Sooner, Later, More, Less

[Tacoma]

Hi,

I have a simple question but I searched around for a while and didn't see anything on this subject.

Are hotel prices likely to be better bidding closer to my travel dates or earlier? I bidded on a 4 star last night for 4 weeks from now and I offered pretty good prices and it was all rejected. What is the latest I should wait to bid? A week before? Also, I was trying for 5 nights in a row. Will this yield better rates or would I be better off just bidding for 1 or 2 nights at a time?

Thanks

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Best advice is to post the details of your stay in the appropriate state/country category along with what bids you have already made, as each zone has it's own idiosyncracies.

On a more general basis, here is a thread to get you started:

SHOULD I BID EARLY OR LATE TO ARRIVAL?

[Tacoma]

Thanks for the helpful link(s)! That helped a lot and one of them suggested that I might do better within 2 or 3 weeks of my stay, and of course there were a lot of different theories on this question.

Also I will post in the specific area as you suggest.

However, nothing addressed my other question about whether I am better off looking for 5 nights or just 1 or 2. I can guess that 5 nights might be harder for various reasons. I guess I can test this by just bidding for 2 nights at a time, or even one. Worst that can happen is that I get to try different hotels. Would there be any disadvantage to buying 5 nights in 5 separate bids of one night each?

Thanks!

[WillTravel]

What might happen is that you might get say 3 nights at once, and then get the last night, but not get the night in the middle. You could then book conventionally for that middle night, but it might work out easier in that case to just have chosen one hotel from the start without Priceline. Take a look at Hotwire too.

[thereuare]

However, nothing addressed my other question about whether I am better off looking for 5 nights or just 1 or 2...

The answer to this can be zone/date/rate specific, which is why we requested the specifics of your stay.