Report your Priceline successes discusion area.

blindman

RedBern wrote: »

Belated reporting of a Priceline success...

Hilton Canary Wharf (Docklands) 4* 12/9 + 13/9/08 2 rooms
bid £55 and with taxes etc it was £65 per room per night.

When I first put £55 - the Priceline box came up with the advice "based on recent prices you have very little chance etc" but I thought I'd just give it a go... perhaps because it was for 2 x rooms that made a difference? anyway success straight away.

Delighted with hotel - we were going to the O2 so ideal. Can't wait to use Priceline again (almost as much fun as looking for those cheap comparison Ramada/Days Inn last year!):rotfl:

Glad you were happy with the win

As per my guide

Next screen could be a warning screen that says you’ve bid too low, if you’ve done your research then ignore it and click Next.

You were wise to ignore the Priceline "warning" . As you see it's just a ploy to get you to bid more (and so pay Priceline more).

Tojo_Ralph

blindman wrote: »

Not sure what the problem is .

Then I shall explain, however please bear in mind that this thread is linked to an article extoling the virtues of Priceline and quoting from various users reported experiences.

If we are to believe the body text which reads .... Please report your Priceline Successes/Failures Here .... The objective of the thread is to collect first hand experiences of using Priceline, both positive experiences and negative experiences.

The problem is however is that the thread title and hook requests that users only report success as the title requests users .... Report your Priceline Successes Discussion Area .... and if that wasn't enough, the body text only instructs users on How to report your success.

A similar example of this kind of thread is the Flight Upgrade thread linked to below which itself purports to wish to hear about both success and failure, but opts for a thread title that requests users only report success.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...html?t=1105661

The upshot of all of this is that conclusions drawn from threads appearing to research and document reports of success and failure are bias in the extreme.

rmd_2

Destination: London
Type of accommodation: 4* Hotel
And then write your Priceline hotel booking story

First time lucky! - went onto the Priceline site, selected all of London except for Docklands, whacked in 3 nights, 4* and a bid of £60 and got accepted at the Marriott in Regents Park......................

However........................

I had put in the wrong weekend!!! (but I got a refund - see this thread)

So I tried for 4 days with exactly the same parameters and got accepted at the Copthorne Tara Hotel in Kensington!

blindman

rmd wrote: »

Destination: London
Type of accommodation: 4* Hotel
And then write your Priceline hotel booking story

First time lucky! - went onto the Priceline site, selected all of London except for Docklands, whacked in 3 nights, 4* and a bid of £60 and got accepted at the Marriott in Regents Park......................

However........................

I had put in the wrong weekend!!! (but I got a refund - see this thread)

So I tried for 4 days with exactly the same parameters and got accepted at the Copthorne Tara Hotel in Kensington!

Not exactly the perfect bid but well done anyway, both on getting a good deal and a refund\retry.

I've added a new paragraph in my guide to inform others of this possible escape clause

Your link is incorrect it should be this one

Mardrew

• Destination: Glasgow Central
  
• Type of accommodation: 4*
• How many extra daily bids did you have available: 1st bid won
  
• How much were your 2nd/3rd etc & final bids: Not used
• And then write your Priceline hotel booking story

We've got a few days off later on this month and fancy having a couple of nights away in this country but not too fussed where. I've been playing about with Priceline today and put in some 'what the heck' bids i.e Cardiff 4* £35 - rejected; Cambridge 3* £40 - rejected; Stratford upon Avon 3* £35 - rejected. Then I thought 'what about Glasgow' as it's a place that I've not been before but have heard good things about. I checked Betterbidding and Bidding for travel and saw that the 4* Marriott had been won on several occassions for $95 (approx £54.57) and so I put a more hopeful bid in of £48 and it was accepted immediately so 2 nights @ £48 pn + £22.07 tax & service charge = £118.07. The cheapest price Hotelscomparison is showing for the 2 nights is £240. (Off now to donate to Betterbidding.) Did I bid too high? I actually don't think any lower would have been accepted and I'm happy with the price.

blindman

Mardrew wrote: »

(Off now to donate to Betterbidding.)
Well done:T:T

Can you also post your win there too?


Did I bid too high?

I don't think so, you looked at past bids and then put in a lower one-Good strategy!


I actually don't think any lower would have been accepted and I'm happy with the price.

That's what matters

Looks like you have got a good win there.

Have a great time.

loobs40

I just looked for a Five star hotel in London Soho/Mayfair. Although my bid was not successful, it came back and offered me the chance of a five star hotel in Soho/Mayfair for £135 (that includes the £25 admin charge)

So if anyone is looking for 5 star this weekend you may be successful with a bid of £111

robosb

Hi

A couple of years ago we booked villas in France by a Travel agent.
As it was quite expensive, I just said "What discount do I get on that?"

They went away for 3-4 minutes and came back and offered £200 off immediately. I think that worked out about 5-7% just by asking a question.

Not a bad 5 minutes work I thought.


I'm sure there are more time consuming and more lucrative methods but in terms of return vs time employed I thought that worked out at about £2000 per hour..

Remember - Don't ask if there IS a discount. Ask what the discount is....

Cheers


Rob

furby720

Destination: New York
Accommodation: 1 night airport 3*hotel & 2 nights central 31/2*
Bids available: 3 for airport hotel, 4 for central hotel

Have used lastminute.com secret hotels before whilst in Oz and NZ (never failed yet, with a bit of time, to work out which hotel it is before buying) but this is first time using a bidding system. Checked out biddingfortravel.com to see roughly what other people had been paying.

For airport hotel got JFK Sheraton @ £55, initial bid £48, got "your close, give us £14 more" type message, so went halfway as guide suggests and success. Rack rate £141 on their website.

For central hotel got Hotel 57 in central park south @ £110 per night, used all 4 bids. Started at £80, £90, £100, successful on final bid - few! Cheapest rate on their website £239 per night

Fan-flipping-tastic!!! My Mum who is coming on holiday with me thinks I'm a god!

On a more serious note, thank you Martin and Blindman for your advice.

blindman

furby720 wrote: »

Destination: New York
Accommodation: 1 night airport 3*hotel & 2 nights central 31/2*
Bids available: 3 for airport hotel, 4 for central hotel

Have used lastminute.com secret hotels before whilst in Oz and NZ (never failed yet, with a bit of time, to work out which hotel it is before buying) but this is first time using a bidding system. Checked out biddingfortravel.com to see roughly what other people had been paying.

For airport hotel got JFK Sheraton @ £55, initial bid £48, got "your close, give us £14 more" type message, so went halfway as guide suggests and success. Rack rate £141 on their website.

For central hotel got Hotel 57 in central park south @ £110 per night, used all 4 bids. Started at £80, £90, £100, successful on final bid - few! Cheapest rate on their website £239 per night

Fan-flipping-tastic!!! My Mum who is coming on holiday with me thinks I'm a god!

On a more serious note, thank you Martin and Blindman for your advice.

If you want a laugh then watch It Pays to Watch tonight :rotfl:

Well done with the winning bids:T Did you post them at either BFT or BB ?