Priceline Hotel: 4* Austin (Downtown) Hyatt Regency

[HarryK]

From PRICELINE RE-BIDDING EXPLAINED:

However, one caveat that wasn't mentioned (maybe it is obvious to everyone) is that you may get trapped in the wrong part of town IF your higher bid still doesn't work and you end up having to lower quality rating to keep bidding.

This is easily overcome by closing the browser and starting from a new screen. A short example:

4* ZoneA rejected

add ZoneB also rejected

close browser and...

3* Zone A

The 3* ZoneA is not viewed as a duplicate bid and ZoneB won't be included in your bidding because you haven't selected it from the new screen you launched.

Hope that explains it better for you and has given you a new 'technique' to use.

I just want to make sure I understand this "browser closing trick" before I start bidding on 4* (and then possibly 3*) hotels

(1) I place a $40 bid on a 4* hotel in Zone A and don't get it

(2) I add Zone B (a zone with nothing higher than 3*hotels available) and raise my bid. I still don't win

(3) I add Zone C (a terrible area with nothing higher than 3* hotels) and raise my bid to my max. I still don't win

Now, if I was to drop down to a 3* hotel, the risk is that I'll get stuck in Zone B or C because I can't "un-select" those zones once I've added them. But what you're saying is that by cloing my browser and starting over, I can try for a 3* hotel in ONLY Zone A because closing my browser will (effectively) "unselect" zones B & C???

Followup question:

If zone B & C only go up to 2*s, using this trick would also mean I could have SIX bidding attempts for 3* or 4* hotels in Zone A, right?

If I DON'T close my browser, I would only have FOUR attempts because I can't un-select a zone after adding it

(1) $40 bid on 4* hotel in Zone A. Lose bid

(2) Add Zone B (highest is 2*) raise my 4* bid & lose again

(3) Add Zone C (highest is 2*) raise my 4* bid again & lose again

(4) Drop down to 3*. Bid $40 again. Lose

- GAME OVER -

But would this 'browser closing' trick allow me to do:

(1) $40 bid on 4* hotel in Zone A. Lose bid

(2) Add Zone B (highest is 2*) raise my 4* bid & lose again

(3) Add Zone C (highest is 2*) raise my 4* bid again & lose again

---- CLOSE BROWSER ----

(4) $30 bid on 3* hotel in ONLY Zone A. Lose bid

(5) Add Zone B (highest is 2*) raise my 3* bid & lose again

(6) Add Zone C (highest is 2*) raise my 3* bid again & lose again

EDIT: One more question. Does this work with Date changes as well? Could I go through this 6-bid process and then close my browser and start completely over and make another six bids with slightly different travel date?

Can someone confirm that I'm understanding this correctly

Thanks

[WillTravel]

But would this 'browser closing' trick allow me to do:

(1) $40 bid on 4* hotel in Zone A.  Lose bid

(2) Add Zone B (highest is 2*) raise my 4* bid & lose again

(3) Add Zone C (highest is 2*) raise my 4* bid again & lose again

---- CLOSE BROWSER ----

(4) $30 bid on 3* hotel in ONLY Zone A.  Lose bid

(5) Add Zone B (highest is 2*) raise my 3* bid & lose again

(6) Add Zone C (highest is 2*) raise my 3* bid again & lose again

Can someone confirm that I'm understanding this correctly

Thanks

Yes, you're understanding correctly. But you even have one more bid out of that scenario.

So with your example, with zone A having 3* and 4* hotels, and zones B and C having only 2* or less hotels:

For step 3, you could close the browser, open it again, and do a 4* bid for A + C. Then for the next and final 4* bid, you could do a 4* bid for A + B + C. So you would have four unique bids for a 4* hotel: A by itself, A + B, A + C, A + B + C

Similarly for bidding for the 3* hotel.

[HarryK]

Yes, you're understanding correctly. But you even have one more bid out of that scenario.

For step 3, you could close the browser, open it again, and do a 4* bid for A + C. Then for the next and final 4* bid, you could do a 4* bid for A + B + C. So you would have four unique bids for a 4* hotel: A by itself, A + B, A + C, A + B + C

Whoa! You just blew my mind.....

I thought I totally understood the main thrust of this thread... but now I realize I wasn't even using THAT technique to its fullest!

Okay, just for clarity, let's pretend that I ONLY want a 4* hotel. I have been working like this:

(1) $40 bid on 4* hotel in Zone A. Lose bid

(2) Add Zone B (highest is 2*) raise my 4* bid & lose again

(3) Add Zone C (highest is 2*) raise my 4* bid again & lose again

But what you're saying is that I COULD be doing this:

(1) $40 bid on 4* hotel in Zone A. Lose bid

(2) Add Zone B (highest is 2*) raise my 4* bid & lose again

--- close browser ---

(3) Select Zone A & C (highest is 2*) raise my 4* bid and lose

(4) Add Zone B back into to the mix and get another bid because A+B+C is difft than A+B or A+C?

This has crazy prospects considering the REAL city I'm searching has SIX areas and not just THREE

[WillTravel]

Yes, that's correct! And you do get a ridiculous number of free rebids if there are six rebid zones in your area.

Just make sure you check each zone individually to be sure what star level hotels it offers.

[HarryK]

With six zones and only one (Zone A) with any 4* hotels, I came up with 32 chances to bid on a Zone-A 4* hotel. Previously I only had six. Unbelievable!

Thanks!

[HarryK]

Okay... this didn't work.

I did only Zone A and lost

THen Zone A + Zone B and lost

Then Zone A + Zone B + Zone C and lost

I then closed the browser

I came back and all the gray boxes were cleared. So I did Zone A + Zone C and got:

"Duplicate Request: We were not able to process this request since our records indicate you have already made a request for this same trip. Your credit card has not been charged for Request Number xxx-xxx-xxx-xx"

??? But I thought that A+B+C was different from A+C If that's true, then why did it call it a Duplicate Request???

Do they have to be done in a certain order? Should I have done:

A

A+B

--- close browser ---

A+C

A+B+C

Since I have 6 zones to play with, I went back and started with a different combination of zones.... but then miraculously won the hotel... experiment over

[HarryK]

This was kind of an accident. I was really going to shoot for a lower per night cost and a 3* downtown... but I screwed up while trying out a new bidding trick. Oh well, no refunds! :)

Anyway, it's a 4* hotel during SXSW for $60, so that's not bad. It's across the river (which kind of sucks) but it's walkable from downtown... I guess :)

[thereuare]

Each bid, to not be treated as as duplicate, needs to include some type of new combination or a new zone.

??? But I thought that A+B+C was different from A+C If that's true, then why did it call it a Duplicate Request???

Since A+B+C contains A+C, it was treated as a duplicate bid.

Correct order would have been:

A

A+B

--close browser--

A+C

A+B+C

Is it clearer now?

[HarryK]

Since A+B+C contains A+C, it was treated as a duplicate bid.

Correct order would have been:

A

A+B

--close browser--

A+C

A+B+C

Is it clearer now?

Yup. That's what I figured after it didn't work the first way I tried it.

Unfortunately, that means there's a LOTof closing the browser and re-entering all the information to do all 32 bids. I think you'd have to start over every 2 bids....

[HarryK]

Currently there is only one 4* zone in Austin, and that's downtown. There are also currently 6 zones (although I swear that there were previously seven)

A Downtown

B Airport

C North

D Lakeway

E Roundrock

F Northwest

Having a better understanding of the 'duplicate vote' flag, it now seems a little unwieldy to go for the maximum possible number of bids. If you want to place 32 bids to possibly get that ZoneA 4* hotel, then I believe that the following would have to be the pattern used:

A

A+B

  CLOSE BROWSER / Restart

A+C

A+C+B

  CLOSE BROWSER / Restart

A+D

A+D+B

  CLOSE BROWSER / Restart

A+C+D

A+C+D+B

  CLOSE BROWSER / Restart

A+E

A+E+B

  CLOSE BROWSER / Restart

A+E+C

A+E+C+B

  CLOSE BROWSER / Restart

A+E+D

A+E+D+C

  CLOSE BROWSER / Restart

A+F

A+F+E

  CLOSE BROWSER / Restart

A+B+F

A+B+F+E

  CLOSE BROWSER / Restart

A+C+F

A+C+F+B

  CLOSE BROWSER / Restart

A+D+F

A+D+F+B

  CLOSE BROWSER / Restart

A+E+F

A+E+F+D

  CLOSE BROWSER / Restart

A+B+D+E

A+B+C+D+E

  CLOSE BROWSER / Restart

A+C+E+F

A+C+E+F+B

  CLOSE BROWSER / Restart

A+C+D+F

A+C+D+E+F

  CLOSE BROWSER / Restart

A+B+D+E+F

  CLOSE BROWSER / Restart

A+B+C+D+F

A+B+C+D+F+E

[travelsnoop]

Perhaps PRICELINE has changed their procedures. I tired this strategy Friday March 18, 2005 in Austin for a 4* hotel for 4 nights starting April 6, 2005. I did not get the free rebids as mentioned.

Can anyone clarify this and offer a different solution? Thanks.

[thereuare]

Welcome to BetterBidding!

Please start a NEW TOPIC with exactly the zones you bid and added each time.

If you've already been accepted on a bid add the pertinent information, if not, post the amounts of your highest rejected bid and the dates of your stay and we'll advise on how to proceed.