Can you bid to eliminate some cheaper hotels?

[lizzB]

I am new here and this idea may have occurred to others already, if so please excuse my newness. I have recently signed up for alerts from priceline, when an area I am interested gets a winning bid, I am notified. This morning I got an email saying a bid was accepted in Wytheville Va at $65.00 for a 2 star hotel. In this area there are at least 2 or 3 hotels with 2*s that are retailed for less than $65.00. I was wondering why someone would bid $65.00 in that area. Then I realized that it could be that if you bid over the retail price that Priceline can't give you that hotel, as their guarantee would cause the winner to claim a refund and the $25.00 award. Could this be a strategy then, to bid over the retail to eliminate some of the lesser priced hotels in an area and star level? I hope I have explained my question well.

[AaronJB]

It's highly recommended to not try to bid higher to get a particular property, as you can end up paying more than retail price through bidding (it has definitely happened.) It would then be a matter of trying to contact PRICELINE to get the deal guarantee.

Overall though, bidding more to try and avoid a particular hotel could very likely result in overpaying for the hotel you were trying to avoid. Please let us know the details of your stay (desired budget, dates, zones, star rating, etc) if you would like assistance.

Thank you for using the site's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links to start your purchases and searches.

[lizzB]

I guess I agree, it probably would be too much trouble to get your money back from Priceline. Can't believe they told me the winning bids were more than the retail prices of the 2* hotels.

[thereuare]

I got an email saying a bid was accepted in Wytheville Va at $65.00 for a 2 star hotel. In this area there are at least 2 or 3 hotels with 2*s that are retailed for less than $65.00. I was wondering why someone would bid $65.00 in that area.

Since rates are date specific, and the dates are not indicated in the alert, how do you know that retail rates for the date(s) won were not unusually high (due to an event, conference, etc in the area?)

It would be appreciated if you used the requested PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your future bidding, searches and travel purchases.