Priceline Hotel: 3* Miami (Downtown) Hyatt

[mzjones34]

My thinking process...

My goal was to get a good 3* or higher for $59 or less.

First, I looked at Hotwire and found a 3.5* Downtown Miami for $51 (likely the Sheraton B.Bay), and 3.5* Miami Airport for $48.

So, I proceeded on priceline to see if I could beat that deal... (I noticed that in another posting, a bidder received the Hyatt downtown for $27, so that's where I started).

1st bid, miami downtown 3*, $25 = rejected

!!! WARNING !!! Tried to re-bid using a 4*... then realized that you can't go up in rankings during a re-bid :( important lesson!

So, I (cheated and) moved to another computer, used a different email and credit card and continued something like this...

1st bid, miami downtown 4*, $30 = rejected

re-bid, added 3*, $31 = rejected

re-bid, added miami airport, $35 = accepted!

Hyatt

Total Charges: $45.31 (includes tax)

[thereuare]

Good job!

My only comment, and i don't think it affected anything this time around, is that it's often risky to lower your star rating and raise your price at the same time. An over-bid can often result, but i don't think that was too much of a risk this time because your 4* bid was so low to begin with.

You can read more about it here in the General Priceline Tips forum: If you lower your star rating, lower your price

[mzjones34]

Ah ha! Point taken. Thank you!

I didn't realize that you could lower your bid price, or even keep it the same... if you lower the zones. Another lesson learned.

Thanks again for all your help!

[TravelGuy]

Another thing I see here is that, unless one doesn't mind staying near the airport, it can be risky using the airport zone as a re-bid for downtown. In this case a $35 bid was probably $4-5 too low to get a bite from an airport hotel, but one never knows.

It would appear that the optimal strategy for bidding in downtown Miami, as of today, would be:

- Start with 3* Downtown

- add North Miami (has nothing over 2.5*)

- add Southwest Miami (has nothing over 2.5*)

- add Key Biscayne (has nothing from 1*-3*, only 4* & Resort)

There's a theoretical possibility of getting upgraded to 4* using Key Biscayne, but if that were to happen, most people would probably consider it cause for celebration and not disappointment. That zone used to show 3* availability, but it's apparently off the radar now.

[thereuare]

There's a theoretical possibility of getting upgraded to 4* using Key Biscayne, but if that were to happen, most people would probably consider it cause for celebration and not disappointment.

Personally i wouldn't want to use the Key Biscayne as a re-bid zone, especially if i was using this for a pre-cruise stay (which i guess this is, since the OP was willing to stay downtown or at the airport). However, the strategy posted would be good for somebody that was willing to stay in Key Biscanye, but would prefer downtown.

I only add this so that people don't use Key Biscayne as a bonafide re-bid, and understand the risk involved in doing so.

To take this a step further, how about:

- Start with 3* Downtown

- add Key Biscayne

-Start over with Downtown and North Miami

- add Southwest Miami (has nothing over 2.5*)

This would give you the extra bid you're looking for, adds Key Biscayne on a much lower bid, then reverts back to traditionaly re-bidding.

If you really need the re-bids, you could also:

-Downtown

-Downtown and North Miami

-start over with Downtown and Southwest Miami

-Downtown and Southwest Miami and North Miami

PS- i didn't re-check the actual zones, i just went based upon what TravelGuy posted. It is recommended that you check your Re-bid Zones before placing your own bids.

[TravelGuy]

I see now that mz was also looking at the airport zone; had originally thought he was focusing exclusively on the Hyatt Downtown.

IMO though I would be shocked and awed to see a 3* bid in the $30-40 something range, or even low-mid $50's, being upgraded to 4* in Key Biscayne. So I think that's a good bone fide re-bid.