Priceline Hotel: 3* Rogue Valley (Medford) Red Lion

[akin]

Thunderbird / Red Lion - Doesn't really look like a 3 star but it will be OK

First try at PRICELINE, first bid.

2 nights 9/18-9/20

Your Offer Price Per Room, Per Night: $55.00

Subtotal: $110.00

Taxes & Fees: $20.12

Total Charges*: $130.12

Amenities: Remote control TV w/ premium channels Radio Alarm Clock Business services Telephone w/ voicemail Iron and ironing board Hairdryer 24 hour front desk On-site Dining

This is all the amenities that showed when I did a cut paste but it did have pool / weight room / dining ...etc

[thereuare]

Congratulations on your success!

While perhaps not your hotel of choice, glad to see you received a nice deal and can make this work for your needs.

Thank you for sharing your win with the board.

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

Enjoy your stay.

[akin]

I think I started with a link from Betterbidding. Will I be able to tell any difference? When I get to PRICELINE, I have to go back to the price page to see what hotels I will be bidding on so maybe I lose the link by doing that.

Is my bid record saved somwhere for a cut/paste or do I need to remember everything and retype it to enter it on the fourm?

[thereuare]

That shouldn't make a differnce, but two points:

1) You can open the "retail" page of PRICELINE in a different browser window and view the two pages side-by-side if you choose, so that you don't have to use the BACK/FORWARD button on your browser

2) the 'retail' hotels aren't necessarily the ones you're bidding on, there could be others not listed in the 'retail' list, as well as those listed in th 'retail' list which don't participate in the 'bidding' section of PRICELINE. See the related link in our PRICELINE FAQ for more info.

Thanks for using our PRICELINE links for your purchase.

[akin]

2) the 'retail' hotels aren't necessarily the ones you're bidding on, there could be others not listed in the 'retail' list, as well as those listed in th 'retail' list which don't participate in the 'bidding' section of PRICELINE. See the related link in our PRICELINE FAQ for more info.

So it may not be safe to re-bid on a 4* by including another area that I 'know' does not have a 4* - because I can't really know that - it's risky

[BestUserNameEver]

So it may not be safe to re-bid on a 4* by including another area that I 'know' does not have a 4* - because I can't really know that - it's risky

The only way you can be absolutely sure that Priceline doesn't have a 4* in a particular area is if Priceline grays out the 4* option when you select only that particular area.

That said, I think you can increase your degree of certainty that a particular star rating doesn't exist in that area at all IF you're able to gather star rating data on ALL hotels in the area from a variety of sources. This is a lot easier for smaller markets, probably prohibitively difficult for larger ones. You have to keep in mind, though, that Priceline's star ratings won't necessarily mirror those assigned to a property by other points of reference, so there is no way to be absolutely certain using this method. If there are properties listed on other sites at star ratings above or below the rating you're trying to eliminate that may fall into a "gray area", you can't assume that Priceline won't evaluate it at the star rating you're trying to exploit.

[akin]

The only way you can be absolutely sure that Priceline doesn't have a 4* in a particular area is if Priceline grays out the 4* option when you select only that particular area.

Good point. Thanks

[tilepusher]

The method that BestUserNameEver described for determining the maximum star-level available in a given zone (more discussion about it can be found in Priceline Bidding Explained) is the only one you should use, but make sure that you do it before each bidding session. The maximum star-level can change at any time, and only by checking every time can you be sure that the information is up-to-date.

Researching the hotels in an area is not useful for finding the maximum star-level, because not all of these hotels will be available through Name Your Own Price.

[thereuare]

Seems like a good time to also reminder users that when you select a star rating it's the minimum that you are willing to accept... so if you're bidding 4* and another zone doesn't have 4* hotels, but does offere Resorts or 5* hotels, then it is not a re-bid zones since PRICELINE could always upgrade your 4* bid to the higher rated Resort or 5* category.

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