Priceline Hotel: 3.5* Orange County (Orange, Garden Grove)

[916Joe]

We'll be headed down to Disneyland so thought I'd give this a whirl. I'll start bidding next week. How low do you guys suggest to start the bidding? Any secrets to getting the best price?

PS

I have my in-laws coming as well. Would it be better to include them in the bid or do two separate bids?

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

I have my in-laws coming as well. Would it be better to include them in the bid or do two separate bids?

It depends how you feel about your in-laws :) Assuming you want everyone to be at the same hotel then you should bid for both rooms in the same bid... otherwise you could receive a different hotel for each purchase.

Please start by reading your messages... then once you're ready to bid, let us know your maximum bid for this stay and we'll suggest a strategy for you to follow.

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

[916Joe]

LOL. Yeah, we want to stay in the same hotel. So we will have 3 rooms total. My maximum bid? Well, as low as I can get it :) I'm going regardless so I'm just interested in the best price for a nice hotel close to Disneyland. It looks like many are getting around $42 a night which sounds great to me! Should i just bid $35 per room per night in the zone I want and go from there? I have two months so time is on my side.

[thereuare]

Most bids in this zone at the 3.5* level are typically won between $45-$65. Any strategy we suggest will involve multiple bids, starting low and gradually increasing, all within the same bidding cycle, which ensures that you don't overbid based upon current prices.

Lets u know your maximum bid and we'll suggest a strategy for you to follow. (if you don't have a maximum bid then you need to first find the best deal you can thru conventional booking channels, then determine a maximum bid based upon how much savings you would need from that rate to make not choosing your hotel still be 'a deal')

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

[916Joe]

Gotcha.

So, I think I would be happy winning a place for $55 a night. If I bid on my room individually I'll save more money than if I include the in-laws though because the $10 a night savings will come off my room instead of 3 rooms... so that leads me to a follow up question. What are the chances of me getting a different hotel if I split it into two bids (my 1 and their 2) if I bid the exact same amount within 10 minutes? Is their an algorithm involved or is it all based on price point?

[thereuare]

If you want all the rooms to be at the same hotel you should bid them all together, imo.

Hotels can make any number of rooms available to PRICELINE at a specified rate. The hotel you win may only have one room offered/available for your set of dates, and once you purchase it, that hotel would no longer be in the running on subsequent bids (unless the hotel made more rooms available to PRICELINE).

I'd say more often then not the same hotel is received... but there are many, many, many examples of not receiving the same hotel, so the risk is certainly not minuscule.

Let us know how you'd like to proceed.