Priceline Hotel: 2.5* Portales Holiday Inn Express Hotel and Suites Portales

[fishbudgreg]

Looks like pretty slim pickins in Portales, NM. We were hoping for a 2.5-star hotel but will settle for less. At 2.5-stars I see there are 2 rebid zones for this area. What is a good bidding strategy considering I'll only have 3 chances? I was hoping not to spend more than $75 but may have to go higher. Free parking and free breakfast are the only amenities we are rally interested in. I do have one question. We may end up staying in Portales more than one day. How long can we extend our stay at the winning bidding price before we would have to re-bid?

As always thanks for the help!

[AaronJB]

What are your date/s of travel for this stay?

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

[fishbudgreg]

We will arrive in Portales on Friday, July 26, 2013 and hopefully will only need it for one night. But...as I mentioned it may be more than 1 night we will not know until we get there.

[thereuare]

You can use permutations get more than three bidding chances at this each bidding cycle.

Using your TWO re-bid zones you can bid as follows:

(NOTE: 're-bid zone1' is not the same as priceline's Zone1, 're-bid zone2' is not the same as priceline's Zone2, etc, etc)

Select 2.5* Portales...

Bid $65, if rejected add re-bid zone1...

Bid $68, if rejected close browser and use this link to re-access PRICELINE...

Select 2.5* Portales and re-bid zone2...

Bid $70, if rejected add re-bid zone1...

Bid $73

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

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[fishbudgreg]

Thanks for the "permutations" strategy, however, it did not work. I did get a screen at one point after the $70 bid that said if I increase my bid by $16 (to $86) I would have a good chance of "winning" that bid. Is that a clue that means they will not accept anything less than $86? If so, I may be stuck with that or start looking at the 2-star hotels in the area. What do you suggest?

Thanks.

[thereuare]

You received what is referred to as a counter-offer... it means that at this time the 'right' price is somewhere between $74-$86 dollars.

24 hours after your last rejected bid i would try as follows:

Select 2.5* Portales...

Bid $70, if rejected add re-bid zone1...

Bid $75, if rejected close browser and use this link to re-access PRICELINE...

Select 2.5* Portales and re-bid zone2...

Bid $78, if rejected add re-bid zone1...

Bid $80

If the above is rejected PRICELINE EXPRESS has a 2.5* hotel in this zone (Indoor or Outdoor Pool, Free Breakfast, Free Internet, Free Parking, Business Center, Fitness Center) for your dates for $81/nite. Using the discount link and code in my signature takes 5% off bringing your maximum bid to $76 and the PRICELINE EXPRESS deal to $77. If the above are both within your budget that is how i would bid... or you can stop the bidding above at whatever dollar amount you'd like and then consider lower star rated options if you're unable to stretch your target $75 budget by another couple of dollars.

Any questions feel free to ask.

thanskforusing

Good luck and let us know how it goes or how we can be of further help.

[fishbudgreg]

$75 was the magic number. Thanks for your help thereuare!

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success!

Glad to see it only took a few dollars more than your previously rejected bid and that you're pleased with the results.

Thank you for sharing your win with the board and helping us add this property to the Priceline Hotel List.

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

Enjoy your stay.