Priceline Hotel: 4* San Francisco (USE) Omni

[jishaq]

Bidding strategy -- wanted to stay in 4* USE.

First bid: 4* USE $86

Second bid: Add Chapel Hill zone; rebid for $91

Third bid: Add Civic Center zone; rebid for $96

4th bid: Add South City; rebid for $101

However, my first bid of $86 was accepted by The Omni. But, WTF?!?! $20.14 "taxes & service fees"? I haven't used priceline in a long time, but now that I know they gouge for 15-20% of the price of the rooms, my bidding will now incorporate this.

Also, I did my bidding the day of my stay, and was hoping to leverage this to get a lower accepted bid (is this generally a good strategy?) Seems to work, though because my first bid was accepted, I would have shifted my bidding strategy down by $15.

Thanks as always for this awesome site.

-Jeff

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your win and thank you for sharing it with the board.

$20.14 "taxes & service fees"?

Taxes in San Francisco are 14%, so based upon your bid, about $14 is taxes (which you would pay anyway if booking directly at this hotel, although it would be much more since their hotel direct is much more as well (and the taxes would be based upon their higher rate)). So in this instance priceline's booking fee is about $6... hardly a "gouge". To take this a step further, this hotel's best rate for this nite is $189, which would bring the taxes to over $26. So the total taxes and fees for your bid were less than you would have paid in taxes alone with a direct booking.

I did my bidding the day of my stay, and was hoping to leverage this to get a lower accepted bid (is this generally a good strategy?)

See the releated link in our PRICELINE FAQ.