marnie_g Posted April 11, 2009 Report Posted April 11, 2009 I placed a bid for a 4 star property at $80. I was given a one time offer to go up $22 to $102 so... I increased the bid by a quarter - I offered $86 - the reply was come up $22 - so I took the alternative and made a change to include 3 star hotels. It was stated that there was not much chance of winning it at $80 but a chance at $85 - so I offered $82 and was refused. So I think that maybe $85 or a bit over might buy a $3 star. So I think I will try again in a day or two.marnie
Romelle Posted April 11, 2009 Report Posted April 11, 2009 marnie_gThanks for reporting. Your approach is good. You almost always can do better than those counter offers. You have plenty of time too.Don't be surprised if you bid maybe $83 for a 3* or $87 for a 4* (each $1 over your last reported bids) and you still get the counter offer of $22 (or even a higher number). Seems to be a psychological gimmick by PL to panic people into taking the counter-offer, when indeed another dollar or two might be the winning bid. $22 is sort of a magic number that shows up a lot on European counter offers.If you are really ambitious, you could also keep an eye on the exchange rate of the Euro to the dollar. If the dollar gets stronger, you might not even have to increase your bid to get an increased amount in the Euros at which the hotel is set.Romelle
marnie_g Posted April 12, 2009 Author Report Posted April 12, 2009 Thanks Romelle for your encouragement - I'm learning all the time! Cheers,Marniewill try again M
yellowdog Posted April 12, 2009 Report Posted April 12, 2009 marnie_gPlease keep all post in the same thread since this is for the same date.Yellowdog.
marnie_g Posted April 15, 2009 Author Report Posted April 15, 2009 I have tried bidding for 4 star & 3 star over the past 4 or 5 days - city centre and have gotten as high as $95 without any luck. Then I decided to just go for 5 stars city centre - at last moment just I added a $1 to make it $96 and got lucky with the Meridien. Very happy! Thanks for all your help. :)
marnie_g Posted April 15, 2009 Author Report Posted April 15, 2009 Sorry for all my posting errors - hopefully I am getting a bit better!The dates of this failed bid should be 09/6
slick_gd Posted April 15, 2009 Report Posted April 15, 2009 Congratulations on you win and I am glad to see you are happy with the result!Can you just confirm the exact dates?Enjoy your stay.
marnie_g Posted April 15, 2009 Author Report Posted April 15, 2009 I booked 2 rooms for 1 night 6th September 2009MStill smiling :)
slick_gd Posted April 15, 2009 Report Posted April 15, 2009 Thanks for the follow-up!Keep on smiling all the way to Vienna.
Romelle Posted April 15, 2009 Report Posted April 15, 2009 One of my favorite Viennese experiences there is the true Sacher Torte at the Sacher hotel. (In fact, I bought one boxed up to go, and carried it the rest of my trip, and brought it back for my brother's birthday.) But any of their wonderful pastries will do. One of my less favorite ones was an attempt to eat at a university student cafe. I like to do things like that to get "for real" adventures. Anyway, mapped my way to the place. It turned out to be downstairs in an old building. Long wooden tables and benches. Outside was a chalkboard sign with something like "Taglish Especiality". My German is rusty, and never was that good, but I got daily special out of that. The only other word I got was "Lasagna". Sounded fine to me. So I ordered it. It sort of looked like lasagna but was white?? At least in the style of lasagna, wide thick noodles and layers of stuff. What I had missed from the sign was the word for fish..... Seems it was Friday, and on that day the lasagna served was made with fish! Not bad actually, and probably reasonably healthy. Just a surprise. If you are interested in such things, there is a wonderful museum devoted solely to furniture from earlier times. Quite a fine history lesson.Have a wonderful time. Glad you scored such a good deal.Romelle
Chris26WI Posted April 16, 2009 Report Posted April 16, 2009 I have tried bidding for 4 star & 3 star over the past 4 or 5 days - city centre and have gotten as high as $95 without any luck. Then I decided to just go for 5 stars city centre - at last moment just I added a $1 to make it $96 and got lucky with the Meridien. Very happy! Thanks for all your help. :)so you got the Meridien as 5star? (as the header still says 4star)
yellowdog Posted April 16, 2009 Report Posted April 16, 2009 Chris26WIMeridien is rated 4* by PRICELINEYellowdog.
minimaci Posted April 19, 2009 Report Posted April 19, 2009 Le Meridien is rated as 5-star by HOTWIRE.
thereuare Posted April 19, 2009 Report Posted April 19, 2009 This purchase was made on PRICELINE and it appears from THIS LINK that the Le Meridien is still rated 4* so we'll keep that information in the topic title... hopefully the OP will clarify/confirm. Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases
Romelle Posted April 19, 2009 Report Posted April 19, 2009 Le Meridien is also a 4* on their direct buy (non-bid) side.RomelleAnother good example of HOTWIRE ratings being higher than PRICELINE's. I usually assume about 1/2*, but this is a full star!
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