Report your Priceline successes discusion area.

blindman

Alistair_Rea wrote: »

I am quite happy.


Still I pose the question - Did I hit lucky first time or could I reasonably have expected to do any better?

Looks like you did OK and bid well.

Have a good time!

MrsChips

Cant quite beleive i've got such a good Bargain!! :T

I'd never even heard of Priceline until seeing it on MSE today - will be using it everytime I need a Hotel from now on!

I got the NH Harrington Hall - Kensington for £180.04 (Inc Tax) for 3 Nights in Feb

Having checked out the reviews and location I'm really pleased, we've stayed in Kensington twice before and once just around the corner from the NH. The Trip Advisor reviews are pretty good too!

Heres how I did it.......

• Destination: London - Kensington/Knightsbridge/Earls Court
  
• Type of accommodation: 4*
• How many extra daily bids did you have available: Bid 3 Times
  
• How much were your 2nd/3rd etc & final bids: 1st £42, 2nd £46, Final Bid £50
  
• Started search with 4* Marble Arch at £42 (was offered a deal for £89), rejected deal and added 4* Mayfair at £46 (No offers), then added 4*Kensington at £50 and got offered the NH Harrington Hall (£150+£30.04 Tax) for 3 Nights (WED-SAT) end of FEB... Result!!

Just checked the price on Last Minute.... £480 .... and NH Website.... £332 :eek:

Cumbrian_Male

I won 2 nights at £48 or $74 which I think is a cracking deal.

Bid history.

I first bid for 5* in the central / museum quarter at £45/$69 which was rejected with counter offer to increase by £12.

I added a second zone to rebid as only the central/museum have 5* hotels so all others are free rebids.

Second bid £46/$71 which was rejected again, no counter offer.

I then closed my browser and restarted for my third bid.

Again using central/museum and a second but different zone bid £47/$72 which was rejected and counter offer to increase by £15.

So added a third zone to rebid again.

Forth bid £48/$74 which was successful.

Nh Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky
City Centre And Museum Quarter
Dam 9
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
31-205549111

Check-In Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2009
Check-In Time: After 03:00 PM
Check-Out Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2009
Check-Out Time: 12:00 PM

Your Offer Price: £48.00
Number of Rooms: 1
Number of Nights: 2
Subtotal: £96.00
Taxes and
Service Fees: £16.35 (including VAT)
Total Charges: £112.35

bootman

After spending most of yesterday on how to use priceline I am really pleased with my result.

1st attempt was a winner I had a strategy planned but did not have to use it. I was able to use a USA credit card so went straight to the USA site.

I won the 4* Radisson near the airport with my 1st bid of $39.

Rack rate for that night $139!

marko4ever25

HELP ME!!!

im a bit a confused

want to stay in new york 2nd to 9th of april in twin room

budget is £400-£500 (do you think this is enough)

would like a 4 or 3 star but i see this

1
Brooklyn Area Details MAXIMIUM 3 STARS
Central Park South Area Details 3
Chelsea Area Area Details 3 STARS MAXIMUMmaximum 3 starsa
Downtown - SoHo - Financial District Area Details 5
Empire State Building Area Area Details 6
Long Island City Area Details MAXIMUM 3 STARS
Madison Square Garden - Convention Area Area Details MAXIMUM 3 STARS
Midtown East Area Details 9
Midtown West Area Details 10
Times Square - Theatre District Area Details 11
Upper East Side Area DetailS MAXIMUM 3 STARSMAXIMUM 3 STARS
Upper West Side Area Details


the 5 areas HIGHLIGHTED only have a maximum of 3 stars so i can use these areas as free ribids if i say i only want a 4 stars - yes?

now what is my next step? how much do you think i can start my bid off at?

Mardrew

Hello

I've two wins to report:

• Destination: Boston, Massachusetts
  
• Type of accommodation: (e.g. five star hotel) 4 star hotel
  
• How many extra daily bids did you have available: Didn't use
  
• How much were your 2nd/3rd etc & final bids: Won with 1st bid - £42
  
• And then write your Priceline hotel booking story

I had been tracking the winning bids for hotels in the area I wanted to stay in for a little while in Betterbidding (although the dates didn't go as far as my travel dates). Anyway, I decided to put a bid in and started with the lowest bid win price that I had seen. Success 1st time - £42 ($61)per night (x 3 nights) for the Boston Hyatt Regency. Very pleased.

• Destination: New York
  
• Type of accommodation: (e.g. five star hotel) 4 star hotel
  
• How many extra daily bids did you have available:
  
• How much were your 2nd/3rd etc & final bids: Hotel eventually won at £80
  
• And then write your Priceline hotel booking story

This wasn't as easy as the one above. From reading Betterbidding I had decided the area I wanted to stay and, again, had been tracking winning bids. Between 19 Jan - 31 Jan I was bidding almost daily, adding in some rebid zones, but not all, and over the time my bids ranged from £75 - £90. (I think in this period, the dollar reached its lowest point, so I did wonder if that was having any effect on my bids.) Anyway, I ended up leaving it a few days. (Blindman, I think I have recently read in a post of yours that you advise not to bid every day. I will certainly take that on board for the future.)

I decided to give it another go tonight as I have noticed that wins are starting to be reported for my period. I thought I would start at, what I thought, was the bottom of range for the time and bid £80. (4 night stay.) Success 1st time tonight and got the Omni Berkshire Place which is currently 56/413 hotels in TA. I am extremely pleased with this hotel.

For info - both bids reported on BB and donation made as used Priceline.co.uk.

Also, many thanks to Blindman for all the useful advice about Priceline on this site.

marko4ever25

marko4ever25 wrote: »

HELP ME!!!

im a bit a confused

want to stay in new york 2nd to 9th of april in twin room

budget is £400-£500 (do you think this is enough)

would like a 4 or 3 star but i see this

1
Brooklyn Area Details MAXIMIUM 3 STARS
Central Park South Area Details 3
Chelsea Area Area Details 3 STARS MAXIMUMmaximum 3 starsa
Downtown - SoHo - Financial District Area Details 5
Empire State Building Area Area Details 6
Long Island City Area Details MAXIMUM 3 STARS
Madison Square Garden - Convention Area Area Details MAXIMUM 3 STARS
Midtown East Area Details 9
Midtown West Area Details 10
Times Square - Theatre District Area Details 11
Upper East Side Area DetailS MAXIMUM 3 STARSMAXIMUM 3 STARS
Upper West Side Area Details


the 5 areas HIGHLIGHTED only have a maximum of 3 stars so i can use these areas as free ribids if i say i only want a 4 stars - yes?

now what is my next step? how much do you think i can start my bid off at?

anyone help?

Mardrew

Have you checked out Betterbidding & Bidding for Travel? These are the sites I used to help me to guage my bids and if you read some of the posts some very detailed strategies are given. Sorry I can't give any specific advice - even though these are my 4 & 5th wins with Priceline I still do feel nervous using it (in case of making mistakes with incorrect dates, areas etc) but what I would say is my research of these sites has paid off every time. I'm sure Blindman will be along shortly to help/advise you.

Just for your info, my win is for a slightly later date than yours and I won a 4* hotel in Midtown East. For my 4 nights, including the taxes & service charge, the total price was £384.25.

blindman

marko4ever25 wrote: »

anyone help?

As I said in my PM

Have you read my guide?

How much do I bid?

Check the recent wins on both sites On Betterbidding the Map Recent wins is handy if your city is on the map.
If there is a recent win then check to see if the poster left a bidding history.
If you look at enough wins you can gauge at what price the Hotel is ‘won’
Also be aware the poster may have overbid because they were inexperienced.

Check for Availability and Rates
Check the lists of hotels reported at both Better Bidding and Bidding for travel at the hotel’s own website (not a travel agency); especially the ones that seem most frequent, and find out costs during your nights. Particularly note if there is a rate change. or if it’s sold out.
Check a few hotel discounters Some examples

• Orbitz
• Expedia
• Hotels.com
• Late Rooms
• Lastminute.com

Check Hotwire
Hotwire is invariably always more expensive for the same properties, so if any of them can be identified with the assistance of the lists on Better Bidding (there aren’t any at Bidding for Travel), it gives you an idea of a bidding ceiling.
Star ratings on Hotwire vs. Star ratings on Priceline.
Each company uses their own system of rating, and they are not standardized. Hotwire’s are usually, but not always, slightly higher, so a 2.5* hotel on Priceline might be 3* on Hotwire.

Have you done all this?
As a very rough guide Pl winning bids are about 60-70% of the web-site rate of a hotel. BUT there are exceptions to this.

(I've just won the Hyatt in New Jersey for $71. The web-site rate is $199.00
Free Rebids

What is a "Free Rebid Zone?"
Your free rebid zones are zones whose maximum star listing is lower than your desired star level.

So if you can choose another zone which only has LOWER star ratings than you want then this is a free rebid as PL will not give you a lower star than you asked.
Read the FAQ’s on FAQ Paragraph 9 biddingfortravel

Brooklyn maximum is 3.5*
Madison Sq Gdsn is a 3.5*

But apart from that nit picking you are correct in that all those zones are free rebids for a 4* hotel choice.

MariaC

Destination: New York
Type of accommodation: 3 star hotel
How many extra daily bids did you have available:
How much were your 2nd/3rd etc & final bids: Hotel eventually won at £61
And then write your Priceline hotel booking story:
Its quite a long story - ended up splitting the bid!

7th - 9th April
2 nights @ £61 ($90) + taxes - 3.5*!
The Roosevelt Hotel New York
Midtown East
45th And Madison Avenue
New York, New York 10017
212-661-9600

Cheapest rates on hotel website
04/07 - $245, 04/08 - $345

9th - 15th April
6 nights @ £61 ($90) + taxes - 3*
Four Points By Sheraton Manhattan Chelsea
Chelsea Area
160 West 25th Street
New York, New York 10011
212-627-1888

Cheapest for the same dates is $150 + taxes

You can follow the story/ help I had at: http://www.betterbidding.com/index.php?showtopic=61495&