Priceline Hotel: 4* London (Kensington-Earls Court-Knightsbridge) Marriott Kensington

[zzdocxx]

Simply check the first zone, scroll down (instead of looking at the next page) to see the star levels offered in that zone.

UNCHECK the current zone, place a checkmark in the box of the next zone, repeat the process for each zone.

Is it clearer now? You can also doublecheck your re-bid zones at RE-Bidding.com

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

I'm helping a friend to learn the bidding process for PRICELINE. We found the same setup as described, with the zones all on the same page. That was easy enough to know which zones had which hotels.

BUT, when he added a new zone to his bidding, the previous zone was blocked from the area. (This was for London England.) The zone was grayed out during the bidding, and the result stated there weren't any rooms available at the bid price, but it only mentioned the new area added into the bid.

Is it possible they have changed the protocol?

We were looking at the example of a lady who posted just a week ago about winning in Marble Arch for only $70, and she had not mentioned anything out of the usual in her post.

London (Bloomsbury-Marble Arch) Novotel London St Pancras

What do you make of it?

Thanks,

:)

[zzdocxx]

I'd just like to add that he would be happy in any of 5 or 6 areas in London if he can get a 4* hotel at a decent price.

I suggested he could bid each of those areas separately every 24 hours, that would at least be a start until we figure out what's going on.

[thereuare]

Please follow-up your Monterey thread with whatever you ended up doing for that stay... then start a NEW TOPIC with the details of your London bidding.

Please use these PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links to begin your travel purchases. (and please ask your friend to do the same)

Thanks.

[zzdocxx]

OK Monterey thread is done.

I suggested to my friend that he sign up here, but he is not very computer savvy and I was helping him over the phone. We might get together today though and then I will get all the details from him.

But mainly I thought there might be some change in the PL bidding process that had not previously come to light, and I wanted to share and inquire about that.

Thanks!

:)

[thereuare]

There has been no 'change in protocol'... the zone(s) previously selected should be greyed out but there should be a checkmark in them (which can't be unselected)

On the 'review' page, where you confirm all the details of the bid your about to place, are the 'old' and 'new' zones listed there? Where are you seeing only the 'new' zone listed?

If you let us know which zones you're friend is willing to accept, date(s) of his stay, and a maximum bid, we will suggest a strategy for you to follow.

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

[zzdocxx]

My friend will be in London the nights of July 3, 4, and 5, 2009.

I was helping him over the phone to understand how to bid strategically on Priceline. He has the advantage of being OK with the following areas, note the numbers correspond to the PL zones for London:

1 Bloomsbury - Marble Arch (4* highest avail in this zone)

4 Kensington - Earls Court (5* highest avail in this zone)

6 Mayfair - Soho (5* highest avail in this zone)

7 Notting Hill - Bayswater (4* highest avail in this zone)

8 Regents Park - Baker Street (5* highest avail in this zone)

9 The City and London Bridge (4* highest avail in this zone)

10 Westminster (5* highest avail in this zone)

He says if he could get a 5* for super cheap he wouldn't be adverse to that -- I don't know if that would create more options for bidding or not, ie. if he lowered his * request from 5 to 4. (??)

Another question, little green icons show up for each area, showing which star level is the "best deal" in that area. Is that information useful in bidding?

I think some browser closing is going to be necessary. (?)

Thanks everyone!

:)

[thereuare]

If he wants to first try for a 5* hotel in one the zones above what is his maximum bid... everyone has their own definition of "super cheap".

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

[zzdocxx]

OK I am at my friend's house now, I got the bid history from two days ago from the emails that PL sent him, as follows.

This time we will use a bit more scientific approach.

07/3/2009 - 07/6/2009

Westminster, Notting Hill - Bayswater 4-Star $80

Kensington - Earls Court - Knightsbridge, Notting Hill - Bayswater, Westminster 4-Star $75

Kensington - Earls Court - Knightsbridge, Westminster, Notting Hill - Bayswater, Bloomsbury - Marble Arch 4-Star $75

[thereuare]

Are those the rejected bid amounts?

We don't want to suggest a strategy that goes higher than he is willing to bid...

What is his maximum bid for a 5* in any of the zone(s) above? What is his maximum bid for a 4* in any of the zones above?

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

[zzdocxx]

OK we used the BB link to PRICELINE.

It was getting late here so as you will see our last step was a bit of a shortcut and we might have done better. But my friend is very happy!

Dates 7/3/09 - 7/6/09

All bid for 4* or above

$80 Kensington

$85 Kensington, Westminster

(we didn't close the browser and start over here, we wanted to get it over with)

$90 Kensington, Westminster, Notting Hill

$95 Kensington, Westminster, Notting Hill, City

$100 Kensington, Mayfair

at this point they said we could immediately bid again if we increased the amount by $22. We were both tired and have to go to work early, so we did it

$122 Kensington, Mayfair ACCEPTED ! ! !

Hotel is the Marriott London Kensington at 147c Cromwell Rd. A google search shows a London Marriott Hotel Kensington at 147 Cromwell Rd.

Tripadvisor has a London Marriott Hotel Kensington with a photo link to Expedia that calls it Marriott London Kensington.

So I guess those properties are the same, probably, right? My friend says it is a fantastic location as well.

Anyway my friend is rather escstatic, since his travel agent had recommended the Bayswater Inn for $122, which is a 3* hotel, and which has rather poor reviews on tripadvisor.

THANKS! ! !

:) :)

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your (friend's) success!

Glad to see it worked out well for him and he's happy with the results... with hotel direct rates nearly $200/nite this is a great deal.

I'm fairly certain the hotel you're seeing on Expedia is the same, but to confirm there is a link on the left side of Expedia which states something like "see location on a map" you can click that and near the bottom of that page the address of that property will be shown.

Thank you for sharing your win with the board and using our PRICLINE link to begin your bidding.

Hope you're friend enjoy his stay and has a great trip.