Priceline technical questions

[apkesh]

Hello, I have started to book on PL for my business travels on a weekly basis now. I have also bookmarked your PRICELINE link and start my bids from there.

Having used PL for years now, I have some technical questions which I am hoping an advanced user may be able to help answer and give me some insights in bidding better so here they come (for simplicity sake, I've kept the names of the hotel to A & :)

1) I've noticed I can get one of the two 3.5 star hotels in the area I work in. One of them, hotel A, I get it for $45 dollars almost always. The other hotel, hotel B, I almost always get it for $55. I have a good feeling these are the only 3.5 star level hotels in the neighborhood I want to be in so my odds are 50:50 depending on availability. My question is, supposed if both hotels are available, and I bit $55, will PL give me Hotel A or hotel B? In other wards, does PL go by the most margin it can make out of my bid and offer me Hotel A or does it use a different algorithm, such as Hotel B gets 1st preference because there are more rooms available for Hotel B? I am sure there is a logic to how PL awards the winnings, but does anyone know?

2) I noticed there is *some* relationship between the hotels that shows up on Hotwire and what you see on PL, but not always. For example, Hotel B has not always shown up on Hotwire for me to win this hotel on PL. Can someone confirm?

3) Does the number of rooms a hotel allocates to PL depend on the projected or forested number of occupancy for that hotel? Also, do these numbers change as cancellations and new bookings come to the hotel? The reason I ask is, I can always go to the hotel

[thereuare]

Hello, I have started to book on PL for my business travels on a weekly basis now. I have also bookmarked your PRICELINE link and start my bids from there.

PLEASE note (and for others) the way to bookmark out links is:

1) RIGHT mouse click our PRICELINE link

2) select "Add to Favorites" or "Bookmark this Link" from the pop-up menu

3) repeat for our HOTWIRE link

Unfortunately we will NOT receive credit if you click our link and then bookmark the ensuing page :) The bookmarks will take you to the respective site, but we will not receive credit unless you follow the procedure above.

For your other questions:

1) In your example, Hotel B would be won. Hotels can load multiple rates, and the hotel awarded is the one that has the highest rate equal to our lower than your bid price.

2) as you've experienced, the correlation between hotels offered on HOTWIRE and the hotel you will received thru PRICELINE is not strong enough to draw any conclusions on a consistent basis

3) hotels base their opaque rates on supply/demand (ie- ocupancy levels and time remaining to sell those rooms), which is also the criteria used to determine hotel direct rates.

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

[apkesh]

PLEASE note (and for others) the way to bookmark out links is:

1) RIGHT mouse click our PRICELINE link

2) select "Add to Favorites" or "Bookmark this Link" from the pop-up menu

3) repeat for our HOTWIRE link

the link i have book marked for PL is http://www.betterbidding.com/clicks/click....src=1&id=40

I believe this is the correct URL that will allow PL to give you the credits. Let me know if otherwise.

[thereuare]

That works... THANKS!! :)