Priceline Hotel: 3.5* Tampa (Airport South-Westshore) Crowne Plaza Westshore

[gabs145]

So I am just going to say that I have never before even heard of bidding for a hotel room. I just found this website and everything else very early this morning and needed to make reservations to check in tomorrow (2/19) and check out Monday (2/21). I was a little confused while reading everything and trying to make sense of it. But this is how I did.

My FIRST BID was for only 4 star hotels and I bid $57. This is what I was typically seeing posted on the message boards. This was declined and I had to change my search criteria.

(Since I could not change the date and had no desire to change the location I just added a 3.5 star search to my criteria.)

My SECOND BID was for 3.5 and 4 star hotels and I bid $67. This too was declined.

(I became frustrated and closed out of the whole screen and then decided to try one more time with the same serch criteria as I had for the second bid.)

My THIRD BID was for $87. (I was very tired and under the impression that I only raised my bid by $10, only to realize AS I TYPE THIS that I actually went up $20. ) And was accepted for the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

ALL TOGETHER: The hotel was $87 a night. The taxes and fees were $31.08. This made my TOTAL $205.08.

I am a little disapointed to see that people posted wonderful deals for 4 star hotels on here and I am paying way more than that for a 3.5 star hotel. However, I am happy with my win because I think there may be a few factors involved in the price. I think I may have gotten a higer rate (not only because I didn't fully understand the bidding) because I bid this morning on a hotel room for tomorrow night and my two nights were a Saturday and a Sunday night. But seeing as the rooms are running at $153 a night and therefore I am saving over $100 on my stay I am quite pleased.

I am not sure if these are actually reasons so PLEASE feedback would be wonderful! (Something other than booking earlier next time! :D ) I will definitely use this website and the priceline bidding again! Hopefully with a better result because of feedback from you guys!

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Congratulations on your success! Don't worry that others may have won for less than you have as rates are date specific, and there wins may have been when rates were lower... instead focus on the great deal that you received vs. a direct purchase and what you would have paid if you had bid on a room for this stay :)

With the above noted, you can certainly improve upon your bidding, and feel free to ask for help before bidding for your next hotel stay (i realize you may have just moved forward with this stay given the time constraints). The biggest PRICELINE tip is to use re-bid zones which enable you to slowly increase your bid while essentially bidding on the same zone and star rating. Not all zones have re-bid zones available, but you do have quite a few in Tampa. See this thread for more info: Priceline Re-Bidding Explained and feel free to ask any questions you may have.

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

Enjoy your stay... and treat yourself to something nice with the savings :)