Priceline Hotel: 3.5* Orange County (Disneyland) Crowne Plaza Anaheim

[808geek]

Need help with bidding strategy for Disneyland Area 3.5* 11/21-11/27

Bid $41.00 3.5* Disneyland area- rejected

Priceline said if I would increase bid $12.00 a night or add different zone, change dates, or change star level.

So I did the free re-bid and added Anaheim Hills and stayed in 3.5* level & increased bid to $43.00- rejected.

Any other ideas? Or should I just wait out the 24 hours each time it gets rejected since I have the time?

I did notice one thing when you bid your own price and the zone areas come up and whatever area has the "best value" icon next to it seems to be the area that you're most likely to get something. In past times using this the "best value" icon had been next to the Disneyland Area and I would get taken on the 1st try. This time it is next to the Costa Mesa-Irvine area. Don't know if any of that actually makes a difference or if you can gauge your chances by it?

[yellowdog]

I think you can close this in one session with your free zones. Do you know how to use your re-bidding zones?

Please read this link: Priceline Re-Bidding Explained and please post with any additional questions.

I wouldn't trust the "best value" that much. Keep bidding for the zone(s) you want to stay in.

Yellowdog.

[808geek]

Thanks for your help. I was unsure how to really use the re-bid zones and how to figure out which star levels are in a particular area. Reading that helped alot and I finally understood it.

I see besides Anaheim Hills, which I already did a re-bid and was rejected, that I can also use either Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills, or Seal Beach as re-bid zones since none of these have 3.5* hotels. Is there a preference in which area I should try and re-bid with, or it doesn't really matter?

Also I see I already made a mistake with last night's re-bid when adding a zone. I should have left the bid amount the same instead of bumping it up $2.00 Oh well you live and learn, I've never really had to do any re-bid zones.

[thereuare]

Yes, you have your re-bid zones correct. (However, note for future bidding, it's not just that they don't have 3.5*, but that they only offer hotels lower than 3.5*. When you select a star rating it's the minimum that you are willing to accept, so if a zone doesn't have 3.5* hotels but does have 4* hotels, it's NOT a re-bid zones since PRICELINE can upgrade your 3.5* bid to a 4* hotel. Hope this makes things a bit clearer and doesn't confuse you at all)

And you did it correctly above by raising your bid... if you didn't raise your bid it would essentially be making the same bid again (since you can't win a hotel in the re-bid zone you just added)... so there would be VERY LITTLE CHANCE (almot nill) of being accepted at the same amount you had just bid less than 2 minutes earlier.

24 hours after your last bid you can try as follows using your FOUR re-bid zones (always doublecheck them to make sure nothing has changed):

Select 3.5* Disneyland...

Bid $45, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $47, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $49, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $51, if rejected add re-bid zone...

Bid $53.

Any questions feel free to ask.

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

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[808geek]

Won the Crowne Plaza Resort- Garden Grove $49.00 a night 11/21-11/27

Had to use all re-bid zones.

Original bid $41- Disneyland area- rejected :)

Re-bid $43 added Anaheim Hills- rejected :)

Re-bid $45 added Laguna Hills- rejected :o

Re-bid $47 added Laguna Beach- rejected :)

Re-bid $49 added Seal Beach- FINALLY ACCEPTED! :D

Didn't wait the 24 hours to use the rest of my zones. Started bid last night and used one re-bid zone (Anaheim Hills) at time. Used the last 3 re-bid zones this morning when got advice from board on how to use them and got the correct understanding. Not sure if waiting the full 24 hours would've kept the price down or not? I have gotten the low $40's the last 2 times I've been to Disneyland and one was 4th of July weekend $44 and other was recently the middle of August $41 on an extended weekend. But considering it's holiday week and normal price was $129 a night, I feel I did alright. It's been mentioned before, that we all wonder if we could have gotten better when using Priceline. Unfortunately one never knows.

Thanks again to everyone's help! Again this board is AWESOME and very informative!

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success!

What you do know is that at this point in time the best you could have done for this stay was $1 better, which is really a moot point when you look at the savings vs. a hotel direct booking. I wouldn't worry too much about $5 or $6 when the nightly savings are $50 or $60 :)

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

Enjoy your stay.