Priceline Hotel: 4* Toronto (Downtown) Sheraton Centre

[slneilryan]

This is my first time bidding and I am not sure I am doing it right as I have been rejected 11 times!

I started @ $55 and have increased in increments of $2 and I am up to $73. I started with downtown and have added various combinations of Oakville, Brampton, Mississauga and Don Valley.

I don't want to go higher as when I checked the Priceline and Hotwire Calendar of Wins others seem to be getting the Sheraton and similar for about $65 - 68?

Do I wait and try again tomorrow? Add another zone without a 4*?

Any advice?

Thanks

[slneilryan]

Could my # of rejections have anything to do with my using a Canadian address and postal code?

Thanks

PS. I did use the PRICELINE link!

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Rates are dates specific... i assume the $65-$68/nite wins you're seeing are for dates different than your own? What is the best rate you're able to find for a 4* hotel for the dates of your stay? Based upon this number, what would be your maximum bid for an 'opaque' 4* hotel?

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.

[Canadian_Guy]

The Toronto International Film Festival is on from Sept 4-13. Prices for Hotels in Toronto wil be higher during this time period as eveyone wants to see the stars! :)

[slneilryan]

Thanks Thereuare and Canadian Guy

You are right that the rates I found on the calendar are not exactly my date of Sept 5 but close. The dates were from Aug 28 (this weekend )to Sept 2 - 3 next week and range from $62 - 70. The only posted win on my date is for the Westin Harbour Castle at $104 - which is more than I want to pay.

I was hoping to get a 4* for between $65 - $75 on September 5 but maybe this is unrealistic given Canadian Guy's information about the International Film Festival?

If you have any further advice on how to bid I would really appreciate it. I am going to try again today (using your link of course!).

Thanks so much

[slneilryan]

This may be a dumb question but I just received an email from Priceline saying "it has now been 24 hours since your last bid...you can now try again"

If my last bid was $75, will it even be possible to win a room at a lower bid, say 65 - 74 since they already know that I bid higher at $75 and would be willing to go that high? ie. is it even worth a new re-bid starting @ 65?

This question is aside from the fact that rooms may be going for much higher rates due to demand related to events going on in Toronto for my date of September 5. I am just wondering in general for future strategy.

Thanks for the help.

[slick_gd]

The e-mail from PRICELINE is an automatic message that gets sent out once your 24hrs is up just to get you to back to their site and try again rather than booking off another site since you got rejected the first time. I think it has very little to do with PRICELINE assuming you would bid higher. There is another thread on this site that goes into more detail on theories of how PRICELINE chooses which hotel you will win, but the jist of it is that just because you bid a higher amount it doesn't necessarily mean PRICELINE is making more money off you. I believe it is this link: Don't bid higher

With that being said, it may be possible to win a hotel room the next day at a cheaper price as hotels may add rooms at any time, or even change their winning bid requirements at any time. But I personally would think it's unlikely for that to happen. Now, since Toronto has many re-bid zones if you are booking a 4*, it may be worth while to start below where you left off yesterday just to take that chance and then quickly go above it if you don't win. If you are bidding in a city with very few re-bid zones then I would personally bid higher than my previous day's bid to not run the risk of wasting the bid.

Hope this helps a bit.

Here is the PRICELINE link to get your purchase started.

[thereuare]

I just received an email from Priceline saying "it has now been 24 hours since your last bid...you can now try again"

A reminder to everyone please DO NOT use the link in PRICELINE's email... rather come to BetterBidding and be sure to use our own PRICELINE link.

Assuming you have re-bid zones available to get up to your maximum bid, it pays to "backtrack" your bids. As slick_gd points out, new hotels (or rates) can be entered into the system at any time and by starting where you left off you don't have a chance to take advantage of the new lower rates.

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.

[slneilryan]

Well I've pretty much abandoned any attempt to get a 4* in downtown Toronto on September 5. Before I even placed my bid, (I tried tonight and put in $80 to start using the PRICELINE link) and I got a message saying that "Based on recent data, your price has almost no chance of being accepted".

So was going to try a 3*...any suggestions I a bid strategy, starting amount for a 3*. I scrolled through some old posts and didn't see anything recent for downtown Toronto 3*?

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks

[thereuare]

You should generally ignore PRICELINE's "No Chance" or "Low Chance" messages as we've seen winning bids when users have placed their bids anyway. However, i am doubtful that you'll be successful for a 4* at $80 or less on this date.

What is your maximum bid for a 3* property? What is the best rate you're able to find thru conventional booking methods?

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.

[slneilryan]

Success!

I had pretty much given up on this and was going to drive home late rather than stay in Toronto. On a whim, I tried again this afternoon and won it on the first bid!

Details on this bid: first bid $75; won Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel.

Since I won on the first bid, perhaps they added vacancies and I over bid ? But since I had been rejected repeatedly on higher bids, it still seems like a win for me. And answers my question, that you can go back and re-bid a different day at a lower amount and win!

A great learning experience.

Thank you to all who provided input!

[thereuare]

Congratualtions on your success!

A good example of how inventory can, and does, change all the time.

Happy to see you gave it another shot and were successful in getting a great deal. We're happy to hear the information on the board was helpful in your bidding.

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases.

Enjoy your stay.