Priceline Hotel: Resort Ft. Lauderdale West/Plantation Bonaventure

[papitas]

First time poster and Priceline bidder here. Research showed that Bonaventure is the only resort in FLL west area and that the low threshold is $40. My first bid was $41. Priceline countered with give us $12 more. I added Hollywood Resort (Diplomat) and re-bid $47. That was accepted, so I am staying at Bonaventure for less than $59. I belong to the Wyndham program, so I hope to get a nice upgrade room.

I welcome constructive suggestions, if I could have done better. Should I have re-bid less than $47? I split the $12 increase and figured they might accept it. The Bonaventure location is perfect for my trip so I took a risk by adding the Hollywood area for the re-bid (although I gladly would have taken the Diplomat for $47). Should I have added Miramar or another area with no Resort?

I plan to find hotels in Tampa, Miami, DC, and Anchorage, and hope to find more deals. Perhaps Hotwire will be next.

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding.

I think you did fine by splitting the counter-offer in half. Unless you have evidence of a prior successful bid at a certain price, that's the usual recommended strategy unless time is of the essence. Since you have so much time between now and your stay, some would even suggest only raising by a few dollars and then trying again in 72 hours if rejected, but this is personal opinion as to whether you want to do that or not (for a one nite stay i would probably just cut it in half, for a 1 week stay i would probably try and save ever dollar i could).

As far as re-bidding goes, it was a little risky adding the Hollywood zone since there are likely other resorts in that zone besides the Diplomat but not yet reported on this board (so you could have gotten something in Hollywood and not the Diplomat). By adding a zone that doesn't offer resorts (like Mirimar as you suggest), you elimiate this risk entirely. If you'd like to read more about re-bidding you can do so HERE

Bottom line is that it worked out well for you and no harm done. Glad you got what you wanted and at a great rate!!

Hope the above makes sense, but if i've confused you at all or you'd like something clarified, just let me know.

If you need any help with the other hotels you'll be trying for, free to ask.

Thanks again for posting.

PS- as well, there could be other resorts in the FLL West zone besides the Bonaventure, and you could have gotten one of those as well. Our lists should not be considered complete as hotels are added/removed all the time and hotels are also upgraded/downgraded frequently.

[papitas]

Thank you. Indeed, I assumed that FLL west and Hollywood have only one resort. For future searches I will be more careful. I can still make choices where I think that there is a preferred property, based on hotel lists and past bids. Thanks, again.