Priceline Hotel: NYC bidding advice pls: 8/20/07 - 8/23/07

[TCR_A0]

Hello,

I am a first-time price line user and would appreciate some bidding advice. I have booked a back-up hotel for $269/night but I am hoping that I can find something cheaper as follows:

- 4* hotel located in either MTE, MTW or UM/CPS works fine with us

- as cheap as possible (obviously!) but maximum via priceline we'd like to go $220/night

Some bidding advice would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

At the 4* level you have two re-bid zones available. If you're not familiar with re-bidding please read Priceline Re-Bidding Explained and feel free to ask questions and/or confirm your re-bid zones with the board before proceeding.

I'd begin with the following:

Select 4* MTE...

Bid $120, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $130, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $140, if rejected close browser and re-access priceline however you did previously.

Select 4* MTW...

Bid $120, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $130, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $140, if rejected close browser and re-access priceline however you did previously.

Select 4* UM/CPS...

Bid $120, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $130, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $140, if rejected close browser and re-access priceline however you did previously.

Select 4* MTE and MTW...

Bid $150, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $155, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $160, if rejected close browser and re-access priceline however you did previously.

Select 4* MTE and UM/CPS...

Bid $150, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $155, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $160, if rejected close browser and re-access priceline however you did previously.

Select 4* MTE and MTW and UM/CPS...

Bid $165, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $170, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $175

If the above is rejected we'll revise to try again in 24 hours.

Any questions feel free to ask.

Good Luck and let us know how it goes.

[TCR_A0]

Thanks for the reply.

Do you have usuable re-bid zones (2) in NYC for my case handy? ie. zones in NYC without a 4* so I dont get stuck in an other area?

I read the procedure on your link but it does not seem very clear to me, please advise.

Also per above, the strategy is to bid on the separate zones separately one after the other, does this not get caught by the 24 hour period rule because I will be searching in different areas each time? How does priceline catch duplicate searches? by name? by credit card? by address?

Thanks!

[dahammer]

Do you have usuable re-bid zones (2) in NYC for my case handy? ie. zones in NYC without a 4* so I dont get stuck in an other area?

when you begin your bidding session, you need to determine your free rebid zones yourself because these can change, a new hotel could be added with a lower or higher star rating. This is easy to do, just pull up the area that you want to bid and check off each box individually and note the highest rated hotel for each zone and list these 2 zones in your next post.

[TCR_A0]

when you begin your bidding session, you need to determine your free rebid zones yourself because these can change, a new hotel could be added with a lower or higher star rating. This is easy to do, just pull up the area that you want to bid and check off each box individually and note the highest rated hotel for each zone and list these 2 zones in your next post.

thanks for the reply.

So I would go to the other priceline route (non-offer price route) and figure out the out the current hotels available per zone, so these are the hotels that would be in play for the offer price route with priceline? is this correct?

[thereuare]

NO...

Begin as follows:

1) list each zone that priceline offers in the "Name Your Own Price" version of their site

2) list the highest star rating available in each zone, using the following technique from Priceline Re-Bidding Explained:

The way to check what star levels are available in each zone is to open a Priceline page, check ONLY the zone you are inquiring about, and then proceed to the next page (as if you were going to select a zone)... this will give you the available star ratings in that area. You can then hit BACK on your browser, uncheck the current box, check the next box, and repeat the process. It is important to do this before EACH attempt at adding a zone that you really don't want, as new hotels can be added and the star ratings can change at any time. (NOTE: for most users Priceline has updated their interface making the above process easier... simply check a zone and note the highest star rating available within each zone, UNcheck that zone and checkmark the next zone, repeating the process)

We'll make sure you get the above correct and then we'll take the next step... or if you're confused by the above we'll try to break it down further.