pdxlandia

I was only searching for Resort level hotels so I naturally had plenty of rebids available in Orlando. Bottom line: Won at $105 starting as low as 80 on up to winning bid over period of a week. -Based on past bids and wins, it appears that if you are bidding for a room far in advance, there is a baseline they will accept that is higher than closer dates. -At least 3 of the Resort class hotels have availability 3 months+ in advance: Wyndham Grand Orlando, Gaylord Palms, and Omni at Championsgate. -Most hotels do NOT list availability on Hotwire/Priceline non-bid searches 3 months in advance -The quoted price on Hotwire for the one Resort class listed was about twice as high as typical bids win for same hotel -The winning hotel for my Priceline bid was not listed on Hotwire at all as having availability. -The winning hotel was listed on Travelocity for $135 night. -It's possible that rooms for May opened up just this morning and I overbid by a bit (I last tried on Friday last week at $98) Sorry for the long post this is for folks that like to figure out the strategy. Background: Each time I use priceline I like to try to figure out what the strategies for hotels are. Like myself, I've seen lots of other people speculate on how early hotels make rooms available for bidding, whether or not they change their rate, whether or not waiting until closer to the departure yields lower cost. Whether or not short stays or weekends are a factor. I've bid on hotels in Europe and cities in the US. I've done several Orlando trips over the years (stayed at at least 20 different hotels I believe) and I usually plan a trip where we stay at 3 different hotels during the trip (just for fun though there is a benefit for bidding too). Since I knew the precise dates of our trip so far in advance, I thought I could play with this one. Strategy: There was only one hotel (looks like the Omni) listed at $188/night for these dates on Hotwire. This isn't a peak date or anything (it's after Spring break and Holidays). So I assumed that they just haven't opened inventory but I thought I'd start bidding anyway to find out. I kind of like the Omni hotel (actually my kids do, they love the lazy river) and I like the Gaylord (the interior is so much fun and they have a nice pool). But I also like the resort class hotels in Downtown Disney too because they are just so darn close to the parks. Two weeks ago I started bidding: $75 up to $85 just in the Championsgate area to see if I could bag the Omni or Gaylord for cheap. No luck this early in advance though those prices are certainly winnable I've seen but closer to departure. I got a priceline coupon that added $5 per night. Went as high as $90 (with coupon) only in Championsgate. Last week I saw Priceline reports that someone won a 4.5* (that is the "Resort" category star rating) for $95/night in Downtown Disney. I looked at the hotels and figured it was worth trying out. Switched to Downtown Disney only (no Championsgate). Started bids at 80 and worked up to 98. No luck. So it would appear that despite the win mentioned on Priceline frontpage offers, it wasn't available at that price for my dates. Just for the heck of it, I added Championsgate too (meaning I could get Omni or Gaylord) and dropped to $82 worked back up to 98$. No luck. Tried again this morning and had a coupon for $5 so I thought I'd just drop the highest I'm willing to go for Downtown Disney. I figure the just over $100 was likely the magic tipping point for rooms this far in advance. I suspected that the Wyndham would go first in DT Disney and prices went as low as $80 but that was for Jan. a really slow period. And $98 was rejected already. Sure enough, my $100 ($105 with coupon) won the Wyndham. It's a fun game, hope you all have fun too. ;) I used the PRICELINE link naturally.

Pullman Paris Bercy Trip Advisor review Seems like a very nice hotel, trip advisor comments are positive and I'm excited. Still, not quite as low as I'd hoped but my bid was in line with the other wins for the Pullman hotel. Ending areas included most of Paris (no airports or anything outside Paris center though). Marais, Opera East and West, Montmartre, St Germain, Bercy, Eiffel, Champs East, Sacre Coure. Notes: I did a lot of bids but I'm not sure why I didn't get as low as some of the others on the forum here. Maybe it was the dates, the most active hotels are full, the fact I was staying three nights over the weekend... not sure. If someone wants to scrutinize my strategy hopefully it will help you out. Started at 110 for my ideal region: Opera East or Marais Added Eiffel Tower moved up to 115. Added Champs moved up to 120 which was close to my max. Added Opera West up to 125. I knew I wouldn't land a room in those areas at that price but it gave me rebids. No bites. Next I jumped to the less exciting areas so I dropped my bids Added St Germain dropped bid to 99 (I saw a win report for Marriott in that area for that price) Added Bercy increased to 110 Added Montmartre increased to 120 I debated splitting up the dates to see if that was the issue (Friday night in Paris maybe?). Instead I said I'd bid my highest value that staying in the same hotel for the whole trip was worth to me and $130 was going to be my final. I was secretly hoping it would fail so I could try again later (maybe closer to the dates they'd drop?) Anyway, nice hotel, good deal, hope the info helps other people. I used the PRICELINE link Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.