Priceline Hotel: New York Assistance - Please

[sunshine+]

Hi,

Another newbie who has read your suggestions, and tracked the calendar of wins (current and historical for dates), who attempted to use your rebidding strategy, and who needs your assistance.

Attempting to obtain a room in the MTW area for Oct. 7 through Oct. 9 and began with a 133.00 bid through your linked priceline site.

I am bidding for a 4 star hotel.

I've increased the bid to 225.00 and have added the Times Square area and the upper east side. Still no winner.

In the Calendar of Wins are a couple of winning bids for MTW and East for 120 and 130.00.

What am I doing wrong????

Any assistance you can provide will be greatly appreciated!

Thank you

[thereuare]

In the Calendar of Wins are a couple of winning bids for MTW and East for 120 and 130.00.

For these dates at the 4* level... i didn't see anything similar in price to this when searching the Priceline and Hotwire Calendar of Wins for these dates. If you see such a win please provide a link.

Rates are date specific and rates for these particular nites are quite high... how high are you willing to bid for a 4* before considering lowering your star rating to 3.5*? If you're willing to expand the zones you're willing to accept to most of midtown (MTE, MTW, CPS, TS and ESB) i'm guessing you're looking at ~$275 or so for a 4* property (we would of course start lower and systematically increase the bids)

Let us know your thoughts or show an example of $120-$130 wins for these dates and we'll take it from there.

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

[sunshine+]

Thank you for your reply.

My apologies for not being clear regarding the price for the specific dates I am requesting. According to the Calendar of Wins, for the dates of Oct. 7 thru Oct. 9, 2011 it appears wins have been obtained in the MTE district for The Barclay at $220 and $230.

When you compare this to Oct. 8, 2010 (last year), a 4 star hotel in the MTE district ( W New York Hotel) was won at $150, and in the MTW district the Sheraton went for $210. This only is a historical perspective of a very small sampling...

I began my strategy based on several guidelines obtained when searching for strategies to use in negotiating a winning bid on Priceline. For example some have suggested starting your opening bid at 50% of the best rate you can find on the Internet and then increase. For the hotel I was interested in winning the best found price (for my dates) was $341. My opening bid was just a bit below and was increased in both dollar increments and by increasing the number of districts that I would be satisfied winning. In addition, districts were included that did not offer 4 stars so that I could increase the frequency of my bid.

Winning a Priceline bid at 25% of the lowest Internet price available on a chosen hotel would be fantastic; however, my last bid of $255 was not accepted as you alluded to. A bid of $275 in the MTW area represents a 19.5 % price savings for the hotel which I have targeted. A good Priceline customer probably is more comfortable operating outside of the box and does not have targeted hotels that they find most desirable.

I appreciate the work and the assistance that you and many others offer and provide on this site. Now, I must do a bit of soul searching and determine "what is the best deal for me"?

Thank you.

[sunshine+]

:) Any Replies????

Could the strategies of "Priceline" be compared to other market strategies??? For example, a discounted sales price that is only available when other market conditions are vulnerable, or other conditions can accurately be compared ?

For example, any stock price that fluctuates according to price and/or demand, or market changes?

The price of today is not congruent to the price of yesterday or tomorrow???

These all represent my random thoughts when bidding towards a potential Priceline bid.

Hearing the wonderful success of others, only inspires us to determine a similar successful strategy.

Happy Bidding.

[thereuare]

Now, I must do a bit of soul searching and determine "what is the best deal for me"?

Any Replies????

I thought we were waiting for you to determine your next move.

I'll stick with the general price ranges i've previously posted above...

If you're looking at MTE, MTW, TS, CPS and ESB you're likely looking at ~$275 for a 4* property... if just MTW and TS probably close to the +/- $300 mark.

I think the next call is how much of a discount you require in order to make an opaque purchase worthwhile.

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases. (or our support page if you decide to book direct)

Let us know once you decide how you'd like to proceed and we'll advise accordingly.