Higher rate tolerance for multiple rooms?

[BMXer]

Anyone ever experience a situation where multiple rooms will have a higher winning bid than single rooms?

We're trying to book three rooms in Edmond, OK this weekend (1/21...1/24) and have had no luck at $50...$61. Local published AAA rate is $79, so we're getting powerful close to market rate.

A friend had his bid accepted at $51 at a 2.5 star yesterday, yet our bid of $60 a nearly the same time was rejected.

Also, any idea if Priceline might be tweaking the tolerances on individual accounts (seems that lower bids were more readily accepted when I first started using the service last year, versus now).

It's always a conspiracy, afterall :)

Thanks for any help the community could lend.

Best,

BMXer

[The one and only]

Well selecting more than one room could lead to higher price as some hotels would want more customers paying rack rate than priceline rate. Just an educated guess though.

[Colfax]

Welcome to the board, BMXer.

Please post which Edmond hotel your friend win for $51 so that the win can be added to the Oklahoma database. Then someone will respond to your question about additional multiple rooms. Thanks.

From the board's rules:

While we welcome both positive and negative experiences, please keep in mind that the spirit of this message board is helping users.

If you have a complaint, problem, or question with a recent or upcoming Priceline/Hotwire stay, we will be happy to do what we can to help, but please be considerate of the board's primary goal of helping others and first post the details of your 'win.'

It is important for everyone to know when problems and customer service issues arise, but the majority of the users come here to see winning bid information... so please oblige them with this information before asking for them for help.

[BMXer]

Welcome to the board, BMXer.

Please post which Edmond hotel your friend win for $51 so that the win can be added to the Oklahoma database. Then someone will respond to your question about additional multiple rooms. Thanks.

From the board's rules:

Thanks. Done!

[AaronJB]

I don't know how different the dates are, but if the friend had different dates (even if some of them overlapped), that could be a possibility (or at least part of the reason) as to why the variance in rate occurred.

[BMXer]

I don't know how different the dates are, but if the friend had different dates (even if some of them overlapped), that could be a possibility (or at least part of the reason) as to why the variance in rate occurred.

My dates were 1/21...1/24 and his were probably 1/22...1/24

[Colfax]

Thanks for posting your friend's win at the Fairfield Inn Edmond.

Hotels give rooms to Priceline in blocs---a bloc of 3 rooms, 5 rooms, or 10 rooms, for example. Even though the Fairfield still shows rooms available for 1/21-1/24 the rooms they allocated to Priceline could be sold out.

If you're bidding for 5 rooms and the hotel only has 3 Priceline rooms left then your bids will be rejected no matter how high you bid.

If that's the situation you can try getting around it by bidding for a smaller number of rooms than you actually need. You might be able to get 2 or 3 rooms but not 5. You'd have to pay rack rate or make other arrangements for the balance of rooms.

Another possibility involves dates. Your friend bid for 1/22-1/24, a Friday and Saturday. You've added a Thursday to your bids. Some hotels only give Priceline rooms on weekends. Or they have a lower Prieceline rate on weekends than weekdays.

You could try bidding 1/22-1/24 for the extra rooms you need. If you win those nights then try Add a Night to get 1/21 at a higher rate, if available.

Please use the board's PRICELINE link for your purchases.

[BMXer]

Thanks for posting your friend's win at the Fairfield Inn Edmond.

Hotels give rooms to Priceline in blocs---a bloc of 3 rooms, 5 rooms, or 10 rooms, for example. Even though the Fairfield still shows rooms available for 1/21-1/24 the rooms they allocated to Priceline could be sold out.

If you're bidding for 5 rooms and the hotel only has 3 Priceline rooms left then your bids will be rejected no matter how high you bid.

If that's the situation you can try getting around it by bidding for a smaller number of rooms than you actually need. You might be able to get 2 or 3 rooms but not 5. You'd have to pay rack rate or make other arrangements for the balance of rooms.

Another possibility involves dates. Your friend bid for 1/22-1/24, a Friday and Saturday. You've added a Thursday to your bids. Some hotels only give Priceline rooms on weekends. Or they have a lower Prieceline rate on weekends than weekdays.

You could try bidding 1/22-1/24 for the extra rooms you need. If you win those nights then try Add a Night to get 1/21 at a higher rate, if available.

Please use the board's PRICELINE link for your purchases.

The bloc-of-rooms thing was something I considered, and is the most plausible in this case. We did not want to risk bidding on fewer rooms lest one of us get stuck in a different hotel. And if we had to pay rack rate for a second or third room, who gets that fuzzy lollipop? LOL

Every board has its Johnny/Jane on the spot. Colfax

[Colfax]

Thanks for the good word, BMXer. There are plenty of board members who could have/would have given the same info. I just happened to be here when your post popped up.

You can also check HOTWIRE to see if anything that looks like the Fairfield appears there.

Good luck!

[dahammer]

....who gets that fuzzy lollipop?

Best,

BMXer

that's a new one for me :) thanks for adding this to my repertoire of clich