Priceline Hotel: 3* Memphis (East) Holiday Inn Select

[baldtomato]

Hi,

I'm trying to bid for one room x 3 nights - 3* in Memphis - trying to settle into the Memphis East area as it seems to have the balance of convenience vs price. (i've never been to Memphis before).

Based on stats on this page, it looks like 3* Memphis East goes from $36/37 (winter price) to $45, $46 summer price. I started the bid in the high thirties knowing that I have a lot of free rebid combinations. I started getting counterbid offers of +$12 at my $40 bid, so I went to to bid for $43 but the counterbid stayed the same (+$12). In fact, the counterbid is the same for my $44 bid (+$12).

Should I go ahead to bid for close to $50, or should I just hold off for a few days? I do still have quite a few rebid combos (at least 5 more tries before I run out) ... there's just not as much reference data from this city as some of the others I've bid for.

(my total stay is actually Aug 15 to 21, but for variety and cost considerations, I have chosen to split my bid into 2. Thought my family would actually appreciate changing hotels half way.)

thanks a bunch

[blindman]

Based on stats on this page, it looks like 3* Memphis East goes from $36/37 (winter price) to $45, $46 summer price.

Just for newbies reading this, past prices are only a guide to the past. Prices for your stay may be wildy different due to demand.

(Having said that, this is the method I use :) )

Should I go ahead to bid for close to $50, or should I just hold off for a few days?

My thoughts:

It depends on how you view this 'game' of getting the lowest price for hotel stays with PL.

If you're happy with knowlingly overpaying what PL paid for the room but still undercutting the best rate around then bid $50 and have done with it. The room is then (hopefully) sorted and you can move on to other matters.

If (like me) you want to 'beat' Pl at their own game and not pay them a $ more than is necessary then I'd use free rebids to slowly increment up to the lowest PL rate.

If you're still not successful then wait the 72 hrs (or get your partner to bid).

As you have plenty of time and rebids then this shouild be easy.

I started getting counterbid offers of +$12 at my $40 bid, so I went to to bid for $43 but the counterbid stayed the same (+$12). In fact, the counterbid is the same for my $44 bid (+$12).

I'm a little confused though, as I've never had more than ONE counter offer per bid. Did you start a new bid or is this one continuos session?

If you split your bid then your are actually paying the PL auction fee twice which to me is a waste.

Enjoy

[baldtomato]

It depends on how you view this 'game' of getting the lowest price for hotel stays with PL.

Thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts! I'm no expert at PL but certainly been around enough (including being the official bidder for friends and family) so "beating" PL is really an "honor" thing - to keep my reputation and their ongoing trust!! LOL I really don't want to be caught dead as the person who has the highest closing bid on a certain city on this board! (admittingly - those stats can definitely be outdated as it's hard enough to find enough posts on memphis, let alone bids that were in the past one year).

I'm a little confused though, as I've never had more than ONE counter offer per bid. Did you start a new bid or is this one continuos session?

I had followed previous suggestions that i had come across on this board when I was still bumping around as a newbie - i can't recall the exact thread now, but it was suggested that all internet browsers be closed when going for a rebid to ensure that the system is "cleansed" and not run into unexpected trouble. - As I go onto PL via sponsor sites (to support this wonderful board :-), each of those closing-opening sequences are quite a bit of work but that's part of the game and i'm fine with that!

So yes, each of my bids would have been viewed as a brand new bid, although none of them repeat each other (because of my rebid combos).

but you raised a very good point - perhaps i should NOT have started it "brand new" after the counterbid, but to just go on with my next rebid combo directly after the counter-offer. Perhaps that way PL will "settle" on my additional $3-$4 instead of constantly telling me I have to add $12.

If you split your bid then your are actually paying the PL auction fee twice which to me is a waste.

that's a good point - i had tried a mini experiment myself to see if PL fees are proportional to length of stay given a similar bid-amount. For example,

my 3-night bid for $44 would cost

Travel Insurance: US$15.00

Taxes and Service Fees: US$29.84

while a 6-night $36 bid (I was just too lazy to adjust it to $44 to make it a perfect comparison) would cost

Travel Insurance: US$30.00

Taxes and Service Fees: US$44.56

Math is not my strength ... um, am I being stupid?

I'm splitting the bid partly b/c I'm worried that a 6-night bid will escalate my winning cost, but more so because I thought my family would find it too boring to stay at the same hotel for 6 nights straight... so if splitting doesn't compound PL fees too too much, I wouldn't mind paying just a bit extra PL fees to try for a chance for 2 different hotels (being aware that well, i might just end up at the same place anyways!).

Waiting to hear your thoughts :-)

[blindman]

Ignore this

If you split your bid then your are actually paying the PL auction fee twice which to me is a waste.

I was getting confused with the 'old' days when PL used to add a static fee to every bid.

The way I see it (and I'm no expert :) ):

Priceline uses a formula :) to calculate their fee based on the state taxes and they then add it to the State taxes of the state where the hotel is located.

Tennessee Hotel tax is 16%

So for a $44 bid this adds $7.04 per day so the tax bill for that bid\stay is $21.12

As the Taxes and Service Fees are $29.84 for that stay then the PL fee must be $8.72

For the $36 bid the state taxes would be $5.76 per day so the tax bill for the 6 days is $34.56

As the Taxes and Service Fees are$44.56 then the PL fee must be $10

So even though your bid is lower, because the final total taxes are higher (due to the longer stay) then the PL fee is higher.

Bottom line is get the lowest bid possible!

As you have time, I'd go for the as low a ball price as possible using free rebids and 72 hrs lockout if necessary.

[dahammer]

So for a $44 bid this adds $7.04 per day so the tax bill for that bid\stay is $21.12

As the Taxes and Service Fees are $29.84 for that stay then the PL fee must be $8.72

taxes are calculated on the amount that Priceline remits to the hotel. In the example above, if a $44 bid is the lowewst bid that a hotel will accept, then the $7.04 is correct. (how many times do we "nail" a bid at the Hotel's lowest offer price?)

However, if this hotel offers its room inventory to Priceline at lets say $40 (this means $40 is the hotel's offer price, so it will accept bids of $40 and greater) then this is the basis for calculating taxes. If you submit a $44 bid, Priceline will remit taxes of $6.40 along with room revenue of $40 and pocket the additional $4 as extra "juice" for doing the deal. The fees that Priceline collects would make a travel agent green with envy, in many cases, its 25% or more!

[thereuare]

I would use your re-bids to increase by $1-$2 per bid... get this taken care of and move onto the next item of business.

While it's always nice to save an extra few dollars, there are risks involved as well, such as zone boundary changes, upgrades, downgrades, etc which may make certain zones/star ratings less desirable in the future. My thoughts would be different if your counter-offer was outside of the 'normal range' of expected bids, but it seems that it's right where it should be in the mid-$40's.

[baldtomato]

So for a $44 bid this adds $7.04 per day so the tax bill for that bid\stay is $21.12

As the Taxes and Service Fees are $29.84 for that stay then the PL fee must be $8.72

For the $36 bid the state taxes would be $5.76 per day so the tax bill for the 6 days is $34.56

As the Taxes and Service Fees are$44.56 then the PL fee must be $10

So even though your bid is lower, because the final total taxes are higher (due to the longer stay) then the PL fee is higher.

um, arithmetic is not my strength.... need some more help here. so the PL fee for the first bid above ($44 x 3 nights = $132) is $8.72, but for the second bid ($36 x 6 nights = $288) is only $10. $288 is more than twice $132 (sorry i'm sounding like a grade school kid...) yet the fees are way less than double. So that means the PL fee is still more or less counted "per bid" rather than being proportional to final total $?

:)

[baldtomato]

Had some time to go at that pride-saving Memphis bid of mine again. Finally got it at $45 (phew.... good that i didn't have to go to $46 which was the highest posted bid for 3* in this zone).

I'm quite relieved that they accepted $45 after offering the same $12 counterbid all thru my bids of $42, $43, $44 just like last round - but I ignored them all and just went with my own algorithm. We now can be more confident that the data from this thread seems to be quite up to date still regarding ballpark price! ... especially when these dates are relatively close to the Elvis Festival there.

Holiday Inn Select Memphis East

Memphis East

5795 Poplar Avenue

Memphis, Tennessee 38119

Your Offer Price: $45.00

Number of Rooms: 1

Number of Nights: 3

Subtotal: $135.00

Taxes & Service Fees:

$30.36

Total Charges: $165.36

[baldtomato]

Correction - my dates of stay (winning bid) are actually August 18 - 21, 2006. Sorry for the mistake. I just noticed.