Priceline Hotel: Help with bidding for Gainesville

[jeaniere]

Looking for a hotel in the Gainesville, Florida area and you list two hotels at 3*. They are the Doubletree and the Sheraton. They are both coming up on the websites as $149.00 a night. The date is May16-18 and their is a NHRA Import Race held during that week-end. I'm not sure if that is a bid draw or not. Their is also no rebid zones that I am aware of. What should I bid as it looks as I only get one shot. Thanks for your help.

[thereuare]

I would guess that it is indeed somewhat of a "draw" since the rates for this weekend are $149 while the rates for the weekend before and weekend after are $119/$109.

I see Hotwire has a 2* for $31 that weekend.

What is your alternative if you don't get this hotel thru Priceline (then i'll be able to suggest a strategy)?

-not go

-stay with friends/family

-buy at conventional rates

-stay at the 2* (or 3* @$73) via Hotwire

You actually have 2 (possibly 3 shots at it, since you can try today, and 72 hours until 6pm the day of check-in)

[jeaniere]

This is for my daughters friend who has to go to the race as it has something to do with his job. Last year he stayed at the Holiday Inn and I looked up the rates and the special internet rates are $69.33 per night. I also don't know if he wants me to bid a second time or just try once and see what happens. What is your strategy? Thanks for your help.

[jeaniere]

Sorry about the additional post. Would you have any idea what the 2* on Hotwire would be. Thanks

[thereuare]

I do not know what the 2* property on Hotwire is, but i would guess that it is a Holiday Inn / Day Inn type of hotel.

The 2* offers free breakfast and a pool, so doing a quick search shows possibilities as being La Quinta, Villager, Knights Inn, Cabot Lodge, as well as some others that may not be shown (when i saw that there would be multiple possibilities i didn't continue to narrow them down).

[jeaniere]

What would be the strategy on bidding for Priceline. Thanks.

[thereuare]

What is your alternative if you don't get this hotel thru Priceline (then i'll be able to suggest a strategy)?

-not go

-stay with friends/family

-buy at conventional rates

-stay at the 2* (or 3* @$73) via Hotwire

The strategy will be different if you only want to spend $x.xx amount via Priceline, or if you'd sooner take the 2* hotel mentioned above at $31, or if you don't want to stay at a 2* hotel at any cost and would spend the extra money to get 3*, etc, etc.

[jeaniere]

He will definately not want the 2* star as their are too many choices. He doesn't know where he would end up. He needs to be close to the University of Florida. If he doesn't get something on a bid for priceline then he would probably stay where he stayed last year at the Holiday Inn at the rate of $69.33 a night. What should I bid on priceline? Thanks.

[thereuare]

Well, given that your back-up is about $70, i would probably bid $42, and if rejected, try again in 72 hours at $47 (if you're really not too happy with the Holiday Inn, maybe use $45 and then $50 in 72 hours... all depends just how happy/unhappy "he" will be at the Holiday Inn)

If you get a reasonable "counter-offer" on any of these bids you may just want to take it since you're cutting it close time-wise and don't have any re-bid options available.

Let us know what gameplan you decided to take and how it works out!

[jeaniere]

Well I tried $45.00 and was rejected and then my daughter has her own account and she tried $50.00 and was rejected. I was wondering if you think Alachua, Florida would be a rebid. I have looked up hotels on Travelocity and Expedia for Alachua and no 3* come up. Alachua is the other option on Priceline besides Gainesville. If not we will wait the 72 hours and try again. Thanks.

[thereuare]

Good Call!!!

I don't know why my brain often stops working when i see the different "select a city screen" as is the case here.

The way to check is to only select Alachua from the list and "NEXT".

If you do so, as i just did, you'll see there are only 1* and 2* hotels in this area, so it should be safe as a re-bid zone when trying for the 3* level in Gainesville. (double check it on your own)

For the record, Expedia and Travelocity use different star rating systems, so that's not the right way to check, you should check by selecting THAT city only and seeing what star levels Priceine shows on the next page.

It is explained in detail in this thread: Priceline Re-Bid Explained

Which has the following quote:

The way to check what star levels are available in each zone is to open a Priceline page, check ONLY the zone you are inquiring about, and then proceed to the next page (as if you were going to select a zone)... this will give you the available star ratings in that area. It is important to do this before EACH attempt at adding a zone that you really don't want, as new hotels can be added and the star ratings can change at any time.

To use as a re-bid you'll need to put a check mark in BOTH boxes and then on the next screen only select 3*.

So now you have 2 more bids available (one for you, one for your daughter's account), and know to start at a price greater than $50.

[jeaniere]

Well we tried again with Alachua and bid $57.00 and $65.00 and still denied. I guess we can wait 72 hours but the Holiday Inn will probably be the best option. Any other ideas?

[WillTravel]

Here's my boilerplate response, knowing nothing about Gainesville - if you want to look at various properties around there, try TravelAxe (http://www.travelaxe.com). For example, I tried running it just now, and it has a price for the Baymont Gainesville that is probably in total somewhat less than the Holiday Inn and it might still be suitable (but I really doubt it's a 3*). But if you do use it, I'd double-check to make sure whether any price you get includes or does not include taxes and fees.

[thereuare]

Sounds like a tough one!

Only suggestions would be to try Expedia and/or Orbitz... when i was researching the breakfast info above i saw a few hotels that were <$50, i wouldn't jump into one of them, but if there's a property you recognize you may be able to get a few reviews on it that may be a better option than the Holiday Inn.

I would also consider the 2* from Hotwire (but then again, i'm not that fussy with my hotel rooms). I would prefer a 3* or better hotel for $50-60, but if that wasn't available and my back-up was a Holiday Inn property for $70, i might consider taking a chance w/ Hotwire for half the cost.