Priceline Hotel: Resort Orlando (WDW) Gaylord Palms

[notfes53]

Hi all,

I've just hopped over the fence from the Hotwire-Florida section to share my experience of last night experimenting with BetterBidding's Priceline multiple bid advice.

Two nights ago I secured the Rosen Plaza in Orlando (Universal-SW) on 2 nights (1st/2nd August) for the last two nights of our forthcoming vacation (see An Orlando Rosen mystery? on Hotwire-Florida); fresh from this partial success(?) I thought that I'd sort out the first two nights of the vacation (20th/21st July) using Priceline.

I took a liking to descriptions of the 4* Westin Bohemian, and set about using Priceline to hook it with a traget maximum price of about $80 to $85. I started very low, at $40, and went up by $5 dollar increments each time my bid was unsuccessful, by adding in other Orlando areas, as none has a 4* property. However, I did decide to leave adding in [Disney World Vicinity] and [universal-SW] until last, as I did not really understand what might happen when I introduced areas with resorts.

My last unsuccessful bid was at $80 when I had to introduce the [Disney World Vicinity] area. I increased the bid as well (not sure if I really had to increase by another $5 at this stage, but I was into the routine, and the next bid was to be my cut-off point anyway).

To my delight (tinged with some disappointment) my $85 bid was accepted - not by the 4* Westin Boheminan, but by the Gaylord Palms resort!

My subsequent research shows that this sort of price has been achieved by others for the Gaylord Palms, so I'm kinda OK with the price, but I do know that I'll have to pay resort fees of $10/room, and self-parking will cost $7/night. My issue is that I would have rather failed with the Westin Bohemian and not been successful with the Gaylord. The Westin was a calculated 'splurge' target beacuse it's a Downtown location and a genuine 4*/non-resort property.

I wouldn't have made the Gaylord a target because of its hidden extra costs, its greater distance from Orlando Sanford airport after a long flight from the UK, and also beacuse I'd not actually read up about it (or heard of it) until I landed it for $85/ per room!

In the Priceline jargon - was I 'upgraded' to a resort when the Gaylord 'accepted my bid of $85 for a 4*???

OK, so back to my question in the topic description of this post - is this a newbie mistake, or a risk that is difficult to avoid when using Priceline?

Thanks, Steve

[thereuare]

Well the Gaylords is supposedly a fantastic resort and i think you should be excited about it... even with the extra fees as this hotel typically goes for the mid-$200s (i haven't looked for your dates)

If you were bidding the "Downtown" zone before adding the Disney area then it was a mistake to add a 'live' zone... you could have started over, completely with just the Disney area and lower bids. Then add zones as you did for the Downtown area. Before bidding next time feel free to ask for a recommended bidding strategy... we're here to help. :)

My guess is that you were upgraded, but you can tell for certain by checking your Priceline confirmation screen... it will tell you the star category on that page. Please let us know what the star rating is so that we can be certain that our lists are up-to-date.

Thanks.

[notfes53]

Thanks thereuare,

Gaylord Palms is listed as a 'Resort' in the Priceline confirmation:

Congratulations, you got your price of $85 for a resort hotel room.

However, when I looked in the 'My Trips' tab on priceline.com, there was something inconsistent, as my hotel rooms were shown as follows:

[check] 05/17/2004 Orlando 4* Booking number xxxxxxxxxxx

Maybe the 'My Trips' tab shows what I had been bidding for, as opposed to what I won? But that doesn't seem very likely, as I'd have expected to see the official priceline *rating for the hotel that I'd booked. Whatever! Thanks for your advice - I'm excited about Gaylord Palms @ $85!

Thanks also for the offer to help - I'm still learning. Here's how I approached the bid without having to wait the 72 hours (as gleaned from this forum), in detailed steps. Please offer a more detailed critique:

1) Downtown Orlando - 4* - Bid $40 - not accepted

2) Downtown Orlando + Florida Mall - 4* - Bid $45 - not accepted

3) Downtown Orlando + Florida Mall + Kissimmee - 4* - Bid $50 - not accepted

4) Downtown Orlando + Florida Mall + Kissimmee + Maitland/Altamonte - 4* - Bid $55 - not accepted

5) Downtown Orlando + Florida Mall + Kissimmee + Maitland/Altamonte + Orlando Airport - 4* - Bid $60 - not accepted

6) Downtown Orlando + Florida Mall + Kissimmee + Maitland/Altamonte + Orlando Airport - 4* - Bid $65 - not accepted

7) Downtown Orlando + Florida Mall + Kissimmee + Maitland/Altamonte + Orlando Airport + Orlando East - 4* - Bid $70 - not accepted

8) Downtown Orlando + Florida Mall + Kissimmee + Maitland/Altamonte + Orlando Airport + Orlando East + W. Disney - 4* - Bid $75 - not accepted

9) Downtown Orlando + Florida Mall + Kissimmee + Maitland/Altamonte + Orlando Airport + Orlando East + W. Disney + Winter Park - 4* - Bid $80 - not accepted

10) Downtown Orlando + Florida Mall + Kissimmee + Maitland/Altamonte + Orlando Airport + Orlando East + W. Disney + Winter Park + Disney World Vicinity - 4* - Bid $85 - bid accepted at Gaylord Palms Resort

From reading your reply and some general tips elsewhere within the BetterBidding Priceline pages, I think that I could have adopted a different approach. Instead of simply adding areas, I could have started a new bid, at a higer price, but using different permutations/combinations of the areas that do not have a 4* or higher. I haven't done the math, but I reckon that the 7 areas that qualify could have been tagged in different combinations to Downtown Disney, I could have had many more $5 (or smaller) increments in trying to find the lowest price for the Westin Grand Bohemian (my original target). Can you confirm that the strategy outlined below is your recommended method of getting multiple bids within 72 hours?

Who knows? Maybe the Westin GB would have gone for $90, but my mistake was to have brought in an area with a potential 'upgrade' candidate willing to accept a lower bid, when I could have been increasing my bid numbers using all the completely sub-4* areas. So I think my strategy could have been as follows:

1) Downtown $40

2) Downtown + a $45

3) Downtown + b $50

4) Downtown + c $55

5) Downtown + d $60

6) Downtown + e $65

7) Downtown + f $70

8) Downtown + g $75

9) Downtown + a +b $80

10) Downtown + a +c $85

11) Downtown + a +d $90

12) Downtown +a +e $95

13) Downtown +a +f $100

14) Downtown +a +g $105

etc. etc.

..... as I said, if this is a possible strategy then it allows many more multible bids (depnding on the number of areas not containing the desired *rating or higher), or it allows a bidder to increase the bids in smaller steps.

:) Of course, the possible outcome is that I might have eventually won the Westin Grand Bohemian using this strategy, but it could have cost me a lot more than the $85/room that won the Gaylord Palms. In the final analysis I am very pleased to have a genuine 4* or resort, anywhere in Orlando at $85 for my dates of 20th July and 21st July.

So much to learn, and so little money to learn it with - but it's fun anyway!

notfes53 (Ascot, UK)

[thereuare]

Yes, your strategy is correct, assuming you eventually would have had: Downtown+a+b

Downtown+a+c

Downtown+a+d

.

.

.

Downtown+a+b+c

etc

etc

etc

Since the Westin has only been reported once nearly a year ago, there is also a possibility that the Westin no longer participates with Priceline, only gives Priceline inventory in extreme low occupancy conditions, or that the rate is just below 'conventional' booking prices.