Bidding Again before 24 hours (Used to be 72 hours)

[Skeet]

Possible Hotel Re-Bid Combinations

I've successfully used the strategy of re-bidding with extra zones several times now, and each time I've had to re-figure the possible combinations for each case. I thought I'd post a couple of lists of re-bid combinations that might save others some work. If this doesn't make sense to you, please read through the above posts to gain an understanding of the basic strategy. Please post a reply if I've made a mistake somewhere in the lists or if Priceline would consider them a repeat bid and I'll correct them!

In each case below, Zone A is where you're wanting to stay. The other zones (B, C, D, etc.) are "free re-bid zones" that only have hotels with star ratings below what you're bidding. Here goes...

Two Re-Bid Zones (B, C):

A

AB

AC

ABC

Three Re-Bid Zones (B, C, D):

A

AB

AC

AD

ABC

ABD

ACD

ABCD

Four Re-Bid Zones (B, C, D, E):

A

AB

AC

AD

AE

ABC

ABD

ABE

ACD

ACE

ADE

ABCD

ABCE

ABDE

ACDE

ABCDE

To use all the multiple re-bids you'll have to log out and back in between most of the bids, of course, but you can figure out when this is required. Hope this is helpful to somebody.

Good luck!

[embguy]

Outstanding... This permutation approach will increase the number of rebids. But one has to restart the biding process for some of the bids because priceline does not allow one to remove B zone from the list after AB bid. Need to restart in order to get AC rebid.

[SmilingBoy]

I think I may have misunderstood this a bit, and now understand. Let me explain what I did for a recent LA bid (see LA forum).

Wanted zone A 4*, there were zones B, C, D, E, F available without 4*, and as free rebid.

So I did

A

AB

ABC

ABCD

ABCDE

ABCDEF

and the bid was still rejected. So I closed my browser and restarted with

AC

but was told that I had a bid using this combination already (no other combination worked either). So if your bid is a subset of a bid you made in the last 24h, your bid won't be accepted.

So to get most free rebids you have to restart your browser a lot more often (actually after almost every bid with a few exceptions when you go to one more zone) and do

A

AB

close browser

AC

close browser

AD

close browser

AE

close browser

AF

ABF

close browser

ABC

close browser

ABD

close browser

ABE

close browser

ACD

close browser

ACE

close browser

ACF

close browser

ADE

close browser

ADF

close browser

AEF

ABEF

close browser

ABCD

close browser

ABCE

close browser

ABCF

close browser

ABDE

close browser

ABDF

close browser

ACDE

close browser

ACDF

close browser

ACEF

close browser

ADEF

ABDEF

close browser

ABCDE

close browser

ABCDF

close browser

ABCEF

ABCDEF

So with 5 rebid zones you can get up to 30 rebids on PRICELINE.

[pamile]

I use Priceline regularly and today I encountered a different reply to my bid. I placed a bid for a 4* dfw hotel @ $45 and it came back saying that I had been rejected and that I should bid $13 higher. I attempted several ways of trying to add a zone and bidding $50 but it would return me to the $13 higher bid page. I even rebooted my computer. Finally I bid the $13 higher and got the hotel for $58. Did I miss something here?

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Did I miss something here?

Yes, this part :)

From Our Rules and Policies:

If you have a complaint, problem, or question with a recent or upcoming Priceline/Hotwire stay, we will be happy to do what we can to help, but please be considerate of the board's primary goal of helping others and first post the details of your 'win.'

Please post the details of your win to the board and we will then answer your question(s) above.

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.

Thanks.

[royal]

Thanks for your strategy Skeet I will try that!

[AnneFitzgerald]

So, I tried to go in and use the system you describe in this thread, but I'm confused because the city zone, stars, and price are all on the same page now! :)

Help!

[thereuare]

(NOTE: for most users Priceline has updated their interface making the above process easier... simply check a zone and note the highest star rating available within each zone, UNcheck that zone and checkmark the next zone, repeating the process)

Simply check the first zone, scroll down (instead of looking at the next page) to see the star levels offered in that zone.

UNCHECK the current zone, place a checkmark in the box of the next zone, repeat the process for each zone.

Is it clearer now? You can also doublecheck your re-bid zones at RE-Bidding.com

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.

[AnneFitzgerald]

Simply check the first zone, scroll down (instead of looking at the next page) to see the star levels offered in that zone.

UNCHECK the current zone, place a checkmark in the box of the next zone, repeat the process for each zone.

Is it clearer now? You can also doublecheck your re-bid zones at RE-Bidding.com

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.

Ah...gotcha. Makes sense. Off to bid! (Using your PRICELINE link, of course!)

AFG

[snobrotha]

I've been able to successfully bid again using the same area and star ratings. All I have to do is back out to the main PRICELINE screen and start the bidding process over again.

For example, I bid $50 for a 3-star in the Columbus Airport area. It got rejected. I went to the main screen, clicked the "Name your own price" link, selected the airport area, 3-stars, and increased my bid. I repeated this process until I placed my final bid for $64 which was accepted (for a 3-star averaging at $169)

[thereuare]

snobrotha,

There may have been a 'glitch' in the system which enabled you to do so this time around, and this has happened before, but this is not the way the system works, and certainly can't be relied upon as a strategy to use in the future.

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.

[jack1200]

What happens if city I want to go has only one zone and 4-3-2 star hotels. I already got rejected for 3 and 4 star hotels today and definitely don't want to bid on 2 star. Also PL display different median prices for hotels at different time.

Thank you.

[thereuare]

If there is only one zone then you won't have any re-bid opportunities and you'll need to wait 24 hours between bids.

If you'd like specific help with this stay please post in the appropriate state (or country) category on the board.

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.

[Ray]

If there is only one zone then you won't have any re-bid opportunities and you'll need to wait 24 hours between bids.

If you'd like specific help with this stay please post in the appropriate state (or country) category on the board.

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.

Haven't used Priceline for about half a year, just now I was trying the bid on a 3.5 star and plus property for the incoming weekend at Myrtle beach, strange things happened. There were 6 bidding zones, my main target zone4 has level 3.5 star all the way to 1 star, zone 1 has only 2 star and below.

After the system rejected the 1st price, I added the zone 2 as free rebidding zone and increased my price my $10, leaving the star level still at 3.5 star. After a while, it rejected the price again, not only this the site directed me to a result page from conventional search at my desired time and location, the title reads "we are sorry, cannot accept your offer, but we find out these hotels you might be interested etc". I tried to check everywhere on that page to see if I can get back to the bidding page as there are still a whole couple of free-rebidding zones to try. However I did not find anything to lead me back to my original page.

This basically means I only got one free-rebidding chance, no matter how many free-rebidding zones remain. And this is certainly a deal breaker for me. Anyone found the same thing?

[GM Mike]

the site directed me to a result page from conventional search at my desired time and location, the title reads "we are sorry, cannot accept your offer, but we find out these hotels you might be interested etc". I tried to check everywhere on that page to see if I can get back to the bidding page as there are still a whole couple of free-rebidding zones to try. However I did not find anything to lead me back to my original page.

This happens sometimes. If you go to the "My Trips" link at the top right of the page, you should be able to find the rejected bid there and continue where you left off. Very annoying.

[Ray]

This happens sometimes. If you go to the "My Trips" link at the top right of the page, you should be able to find the rejected bid there and continue where you left off. Very annoying.

It happens every time now. :)

[Ray]

It happens every time now. :)

And I did find my rejected request per your hint, but it would not let me to change it at all. Once I clicked on this request, it directed me back to that exactly same search page. It reads "Thank you for using name your price, we can't accept your offer, here is what we found...". It's more like they don't want me to rebid.

[thereuare]

As recently posted in another thread:

Sometimes PRICELINE will direct you to their "retail" screen... since you just placed a bid, they know you need a hotel room, and since you were unsuccessful with your bid, they're cross marketing their retail service in hopes that you'll buy a hotel from them thru that side of their service.

Although not the intention when created, many have found the PRICELINE search box on the top right of the page convenient to use in these situations. If you're re-directed to the 'retail' section of the PRICELINE website, or you need to close the browser and re-access PRICELINE in order to 'clear' previously added zones, our search box keeps all your city and date information, so you just need to click the GO button again to resume your bidding, rather than needing to re-enter all your destination information.

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.

If you would like further help with this issue or help with your bidding pleas start a NEW TOPIC.

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.

[kjtravel]

I have a question about the 24 hour rebid - if I decide to rebid within by lowering the star rating, can I do it within the 24 hour period after I have logged off, or does it need to be all in the same session? For example, if at 7:00 p.m. I bid on 4 star hotels in certain zones, can I sign off and come back at 10:00 p.m. bidding on 3 star hotels in the same zones? Or do I need to do it before signing off?

Thanks!

[yellowdog]

kjtravel

Yes, you can bid at a lower rated hotel (but never higher). If you lower the star rating it's treated as an entirely "new" bid.

Just post if you need any further help.

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.

Yellowdog.

[emilyfaith]

Since some like to see a picture instead of words, here's a visual of RE-Bidding:

Imagine two zones: ABC and XYZ

Zone ABC has 4*, 3*, 2*, 1* hotels

Zone XYZ has 3*, 2*, 1* hotels

So Zone ABC can be visualized as follows:

and Zone XYZ can be visualized as follows:

You bid 4* in Zone ABC and are rejected, so you add Zone XYZ (which only has hotels lower than 4*) and once again request a 4* hotel. The universe that Priceline will search looks like this:

Hopefully it is now easy to see that this is essentially like bidding again on Zone ABC, since the only possibility for getting a 4* hotel in this universe is in Zone ABC.

As always, feel free to ask any questions.

:) This is very helpful. Since I was terrible snookered by PRICELINE on my last bid, I am determined to get a good deal next time. This explanation of the strategy is terrific for those visual learners like myself.

I noticed that this was posted in '03. Is this strategy still current with PRICELINE?

Thank you

E

[thereuare]

Yes, it's still valid.

HOWEVER, you're strongly encouraged to confirm your re-bid zones with the board before bidding to make sure that you have them correct. Please start a NEW TOPIC if/when you're ready to bid for your next hotel stay.

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.

[bts]

Is it clearer now? You can also doublecheck your re-bid zones at RE-Bidding.com

I noticed re-bidding*com now only has a PRICELINE link.. probably should delete them since they're not doing anything anymore.

[NorthYorker]

I was thinking about bidding for a 4 or 5 star in a 2 zone city and was wondering if priceline will it let you do the following:

A ) Zone 1 - 5*

B ) Zone 1 & 2 - 5 *

C ) Zone 1 - 4 *

From reading it looks like steps A & B are possible, but what about step C? Thanks in advance!

[thereuare]

The third bid above is not a duplicate bid, but PRICELINE will not give you the ability to UNCHECK Zone2 in order to lower the star level and only bid Zone1... so you'll need to close the browser and re-access PRICELINE in order to place the third bid.

Please start a NEW TOPIC for any upcoming stays you have and we will be able to provide more specific information, and a suggested bidding strategy, there.

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