Kwokpot Posted March 28, 2003 Report Share Posted March 28, 2003 I am helping my family with a week-long convention/vacation reservations in the Reno/Lake Tahoe area. This bid pertains to the Lake Tahoe portion. Since my sister has kids, having a kitchen & free breakfast is a great added value, so we decided to try for 2.5* in hopes for the Residence Inn. My fear was that there would be a chance to be upgraded to 3*, but they would have taken either the Hilton, which is actually the convention headquarters, or the Peppermill, although they would NOT want the lodge rooms.I had tried to bid yesterday, for a 5 night stay, which includes a Sat. We started with Reno South, 2.5*, at $40, rejected, but counteroffered for immendiate re-bid if raised by $12. Instead, added Sparks, and bid @ $43, but rejected.Today, I though to split the bid up, Sat. it's own bid, Mon-thurs a separate bid. Since we tried $40 & $42, I decided to try $46 for Sat only, and won the Residence Inn.Taxes revealed (Assuming a 12% rate), though, that PL paid $42, so since I needed another room, I bid for another room and got this:Your Offer Price: $42.00 Number of Rooms: 1 Number of Nights: 1 Subtotal: $42.00 Taxes: $4.68Processing Fee: $5.95 Total Charges: $52.63So I'm a little perplexed; looks like there are multiple PL rates for the same day? Anyway, lowest price on Marriotts website is $97 or Senior Rate, or $114 for AAAWill post the 4 nt stay separately. Link to comment
thereuare Posted March 28, 2003 Report Share Posted March 28, 2003 Are you saying that you bid for Saturday only at $40<rejected>, $42<rejected>, and then accepted at $46 for one room?Then bid for a second room, Saturday only at $42 and accepted?If i understand you correctly and the above is accurate, it is perplexing! Priceline does have different rates for different days, but my understanding of your scenario is that you were rejected at $42 for Saturday (and re-bid at $46 which was accepted), and then accepted the second room at $42 for Saturday.Why did you decide to bid each room separately (i understanding splitting the stay into 2 separate stays, but why did you bid one room at a time for Saturday)?Just to continue the discussion, if bidding multiple days like this, Priceline must have availability for each day at your bid price, NOT at your average bid price. An example of this is discusses here: Further Discussion (see $50/$100 example) Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases Link to comment
Kwokpot Posted March 28, 2003 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2003 No, not exactly. Yesterday, I did a 5 day bid, Sat to Thurs, 1st @ $40, then @ $43; both were rejected.After the $40 bid, PL counteroffered an immediate re-bid at $12 higher, so I decided to split that differnce, and try just Sat. @ $46.In hinsight, since my bidding days were different, and the stay is months and months ahead, I should have started at $40 just for the Sat., even though I was rejected yesterday up to $43; the bidding parameters were different on todays bid.That's why even for experience bidders like myself, it's easy to get caught up, and not really think of ALL the correct bidding stategies. Whatsmore, with the economy like it is this year, I think that one should start most PL bids these days a bit lower than what was previously & historically thought as the bottom-line bid for a particular are and/or anticipated PL hotel. Link to comment
thereuare Posted March 28, 2003 Report Share Posted March 28, 2003 Gotcha now! For anyone following along and a little confused, see the link at the bottom of my post above.But now that i think about it, didn't you get one room for $42/Sat and $40/Sun-Thur?If that's the case, why was your $43 bid for Sat-Thur rejected? Is this another instance, LIKE THIS ONE, where a bid for multiple days was rejected, even though the bid ($43) was enough to cover Priceline's cost for each night?(or have i just been in front of the computer too long today) Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases Link to comment
Kwokpot Posted March 28, 2003 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2003 Yes, you have the situation exactly. But there is a 24hr difference between the $43 combined rejection, and the split bids. What's more perplexing is that if you look at the tax rates, the Sun-Thur price PL paid was $39, and one of the two Sat. bids, the tax rate indicates PL paid $40, so you would think that my initial bid yesterday for all 5 days @ $40 would be accepted. Since I did not try Sat-Thur @ $40 TODAY, it's hard to say whether or not it would have been accepted, or that PL is discriminating against longer stays. Link to comment
thereuare Posted March 28, 2003 Report Share Posted March 28, 2003 No definitive answers, but very interesting stuff!Based upon the link i posted above i thought that there was a chance that they might be discriminating against longer stays, but then there was another post where the requirements were as follows (the days of the week are wrong, but serve for the example):Room #1 Monday - WednesdayRoom #2 Monday - Fridayand sure enough the Monday-Friday stay was accepted, but the Monday-Wednesday stay was rejected (at the same price)I'll say it again... interesting stuff! Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases Link to comment
kpapadop007 Posted April 1, 2003 Report Share Posted April 1, 2003 With the downgrade of the Pepermill hotel from 4* to 3* in the Reno South bidding area, does anyone know if bidding there gets us lodge rooms in the Pepermill instead of the regular Hilton rooms?I have been trying to find an answer in this question for a while, anyone anyone? :) Thanks Link to comment
thereuare Posted April 1, 2003 Report Share Posted April 1, 2003 Why don't you try calling the hotel, tell then that you have a priceline reservation in the near future and are familiar with their hotel, and you'd like to know if Priceline room are automatically classified as lodge rooms.If you do, let us know what you find out. Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases Link to comment
Kwokpot Posted April 1, 2003 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2003 I actually did call the Peppermill and asked that exact question, and their response was nebulus (sp).They basically said to me that it 'depended on the rate that was paid', and wouldn't elaborate any further unless I actually had a PL reservation they could check. Link to comment
thereuare Posted April 1, 2003 Report Share Posted April 1, 2003 Give them another call at an hour of the day very different than your previous call (~12 hours different) so that you hopefully get a different front desk clerk on the phone who will be more helpful.If the next clerk is as evasive, ask "well if i have a Priceline or lower rate reservation, can i upgrade (fee or free?) to the other class of rooms if available?" Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases Link to comment
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