advice for booking 2-week stay?

[JulesBo]

Have you ever used the "extend your stay" option with Priceline? I've used PL several times, but never had occasion to accept that--which I think has been offered every time. We'll stay in the Twin Cities (MN) for a couple weeks this summer, and I'm considering booking a one-night stay, and if I like the result we could extend it. If I don't like the result, I could try again (perhaps bid a little higher or raise the * level) for the second night. Needless to say, I won't subject the family to endless hotel-hopping...but I wonder what your opinion is, of this strategy?

[thereuare]

Few things to note regarding the "extend your stay" option from PRICELINE...

• you can only extend your stay for up to the same number of nites tat you bid... so if only purchase one nite, you can only extend one additional nite (not the balance of your stay)
  
• even when offered, it doesn't guarantee that you'll be able to extend the stay, PRICELINE could come back and 1) extend your stay at the same price, 2) indicate that they can extend your stay but only at a higher price then the original purchase (at which point you'll have the option to accept or reject the additional nite, of 3) indicate that there is no available for the additional nite(s)
  

Once you're ready to bid let us know the particulars of your stay (dates, budget, desired star rating, etc) and we'll try to be of further help.

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

[relaxing41]

In the past the extend a stay was great since almost always they would let you extend at the rate that you purchased the room for. Lately it is just a ploy to get you to pay higher amounts on the extra days. Take the offer into consideration and then just bid for it using your last amount and the new offer amount as a reference. as priceline sees ,more options to increase bids you need to be a bit more savy and decline to save the most money.of course there are situations in which u just want to acept their raised offer and move on,

[Romelle]

For a stay as long as 2 weeks, you probably need to see if there are any dates with rates unusually high or low. I'd suggest taking a look at individual date rates via something like Expedia, or even the hotel rack rates for hotels you think you might get. If the rates are pretty much flat, there isn't an issue, but if there is a lot of variance, it can work better to split your bid into ranges of days with the higher rates and the lower rates.

You might also look at the Calendar of Wins (above on this page) for your dates and see what is working for people.

I've only had two experiences with the extend deal. Once PL let me do it at the same rate, and once the rate was about 30% higher (I didn't do it that time). But I've read of people doing exactly what you are contemplating - bid and see if you like, and then try to extend. It is more likely to work if the rates are generally flat across the time span. It is highly unlikely to work if you get a successful bid for dates where the rates are low, and then try to extend into an area where the rates are high.

Romelle

[relaxing41]

Oh and just wanted to add this may guarantee that you do end up hotel hopping if you do not accept their rate for the extend a stay. Though it has been my experience that they make every effort to keep you in the same hotel for the dates that you are working on and city. Some hotels just do not offer priceline rates for certain nights and will not even offer extend a stay option forcing you to rebid for the next night. This only happened to me once where I had to rebid and not get the same hotel. For example thurs - sunday will be one rate and mon - wed either will not be offered or offered at higher rate. Ive seen the reverse happen in states like florida. Ive also seen raising your bid getting you the exact same hotel as that was the only one being offered in the area. Ive bid $55 and won and extended my stay with a $92 bid and received the same property. and the next night I bid $65 and still got the same property but the following night bid $42 and Finally rec'd the property I was overbidding to get. LOL! who knew it would take a LOWER bid to get what I really wanted. keep in mind while you may not mind hotel hopping some spouses and children, like mine may not appreciate it as much unless you explain the savings and the packing and repacking is not much of a hassle. Have fun on your trip and hope this helped.