"Reverse" free rebids

[Phaelon56]

I'll post my unsuccessful bid history for my recent try on a Syracuse - Rochester area stay but tried something new (to me) and it seems to work - curious to get feedback on this.

Background: I've relocated back to Syracuse NY after four years in the NYC area and am staying at a friend's house until I see how the job situation pans out before I commit to a lease on an apartment. He has a new GF who can only spend the night once every other Friday due to family obligations (divorced with kids). In order to give them a night free of my presence, I decided to spend Friday evening in Rochester visiting a friend there and staying in a motel there or in Syracuse.

It's just me and all I want is a bed to sleep in. Hotwire has nothing under the high $50's in either city - I decided to bid for a 1* property and see what came up. No luck but see my bid history post for details.

Here's the strategy: I know I want the cheapest possible property - not too much risk as independent "hot sheet" motels don't participate in Priceline (not that I'm aware of). Rochester has six zones in total, two of which have no 1* hotels. I choose the Downtown zone (where I wish to stay) and select 1*, then enter my bid. If the bid is rejected, I choose the East Rochester zone (has only 2* and above) and bump my bid up a few $$. If I get rejected again, I choose the Woodcliff zone, which also has no 1* properties, and raise my bid few $$ more.

I recognize that there's a chance they could upgrade me to a 2* in either of the free rebid zones but knowing how prices run in Rochester and being in a relatively lowball bid range.... it's not that likely. Chances are excellent that if I win the bid I'll be in my zone of choice.

I did this and it appeared to work although I didn't win a bid. Am I missing anything here? I know this is a technique that few are likely to have a need for but I'm just curious to know if it really works as appears.

[thereuare]

I don't see any reason why it shouldn't work.

Only thing i think you'd need to be aware of is which 2* zones have the lowest accepted bids. To be a bit 'safer' i would:

Bid 1* Downtown, if rejected...

add Zone A (which has 2*), if rejected....

UNselect Zone A and add Zone B (which has 2*), if rejected....

UNselect Zone B and add Zone C, etc, etc, etc

(if you can't UNselect a zone, then you'll need to start over on a new bidding screen)

If you simply added a zone each time you still have a chance of getting accepted at the previously checked zone that doesn't have 1* hotels. So in the above example, if you are rejected when bidding Downtown and Zone A, and you simply add Zone B (without de-selecting Zone A), then you have a chance of getting accepted in Zone A with your new higher bid.... but there is no need to take this risk (no matter how minimal you think it is) because you can re-bid again by starting your bid over and choosing Downtown and Zone B. If that is rejected, start over and try Downtown and Zone C, etc, etc.

Not sure i did a good job of explaining this, but hopefully you understand, and if not, just let me know and i'll try to use more detail.

BTW, nice to see you at the board :) I figured you were busy getting your ducks in order with everything and just hadn't had the time to stop by. Hope everything is working itself out.

[Phaelon56]

I'll check this out if I try the tactic again in the future ( a possibility). I was unaware that one could UNselect a zone..... is this something new or has it always been this way? I thought that once a zone had been selected you could not UNselect it.

It may be a moot point for this area anyway. I got a 1* PL bid for about $23 per night on two separate visits to the Norfolk VA area and it was a decent suites motel (comparable to an Amerisuites but without free breakfast). Rochester and Syracuse don't seem to dip much below $40 per night even for 2*. In Syracuse you can almost always get the 3* Wyndham for $45 - not much point in pursuing 2*.

[thereuare]

(if you can't UNselect a zone, then you'll need to start over on a new bidding screen)

I'm not sure if you can UNselect a zone, but if you can't, you can certainly close the browser and start from a new screen. If you bid Downtown and Zone A, and then start over and bid Downtown and Zone B, it will NOT be treated as a duplicate bid... so i know that it can be done, but would require some extra keystrokes.

[WillTravel]

I have practiced this recently. You cannot unselect a zone from the rejection screen. However, as thereuare said, you can start a new bid from scratch and choose a different selection of zones. It does take a fair bit of extra time and effort when you are doing multiple rebids that involve a lot of zones, and of course you have to be very careful each time you re-enter your information as it is easy to make a mistake.

I would be curious if Priceline has consulted with psychologists to help encourage overbids with their interface :).

I don't mean to over-complicate the situation, so disregard the following example if you like. I tend to like complex math problems, so this is actually fun for me. If you find this a chore, just stick to a simple strategy. The worst that will happen is that you spend a few more dollars.

Say there are three zones: A, B, and C.

Suppose you are willing to stay

in a 1* hotel in zone A only;

a 2* hotel in zones A or B;

or a 2.5* hotel in any of zones A, B, or C.

All zones show they have up to 2.5* hotels.

I might bid them like this (say a 2* is my first preference when considering the probable price and quality):

Bid for a 2* hotel in zone A.

If that fails:

Start a new bid, and bid for a 2* hotel in zone B.

If that fails:

Start a new bid and bid for a 2* hotel in zones A and B.

If that fails:

Start a new bid, and bid for a 1* hotel in zone A.

If that fails:

Start a new bid, and bid for a 2.5* hotel in zones A and C.

If that fails:

Start a new bid, and bid for a 2.5* hotel in zones B and C.

If that fails (this will be your last chance):

Start a new bid, and bid for a 2.5* hotel in zones A, B, and C.

[cmf]

Enjoyed reading the strategies on this topic. My question is: How do you "start over on a new screen"? I thought you had to wait 72 hrs. to start over on a new screen, if you are bidding on the same trip.

Can you explain how to do that?

My 72 hrs. will be up around 11:00 PM tonight. I would like to start over with a new bid now (at 8:45PM), but am afraid my 72 hrs. will start over from the couple of hrs. earlier point, as it has in the past when I tried to bid too early (losing track of exactly when my last bids were entered). PL counts that as another bid, even though they say you have bid before the 72 hr. time limit, and they do not do a search. It just throws you back another 72 hrs. for nothing!

My last bids started with MTE 5*, added MTW, then added 4*, then added UMCPS. All were rejected for Oct. 18th, one night only.

Tonight I plan to bid MTW 4* first with a bid I think I can get, IF the inventory is available for Sat. nights in Oct. Would this work as mentioned above - "start over on a new screen"? Or do you think it would count as a bid which wouldn't be searched, launching another 72 hr. wait?

Sorry this is a bit cumbersome. If you can follow my question, I'd love to know how to start on a new screen, since you can't "erase" anything on your orig. bids.

Thanks.

[WillTravel]

Close down your browser. Go to the SavingsBarn site. Enter your next bid, keeping in mind what you have done already. If you accidentally do repeat yourself, Priceline will let you know.

I don't know the zones well enough in your area to know if you have any more options right now, or if you have to wait.

I also don't have the experience that Priceline cuts me off for another 72 hours if I accidentally make a duplicate. I just have to wait until the original 72-hour period is up.

If you are doing one of these complicated, lengthy strategies, figuring out the 72 hours can get a bit tricky - probably easiest to assume it's from the time of your very last bid.

[thereuare]

CMF, this isn't available for what you want to do.

This discussion is heading the direction of adding re-bid zones and then removing that re-bid zone before adding a different re-bid zone. The purpose of this is to maximimze your re-bids when there is more than one re-bid zone in the area... it doesn't pertain to placing an identical bid inside of the 72 hour period.

Hope that explains things somewhat and doesn't confuse anyone in the process, but i'd be more than happy to discuss further if somebody wants further clarification.

[iLIV4spam]

You don't need to close your browser. All you need to do is click on the "Priceline" logo at the top left and it will take you to the home page again. But then the next question is if you started the priceline page from savingsbarn then you do what i suggest, would savingsbarn still get the referral?

[thereuare]

The reason i usually recommend starting in a new browser (and closing the old one) is that there are sometimes issues when having more than one browser open... incorrect zones checked, wrong dates, etc. I assume this has to do with the setting of each user's browser (take info from cache or temporary files) but as we have members at all different levels of computer expertise, it's easiest to just have them close the browser and open a new one. :)