Priceline Hotel: Need bidding stategy - Newnan, GA

[jkloni]

Need help bidding for a hotel for 2 nights 7/26 - 7/27, checking out 7/28 in Newnan, GA.

Priceline has a zone for it with 2* and 1* hotels.

The zones grouped with it are Peachtree with 3,2, & 1 star hotels and Union City with only 1 star hotels.

I put in (just for fun) $20 and it didn't give me the '.... your bid has little chance of winning.....' on the next screen (I wasn't going to actually bid yet) so I backed out and re-entered $16, and it still didn't give me the ' you should rethink your bid'. I thought Priceline always gave that 'rethink your bid and bid higher' speil.

I checked for any info on hotels won in any of these areas and there is no info for these zones.

Also, Hotwire doesn't have any hotels in this zone. Only Peachtree. Want to stay in the Newnan area (family reunion).

I know I'll only have 1 rebid zone unless someone can come up with a strategy. Suggestions on what to start bidding and increments?

Thanks for the help.

[thereuare]

Hard to take a guess with no bidding history, but i would recommend starting as follows:

Selecting 2*....

bid $22, if rejected add re-bid zone

bid $25.

wait 72 hours

bid $28, if rejected add re-bid zone

bid $31.

wait 72 hours

bid $34, if rejected add re-bid zone

bid $37.

The above should take you about one week to cycle through. If unsuccessful, report back and i'll update as to whether i would start the cycle over again or raise my bid further.

Of course, feel free to update your success/failure along the way.

Good Luck.

[jkloni]

Thanks, Thereuare.

I'll keep you and the board posted on my progress.

[jkloni]

No Luck Yet....

Bid 2* hotel

$22 in Newnan zone - rejected

$25 with free rebid zone (Union City) rejected

$28 added PeachTree City (that has 3*, 2* and 1*) -- rejected.

I think I'll try to go up to $31 and 3* if it will let me and try that.

If rejected. I'll wait 72 hours and try again.

What do you think?

[thereuare]

The highest rating in Newnan is 2*... no?

[jkloni]

Yes. 2 is the highest in Newnan. My mother in law agreed to stay in PeachTree City if I bid there and won because I needed it to keep bidding. Plus she liked the fact of the 3 star possibility. (She's never used Priceline before, but when she heard about my $40 Miami room and my $25 Orlando room :) she wanted me to try and get her a room in Newnan.)

Peachtree City has 3,2, and 1 star hotel options.

I just went back and bid:

3*

in Peachtree City zone - $30 - rejected

added, free zone Union City, bid - $31 - rejected

added Union city and 2 star for $33 - rejected

Priceline is showing that a 2* star in the area retails for $47

and a 3* retails for $53. I would think a $33 bid should have won.

I have used up all of my bids, so I'll have to wait the 72 hours.

What are your thoughts?

[thereuare]

So when you go to bid again in 72 hours, what is the zone of preference? If Peachtree is 'acceptable', how desirable is it compared to Newnan?

I recall seeing a $43 rate on Orbitz for your dates at the Sheraton, so i'd consider that my place to fall back upon, and wouldn't think about bidding more then $37 at this point.

Those are my thoughts. Feel free to ask add'l questions and answer the above questions at which point i will put together a new bidding strategy for the next 72 hour period.

[jkloni]

Newnan is where she has stayed before, but Peachtree City zone is less than 10 miles away. She was willing to go outside of the Newnan zone to save money, and possibly get a nicer room since there is/are 3 star hotel(s) in that zone.

I did not see a Sheraton listed anywhere for Peachtree or Newnan. The closest one I was given by Orbitz was in Atlanta - about 20 miles away. Did I miss something?

And I agree that $37 is about as high as I'd go.

I'll try again in 72 hours. Any bidding strategy would be aprreciated.

Again, thanks for all of your help!

oh, and some of the hotels are sold out for the dates I need. Maybe there is something going on that weekend besides a family reunion?

[thereuare]

My mistake, it was a Ramada for $43.

This is how i would proceed:

3* Peachtree city...

bid $34, if rejected add re-bid zone

bid $36, if rejected add re-bid zone

bid $37, if rejected....

Start a completely new bidding screen:

2* Newnan....

bid $31, if rejected add re-bid zone

bid $34, if rejected add Peachtree (not a re-bid zone, but acceptable to you)

bid $37.

Of course, starting your bids at SavingsBarn is always appreciated.

PS- if some hotels are sold out, you may want to find a cancellable back-up in the meantime, if you haven't already.

[jkloni]

Just an update.....

Unsuccessful.

Did exactly as you recommended:

Bid Peachtree City 3*

$34 rejected,

$36 rejected,

$37 rejected

Got out, went back in (using Savingsbarn.com)

Bid Newnan, GA 2*

$31 rejected,

$34 (added Peachtree which has 2* hotels) rejected

$37 rejected.

At this point it will probably be better to buy a room and have the option of picking which hotel. I checked Expedia, Hotel.com, etc and there are hotels for $46, $48, $53.

Thanks for helping me. I guess it's just not going to work out in this little town. Big cities have more competition I guess.....