Priceline Hotel: 4*/Resort South Beach -- No luck yet

[mzjones34]

Aiming for a Resort @ $100 or 4* @ $80 in South Beach.

Started w/Resort $100, rejected

Rebid (added zone) $105, rejected

Rebid (added zone) $110, rejected

Rebid (added 4*) $70, rejected

Rebid (added zone) $75, rejected

Rebid (added zone) $79, rejected

All zoned out... perhaps I should try on another day??? Not sure that the hotels have released inventory to pl right now. :)

Any recommendations on time of day to do this? Other strategies? Perhaps I'm being too idealistic in terms of prices and high season?

In doing some research, I noticed that the hotels that fall into these categories have the following ratings...

- Loews $279 (Resort)

- National - no rooms listed on Expedia for saturday, sunday (Resort)

- Clinton $149/$169/$209 (varies each day) (4*)

- Marriott - no rooms listed on Expedia (4*)

- Holiday Inn $130/$159 (rate varies) (3*)

- Hotel Chelsea $127 (3*)

Advice is welcome!!!

[WillTravel]

What's the most expensive night, if you say the rate varies? It might be that your bid would win for some nights of your stay, but not for all, or that one hotel does not have inventory for all four nights at the prices you bid.

I haven't checked, but I'm guessing the most expensive night might be 1/31 (a Saturday)?

Would you consider breaking up your bid (maybe it's too soon to do that - thereuare probably has a better idea of whether that's a good idea)?

[thereuare]

If i were in your shoes i think i'd raise my 4* minimum to $100, but that's not for me to decide. It also appears that the first 2 nites of your stay are the 'trouble' nites.

This is how i would proceed based upon the info above (if you're not willing to bid up to $100 for a 4* then just post back and i'll advise accordingly):

Bid all 4 Nites:

Resort Level has 8 re-bids so you can certainly place more bids than you have, but if you don't want to go above $110 there's probably not much point in doing so unless you place the bid in a few days at which point i think you can just stick with what you've done above.

For 4* i would....

Bid $75, if rejected add re-bid zone and...

Bid $80, if rejected add re-bid zone and...

Bid $85, if rejected add re-bid zone and...

Bid $90, if rejected add re-bid zone and...

Bid $95, if rejected add re-bid zone and...

Bid $100

Splitting the Bid

If that's rejected and you'd consider splitting the bid i would follow the same strategy, first bidding the 3 nites of 1/30-2/2. I don't think this will be successful, but it's worth the try in order to split the hotel nites by 1 nite and 3 nites (and if you're not successful bidding for the nite of the 1/29 thru Priceline/Hotwire it's one less nite that has to booked at more expensive conventional rates). It should be obvious, but i'll state it anyway, if you're not successful bidding for the 3 nites than don't bother bidding for the individual nites.

If the 3-nite/1-nite above fails, i would then try splitting the bid 2-nite/2-nite, first bidding the second half of the stay (1/31-2/2). Following the above strategy i think you have a decent chance at success for the second half of the stay since, as i stated at the beginning, i think the first 2 nites are the 'trouble' nites.

The above may not be in the most concise order, so feel free to ask any questions you may have regarding what i wrote.

Thanks in advance for considering using SavingsBarn.com for you bids.

[mzjones34]

Thanks so much for the feedback!

Two quick questions...

1. How did you determine which were the "trouble" nites? It seemed when I was looking at prices, each hotel's rate variations were different and not consistently around the same days.

2. I would really prefer staying at a Resort. Any estimation on how high I'd need to go for a Resort?

Thanks.

[thereuare]

Well, i'm not seeing the same availability that i was seeing last nite (shows how quickly things can change.... sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse) and i'm now more doubtful of success for the last 2 nites, but i'd still follow the above strategy and hope for the best (as the worst thing that can happen is that you get rejected).

I don't know how much a Resort might cost... $125, $135, $150? If things are really bad their may not be any availability at all at the resort level.

If you want to try for the resort, there are 8 re-bid opportinities so you can certainly slowly bid your way up. Your maximum bid price would determine your starting bid price, and if you don't understand how that can be then post your maximum bid price and i'll follow-up with a more detailed strategy.

Remember, you can bid for Resort for all 4 nites, then start breaking up the nites (trying a few different combinations... 3nite/1nite, 2nite/2nite), etc) all at the Resort level. Then if/when all of that fails you can switch to 4* bidding. I guess what i'm trying to say is if your desire for a Resort hotel outweighs the inconvenience of changing hotels, you can try all the different date combinations at the Resort level, and then try all the different date options at the 4* level (as opposed to trying all 4 nites at resort and then trying for all 4 nites at 4*, then trying partial dates at resort followed by partial dates at 4*, etc, etc)

[mzjones34]

Thanks for the input. I think I may go ahead and try the 4*s. Here are my latest attempts at a resort... to no avail...

re-bid (added zone) $100, rejected

re-bid (added zone) $110, rejected

re-bid (added zone) $120, rejected

I need to reassess my preferences... and I'll try again later...

Thanks again!

jj

[mzjones34]

Still no luck... this is so frustrating...

South Beach Resort, $115, rejected

rebid - $120, rejected

rebid - $125, rejected

rebid - $128, rejected

rebid - $130, rejected

Added 4* - $70, rejected

rebid - $85, rejected

:)

I haven't wanted to split the bid... but that may be my only choice.

Thanks.

[nataliemarie]

Did you know this? If you start bidding for a resort and then decide to bid 4*, start a completely new bid (go to priceline.com again and start over) with 4* this way you can maximize all your free rebids. Hope this helps.