Priceline Hotel: 4* Montreal (Downtown) Hyatt Regency

[robteb]

Wow, this one's been a tough win, with the Mutek music festival on this week. I've been bidding for a few weeks now, trying to get four nights (06/03-06/07), while at the same time keeping my bids under $90 for fear of getting a 4* other than the Hyatt (which is located in the centre of all Mutek activity). Finally this past weekend, I started to break up my stay into 2 and 3 night pieces, but still no luck.

Tonight however -- success!! I knew I was getting close when at the $75 bid level, I was offered a free re-bid for an $18 increase. I of course did not accept the offer, split the difference (plus a bit) and did a fresh bid for $86 (my 75 + 11).

I then attempted to use PRICELINE'S "extend your stay" feature, to include my original preferred check-in date of June 3. Unfortunately, it was not accepted at the winning bid level of $86. I was however offered the extra night for $111, which I jumped on, as I could not be assured of success if I tried a completely new bid, and this way I knew I would not have to switch hotels either!!

Started all this with BetterBidding's PRICELINE link above, as always!!

[robteb]

Sorry, hit the wrong button -- this obviously should be in the Priceline forum (oops :) )

[robteb]

Sorry, hit the wrong button -- this obviously should be in the Priceline forum (oops :) )

Thanks to our ever-efficient mods., this thread is now in it's rightful place!! :)

[AaronJB]

Congratulations on your success. :)

Wonderful deal for this Hyatt property, and glad you are pleased with the result.

Thank you for sharing your win with the board and using the site's PRICELINE link.

Enjoy your stay.

[vandan]

So Robteb, please help me out - increasing your bid would have lowered your chances to get the Hyatt? What is the rationale?

Thanks,

Dan

[robteb]

The Hyatt usually goes for the lowest rate of all the 4* hotels in Montreal. If I increased my bid too much, and there was no availability at the Hyatt, there was a chance that another 4* might have accepted my bid. By keeping my bid relatively low (below the lowest winning bid level for the next most common 4* win -- the Omni for $90), I knew it would probably (hopefully) be too low for the other 4*s to accept. Of course, I could have been unlucky, and another 4* with a high vacancy rate for my dates might have accepted $86 anyway, but the general history of Montreal wins was in my favour.

Every city and date of stay is obviously different, but by studying the BetterBidding Calendar of Wins, you can often figure each hotel's pricepoint. Hope this helps!!

[vandan]

You bet - thanks for taking the time to explain.

Dan

[rpinadk]

I echo those thanks to ROBTEB.

Hope you enjoy the Hyatt, I recently stayed their and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Being a somewhat frequent visitor to Montreal.I really appreciate the detailed explanation about your strategy.

More info is better and often people are so brief with their posts.

How did you detect the thresholds for what the 4 stars were excepting?

THANKS

RPINADK

[robteb]

Basically I just kept a close eye on the BetterBidding Priceline and Hotwire Calendar of Wins over the month or so before my dates. It's easier in some cities than others. For example, NYC can be all over the place, with the sheer number of hotels offered to PRICELINE at any given time. In April, I was SURE I had the 3* Park Central nailed, and yet I got the Holiday Inn Midtown (which actually turned out to be a better hotel for my purposes)!! Montreal, on the other hand, with only 4 or 5 common 4*'s, is much easier. All that being said, it's still always cavet emptor -- you never really know for sure what your bid is going to produce!!