BetterBidding in Washington Post

[thereuare]

Here is the online version of the article (in printer friendly format for easy reading). Congratulations to our very own board member, gleff, who was quoted in the article on Page 4:

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[WillTravel]

This line from the article (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11660-2003Jul18.html) has to be an error: "... Priceline lists about 100 locales"

I practically think I've bid on 100 locales myself (well not quite, not by far). But the point is, there are way more than 100 different locales.

Edit: I guess what he is saying is that Priceline lists about 100 vacation locales for vacation packages, which is probably accurate.

I'm tempted to try the suggestion given to ask Priceline agents for advice as to what to bid. I'm curious as to what they would say.

[thereuare]

Receiving advice on what to bid is only for the Vacation Package product. I don't think i'd waste my time with calling Priceline for help with that since even the article mentioned two very different suggested prices from two different customer service agents.

The vacation product may be right for some people, but i don't think i'd ever use it. With the Vacation Package you must agree to be willing to accept one connection each way, and that alone is a deal breaker for me. If i was willing to accept Priceline's flight terms, i think a better deal could be had bidding the flight and accomodations separately (although i'd be giving up hotel selection).

[gleff]

It's an alright piece -- actually does a pretty good job of explaining some useful things for the uninitiated. I spent a long time with the author explaining rebids and going into greater depth than could ever appear in a Sunday paper (including how to figure free rebids when there aren't any zones without the quality level you're bidding for, as well as how Priceline's revenue model works). In the end, he used a pretty run of the mill bid of mine as an example. And by the way -- when he wanted to know the taxes and fees on the room, he just looked up the bid here on this website. :)

[thereuare]

I was disappointed that it mostly focused on the Vacation Package product, when most long time users know that the 'real deal' is in the straight hotel product. I therefore would have prefered to see him bid separately for airfare and hotel, rather than use the combined vacation package product.

Thanks for pointing him in our direction :)