Priceline Hotel: 5* Barcelona (La Rambla-La Barceloneta) - 5/12-5/18 - Need Bidding Hel

[ardabey]

Travel dates: May 12 - May 18 2011

City: Barcelona

Zone: La Rambla - La Barceloneta

Star Rating: 5*

Comfortable with spending up to $180 a night.

$133 - $146 - $158 - $165 did not work. Did not even get a counter offer.

Any ideas would be appreciated regarding the bidding strategy.

Posting first time, so sorry about formatting issues in advance. Let me know if I need to add more info.

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

When bidding 5* in this zone you have ONE re-bid zone available. If you're not familiar with re-bidding please read Priceline Re-Bidding Explained and feel free to ask questions and/or confirm your re-bid zones with the board before proceeding.

Select 5* La Rambla-La Barceloneta...

Bid $170, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $175

If the above is rejected wait 24 hours and try again (starting please with a link on this board, not from any emails PRICELINE sends you):

Select 5* La Rambla-La Barceloneta...

Bid $178, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $180

Any questions feel free to ask.

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

Good luck and keep us updated on your progress.

[ardabey]

... When bidding 5* in this zone you have ONE re-bid zone available. ... Any questions feel free to ask...

Thanks for the quick reply.

When I check the priceline hotel list, I see 5* hotel possibilities on all of the 4 zones for Barcelona on Priceline. If I understand the re-bidding concept correctly, I should be selecting a zone without a 5* hotel. Therefore I am a little confused.

Also, definitely would not want to stay on another part of the town. Your help is appreciated to clarify your earlier point about ONE possible re-bid zone.

Thanks.

[yellowdog]

ardabey

You shouldn't use boards list to determ your free zone.

Please use the way explained in this link: Priceline Re-Bidding Explained

Just post if you have any further questions.

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

Yellowdog.

[ardabey]

ardabey

You shouldn't use boards list to determ your free zone... Yellowdog.

I dont know why you're replying inbold. I am not necessarily trying to determine the free zone. I read the pricing re-bidding explained page, and I understand the concept. However, based on the list of hotels I don't think this will work for me, as there is no zone in Barcelona without a 5* hotel.

Thereuare says there is ONE re-bidding zone, that I cant find out. Which is why I sent my question.

Anyway, never mind...

[thereuare]

I dont know why you're replying inbold.

It was just your name since he was addressing you specifically in the reply :)

I am not necessarily trying to determine the free zone... as there is no zone in Barcelona without a 5* hotel.

You are trying to determine the re-bid zone, as there is ONE re-bid zone available when bidding 5* in this area. You're using the hotel lists on the board to determine your re-bid zone, which is not what you should be using to determine your re-bid zones. We'll break it down further for you...

1) Use the PRICELINE search box on the upper right of this page, enter 'Barcelona, Spain' and your dates, and click "GO".

2) List each zone that is offered in this region.

3) Next to each zone list the highest star rating offered in the zone. The way to determine the highest tar rating offered n the zone is by selecting the first zone i the list, then scrolling down to see the highest star rating selectable (ie- not greyed out). NEXT UNcheck the selected zone, place a checkmark in the next zone, and repeat the process for each zone in the region. Each time you take note of the highest star rating in the zone, make sure that only ONE zone is selected above.

4) post your findings and we'll take it from there

If you don't follow the above just post back and we'll break it down further.

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

[Romelle]

ardabey,

May I please add to this discussion.

The reason both thereuare and yellowdog are so firm about making sure you use the correct technique for detecting free rebid zones is that things change from time to time. One always should recheck just before bidding. Hotels come and go in Priceline availability, and also the ones usually there get their star ratings changed up or down from time to time. Some 5* you are seeing on the list of reported hotels either isn't available just now or has had its star level decreased.

Or the zone boundaries may have changed, cutting a 5* out of the particular zone. Priceline tries to avoid situations where there is only one hotel of a particular level since then it really isn't opaque bidding.

There really will be one zone out there that doesn't show 5* offerings. Or at least there was one minute ago when I checked.

Regarding Barcelona, the last time I stayed there I ended up in Barcelona East, after trying for La Rambla until I hit the top of my budget. An interesting, quieter area also, and just a nice walk from La Rambla. Might be a consideration for you? The trip before, since Barcelona prices were astronomical just then, I ended up north on the coast (Santa Susanna) and rode the train in every day. Incredible scenery along the way. And it was a nice launching point for going north to Figueres one day for the Dali museum.

When you get this hotel business tied down, I'm sure you will have a wonderful trip. I thought Barcelona an amazing place.

Romelle

PS - when somebody has quoted me in another note, they often put my name in bold too. In fact, I just looked more carefully at the editing options I had just above this note, and changed the all caps I had used on the "just before" into bolding. I know the all caps is considered yelling, and hadn't meant it that way of course. But wanted to emphasize it a bit.

PPS - In fact, I just had all kinds of fun playing with the different editing options here. Somehow I'd never noticed them before.