Priceline Hotel: Please help a Newbie to win the right hotel on Priceline!

[Vovan]

Could someone with experience, who knows how negotiating your own price works on Priceline help me get one of the hotels i like and avoid the hotels i don't like?

I don't know much about Priceline bidding but there must be some algorithm behind its process of matching buyers and sellers?? (wouldn't it be great just to have access to the full price list?!? :)

So, here is my dilemma. We (family of 2 adults and a baby) are going to Montreal for the first time and trying to stay in one of the "preferred" hotels, which have been narrowed down after some research.

We want to book 3 nights Sep 4 -7.

We would like to stay in several 3.5- or 4-start hotels which are in red below (the list is taken from another topic on this site):

Montreal

4* Hilton Bonaventure tripadvisor review

4* Inter-Continental Montreal

4* Loews Hotel Vogue

4* Omni Mont Royal Hotel tripadvisor review

4* Sheraton Centre

4* Sofitel Montreal REVIEW / tripadvisor review

3.5* Embassy Suites

3.5* Hyatt Regency REVIEW / tripadvisor review

3.5* Marriott Chateau Champlain tripadvisor review

Questions:

- is there a way to determine the minimum bid to ensure we get one of the 3 hotels we like and avoid winning any of the rest on the list (aside from maybe Omni Mont Royal)?

- can a single property have mutliple price points at a given time in Priceline's system (at least for various types of rooms/packages)?

- can someone share a link or describe the process Priceline follows to match bids and offers?

Thanks in advance for any tips/insights!!

V.

[yellowdog]

Welcome to BetterBidding :)

You can't target hotels on PRICELINE. You need a lot of experience just to narrow down a "possible list".

If you're trying to target a specific property then HOTWIRE can often be a better option if you're successfully able to identify it based upon the star rating and amenities shown before your purchase... the trade-off is that HOTWIRE usually costs a little more than PRICELINE, so you need to decide what is most important to you for a given stay, the lowest possible price OR the ability to take an educated guess as to the property you may receive.

Post back with your thoughts and we'll take it from there.

Yellowdog.

[Vovan]

thanks for your reply, yellowdog... so it looks that no one so far has been able to figure out Priceline... :)

I checked both Hotwire and LastMinuteTravel looking for my short list of the 3 hotels I mentioned in my first post... i was not able to identify them on either site with a certain degree of confidence (lack of experience?). Now, if Priceline is cheaper that the other two, then why do I use HOTWIRE or LastMinuteTravel to try to book the ones we like when chances are slim anyways?

i wish some of the recent winning bids for hotels in Montreal were for any of the 3 hotels that Priceline seems to have been offered in the past.. something must have happened..

any and all help is appreciated!!

[AaronJB]

With PRICELINE, you bid on certain star rating in a certain area. *Any* of the hotels in that area at that star rating may accept your offer - you have no control over which may do so.

With HOTWIRE, given that the service does show you some information, one can make an educated guess as to which hotels are showing. While not guaranteed, at least there is a greater likelyhood you can end up at a hotel you are more interested in. The trade-off, however, is slightly-to-moderately higher cost. If you absolutely must stay at a particular property, it's best to not use either service and book it regular rate.

Please use the site's HOTWIRE or PRICELINE links.