Priceline Hotel: 2* Albuquerque (Airport ABQ) Comfort Inn

[fourholesn1]

I want to win a 2* hotel in Albuquerque next week using the PRICELINE link here. I am willing to stay in zones 1, 3, 4, 6, or 7. First question, are any of these zones unacceptable for a 2* area? I mean too scary or ugly? Second question, is the following a viable bidding plan?

$20 First bid) New bid: 7

$21 Rebid #1) Rebid screen: 7, add 3

$22 Rebid #2) New bid: 7, 6

$23 Rebid #3) Rebid screen: 7, 6, add 3

$24 Rebid #4) New bid: 7, 4

$25 Rebid #5) Rebid screen: 7, 4, add 3

$26 Rebid #6) New bid: 7, 6, 4

$27 Rebid #7) Rebid screen: 7, 6, 4, add 3

$28 Rebid #8 ) New bid: 7, 1

$29 Rebid #9) Rebid screen: 7, 1, add 3

$30 Rebid #10) New bid: 7, 6, 1

$31 Rebid #11) Rebid screen: 7, 6, 1, add 3

$32 Rebid #12) New bid: 7, 4, 1

$33 Rebid #13) Rebid screen: 7, 4, 1, add 3

$34 Rebid #14) New bid: 7, 6, 4, 1

$35 Rebid #15) Rebid screen: 7, 6, 4, 1, add 3

Thanks.

[thereuare]

I'm not familiar enough with the area to comment on safety factor of any of the zones in this area, but hopefully somebody more local will be able to add their thoughts.

However, i'll add that you may be more likely to get a response from somebody if you make it as easy as possible for them to answer your question... most people won't know off the top of their head what areas zone 1, 3, 4, etc, etc represent. You may want to simply list the zones, by PRICELINE name, that you're willing to accept so that somebody will not have to go research which areas the numerical values correspond to.

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

[fourholesn1]

That's a good point, so the zones are

1 Albuquerque Airport (ABQ)

3 Albuquerque North

4 Albuquerque West

6 Downtown Albuquerque

7 Midtown - Uptown

You didn't comment on my bidding plan, is possible to do what I propose?

[thereuare]

You could bid as you posted above, as none would be viewed as duplicates. However, it's not the most optimal... note how you don't add zone1 until your $28 bid. What if this zone is the cheapest and is available for less... you don't give yourself to win it for under than $28.

What are the date(s) of your stay?

If you want to continue this thread, please click this PRICELINE link before replying.

[fourholesn1]

Oh I see your point, what would you suggest? I'm probably going to use this strategy several times on this trip in other cities so I'd like to find the optimal strategy. The albuquerque stay is in on May 19 and out on May 20. One thing I tried to incorporate in my bidding strategy is that I prefer certain zones over others and that is why zone 1 doesn't show up until late, I want to stay in that zone the least. My first choice is zone 7 and that is why it shows up so much, but I'm not sure if this is a good plan or not, I'd love to benefit from your experience!

[thereuare]

One thing I tried to incorporate in my bidding strategy is that I prefer certain zones over others...

Ultimately what is more important... zone or price?

To use a most optimized strategy will take even more bidding than you posted above, so you also need to strike a balance between time and money... is it worth bidding an extra 15 minutes to save an extra $1-$2? (every values their time differently, so i'm not saying it shouldn't be worth it to you, but it's something you should consider when formulating your strategy as well)

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

[fourholesn1]

Price is most important to me and I wouldn't mind spending 15 minutes to save a dollar or two, I have lots of time but little money.

[thereuare]

So using your example zones above, would you prefer a cheaper hotel in Zone1 vs. a more expensive hotel in Zone7?

[fourholesn1]

Cheaper in zone 1.

[thereuare]

All zones/bid in the same group are bid at the same price. At each dotted line you would close your browser and re-access PRICELINE (using our PRICELINE link :) )...

1

2

3

4

5

------

12

34

51

------

32

41

52

------

123

124

125

------

341

342

345

------

235

145

------

1234

1235

-----

4512

4523

-----

12345

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

[fourholesn1]

Just to clarify, I would only increase my price at the dotted lines? That would give me 9 price increases which is enough.

[thereuare]

Yes, that is correct, you increase your bid at each dotted line... all the bids in the same 'group' use the same bid amount.

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[fourholesn1]

Ok, I did something wrong because when I went to bid on the second group is said "Duplicate Request". I thought the plan was to bid zone one, if rejected switch to zone 2, etc but when I tried to switch the checkbox for zone 1 was greyed out so I couldn't uncheck it so I thought well maybe I should just add zone 2. So I stupidly added zones until I ran one with all 5 zones and now I will have to wait 24 hours. I knew that would happen. Anyway, what did I do wrong?

[thereuare]

You need to close the browser between bids and use our link to re-access PRICELINE (TIP: enter your info into the search box on the top right of the board, then after each you bid you can simply close the PRICELINE window, click the GO button in the search box, and the PRICELINE page will load with all of your information propogated)

So you need to...

1 close browser

2 close browser

3 close browser

4 close browser

5 close browser

------

12 close browser

34 close browser

51 close browser

etc,

etc,

etc

[fourholesn1]

Ah ha, ok I got it now, will try again tomorrow.

[fourholesn1]

Well I executed the plan and finally got a win on THE LAST BID! lol I started at $22 and won the Comfort Inn Albuquerque for $30. I got a duplicate error when I bid on zones 32 in round 3 because I has already bid on 23 in round 2 so I switched to zones 24 and then everything went fine. After the end of each round it would tell me if I increased my bid $7 I could bid again but of course I always declined. I got a too low big warning up through $26. Thanks for the help, I got a nice hotel for a good price, the hotel web site shows $65 as the lowest rate.

5/19/10

$30.00

Taxes & Fees: $11.10

Total Charges*: $41.10

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success!

Glad to see you're happy with the results and the deal you received. I had a typo above which is why you received the duplicate bid message, but i've fixed it to avoid confusion for future users.

There are a few Comfort Inn properties in this zone, can you please add a reply to this thread with the zone that this property is located in as well as the address.

Thank you for sharing your win and using the PRICELINE links on the board to begin your bidding.

Enjoy your stay.

[fourholesn1]

Comfort Inn in the airport zone

2300 Yale Blvd S E

Albuquerque, NM 87106

505-243-2244

[thereuare]

Thanks for the follow-up!