Using Priceline Vacations as a baseline?

[e-z-e]

Is it somehow possible to use Priceline Vacations as a baseline for generating bids? If I pick exact flights and then back out the Expedia price of the flights, how close does that leave me to a minimum acceptable bid if I know that the zone only has one hotel in a star level?

For example, for Oct. 12-17, I can get the Hyatt Deerfield in Deerfield, IL for $635. This includes a flight that looks to be about $247, giving me a price of $78/night for the hotel (compared to $199/night through Priceline Hotels). I'm assuming this hotel would be available slightly lower by bidding, but does anyone know what how much above the minimum bid they sell the vacation packages for?

I think this would be something interesting to trend. I.e. - after you win a bid on Priceline, see what the vacation package price for the hotel is with the airfare backed out and compare with the winning bid.

Strangely, the vacation price for October 13-16 for Hyatt Deerfield is $767, and the airfare look to be the same. Very bizarre pricing. It actually cheaper to get the 5 days!

I tried doing a search for similar topics but couldn't find anything - please let me know if this discussion has already happened.

Thanks,

E

[thereuare]

So that i can see what you're seeing,. given your scenario above, what airport are you leaving from?

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

[e-z-e]

So that i can see what you're seeing,. given your scenario above, what airport are you leaving from?

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

EWR to ORD. The cheapest price was Laguardia to ORD but it was only a few dollars less.

Bizarrely, I looked at Hyatt Deerfield for 10/19-10/23 which was $556 (4 nights). 10/20-10/23 was $832 (3 nights). Flight prices through Expedia are $247 all in for the cheapest flights both date ranges. Unless Priceline is getting some huge discount for getting people to fly Sunday, it looks like a Sunday night stay in some cases drastically reduces the price.

Other hotels are acting a little more logically - i.e. the 4 day stays cost more than the 3 day stays.