Priceline Hotel: 2.5* Plano Wellesley Inn and Suites

[dje]

Originally bid $22 (Carrollton/Addison & Plano/Frisco). Rejected, but came back with offer to raise by $6. Since I couldn't do any free re-bids in the area at that level, I went to $28 and was accepted at this location. I probably should have only put in one zone initially, then added the other one after the rejection to give myself a free re-bid (that would have worked, no?).

Your Offer Price: $28.00

Number of Rooms: 1

Number of Nights: 1

Subtotal: $28.00

Taxes and

Service Fees: $9.70

Total Charges: $37.70

[thereuare]

I probably should have only put in one zone initially, then added the other one after the rejection to give myself a free re-bid (that would have worked, no?).

Sort of....

Re-bidding is adding a zone that does not have the star level (or higher) that you are bidding.

So given your example, yes, only bidding one zone at first would have given you a second chance at undercutting the add'l $6. HOWEVER, if you had only bid Carrollton/Addison first, you never would have been given the counter-offer since the hotel they 'encourged' you to get wasn't even in the zone you were bidding (ie- the hotel is in Plano, but you were bidding Carrolton/Addison)

IF you would be happy with either zone, and know that one zone is cheaper than the other, then it's recommended to bid only the cheaper zone first, and then if rejected, raise your bid and add the more expensive zone.

Hope the above makes sense, but if it doesn't, just ask me clarify and i'll detail futher with an example.

Thanks for posting!

[dje]

Thanks for the explanation thereuare! Makes sense.

Just a question though on PL, when they 'encourage' you to bid higher, are they targeting a specific hotel then (in our case, the Wellsley Inn)? My original comment was based on the fact that I would have been happy in either zone, but I may have incorrectly assumed that my $28 recommended bid would have potentially garnered me a hotel in either location.

[thereuare]

The 'encouragement' (generally referred to on this board as a 'counter offer') are offered randomly, often when you are 'close' to an accepted bid.

I'm not sure i completely understand your question, but...

If you receive the couter-offer and raise your bid to that price, you are almost certain to get a hotel that lies within one of the zones you selected. You don't know which zone that is until after you purchase, but you can be sure that Priceline knows exactly what hotel you'll receive if you raise your bid to that price. I have never heard of anyone raising their bid to the counter-offer price and not getting their bid accepted.

You can read more about counter-offers here: Priceline Suggests Price to Pay

In the above link you'll read that it's generally suggested to turn down the counter-offer, but in your case, you didn't have any re-bid zones available and your check-in date was near, so you did the right thing by accepting it.

If the above didn't answer your intended question, just ask for futher explanation.