Priceline Hotel: help me bid please

[lizzylou]

Please help me...I've read & read & read & I just can't seem to sort it out correctly in my mind.

I was hoping for courtyard or marriot downtown, but it doesn't seem either of those hotels have been awarded at all in quite some time. So, I was thinking the Hilton Garden Inn sounded good.

Based on previous bidders win at $51.00, I bid $51.00, 2.5*, downtown for April 4-6. The bid was rejected. I'm not sure how to maximize my rebids from here to most likely get this hotel.

I'll check back soon & hope someone can help me!

I've had success bidding in Washington, DC, & Albuqurque, NM, but this one is stumping me...

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

If you ask me, you're using the opaque providers the wrong way... you're trying to pick a hotel and trying to figure out how to win it. Then you choose a different hotel and try to figure out how to win that one. Such a strategy will likely lead to disappointment.

You can't choose or target a specific hotel when bidding on PRICELINE. You can choose the minimum star rating you're willing to accept and the area you wish to bid... you should be willing to accept any hotel in the zone at the minimum star level you select.

If you're trying to target a specific hotel, HOTWIRE is often a better option as you can often take an educated guess as to the property being offered... but is usually a little more expensive than PRICELINE.

Let us know your thoughts and we'll try to adise accordingly.

[lizzylou]

I understand how opaque providers work, and I am willing to accept any hotel in the category & area. I seemed to notice, however, that the lower bids generally seemed to produce Hilton Garden Inn, & higher ones produce different hotels. That being said, I'd like to pay the LOWest price :). Hence the question...how to proceed to maximize my chances of getting this (lowest bid) hotel.

The reason I named the ones I did, is because looking through the board, these were the 3 that seemed to go for the lowest bids...lowest was courtyard, then marriot, then hilton. I realized a bit later that the courtyard & marriot posts were quite old & probably not helpful at all. But still that is what I was looking at was lowest accepted bids.

Thanks for all your assistance with this. It really is great to have found this board, the information provided here is invaluable when it comes to getting the most for your travel dollar!

[thereuare]

So to clarify...

You're looking for the least expensive hotel in the Downtown Philadelphia zone with a minimum rating fo 2.5 stars?

Do you have a maximum bid in mind?

Let us know the above and we'll suggest a strategy for you to follow.