Priceline Hotel: $90 for 4star hotel in Vegas Strip/Fremont

[trellaineBC]

I just bid $70 for a hotel sept14-20 for a 4star hotel on Vegas Strip/Fremont. It came back with an offer of $90.

Is that a good deal? I have yet to continue lol clicking for the $90 a night offer. Its probably gone by now but is that a good deal?

Thanks

[mrxow]

It might be the Golden Nugget? Do you want to stay on Fremont street? What does the Golen Nugget cost for a week? I'd say no and bid 75 tomorrow. You have lots of time.

[bbbb]

You can almost always get the hotel for less then Pricelines counter offer. You have two free rebids @4* level in Vegas.

[trellaineBC]

Hmm are the extra bids automatic? I can just go back and bid again without picking a lower star hotel selection?

And hmm I guess if I bid the 90 and only select Strip it should give me a room 4 stars? :)

Thanks in advance.

[trellaineBC]

Haha I did a rebid for the Strip/4stars at 80bucks and it came back with counter offer $121 :) :)

I guess it must have been the Nugget for $90 in the Fremont area. I am guessing.

Thanks

[mrxow]

If you are willing to stay at Fremont and want the lower price, you should start your bidding in Fremont, then try the strip. The rebids they are referring to are other zones you will not get, I think, so you can add them without worrying about ending up somewhere else. You have plenty of time though, too. You only need to do the rebids if you are trying to get something more toward the last minute and want to be able to raise your bid several times in one day.

[bbbb]

If you are willing to stay at Fremont and want the lower price, you should start your bidding in Fremont, then try the strip. The rebids they are referring to are other zones you will not get, I think, so you can add them without worrying about ending up somewhere else. You have plenty of time though, too. You only need to do the rebids if you are trying to get something more toward the last minute and want to be able to raise your bid several times in one day.

Rebids should be used from the start of your bidding so you can start low and work your way up to a win with out over bidding.

[mrxow]

"Rebids should be used from the start of your bidding so you can start low and work your way up to a win with out over bidding."

What I meant was that some people might be scared about the whole rebidding proces. While you and I might know it works, I think some people new to the game might be wary about adding zones that they don't want to stay in. They might be concerned they could make a mistake and get stuck in the middle of BFE. In such a case, when you have months to go before your stay, I don't think your results will be too different if you started low, picked downtown then rebid a little higher on the strip then waited a day to repeat the process. While this will take longer, people new to bidding might be more comfortable with it. Free rebids are more critical to understand and use when you are trying to get something closer to the date of your trip.

[thereuare]

I recently explained in THIS POST why it is better to learn how to use your re-bid zones (Priceline Re-Bidding Explained) rather than increase $5 per day as you suggest.

If anyone reading this doesn't understand re-bidding after reading the Priceline Re-Bidding Explained thread, they are strongly encouraged to ask for help (by starting a NEW TOPIC for the area they ultimately which to stay)

[mrxow]

I recently explained in THIS POST why it is better to learn how to use your re-bid zones (Priceline Re-Bidding Explained) rather than increase $5 per day as you suggest.

If anyone reading this doesn't understand re-bidding after reading the Priceline Re-Bidding Explained thread, they are strongly encouraged to ask for help (by starting a NEW TOPIC for the area they ultimately which to stay)

This is going to get long... :o

I looked at what you said in that thread. One point made me think. The reasoning on another seems a little flawed to me.

Let me start by expanding on the free rebid concept. I don't bid for 4* hotels in Vegas. I stay at the resort in my timeshare system in rooms like I am in right now as I am typing that are 1 bedroom true suites with jacuzzis and twice the size of the big resorts, as nice or nicer than virtually any of them and far less expensive if the system is played right. (We are all about playing the system here, aren't we! :) )

For those of you who do bid the 4*'s here, though, I am pretty sure that you actually have three free rebids, not two. I will use the downtown example of this thread, and free rebid zones A and B. I am pretty sure I have done this in other places, but it was a while ago, so maybe this loophole has been closed:

First you bid the Downtown Zone.

Then you bid Downtown and A

Then you restart and bid Downtown and B

Then you bid downtown, A and B.

This person is willing to stay downtown, but appears happy to stay at the strip. Even if they didn't want to stay at the strip, they could probably do this with minimal risk due to the difference in prices between the two zones. So they can continue on with the following:

Downtown, Strip

Downtown, Strip, A

Restart, Downtown, Strip, B

Downtown, Strip, A and B

So all at once, they could do 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85 and 90. This is great if they want to go tonight. If they want to go tomorrow, they could continue with 95, 100, 105, 110, 115, 120, 125 and 130. Good chance they are staying at the Golden Nugget this trip.

If the trip is a long way off, though, consider this: You and I both want to stay at the Golden Nugget. (Apparently you wouldn't want to stay at the Golden Nugget, but humor me... :) ) You have 8 tries to get your price (because you certainly wouldn't mind staying at the strip) You start at 45 and work your way up to 80. They take your $80 bid. I am hesitant about all this rebidding stuff, so I just start at 45, get denied and wait 24 hours. On day two I try 50. On day three I try 55. On day four I try 60. On day five, inventory is added at $60 and my $65 bid is accepted.

It seems to me that rebidding in an environment of changing inventory and prices could hurt you as well as help you. While rebidding starting at $60 or less would have caught the lower price on day 5, rebidding on day one PREVENTS you from ever getting to day 5 when the price drop occurs. This is the reasoning behind my suggestion on another thread that somebody not bid up all the way to their $80 limit in the first day or two of the process if there is enough time before their trip.

You are right, though, that it would be best to rebid on day 5, too. To catch new low rates then, it seems the best plan, depending upon how much time you are willing to spend, how much money you might possibly save per night and how many nights your stay is for might go something like this:

45, 47, 50, 52, 55, 57, 60, 62 until you get sick of trying, then

45, 50, 55, 57, 60, 62, 65, 67 until you get sick of trying, then

45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 72, 75 then

45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80 then

50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85

50, 60, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95

and so on..

This might be time consuming, but if you had several windows open at once (not sure if that works with the site links) you can do a lot clicking while waiting for bid results.

It would be nice to automate some of this somehow...

[thereuare]

Using your example... if you didn't want to bid $80 for a hotel room then you don't bid that high... if you wait you may not have the option.

As well, you assume that we have no idea of generally accepted prices (bids) for this area, which isn't the case.

You are right, though, that it would be best to rebid on day 5, too

Glad you agree.

[bbbb]

It would never be best to just add $5 per day because if new inventory is given to PL you are going to over pay for your room. If you do your home work on here you will in most cases know what the lowest price is that comes up in any given zone.

[mrxow]

I just tested the rebid strategy I suggested and it still works. I bid the strip for a 4* and was denied, picked a random zone (call it A) and was denied. (I was denied intentionally, I bid for 30 bucks.). Then I restarted the priceline bid for the strip and zone B and was denied. Then I rebid for the strip and zone A and zone B. I was denied, but I wasn't taken to the "your bid was not placed because you have already bid this date, star level and combination of zones" screen, so I think if my bids had been high enough, it would have been accepted.

Therefore, two free rebid zones translates into three free bids in 24 hours, and each free bid zone or acceptable zone or high priced zone one is willing to risk a bid at should multiply the number of bids you can make in a 24 hour period, not simply add numerically to the number of bids you can do.

Time for bed.

[thereuare]

mrxow,

Nobody is questioning this... this is often refered to as the 'permutation approach' and is discussed elsewhere on the board. :)

[trellaineBC]

I just bid $70 for a hotel sept14-20 for a 4star hotel on Vegas Strip/Fremont. It came back with an offer of $90.

Is that a good deal? I have yet to continue lol clicking for the $90 a night offer. Its probably gone by now but is that a good deal?

Thanks

That was ages ago. I don't think I went. I can't find it under my priceline account. :)