Counteroffers - are they padded less?

[wcj1]

It used to be that if you bid $50 for a hotel room, Priceline might come back and say, "If you increase your bid by $30, we will get you a hotel."

The smart bidder would usually take half of the difference (e.g. $15), bid $65 through a free rebid, and then get a hotel, as Priceline seemed to purposely pad and create an overbid through their counteroffer.

However, Priceline has changed the system where if you bid $50, it now says "If you pay $80, we will give you a hotel." It is the same thing in essence, but they give you the price per night, instead of the amount of increase.

Since they started doing this, I am finding that the 'take half of the difference' rule to be less effective.

For example, I am trying to get a Las Vegas 2.5* near the Convention Center in early March. Based on previous bids not working and lack of hotel inventory availability, and then counteroffers and new hotel inventory availability, I am 99% sure that the hotel being countered is the Residence Inn Convention Center.

Here is my bidding history:

1/19

2.5* Convention Center 36 (67 counter)

+ Nellis (free rebid) 46

1/24

2.5* Convention Center 48 (67 counter)

+ Nellis 50

1/27

2.5* Convention Center 52 (67 counter)

+ Nellis 55

Based on the previous 'take half of the difference', I thought the low-50's would definitely be accepted, but it has not.

Has anyone else has noticed this same phenomenon? Does anyone have any ideas on new percentages to apply to the counter offer (e.g. instead of 50%, maybe it is 75% now.)?

BillJ

[thereuare]

I have actually been seeing the opposite taking place... many examples of $1 or $2 more resulting in acceptance.

Hopefully your example is just 'bad luck of the draw' and not a trend, but i'm glad you posted about it so that we can now keep our eyes open and pay a little closer attention to this.

[wcj1]

Of course, after I posted this, I have done some more research and the Residence Inn Convention Center is no longer coming up in Priceline's air+hotel packages or even through the Marriott website for my dates, so maybe it is full again. It was there earlier when I was bidding. Suffice to say, that I may not be bidding up in 3 more days as I planned and will not find out what price would have gotten this hotel.

BillJ