Priceline's Low Chance Message

[beauty]

Hi

On Priceline's website when you type your price somtimes it will pop up a message "Based on recent data, your price has almost no chance of being accepted. " should i take this message into consideration or i should ignore it. Any suggestion???

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Ignore it... unless you want to pay too much :)

If you're new to Priceline (and Hotwire for that matter) i suggest you post the parameters of your stay (dates, zone, maximum bid, star rating, etc) in the appropriate state category and we'll suggest a recommended bidding strategy to follow and answer any questions you may have regarding your specific bid.

As well, make sure you read up on PRICELINE RE-BIDDING as it's probably the single most important strategy to use in order to help secure the best possible price.

[Lollipop's Mom]

When I enter my bid amount, I get the little bar that says 'This offer has a very small chance of being accepted' and as I up my bid, it goes away....I was playing with it on Anaheim and it seems it goes away at $29 on a 3*. What are other's experiences with this? Do you bid at the price where it went away, or go a little higher? Thanks.

[runNgun]

COMPLETELY IGNORE this, it means nothing except priceline trying to get you to overbid.

[bbbb]

I have won a lot of rooms and never had an accepted bid when the red low chance bar was displayed.

[TravelGuy]

I've also never won a bid when the red bar has been displayed. So I'd have conclude that it's probably a good general indicator of the minimum acceptable bid.

[deltachi8]

It means nothing, i have had many bids accepted while "red-lined" in the past.

If you read thsi board, research prices and go in informed, you can ignore the tricks PL uses to increase your bid.

[amandalovesnin]

My first Bid ever was accepted even with the message "of having little to no chance" :)

[rc408]

I've had red lined bids accepted as well. I use it as a gauge and start bidding below the first red lined dollar amount.

The best thisng to do is research others winning bids and base your strategy on that.

[angelmum3]

I was wondering the same thing, I've been trying to bid in suburbs of Chicago, from 2* to 3* starting bid at $30 up to $40 and I get that pop up ( sunday or Monday night stays) and for me, the whole thing seems to have changed from the tips I've learned on this board - - really discouraged!!

I'm trying to bid low, knowing the rooms are not filled in this town for a 2* hotel!! Why should I overbid? The pop up states $150, knowing that may be the internet rate, but give me a break, its far o ut in a suburb, no amenities!!

[angelmum3]

Now they do send you a cute email about retry which makes me believe I can rebid, but you cant just increase your bid!! Since I had to add an area, then I had to lower my star rating to a 1* I decreased my bid to $30, because the screen it took me to said 1* there was no way I'd pay $50 for a 1*, and I couldnt renegotiate the star levels!! (I could the areas, but not the star levels!)

so of course my 1* rating for $30 was not accepted in the north shore of Chicago Suburbs (There are Hotel 6, so I have no idea, it just seems that things have changed here!)

edited to add >

just got another round of emails from priceline about my stay... what a load of bunk! If I can get a 3* in Downtown Chicago with a view of the river/Lake for $40, there is no way I'm paying $30 for a 1*!!

am I missing something? I'm talking about the suburbs with no 6Flags, or shopping meccas, the town where I live is only 20 min south of 6 Flags, but its not worth the extra $$ - we'll go downtown by train!!

[WillTravel]

Small towns often aren't cheap on Priceline. In fact, there are sometimes no savings to be had at all. If there are only one or two hotels, they have little motivation to discount their rates, because if you have to stay there, you have no choice but to pay what they ask.

[thereuare]

angelmum3,

Please start a NEW THREAD for the city, zones, dates, etc that you are actually bidding for as this is getting too off topic for the original subject of this post.

[angelmum3]

Small towns often aren't cheap on Priceline. In fact, there are sometimes no savings to be had at all. If there are only one or two hotels, they have little motivation to discount their rates, because if you have to stay there, you have no choice but to pay what they ask.

Thank you for the information.

I apologize for "going off topic" I only thought I was asking the same kind of question - and I've been trained by another board NOT to start new threads!!

Based on the information on small towns, we've decided to stay in Chicago instead!!

Thank you for the help, and info!

[My Cat's Name is Bernie]

I've found some posts on this topic in this board, but they are from 2005 and older.

Does anyone have more recent experience on the chances of a bid getting accepted when the "no chance", "almost no chance", and equivalent car rental warnings are displayed?

I have very limited PL experience (one hotel and one car, both of which are posted in the appropriate forums). In both of my cases my bids with the warnings were rejected, but when I increased my bid to the minimum required make the warning go away, it was accepted.

Is it worth bidding when a warning is presented?

Thanks for the help!

[thereuare]

As per the above, you should continue to ignore that message.

[bxneurotic]

I used this message as a guide for my first priceline bid, and went just above the red message and was still denied :)

[thereuare]

bxneurotic,

Welcome to BetterBidding!

This thread is stating that you should not use that red message as a guide of where to start your bidding.

If you've won a hotel can you please post the details as a NEW TOPIC. If you're still bidding, feel free to start a NEW TOPIC and we'll help with a bidding strategy to follow.

[dc3]

I entered a bid recently and the message came back about minimum bids and it actually suggested a lower bid than what I had entered. You may take this as proof that the message has nothing to do with reality or with what you have entered. I always had ignored it. This time - my dilemma was whether I should lower it. Was Priceline being helpful or irrelevant? The latter is the answer.