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Priceline Suggests Price to Pay


spitfire20003
By spitfire20003,
in

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Sometimes Priceline says that your bid is too low and gives you a message that if you raise your bid to a certain amout you can have it. I find it's usually best to ignore this "offer" and try bidding again if time allows. If i have time i'll add 1/3 the difference between my offer and their suggested offer. If that's not accepted i'll often try 1/2 the difference between my bid and their suggested bid.

So if i bid $50 and they tell me i can have it for $100, i'll often try $68 or so first, and if not accepted i'll try $75. I do this only if i have time left to bid again in a few days in case i'm turned down.

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  • 2 months later...

I just wanted to clarify the difference between counteroffers and the suggested retail price. What happens with counteroffers is different than what happens when you are preparing to bid or rebid and just above the "Name Your Price" box, Priceline has a line something like this:

Suggested retail price for a 2 star hotel in [city]: $100

In this case, I'd suggest completely ignoring what Priceline says and just going by your own research, other postings, and your intuition. Usually the suggested retail price that Priceline posts in these cases is a top rack rate. And if you go through one or more rebids, you'll notice the value changes every time.

I've never had a bona fide counteroffer, but your advice sounds good.

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Good point!!

Also, if bidding inside of 72 24 2 hours and only have one or no re-bids available, it may be better to just take the counter-offer rather than risk cutting it in half and getting nothing.

For instance, let's say only one re-bid left, your $60 bid is rejected and Price.line counters with $70.

You then use your re-bid zone at $65 and are once again rejected (because the "right" price was $67, for example)... now you have no options left, don't have the 72 hours required to bid again, and are left with paying full price for the room... all because of a concern of over-bidding by just a few dollars ($3 in this example).

Of course, the above only holds true when bidding inside of the 72 hour window... if i have time on my side, i always reject the counter offers.

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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thereuare, it sounds like you've always done better by waiting it out for the next rebid period than you would have with a counteroffer, if you can wait that long. Is that right?

I am baffled by whether the hotels will either get more or less lenient in terms of price as you get closer to the date. Any ideas about that?

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Yes, i have always done better waiting and undercutting the re-bid offers. Of course i could always get "hurt" if the inventory and/or price changes within the 72 hours, but when bidding a few weeks or months in advance i don't expect the inventory to change that quickly. Situation would be different if my rejected bid was placed 4 days before arrival and i was expecting to re-bid the day before arrival.

I think some hotels increase their prices right before arrival, others lower them, and some pull their offers entirely. I can understand the philosophy behind each of these actions, and it depends upon the business model and philosphies of each hotel.

Please use this HOTWIRE and these PRICELINE LINKS: HOTELS, CAR RENTALS, and AIRFARE to begin your travel purchases

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  • 12 years later...
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