Priceline Hotel: 4* Copenhagen 8/21/09 - 8/23/09 (rejected bids)

[Otter7]

Bid $65 on Priceline on June 18, rejected, counter offer of 107 + taxes, did not take. With taxes the price was almost $400, I forgot to make note of it exactly.

Rebid $68 on June 20 for the same three days, rejected, no counter offer. Tried two days (Friday and Saturday) 8/21/09 - 8/23/09 for $ 70, rejected, no counter offer.

I noticed people getting rooms at the Copenhagen Marriott for between $ 90 and $100 in previous bids. Is this the only 4* that I could end up at in Copenhagen if I only bid on 4*? I saw other offers from Priceline after my last bid for Golden Tulip Glostrup Park Hotel at the rate of $97, but I do not want to end up there...

I am not willing to go above $100 + taxes for Friday and Saturday. The taxes add $30 per night so it really gets much higher than $100. I could stay longer at around $80 + taxes. Should I be worried that I am now not getting a counter offer?

What should my next move be?

[MadFlyer]

Look at Marriott.com for your nights or Expedia.com. It is going for a 21 day advance payment non cancel rate of around $245 and the weekend discount rate is about $320 a night. That $4-- should not be so surprising for priceline. That Marriott is rated 5* actually.

I would say at the moment you are actually looking more at around $130 (160+ with taxes) to win on priceline now for those dates.

Using kayak.com , Orbitz has the SAS Royal 5 star for $151 or the 4* First Hotel Vasterbro for $127. First Hotels are normally quite ok. There full buffet breakfasts would normally be included. I do not know how it is with Priceline rooms there.

If you are needing 3 nights really, I have been finding a some buy 2 get one free deals around Europe.

[Otter7]

Does Priceline keep track of my having bid before and not give me the counteroffer anymore? It was only two days ago that they offered me the room for $107 + tax. Is that offer gone forever now?

[MadFlyer]

I think that you have 15 minutes to accept counteroffers before they shift them to a failed bid. Hotel inventory shifts all the time and some of these systems are automated, meaning that rates can vary from day to day or minute by minute, just like the airlines. The lower rate may still become available closer in.

There are all sorts of stories that maybe some hotels close priceline inventory over the weekend or have higher rates and then put it back on say Tuesday or vice-versa.... just never know.

There is no way to know that your offered hotel was the Marriott, but it is the most likely in CPH.

For example, I bid a hotel that comes up for $90 all the time for weeks, no luck, now a week before arrival I got it for $88.

Usually you could get a hotel just under a counter offer... so, If you bid say $100 just after getting a counter offer of 107 you may win. There is no way to know for certain and hotels get reports of bids everyday and can open or close inventory to priceline based on that information.

[Otter7]

Thank you. I have learned a lot from your post. If I wanted to bid again today I could add in the airport area. If I do that, is there a chance I might end up in a different hotel or will I get the same 4* from bidding on the city center like before?

[thereuare]

You do understand that you're not bidding on the Marriott, but rather a 4* hotel anywhere in the zone boundaries as defined by PRICELINE? There have been other 4* properties won in this zone, as indicated by the Priceline Hotel List, so there would certain be other possibilities besides the Marriott.

At the moment PRICELINE doesn't offer any hotels in the Airport zone as it's not currently select-able, so you won't be able to use that as a re-bid zone (nor can you determine if there are 4* hotels available in this zone)

What were the dates of the 3 nite stay that you were bidding when you received the counter-offer?

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

[Otter7]

Thanks for the reminder about the other 4*s. I was concerned that I might end up in one. It appeared that all the posted wins were in the Marriott, which caused me to wrongly assume I would end up there. I was bidding on Fri, Sat & Sun 8/21/09 to 8/24/09 when I received the $107 counteroffer. I have been using your links, of course!

[Otter7]

I just now bid $75 for 8/21/09 - 8/24/09 and again I got the counter offer of $107, "During our search we found a hotel room available for US$107 per room, per night. If you are willing to accept this new price, you can get your hotel room right now.

Normally you are required to change additional items (add zones, star level, or dates) in order to try your request again. However we are able to extend this one-time opportunity to you because of the zone, quality level and dates you requested."

Unfortunately, this is a total of $409.99 for three days, too much for my budget. My bid of $75 came to a total of $289. I am looking to stay very close to $100 with tax, although I might go a bit higher. Now what?

[Otter7]

I just rebid $75 on the two nights Fri & Sat 8/21/09 - 8/23/09 and received this counter offer:

"During our search we found a hotel room available for US$122 per room, per night. If you are willing to accept this new price, you can get your hotel room right now. "

So it would seem Fri & Sat are the higher priced nights and Sunday must be much lower for them to average three nights to $107 when they want $122 for the first two nights. The three nights are much closer to my price range, so I will rebid that tomorrow.

[thereuare]

So it would seem Fri & Sat are the higher priced nights and Sunday must be much lower for them to average three nights to $107 when they want $122 for the first two nights.

This is a liklely scenario, especially given that Sunday nite is generally the slowest nite for hotels (business travelers haven't arrived yet and leisure travelers have already left) and where i was heading when i asked if the counter-offer only came on the 3 nite stay bid.

Thanks for using our PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links for your bidding.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[MadFlyer]

If they are giving you a counter offer of $122 I would bet you could win for around $110. There are some hotels that seem to give best rates after the weekends. I find the patern interesting.

I hope you get the desired Marriott.

Good Luck.

[Otter7]

Just bid $85 for 8/21/09 - 8/24/09 on the 4*, rejected, given counter offer of $107 as several times before. As before, the addition of tax and fees makes the total for each night $137. Too much for me.

[thereuare]

What is your maximum bid price for this stay... you can still likely find success between $85-$107.

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

[MadFlyer]

Well at least they are going in the right direction. I have never had luck with Copenhagen.

Using my system I would think you could now win between $99 to $103.

I always look at what is happing to the rates on the booking callenders from Marriott or Expedia and compare to priceline wins.

Continued good luck.

[Otter7]

What is your maximum bid price for this stay... you can still likely find success between $85-$107.

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

My maximum bid for Friday and Saturday is $95 + tx adding Sunday I have to go down to $90 for all three days. I can also do just Friday for $90. I don't want to go higher for just Friday because I will have to go through the hassle of leaving after just one day. (As an aside, I also need to say in Copenhagen the night before my flight out, that is, I need to stay there August 30 and leave on August 31. I haven't bid that one at all yet. Is there anyway that could be helpful? I can't see how I would even tie the two together...)

[Otter7]

Just tried $90. Received a new lower counter offer quoted here:

"We searched hundreds of options to find your hotel room, however we can't accept your offer of $90 per room, per night. Your credit card has not been charged for Request Number XXX-XXX-XXX-XX. If you are willing to raise your price by $22, you can try the same request again right now."

Still too much with the taxes and fees, but it is $5 less than any counter offer I have received so far. Hmmm. What should I do at this point?

[thereuare]

You can place a new bid (using a re-bid zone or wait out the 24 hours) and placea bid somewhere between your $90 failed bid and the $112 suggested... you can usually undercut the counter-offers, rule of thumb is 50%, but since you have time you can try $95, $100, $105, etc (depending how high you're willing to bid)

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

Let us know what you decide and how it goes or if we can be of further help.

[Otter7]

I just realized I did my math poorly, before they gave me counter offers of $107, this offer is $112. They went UP by $5. Is that a bad sign??? Well, here goes my next bid now. I think today I will stay at $91.

Just bid $91 per day on 8/21 - 8/24 and 8/21 - 8/23. Rejected, no counter offer. Should I take this a bad sign or is it just Friday is a bad day to bid?

[thereuare]

The counter-offer increasing by $5 is meaningless and is not indicative of the 'right' price having increased.

You may still likely find success below the previously mentioned $112/nite price.

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

[Otter7]

Just bid $92 for the 21 -24th, rejected, no counter offer... That is $118 per night with tx and fees.

[Chistery]

August is probably in the middle of cruise season too, a lot of guests waiting to start or finish their cruise. Fills up the hotel rooms.

[thereuare]

Just bid $92 for the 21 -24th, rejected, no counter offer... That is $118 per night with tx and fees.

...and well under half the $245/nite rate the Marriott is asking for these dates before taxes and fees.

I would make a decision just how high you're willing to go for a 4* hotel in this zone. If you're willing to bid up to $122 then start a plan that will actually get you there in a few days, not increasing your bids $1 at a time. Given the $245/nite rate at the Marriott's website (the only hotel we're albe to use for comparison at this point, not necessarily the hotel you will win) a $122 bid would still represent a 50% savings vs. a conventionally booked room, and while you continue to try an extra $1 here and $1 there, this rate could disappear entirely. If your'e only willing to bid $95, or $100, or whatever, then you should work your way towards that number... when you're looking at savings $100's of dollars a nite on a room reservation, i don't think it makes much sense to potentially lose such a deal by trying to save an extra $2/nite.

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

[vancouver2009]

This site is great! The OP may not want to hear this but I just got two rooms at the Marriott Copenhagen (yes I used the PRICELINE link on this site to start) and my original offer of $98 a night (for two nights : July 25-27) was accepted. Kinda surprised it was but very pleased as this is way less than half the cheapest price price on their website for these dates.

[Otter7]

This site is great! The OP may not want to hear this but I just got two rooms at the Marriott Copenhagen (yes I used the PRICELINE link on this site to start) and my original offer of $98 a night (for two nights : July 25-27) was accepted. Kinda surprised it was but very pleased as this is way less than half the cheapest price price on their website for these dates.

That is good news. However, yesterday I bid $98 for my dates and was rejected. You had weekends, I have weekends. I think I will stick with my bid again today and see if it is accepted.

[Otter7]

Bid $98 for both two and three days as before. Rejected with no counter offer. I realize this may be a great deal for this hotel, but at some point I am just over my budget. I have decided to stop at $100 and not go higher. I will begin looking for alternative lodgings. A question though - I have always logged in and so Priceline knows what all my bids have been. Does Priceline try to evaluate my bidding behavior and reject my bid where if I was a first time bidder or had a different history of bids I might have my bid accepted? Has anyone tried bidding on the same day under two different names (such as first the husband and then the wife) for the exact same thing and had one bid accepted and the other rejected?