt a 38usd bid for the 'stand alone' night and see what it comes up with. If the bid is successful and for an agreeable hotel I may try the same specific price for the 17-21st stay. Does this sound a reasonable strategy

[grapejuice]

Just got turned down for a bid of $37US for a 3 (or four) star hotel 7/12 - 7/13 Toronto Downtown. Will have to wait 24 hours to try again I suppose.

[GM Mike]

For a 3* bid for downtown Toronto, there are also two free rebid zones. Have you read our article on PRICELINE REBIDDING EXPLAINED?

If you would like to bid twice more today, please read that article and determine your free rebid zones. Before you bid, you may want to post them here and ask for any clarification -- to make sure you don't end up with a hotel in the wrong zone.

Good luck.

[grapejuice]

I think I understand the concept - you up your bid slighty, and modify the 'zone' criteria to include an additional zone that DOES NOT have any hotels with the same or higher the star rating as the one in the original zone you are bidding in.

It would seem that from the list on this sight there is only 'Scarborough/Pickering' that doesn't have any 3 star hotels. Is there one I'm missing?

Thanks for your help.

[GM Mike]

Yes, there is a zone you are missing.

It is EXTREMELY important that you do NOT use the hotel lists here to determine rebid zones.

You need to go to the initial zone selection screen for Toronto on priceline, from a fresh bid (not from a bid you already made) and individually check each zone. Check it, go to the * rating selection screen, note the maximum * rating available, then GO BACK, uncheck it, check the next one, repeat.

You may want to make a list of the max * rating for each zone to reference.

You want to go through this process EACH TIME you bid, as zone * ratings change regularly (as you've just discovered).

[thereuare]

From Priceline Re-Bidding Explained:

The way to check what star levels are available in each zone is to open a Priceline page, check ONLY the zone you are inquiring about, and then proceed to the next page (as if you were going to select a zone)... this will give you the available star ratings in that area. You can then hit BACK on your browser, uncheck the current box, check the next box, and repeat the process. It is important to do this before EACH attempt at adding a zone that you really don't want, as new hotels can be added and the star ratings can change at any time.

[grapejuice]

Ah yes, thanks for this tip.

So -

After initial bid of

37.00 Toronto Downtown -rejected

Logged in using SavingsBarn, -

7/12/06 -7/13/06

3 Star Hotel in Toronto Downtown zone

First bid

45.00 - Toronto Downtown + Toronto East rejected

55.00 - Toronto Downtown + Toronto East + Scarborough/Pickering rejected.

What should I do next? Try doing the whole thing over with 4 stars and a high initial offer?

[GM Mike]

You won't be able to bid again today since your 3* bids include 4* implicitly.

The "right" answer is probably to inch your bids up by a few $ each bid, three bids a day, until you hit a win or reach whatever your maximum bid amount is. You should also have a fully refundable backup reservation somewhere. Also, you should check hotwire and see if you can find any deals there.

Also keep in mind, even if you get a hotel you like for this night, bidding that same price on another night(s) does NOT have a strong correlation with what hotel you'll get on your new bid. If there is more than one hotel willing to accept a particular price, the win may be awarded randomly. There may also be different pricing levels/inventory for different dates that are not reflected in any way from the transparent sites.

[grapejuice]

Identify this hotel?

3Star 7/16 - 7/21

Amens - Fitness, Pool, Restuarant,

$83 USD Per night...

Will go by savingsbarn if I use this

[thereuare]

The above hotel has not yet been identified.

Please keep all posts for this stay in this same thread.