Priceline slow to answer?

[mucsea2003]

While bidding today, I always get the following message:

"In most cases, we'll be able to tell you whether or not you got your hotel room within 15 minutes. We're still working on your hotel room request, and should have an answer for you soon. Please wait several minutes and click the "Check My Offer Status" button to see if we have an answer for you."

And sure enough it really takes them 5 minutes every time until they have an answer. Has anyone else had that problem? Are they trying to slow down the bidding process? What sense would that make?

[thereuare]

The 15 minute wait was Priceline's old system, having to wait less than 2 minutes or so has only been in effect for a little over a year. Sometimes, during upgrades or problems to their system, they temporarily revert back to the old system, which is what i believe is very likely happening above. My guess is that in a day, or just a few hours from now, things will be back to 'normal'.

I found the thread which first 'announced' the new system: NEW PRICELINE INTERFACE

[bbbb]

Did you get a winning bid on the ones that took the extra time?

[mucsea2003]

No, even though lots of availability and low rates (4*, DT Portland, Or, BTW for 08/01-08/03).

And, I am still getting the screen today. And it really takes > 5min. :)

[mucsea2003]

It get's even weirder. Switched to another credit card, didn't get the screen and was accepted at $61, even though I was rejected at $65 just a few minutes earlier. Maybe Priceline is now into "banning" as well and "banned" my first credit card. :)

[thereuare]

... or maybe their system is down and defaults to the alternate system and the rejection screen rather than an error message. May have just been lucky that you 'got thru' on the second bid.

[mucsea2003]

....possible. :)

[Spender Nui]

mucsea2003 Posted on Jul 20 2004, 11:03 PM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Previous poster said

It get's even weirder. Switched to another credit card, didn't get the screen and was accepted at $61, even though I was rejected at $65 just a few minutes earlier. Maybe Priceline is now into "banning" as well and "banned" my first credit card.

Do I understand that if you use a different credit card you can start a new bid?

[MichaelBei]

Spender,

You are not the only one with the experience of having a lower bid accepted immediately after a higher bid was rejected for the same zone and level. See my posts in the last three weeks under SC and GA hotels. This has happened to me several times in the past several months and I am wondering if Priceline is monkeying with their system so that bidders that meet some sort of trigger in their system are rejected even when their bid is high enough (why in the world they would do this is beyond me - they are turning down business and cutting into their own profits, and I haven't done anything I know of to tick them off - never challenged a charge or anything like that).

As best as I can tell, when Priceline starts putting you in this mysterious "We don't want your business" :) mode the only way you are likely to get your bid accepted is waiting 3 days or adding a zone to rebid, PLUS changing computers and as many other parameters as is legally possible (for example, use a new email address), or get someone else to pay for your room. It also may be that if you stay on the same computer and bid high enough on your very first bid on a particular day that they still will accept your bid - there could be something going on about Priceline not liking people to make extensive use of adding dead zones (i.e., don't have as high a star level as your target zone) to get immediate rebid opportunities on the zone you really want.

[thesqueegeekid]

This has happened to me and a friend ... he was in Europe and his bank locked his card as a precaution ... he called me and needed a room urgently and the bids took forever before rejecting. To this day actually, the same thing happens when using his CC ... goes straight to that "up to 15 minute" screen and rejects everytime. Once PL blocks you, you are blocked for life. We tried calling them about his CC ... and PL was no help at all...

With a flagged card ... you could bid a thousand and still not win a room. My own card was flagged way back ... had to apply for a new CC.

[MichaelBei]

Squeejee,

You could be on to something here. However, I will note that one time I did use a brand spanking new credit card, got rejected, went to a different computer, added a zone, and got a lower bid accepted for the original zone - bizarre, isn't it? Furthermore, I have gotten at least two bids accepted this year with the same credit card (both rental car bids) after this strange behavior on hotel bids. The problem is, I can't fully test what is going on because I can't always rebid immediately and one can't test the system in other ways because you'd have to spend a lot of money for rooms and stuff you don't need in order to do so. That's why it has taken about a year to figure out that something very strange is going on.

Also strange is that I will get offers to rebid at a certain amount (e.g., if you will raise your offer by $8, you can try again right now without changing any parameters of your offer) in sessions for which I discovered later were "Hah! Fooled you! We really don't want your business!!" sessions. I would rebid up to within $1 of the counteroffer and still get rejected. Then I would wait 3 days or immediately go to another computer if rebids were still possble, and get a lower bid accepted. I just wish I could figure out a way to tell when Priceline is in their "we are not really going to accept your offer even if we have availability" mode. I could avoid a lot of wasted time then.